What age did you start smoking and why?

Mark25 · 14-09-2018 5:30pm #1

Was standing outside where I work during the week when a young lad about13/14 came up and asked me for a smoke.

Was thinking he was very young to be smokig these days but remember back to being 13 and starting to smoke mrself. I got a job during the school holidays after 1st year heelping out washing cars at a garage that a feiend of my Dad;s owned. I remember the first day there having my lunch with the guy I was helping and him asking me if I wanted a cigarette and he gave me a smoke and that was my first one. Thought I was all grown up earning money and smoking. Kept smoking after that when I went back to school and eventually getting caught at break time and getting into trouble in school and then the dreaded letter home. Am 33 now so hard to believe that was 20 years ago now!

jr86 · 14-09-2018 5:37pm

17 although i was never really a regular smoker, bar on/off in college. Nowadays it's extremely rare, maybe 1 at 2am if locked.

I find far less teenagers smoke now than when i was in school about 15-20 years ago.

Its obviously a lot more expensive now to buy a pack, they dont sell them in 10s anymore and overall smoking rates are obviously decreasing - we're a lot more health conscious

I'd say the average age of people starting is moving nearer to college age than 13/14 these days

jim salter · 14-09-2018 6:31pm

13-15 and Still Smoke

Started at 11 because it was cool. Quit at 31 because it was stupid

Star Bingo · 14-09-2018 6:35pm

That dastardly nick o’ teen pushed his wares on me too!

Lisha · 14-09-2018 6:35pm

16-17 and Still Smoke

14, stopped when I was 29and pregnant. Am 40now, still off them but I eat too much

myshirt · 14-09-2018 6:39pm

13-15 and Still Smoke

I was 9.

I started on the Chocolate cigarettes.

7aubzxk43m2sni · 14-09-2018 6:40pm

Only smoked a few cigarettes ever

Didn't smoke a cigarette until 21, on a particularly **** day I was out walking with 2 friends and they were lighting up and it seemed appropriate.

Got into more of a habit when a girlfriend of mine smoked. Thankfully gave it up except the very occasional one after that

ShatterResistant · 14-09-2018 6:40pm

18-20 and Ex Smoker

Started smoking at 18 when I began going to The George on my own before coming out - handiest way to get chatting to people when you were on your own.

Been in love with the fags ever since.

myshirt · 14-09-2018 6:41pm

13-15 and Still Smoke

ShatterResistant wrote: »

Started smoking at 18 when I began going to The George on my own before coming out - handiest way to get chatting to people when you were on your own.

Been in love with the fags ever since.

I would have thought you would smoke cigars.

Riesen_Meal · 14-09-2018 6:43pm

Started at 13, gave them up at 36, lungs still recovering...

Only started to impress some lady who's name I can't even remember

myshirt · 14-09-2018 6:53pm

13-15 and Still Smoke

I was 9, and I'm ashamed of myself looking back. I would be quite upset if I found my own 9 year old smoking now. You could buy loose cigarettes at the time. Moved on to drinking at 13, albeit not in any meaningful way until I was about 15, just a few cans here and there. Friend got addicted to heroin at around 17 which was an eye opener, so decided to clean up my act, done my leaving cert, gave up the fags, earned a law degree, became a solicitor, had kids, and the rest they say is history.

Mark25 · 14-09-2018 7:06pm

13-15 and Ex Smoker

jr86 wrote: »

17 although i was never really a regular smoker, bar on/off in college. Nowadays it's extremely rare, maybe 1 at 2am if locked.

I find far less teenagers smoke now than when i was in school about 15-20 years ago.

Its obviously a lot more expensive now to buy a pack, they dont sell them in 10s anymore and overall smoking rates are obviously decreasing - we're a lot more health conscious

I'd say the average age of people starting is moving nearer to college age than 13/14 these days

They are so espensive now irs hard to see how kids could even afford them unless they were working or something. Remember the 10 packs - much easier to hide them!

Ive said I will give up when I am35 so 2 more years to go. Amazing how many people are just social smokers and will just smoke when they are out

14-09-2018 7:07pm

Over 21 and Ex Smoker

Started at around 24

I was a late bloomer. Have been smoking ever since, witha few months off at a time.

Thinking of the amount of money i spend on them hardly bears thinking about... now I need a fag.

14-09-2018 7:11pm

22.

Because I was weak, and there were these cool new smoking areas opening in every other pub.

Mark25 · 14-09-2018 7:12pm

13-15 and Ex Smoker

ShatterResistant wrote: »

Started smoking at 18 when I began going to The George on my own before coming out - handiest way to get chatting to people when you were on your own.

Been in love with the fags ever since.

At least you got to make the joke yourself!

I know they say its anti social but it is an easier way to meet people. That was how I first met my last gf. She only smoked when drinking or out and never bought her own. If we were going out for a night she would ask me to get Marlboro Lights instead of JP Blue as she preferred them

Mark25 · 14-09-2018 7:15pm

13-15 and Ex Smoker

myshirt wrote: »

I was 9, and I'm ashamed of myself looking back. I would be quite upset if I found my own 9 year old smoking now. You could buy loose cigarettes at the time. Moved on to drinking at 13, albeit not in any meaningful way until I was about 15, just a few cans here and there. Friend got addicted to heroin at around 17 which was an eye opener, so decided to clean up my act, done my leaving cert, gave up the fags, earned a law degree, became a solicitor, had kids, and the rest they say is history.

Thought I was bad at 13 but 9 is real young, great life story btw

fepper · 14-09-2018 7:17pm

15,experiment kind of thing growing up,liked them and got addicted ever since,major,but lately their quality and taste has dropped dramatically where I hate them so finding it easier to wean myself off them....

Purple Mountain · 14-09-2018 7:17pm

16-17 and Still Smoke

13 because I used to pinch an odd one from my mother's packet.
Off them now.
I remember going to a teenage disco in an unlicensed premises and being able to buy them no bother and a box of 10 was around £1.50.
Don't know what the legal age to smoke was in the 90s.

Rubberchikken · 14-09-2018 7:19pm

Never have. Never will. The most disgusting thing imo.

Mookie Blaylock · 14-09-2018 7:22pm

Rubberchikken wrote: »

Never have. Never will. The most disgusting thing imo.

I'm 47 and same as... never smoked...I was playing football and basketball to a high level thru my teens and id have been murdered if I started

But, genuinely...2 things I've never wanted to do... smoke.....and learn to drive

somesoldiers · 14-09-2018 7:23pm

17,standing around UCD waiting for lectures, knew no one, seemed like a good idea at the time.funny it never bothered me all through school.
Now thankfully only have an odd one when out drinking, which is seldom

schizo1014 · 14-09-2018 7:28pm

16-17 and Still Smoke

Around 15/16 or so, used to hang around with my mates in town and honestly there was nothing else to too but smoke and get up devilment. Gave up over a year ago when I was 25 after and have stayed off them since so I wasn't too bad.

HalloweenJack · 14-09-2018 7:29pm

I can't remember when I had my first one. I had a few odd ones when I first started going out and that turned into buying a pack here and there and turned into a full blown habit when I first moved out at 23.

I smoked a pack a day til I was about 25. I quit cold turkey and didn't smoke for months til one drunken night I had a relapse. Now, most nights I go out, I'll buy a pack, though during the week they barely cross my mind.

Frankly, I'm happy to see them going out of fashion. It's such a silly habit to take up. I love it but it's pointless.

twowheelsonly · 14-09-2018 7:31pm

13 as well, when I started secondary school although I had a few before that in primary school.
It was easy for me as my family had a small shop so it was handy enough to rob a packet - always the 10s' !!
54 now and still at it...

Some days I hate them and other days I still love them.

Ironically, neither my mother or father smoked - with my father in particular totally anti smoking - if you fell and bust your head in our house he'd blame the fags !! Out of 7 children all seven smoked at one stage or another with three of us still regular smokers.

kingchess · 14-09-2018 7:34pm

18-20 and Still Smoke

my daughter went on a bus to a disco and the first thing a lot of the teenagers did after getting off the bus was to vape , even though they have never smoked,she said.

pq0n1ct4ve8zf5 · 14-09-2018 7:36pm

Mark25 wrote: »

They are so espensive now irs hard to see how kids could even afford them unless they were working or something. Remember the 10 packs - much easier to hide them!

Ive said I will give up when I am35 so 2 more years to go. Amazing how many people are just social smokers and will just smoke when they are out

Round where I live I see groups of teenagers passing around fecking vapes, skipped the smoking bit, went straight to that. Times change, society evolves, but teenagers will always be fcuking idiots.

I started when I was 15, because I was a fcuking idiot :pac:

Yester · 14-09-2018 7:37pm

Started smoking when I was 13 probably because I wasn't supposed to be doing it, which made it exciting. Quit smoking at age 27 because it's stupid. Started smoking again at age 30 because I'm stupid.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 14-09-2018 7:44pm

Started at 17 and quit just over a yr ago at 29.

I was always curious about them, in 6th yr a girl I was seeing got me started. We'd buy a 10 pack in the morning and smoke em at lunch time.

I was told at the time that I'd be the type who'd get hooked on them. Highly strung personality, short temper and prone to worrying and overreacting. And I did, by the time I was in college I was up to a pack a day, about double that when drinking.

Nothing could calm me like a cig could.

It was brutal trying to stop, I was fcking people out of it right left and centre. I found the vape useless.

I still crave them today, if I smell cig smoke I want one. However I'm determined to stay off them for good this time. I'm also enjoying the extra discretionary income I'm saving.

satguy · 14-09-2018 7:46pm

13-15 and Still Smoke

Started at 9 or 10 , Would buy a loose one most mornings for the bus to school. If I had 10 1⁄2 p I would buy 10 Gold Bond.

It was 1973 / 74 , the trip from Bunratty Road to Donnycarney might take 5 minutes or so, just an enough to finish your smoke. (Fare was 2p if you had a school bag). The bus conductor would have to take our fares really fast because if he waited until Artane Roundabout we would jump off even if the bus was moving and save 2p .

From about my late teens on, I smoked 40 a day until I kicked them at 49years of age. Have been off the 5 or 6 years now.

14-09-2018 7:49pm

Mookie Blaylock wrote: »

I'm 47 and same as... never smoked...I was playing football and basketball to a high level thru my teens and id have been murdered if I started
But, genuinely...2 things I've never wanted to do... smoke.....and learn to drive

Respect for the username...and I only casually like basketball

Mookie Blaylock · 14-09-2018 7:51pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Respect for the username...and I only casually like basketball

Tbh, Spud Webb was my hero... Mookie is more of a musical leaning

14-09-2018 7:57pm

Mookie Blaylock wrote: »

Tbh, Spud Webb was my hero... Mookie is more of a musical leaning

Gotcha.

Filmer Paradise · 14-09-2018 8:04pm

Only smoked a few cigarettes ever

Started at 21. It was the '80 & sort of the done thing back then.

Quit at 44 due to the cost. Now 50,I've been vaping for the last 6 years.

Don't miss the fags at all now.

_Brian · 14-09-2018 8:04pm

Tea rolled in brown paper when I was 8 or 9, my sister had the brainwave

My smoking career was short, never since, I’ve never ever even tried a proper cigarette. Filthy things that make people mad their possessions smelly and dirty.

BeerWolf · 14-09-2018 8:15pm

Never Smoked

My mother used to be a smoker.

As a little kid I stole one of her cigs to try it. Being the ignorant child, instead of inhaling it I just held the smoke in my mouth... the taste of it had effectively completely put me off the stuff.

myshirt · 14-09-2018 8:22pm

13-15 and Still Smoke

Mark25 wrote: »

Thought I was bad at 13 but 9 is real young, great life story btw

Yeah was young. I remember watching Die Hard when I was about 11 and wanting to be as cool as John McClane. I was smoking 20 cigarettes a week I'd say, not many, but smoking nonetheless.

I'd still like to be as cool as John McClane, but not via smoking cigarettes.

Mark25 · 14-09-2018 8:29pm

13-15 and Ex Smoker

twowheelsonly wrote: »

13 as well, when I started secondary school although I had a few before that in primary school.
It was easy for me as my family had a small shop so it was handy enough to rob a packet - always the 10s' !!
54 now and still at it... Some days I hate them and other days I still love them.

Ironically, neither my mother or father smoked - with my father in particular totally anti smoking - if you fell and bust your head in our house he'd blame the fags !! Out of 7 children all seven smoked at one stage or another with three of us still regular smokers.

At 13 having a shop would make it easier to get cudarettes alright - big temptation.I was the only one in my family who smoked and wasnt allowed smoke at home (even outside) when I was young so the dog always got a walk

14-09-2018 8:30pm

Never Smoked

Smoking in going to disappear before we know it. The kind of social conditions which led to kids mostly from disadvantaged backgrounds smoking have disappeared in the last 5 to 10 years. Kids from such backgrounds used to live in real poverty, with far fewer entertainment options, they had lower expectations in life (didnt see themselves as people who go to college), their parents and older siblings were more likely to smoke than today, their diets were beige and high in carbs and low in protein and vegetables, status was acquired by being the "hardest" and most "grown up" out of the group, they felt different to the better off children. Nowadays kids from the "most disadvantaged backgrounds" are 6 foot tall, ripped, go around with 800 euro iphones aged 13, look the same as kids living in richer areas and socialise with them too, are openly concerned with their image to a degree unthinkable to their predecessors, eat chicken fillet rolls for their lunch in school and avoid soft drinks and they go to the gym, and the thought of smoking or being anti-social or, (the shame of it) violent!, is just off their radar completely.

SEPT 23 1989 · 14-09-2018 8:38pm

13-15 and Ex Smoker

Started at 14 still going strong

All that money wasted could have had a speedboat

r93kaey5p2izun · 14-09-2018 8:42pm

Never. It just seemed utterly pointless and dirty.

ablelocks · 14-09-2018 8:46pm

16-17 and Still Smoke

14

Due to pure, utter boredom in the summer of 1987.

My dad smoked, so at a minimum there were always half cigarettes or butts to smoke. I became quite adept at taking a cigarette from a new cellophane wrapped pack - so much so that when my dad complained to PJ Carroll and co he got about 10 cartons from them and a written assurance that they would ensure that no packet left the building with only 19 cigarettes in it.

I quit on feb 11th 1998 so I could afford to buy a car. But there are still times and I would love, love a cigarette.

dasdog · 14-09-2018 8:55pm

Only smoked a few cigarettes ever

19, had a pouch of tobacco for rolling joints. Myself and a good friend of mine were on two double dip strawberries each, listening to Led Zeppelin II and III. It was easier to put rollies together than get a joint together which we couldn't manage due to tripping off our faces, something clicked and within a week or two I was a smoker.

Gave up 3.5 years ago and still vape but I've zero interest in ever smoking a cigarrette again.

Kevin Finnerty · 14-09-2018 9:00pm

12 or Under - Ex Smoker

Fieldog wrote: »

Started at 13, gave them up at 36, lungs still recovering...

Only started to impress some lady who's name I can't even remember

For the same reason. I was 9. Puked my guts up afterwards but that didn't deter me. She had a lot going for her, her old man owned the local shop so loads of free fags.

Mark25 · 14-09-2018 9:08pm

13-15 and Ex Smoker

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Started at 17 and quit just over a yr ago at 29.

I was always curious about them, in 6th yr a girl I was seeing got me started. We'd buy a 10 pack in the morning and smoke em at lunch time.

I was told at the time that I'd be the type who'd get hooked on them. Highly strung personality, short temper and prone to worrying and overreacting. And I did, by the time I was in college I was up to a pack a day, about double that when drinking.

Nothing could calm me like a cig could.

It was brutal trying to stop, I was fcking people out of it right left and centre. I found the vape useless.

I still crave them today, if I smell cig smoke I want one. However I'm determined to stay off them for good this time. I'm also enjoying the extra discretionary income I'm saving.

Always associate lunchtimes at school with having a few smokes. We could leave school for lunch so it was easy enough to get away with it but got caught a few times and they would take the rest if the pack - another handy thing abour the 10 pack!!!

Lisha · 14-09-2018 9:33pm

16-17 and Still Smoke

myshirt wrote: »

I was 9.

I started on the Chocolate cigarettes.

Remember the white candy ones? The were fabulous.... the choc ones were lovely too

JupiterKid · 14-09-2018 9:40pm

18-20 and Ex Smoker

I started very late - just before I turned 20 in my 2nd year of college. I was out drinking with some acquaintances and someone offered me a cigarette and that was it - within a year I was hooked. I actually smoked my first joint before my I took up smoking - go figure!!

I hid it from my Dad for about a year and was very angry at myself for starting as I was very anti-smoking as a kid. Many of my mates took it up at 15/16 and nearly all have stopped since. I had a few half-hearted attempts at stopping but no success. I have another addiction that I am currently successfully battling so that takes priority for now, but I think vaping might help me to get off the cancer sticks and I do plan to be off them within 2 years.

Here's hoping...

14-09-2018 9:55pm

I was about 19 when I first had a cigarette. Partly a case of delayed teenage rebellion, partly sheer curiosity but mostly it was combatting social anxiety - the smoking area of clubs/bars makes it much easier to talk to people.

I still smoke socially (and still find the smoking area a good place to blow off steam!) but less so than I did in my early twenties.

Fortunately I've never found smoking to be addictive for me personally, but I do have sympathy for those who desperately want to quit and who try but fail to kick it for good.

twowheelsonly · 14-09-2018 10:26pm

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Started at 14 still going strong

All that money wasted could have had a speedboat

What I usually get is "How Much?" or "How Many" and "You could get a Ferrari for that..." to which I always respond... "Where's yours ???"

Billy86 · 14-09-2018 10:30pm

16-17 and Ex Smoker

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Started at 17 and quit just over a yr ago at 29.

I was always curious about them, in 6th yr a girl I was seeing got me started. We'd buy a 10 pack in the morning and smoke em at lunch time.

I was told at the time that I'd be the type who'd get hooked on them. Highly strung personality, short temper and prone to worrying and overreacting. And I did, by the time I was in college I was up to a pack a day, about double that when drinking.

Nothing could calm me like a cig could.

It was brutal trying to stop, I was fcking people out of it right left and centre. I found the vape useless.

I still crave them today, if I smell cig smoke I want one. However I'm determined to stay off them for good this time. I'm also enjoying the extra discretionary income I'm saving.

Good on you. I started at 16 in school, have been off a few times - once for 9-10 months and another for 18... don't let that moment of "ah sure it's just one..." weakness hit you, especially at 3am after a long night out, though you're only two years younger than me so if you're the same those are probably becoming a lot less frequent for you than before!

If you've never read it and ever get an itch, read Allen Carr's Easyway to Quit Smoking book. None of those books, leaflets etc ever did a thing for me but that book spurred both of my long times off, the logic he uses is fantastic.

Also in general, the government needs to run less of those "cigarettes kill you" ads because that just makes smokers feel bad, and what does a smoker do when they feel bad? Smoke, obviously. When I was in Australia a few years back they were running a campaign like this all over the place and it was great, actually motivated me to quit for the first time and gave me goals to reach for.

As much as it's a cash grab in actuality, as a smoker I do think the huge increase in prices is also a very good thing - getting a 10 pack for €3.10 if I recall when I started around 2002 was just too easy, nowadays 10s are obviously gone and I don't know what the cheaper ones are but 20 B&H will cost you upwards of €12 which doesn't price teenagers out but unless they have a job it does make it a financial commitment rather than a trade off for a 500ml bottle of coke and 2 chocolate bars, or whatever else. Also much of that 'grabbed cash' probably gets spent on smokers with health problems in a roundabout way at the end of the day.

Gorgeousgeorge · 14-09-2018 10:35pm

13-15 and Ex Smoker

Holy hand of jaysus had i just listened to the aul fella.

Started at 15

On the vape over a year now and its grand but at the end of the day its still just a crutch

ayux4rj6zql2ph · 14-09-2018 10:41pm

18-20 and Still Smoke

Sampled them at 14/15, started smoking full time at 17, quit at 23.

It was a choice between the car and the fags, the car won, but my waist size ballooned, I've shed some weight but i'm still about 4/5 stone away from my smokers weight.

What age did you start smoking and why?

What age did you start smoking cigarettes? 106 votes

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