SMOKERS - how many in your family, or are friends ?

3 out of 4 of my grandparents smoked

Mother - quit about 30 years ago
Father - smoker

If you were from the South Wales Valleys or the East End, wotking class and born before the war, it's odds-on you'd be a smoker

My mother was the eldest of 8. (there was 4 brothers and 4 sisters)

2 of the sisters(including my mum) smoked - both died of cancer in their 60`s.
The 2 sisters who do not smoke are still alive.

All 4 brothers smoked - All 4 died of heart attacks. Not one reached 70.

Me - Non smoker/ ex smoker-smoked for 20 years
2 brothers never smoked
Wife - never smoked
Brother-in-law small time smoker
Father-in-law smoker/big drinker
Stepmother-in-law  ex smoker
Mother-in-law  ex smoker
Stepfather-in-law ex smoker
Pals - not many quitters - either all time smokers or all time non smokers.

I think smoking rates are roughly:

now 25%
10 years ago 33%
1970s 50%

Don't know about 1940s - 60s but would guess much higher

I've never even tried smoking. Not one cigarette.

Not sure that the government's decision to ban the import of ashtrays is going to reduce smoking rates

nick, 1.01 your grandfather came from the south wales valley's

Mother and both maternal grandparents. Aberdare

Actually, grandmother was from the Rhondda valley (Aberdare's in the Cynon valley)

SMOKERS!! GET YOUSELF TO TENERIFE...PACKS AVERAGE OUT ABOUT THREE EUROS 4 TWENTY.  YOU CAN SMOKE YER SELF SILLY TILL YOUR NEXT TUMOR.


Myself, Id rather do pot.

did your grandfathers work at tower nick

No. A pit called the Werver I think. But that's going back a long, long time

I didn't say he was a coal miner but he was

The hypocrisy of it all....ciggies and weed.


Nat King Cole = Such a shame..."he died at such a young age" (smoked 3 packs a day)

vs

Bob Marley = Good riddance ..."I knew the drugs will get him in the end.. DRUGGIE!!!!"


-----------



....both died of lung cancer before hitting 50.

Nick, and 1.01 they stayed at costa del trecco in a caravan for their holidays

Where's that?

5 siblings, only one doesn't smoke although I smoke the least out of those that do. Mum and Dad didn't but Dad did have a few when he had a beer in the pub sometimes. All four grandparents smoked like fiends.

porthcawl nick

EMR - do we know each other or something?

dont know nick

They actually lived near Tower colliery from about 1970 onwards - in Hirwaun

ask them about costa del trecco. or butty bay has some call it nick.

talk to you again nick. off out now

Me, ex-smoker (still have breathing problems 15 years after stopping)
Wife and kid's non-smokers
Father- smoker , died of lung cancer in his 50's due to smoking
Mother -non-smoker and in decent health for her age

Father in law  smokes rollies - had his thyroid removed due to cancer last year
Mother in law  non smoker in reasonable health
Brother  ex-smoker - went grey at an early age
Sister in law  smoker - had Breast cancer 3 years ago
Brother in law x2 - both smoke and have lost most of their hair in their 30's
Sister in laws x2 - don't smoke and in reasonable health
   Basically if you smoke the chances are your going to get cancer and suffer a lot of pain , if your willing to pay the price or
feel you may get lucky then fair enough , everybody has the right to choose.

Tinkler

Your family list reads a bit like mine..

There is a very strong division between the health of the smokers and non smokers.

Is there a link between smoking and hair loss?

No, I've got hair.

do you smoke after smoke? no idea. ive never looked.

bollocks! try again!

do you smoke after sex? no idea, ive never looked.

it really wasnt worth the effort!

Correct

I agree

None here.

Never smoked and nor have any of my close friends or family. In fact I can't recall anybody ever having had a single cigarette in my house or my parents house when growing up as a child.

I'm convinced much of it is down to peer pressure. To fit in when we were kids you had to go to the football so everyone went. In other groups it is smoking or music etc.

How have all the smokers who have given up got in their old age?

Smoking is only for Mongs and people who can't control themselves I think.

Father in law  smokes rollies - had his thyroid removed due to cancer last year

I thought rollies were the safest option!

Nat King Cole = Such a shame..."he died at such a young age" (smoked 3 packs a day)
vs
Bob Marley = Good riddance ..."I knew the drugs will get him in the end.. DRUGGIE!!!!"
....both died of lung cancer before hitting 50.

I think you will find Bob Marley had cancer of the toe and Danny Baker is to blame....

HARMFUL CHEMICALS IN CIGARETTES
Chemical    Description
Benzene
(petrol additive)   
A colourless cyclic hydrocarbon obtained from coal and petroleum, used as a solvent in fuel and in chemical manufacture - and contained in cigarette smoke.
A It known carcinogen associated with leukaemia.
Formaldehyde
(embalming fluid)   
A colourless liquid, highly poisonous, used to preserve dead bodies - also found in cigarette smoke.
Known to cause cancer, respiratory, skin and gastrointestinal problems.
Ammonia
(toilet cleaner)   
Used as a flavouring, frees nicotine from tobacco turning it into a gas
Often found in dry cleaning fluids.
Acetone
(nail polish remover)   
Fragrant volatile liquid ketone, used as a solvent, for example, nail polish remover
Found in cigarette smoke.
Tar   
Particulate matter drawn into lungs when you inhale on a lighted cigarette. Once inhaled, smoke condenses and about 70 per cent of the tar in the smoke is deposited in the smoker's lungs.
Nicotine
(insecticide/addictive drug)   
One of the most addictive substances known to man, a powerful and fast-acting medical and non-medical poison.
This is the chemical which causes addiction.
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
(car exhaust fumes)   
An odourless, tasteless and poisonous gas, rapidly fatal in large amounts
The same gas that comes out of car exhausts
The main gas in cigarette smoke, formed when the cigarette is lit
Others   
Arsenic (rat poison)
Hydrogen Cyanide (gas chamber poison

Your friends and relatives have some weird names.

Nobody in my family smokes or has ever smoked. Both of my grandfathers did but they passed away (not smoking related).

None of my close friends have ever smoked.

I think a lot of it is down to peer pressure. When we were kids the in thing to do was to go to the football and get pissed therefore everyone did that to fit in even some of the lads who had no interest in football went home and away every week. If smoking had been the in thing then no doubt most of us would be smokers now.

I've never lived in a house with a smoker and couldn't imagine doing so.

The majority of smokers that I know, don't smoKe in the house anyway, we go outside.

My Wife Smokes Roll Ups,how big a turn off is that ffs?......Coughes her guts up every morning.I have begged her to give up for years but to not a chance.........Breaks my Heart it does.

I can't be bothered to type the full stories as I've done it before, but I knew one man of 42 years of age, about 5-11, and 12 stones, pretty fit, non-smoker, occasional drinker, ran half marathons (13 miles) for charity. Died watching the television on a Saturday afternoon.

Office worker in my old firm, in his early 30s, newly married with young baby, 5 feet 6, about 9 stones soaking wet. Non-smoker, non drinker. Had a massive heart attack and died while he had his baby in his arms.

An old friends brother, late 40s, 6-2, slim, non-drinker, non-smoker, collapsed in street and died before the ambulance got to him.

Enjoy what you like, you're only here once.

One drop of pure nicotine is enough to kill a person within a few minutes, one of the few poisons capable of inducing an impressively swift demise from such a small dose.  Strychnine being another, I should imagine.

There are, of course, a whole host of other subststance which, if ingested, will eventually kill you over a longer timescale.  Taxine, for instance, derived from yew tree berries, will probably dispatch one to the choir invisible in a matter of hours.

I learnt everything above as a youth whilst reading Agatha Christie's A Pocket Full of Rye.

I don't have any friends who smoke. Very difficult to understand why anyone does in view of the statistics.

Each to his own, I guess, but for me smoking is a surprising life decision because to me the pros seem to be vastly outweighed by the cons. I fully believe that in the absence of an externally defined point to existence the best thing to do is to maximise your total enjoyment in life, so 60 great years are better than 80 tedious ones. But I must be missing something about smoking because I just don't see how the advantages can make upfor all the coughing, wheezing, expense and death.

What kind of percentage of smokers would give up if they could do so right now and without withdrawal symptoms or putting on five stone and stuff? I'd be interested to hear your opinions.

I think one of the problems is that people start smoking when they are young when death and illness dont exist. When they are older and realise the damage it does it's too late and they cant give up.

I`ve quit past 24 hours after reading some of the threads on here.

Bill Hicks, smokers vs non-smokers routine.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZTSfkNc1bQ&feature=related

PTC

Each to his own, I guess, but for me smoking is a surprising life decision because to me the pros seem to be vastly outweighed by the cons. I fully believe that in the absence of an externally defined point to existence the best thing to do is to maximise your total enjoyment in life, so 60 great years are better than 80 tedious ones. But I must be missing something about smoking because I just don't see how the advantages can make upfor all the coughing, wheezing, expense and death.

What kind of percentage of smokers would give up if they could do so right now and without withdrawal symptoms or putting on five stone and stuff? I'd be interested to hear your opinions.

The thing I cannot understand with all smokers is, what about the risk to reward ratio....To me the buzz of a ciggerette is equivent to a strong cup of coffee or tea.

If yer gonna chance it on getting cancer, you might as well make it worth your while and add a bit of ganja to your favourite baccy.

Smoking doesn't affect my judgment of anything.

It has been proved that heavy use of marijuana causes slower reactions and paranoia.

What's the meaning of this?

Hang on a minute.

Lepers.

Ffs skip, couldn't you tell I was building up to a hilarious slow, paranoid reaction there. Nearly an hour that took, wtf are you doing posting in the middle of the night anyway?

I was going to say there was a plot by SF or something. It would have been really funny.

sry Pat.. youre wasted on here

No problem, skip. I may have been a bit drunk.

no one has died directly from  slower reactions or paranoia

Car drivers mangled on UK roads on a daily basis. I'd say the odds of just one being a mary joanna smoker are not that long.

As for paranoia, I recall a nutjob on the London Underground running full pelt from the carriage he was in, screaming something like 'Why don't you all leave me alone.' and running head first into a chocolate machine mounted on the wall.  Could have been worse, he could have run into one of my young daughters.

20 Lambert and Butler a day. 2 sisters. one never smoked, other stopped years ago. Mother never smoked, dad can't remember him. 2 kids don't smoke, one neice who does.

For me

I think smoking rates are roughly:

now 25%
10 years ago 33%
1970s 50%

Don't know about 1940s - 60s but would guess much higher


I may have gone too high at 25% in 2012.  It was 17% in 2015, falling to under 16% in 2016 and 2017.



Don't know if EMR is still around but he mentioned Tower Colliery. Did you know it was the oldest continuously working deep-coal mine in the United Kingdom, and possibly the world, until its closure in 2008.

Bob Marley died of Melanoma. Cancer of the skin started in his big toe and within 4 years tumours had spread to his liungs and brain. He was 36.

you almost say that with relish.

Mother smoked until her mid-50s, including while carrying me. She enjoyed remarkably good health, until succumbing to acute leukaemia at 81, and dying within a matter of days.

Father smoked until his mid-70s. Died of a heart attack at 86 or 88 (it was never clear which of his dates of birth was the real one). He was an interesting case, because he spent the last year of the War in an elite unit of the German armed forces, and consequently had access to virtually unlimited beer. When he was withdrawn from the front-line for a period, he found himself guarding Australian and French PoWs. The French, he said, were miserable so-and-so's, uncommunicative and shuffling around in their greatcoats. The Australians, however, were very different, and had access to vast quantities of Red Cross cigarettes. They were keen to barter the cigs for beer, and that way my dad gave up alcohol virtually completely, and switched to tobacco instead. Of the two addictions, my dad was convinced that tobacco was the better, simply because cigarette addicts are a hell of a lot easier to live with than alcoholics.

I smoked throughout my twenties - Camels and Gitanes. I just loved the taste of both of them, never mind the nicotine addiction. I used to stop occasionally, then start again when I found myself chucked out by girlfriends, or in employment, or in similarly hopeless situations.

I stopped for good during the bitter winter of 1990-91. I'd had a stupendous day one afternoon at Newbury in November, and by February it was clear I'd finally cracked the game and wasn't going to have to get a job again. I'd had another decent day at one of those AW hurdling cards at Lingfield, and was running to catch a connecting train at Clapham Jnctn on the way home, when I found another racegoer, a little chap, about 80, comfortably keeping up with me.

'Bloody hell,' I thought. 'I've got everything I ever wanted here - making a living from going racing. I want to enjoy it like he is, when I reach that age.'

So that was that. I was lodging at my mate Pete's house at the time, and he was married, so he found it a bit harder to give up, but he could see what it meant for me, so he stopped in the end too, to make it easier for me.

I can't think of anyone I know who currently smokes. I wish some of them wouldn't consume so much ethanol though.

Further to my "recent" post, I've not had a cig since 6/4/18. Would be silly to carry on with COPD.