What age did you start smoking and why?

Rothko · 14-09-2018 10:46pm

Never Smoked

Anyone who ever smoked did it because of peer pressure.

Lisha · 14-09-2018 10:49pm

16-17 and Still Smoke

Rothko wrote: »

Anyone who ever smoked did it because of peer pressure.

Started yes due to peer pressure... continued because it’s feicing lovely

NewbridgeIR · 14-09-2018 10:52pm

13-15 and Still Smoke

Started at 11.
Didn't smoke much in school - maybe one or two a day (could buy them singly).
When I went to college I smoked around 5-10 a day.
After I got a permanent job that went to 15-20 per day.
Quit at 28 because my new girlfriend didn't like smoking.
Have had four relapses (one cigarette each time) in 18 years.

Always enjoyed smoking.
Never had a problem with weight when I smoked.
Could never understand people who smoked and complained about it.
Also couldn't fathom smokers who welcomed the smoking ban - why? It's a pain in the neck to go outside.
Be proud of your habit.

Would love to start again but 1) health reasons and 2) price would put me off.
I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes two years ago and the doctor said that "starting to smoke again wouldn't be a great idea"

freshpopcorn · 14-09-2018 11:04pm

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

Also couldn't fathom smokers who welcomed the smoking ban - why? It's a pain in the neck to go outside.

Great way to chat up women!

Tilikum17 · 14-09-2018 11:09pm

Started smoking at 12. Both myself & my friend. Smoked for 20 years.

Got T.B

Took champix.

Off them 8 years.

freshpopcorn · 14-09-2018 11:17pm

We were one of a few schools in the country invited to a talk by Jeffrey Wigand the famous whistleblower.
Between this and all those chats we had at school on the matter. They sort of made it appealing.
I smoked the very odd time when I was a teenager and then started more at college. Mainly due to social smoking on nights out. Then it staryed to creep into the next day.
Haven't smoked in a few years now.

Mark25 · 14-09-2018 11:17pm

13-15 and Ex Smoker

Deleted User wrote: »

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.

Thats serious enough but interesring and I get some of what you are saying. I was a bit wimpy when I was 13 and thinking like a 13 year old I thought it would make me look older and a bit harder! You said it isnt much like that now but I still see plenty of kids around smoking

Richard Hillman · 14-09-2018 11:25pm

13-15 and Ex Smoker

I enjoyed the excitement of the vice principal trying to catch people out. I was a rebel, the chase and the challenge excited me. Still smoke 15 years later, have no intention to quit, I enjoy my habitual fags. The key is to not smoke when you need one and not for the sake of it.

sicknotexi · 14-09-2018 11:29pm

13-15 and Ex Smoker

14. I blame Kurt.

Snotty · 14-09-2018 11:39pm

13-15 and Still Smoke

Stated in Primary school, I'd say about 10. Didn't smoke much in secondary school, just the odd time. Then in college started more regularly and was on 20 a day by end of college. That was 20 years ago and I'm off them just over a year now. So glad to be off them, they were just a curse.

moonage · 15-09-2018 12:08am

jim salter · 15-09-2018 12:10am

13-15 and Still Smoke

I'm fukin winning on this thread and it's fukin' great!

myshirt · 15-09-2018 8:35am

13-15 and Still Smoke

Philip Morris have taken their business model to places like Indonesia and you can be sure they won't make the mistakes again as the market matures. I remember our neighbour Jacob Rees Mogg slipping from character once and saying with glee there is great margin in cigarettes (he invests in emerging markets).

Prison economies around the world run on cigarettes aswell. 20 cigarettes for a muff bag, etc.

myshirt · 15-09-2018 8:39am

13-15 and Still Smoke

moonage wrote: »

Ah stop. As long as you are wearing clean jocks I wouldn't worry.

Grab All Association · 15-09-2018 8:50am

13-15 and Still Smoke

Believe it or not around 7

(13 when I started smoking full time) courtesy of the 5th and 6th class students robbing them from the chain smoking teachers.

In secondary school I’d go to Bonners pub in Thurles (now a carphone warehouse) they had a cigarette machine upstairs beside the toilets. Go in there with old pound coins and 50ps. Used to smoke them in the toilet between classes. Principal would stand outside the cubicle knowing full well what you were doing but he couldn’t open the door. Used to sneak one cigarette from my locker into my pencil case so you wouldn’t get caught. The principal also had a master key to all lockers hence why I’d purposely half break my key in the door to stop him getting in. They were only brand new lockers at the time and I guess they didn’t want to bust in to change the lock

OldMrBrennan83 · 15-09-2018 8:53am

13-15 and Ex Smoker

13, because someone gave me one. Had a few years of along the way but you could basically say damage is done after that many years. No real desire to give up at the minute, I don't think I'd be able to anyway as I've no will power when it comes to anything.

Captain Slow IRL · 15-09-2018 9:06am

18-20 and Still Smoke

Started at 16 because everyone else my age was at it. Out of a gang of about 15 of us, only 1 didn't take up smoking. Quit when I was 27 after reading Alan Carr's book.

wonga77 · 15-09-2018 9:09am

First cigarette at 11 cause I was with a "cool" friend. Never really got into it though I would still have an occasional one on a night out.
As a shop owner I can safely say the scene has changed a massive amount in the last 10 or so years. Mostly has to do with the pricing but there are very few young ones looking to buy cigarettes. Rarely ever are we forced to ask for id anymore. If anything it's more pouches of tobacco we sell to the younger market 18-25 year olds.
Vapes are a fad aimed at the young ones. I mean who wants to be smoking blueberry fags... I think in a few years they will be proven to be worse for your health.

Graces7 · 15-09-2018 1:02pm

Never smoked. It was a different world in those far off years. ...

I trained to Advanced Royal Academy of Dancing in classical ballet. When any of the girls tried smoking, the effect on their breathing in class was immediately apparent. Scary.

My father was a heavy smoker like so many who fought in the War, and the stink has terrible memories for me. He died of cancer later.

The Bishop Basher · 15-09-2018 6:28pm

13-15 and Still Smoke

Took them up at 11.

I decided I wanted to because I was that kind of kid and so i found a half smoked butt in Pearse Street Station on my way home from school one day and smoked it when I got home. I hid it in a pen :pac:

I was high as a kite, loved it and was hooked from that day on.

I was a chain smoker from my mid teens right up to mid 40's.

I was a heavy drinker as well and literally ate them on a night out easily going through 60 or 80..

Gave up the sauce 3 years ago..

About 18 months ago I woke up one morning and decided i was going to stop smoking. No planning, no real decision or any idea how I was going to do it.. By the end of the day I knew for certain that i'd never smoke again..

It's a switch in your head.. We all have it.. If you can find it and flick it, giving up is easy..

Having said all that, if I was still drinking i'd be still smoking.

No doubt about it.

MikeyTaylor · 15-09-2018 7:51pm

"Hi, I'm Nico! I'd like to introduce you to my new range of beauty products..."

"THERE'S NOTHING SEXY ABOUT SMOKING."

Seriously. Never seen the attraction of it at all.

harry Bailey esq · 15-09-2018 8:26pm

13-15 and Ex Smoker

My smoking career actually started sucking hash through pierced coke cans as child then, I became quite adept at rolling spliffs and that's when my lifelong love affair with nicotine began

What age did you start smoking and why?

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