Christopher Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 So I hear it time and time again. People send me emails about their story and how they've quite. I read posts on the forums, PM's, Youtube messages, Youtube Comments and they all have one thing in common. Almost everyone started smoking when they where 13 years of age. Why is that? What did we see that made us want to smoke? Cigarette advertisements on TV had already been banned and it was rare I'd see an ad in a magazine. So what was it? Your thoughts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinikal Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 So I hear it time and time again. People send me emails about their story and how they've quite. I read posts on the forums, PM's, Youtube messages, Youtube Comments and they all have one thing in common. Almost everyone started smoking when they where 13 years of age. Why is that? What did we see that made us want to smoke? Cigarette advertisements on TV had already been banned and it was rare I'd see an ad in a magazine. So what was it? Your thoughts... High school man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EasyE Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Yep! had to be cool man... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ofortuna Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 i had my first smoke at 10 because i stole them from my father. i do not understand why there is such a push to keep the advertising away from children when most people i know also have or had parents or family members that smoked. that is where the most influence on a kid's life comes from, right? it amuses me that people put blame on everything except what the real problem is. hmmm....wonder why that is?!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted September 28, 2009 Author Share Posted September 28, 2009 Ah but the thing is my parents never smoked. In fact I'm the only one in the family that does, or did I should say. My mother and my father did not smoke. Same thing with sean and I don't think his parents ever smoked. And I know Roce's parents do not smoke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveD1 Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 well I was late,started analogs at 16 with the whole drinking and party scene was the cool thing to do then...My parents were smoke free since i was born so it wasnt them.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 (edited) Well I remember I started smoking cigarettes around the time I was 16. I started drinking and smoking other things when I was 12 with two of my buddies and their Uncle who was two years older than us. The only reason I started smoking cigarettes too was because they did and I figured "hey, why not I'm probably gunna die by the time I'm 25 at this rate anyway" and started lighting up cigarettes and cigars with them too. It's kinda funny too because up until that time I was always hardcore anti-cigarettes too. I was one of those kids who used to grab my grandma's cigarettes when she wasn't looking and throw them away hoping it would make her quit. Like that would work!!! Edited September 28, 2009 by Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keenan Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 I was 15. I didnt even inhale for the first 4 months. Cig ads had no effect at all, anymore than tv ads do today. I STILL dont have a Snuggie. Nor do I drink Budwieser. Those of us who were taught to rationally think for ourselves arent really influenced by razzle dazzle advertisments. Thats what infuriates me about SB400, If you eliminate ALL forms of tobacco ads, and if you make tobacco itself illegal, kids and adults are GOING to find a way to get it. A new Al Capone will be born. Didnt we learn ANYTHING from prohibition. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. TheSmokingMan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keenan Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Also, prohibition came about from the minds of a select few who annointed themselves with the power to decide what is best for the masses. Our nation had just fought a war, our economy was in the tank, and the powers that were took the moral high road and made the people obey. Hmmmm, the 1920s werent much different from today TheSmokingMan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ofortuna Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Wow!!! This is all really interesting Growing up, everyone around me smoked and the same went for my friend's families. We all started because cigarettes were so easy to get a hold of and it was not made out to be a "bad" thing. Most of us went to the gas station/store to buy them for our parents so no one thought differenetly when came in and bought them for oursleves. (They probably thought we were getting them for our parents!!) But I did grow up in colder than cold Wisconsin so there was not much more to do than drink and smoke!! Hehehehe!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorisatoIncorporated Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 Guess I was the late bloomer, didn't start smoking till I was 20. Was stress that finally broke me down and got into analogs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diggs Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 I started at age 15. Purely peer pressure. I grew up in a small town and we rode bikes and motorcycles and would gather near the train tracks almost daily after school. Some started bringing cigs and we ALL stole them from our parents at the time. It was something to do and you did it to fit into the crowd. I am 43 and in the late 70's and early 80's smoking wasn't shunned nearly like it is today. Both of my parents smoked, all their friends did or didn't object to others smoking, it was just accepted by society. It was almost like everyone did it and was expected to do it. I started working for Winn Dixie at 16 and bought my first carton at 16. I remember my father approaching me when he found a carton in my car, but it wasn't a big deal. Basically he said "Don't let your mother know". Hell, I think she already did know. Society during those times had a huge influence. Also, 13 is about the time you really get some freedom from the parents and have the ability to make some very bad choices on your own. I knew what I was doing, I knew it was addictive and potentially deadly. I used to try to get my parents to quit before I started, so I obviously understood the side effects of smoking. There are several things I would change in my life, but I must say I very much admire Jeff, the one kid in our group of friends that never took a cig and really didn't take any abuse for not taking one. I wish now I would have followed his lead. And I think given a choice to change any part of my life, I might select that moment and turn down the cig. Diggs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StringDancer Posted September 28, 2009 Share Posted September 28, 2009 (edited) I used to bike over to the market and buy cartons for my old man, no one thought anything of it back in those days. I pilfered a cig once from dad, and slipped out by the creek to smoke it. I thought it tasted like crap, and somehow managed to avoid getting hooked. Later, as the Surgeon General warnings started coming out, and being a young, nature-loving hippie living on bean sprouts and yogurt, I resolved to never take up the habit. And I didn't. I did fine until I was 33. I met (and later married) a very hot young babe from Croatia (then part of Yugoslavia) who, as does virtually every Slav from "the old country" I've ever met, smoked and drank with a romantic, fatalistic abandon. She made smoking seem so sexy, so tied into the slavic gusto for living hard and fast, I couldn't help myself, I wanted to share in the experience with her. So at 33, I fell off my wagon, and for the next 22 years smoked as if there were no tomorrow (which, of course, there wasn't, there's only today... but that's a meta-discussion better taken up on a philosophy forum). After about 10-12 years of steady smoking, I could begin to feel the downside of the habit... less power in my lungs, quicker fatigue when doing manual work, coughing, chronic sinus congestion, etc. In 2003, I experienced a blocked anterior artery in my heart, and had a titanium stent put in. Although I chalk this up to a less healthy diet than I had practiced in my early 20s and a general lack of exercise for the most part, I'm sure my smoking played a role in it, as well. But even the heart thing wasn't enough to get me off ciggies. With the stent, my state of well-being improved so much, I figured what the hell. I enjoyed my tobacco, and all things being equal, felt that I'd rather live and die on my own terms than deny myself one of life's more savory habitual pleasures. Doesn't make much sense, I know, to those who want to live as long as possible. For better or worse, I've never considered longevity, in and of itself, much of a motivating factor when it comes to how I live my life. I've seen so many people bust their butts trying to live perfectly healthy lifestyles, only to succumb to what I call "the bus factor". Sacrificing pleasure for the sake of longevity... I don't know, I don't get what the payoff is on that one. I guess I'm crazy, huh. As years crept by, I did want to quit smoking (as in, I knew that I "should"), but just couldn't get past the self-imposed deprivation. I must have a fatalistic streak in me a mile long. And watching my American Spirit ciggies go from $18 a carton to $70 in just a few short years, I was just getting more and more pissed at government's penchant for dumping ever-higher taxes on smokers. What an easy sell! Lay an entire taxation program on the backs of smokers, one of the most universally despised populations in the country... a politician couldn't go wrong with that move! A good 80% of the people love sin taxes because it doesn't impact them at all. This sucks! Didn't intend to post this post on the topic, but there ya go, the whole story. Edited September 28, 2009 by StringDancer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmhester Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 For me, it was the stress of junior high! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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