But I still, I never understood smoking. I can understand why addicted smokers smoke, but not why people that don't smoke start smoking.

For one, the price is ridiculous. $5 for a pack of poison. Pack a day is $1800 a year. $1800 would be reasonable for something that actually improves my health rather than ruin it.

Can't remember what movie it was on, but I recall an actor saying "Why don't you just drink poison?" which is a good question. They put so many different chemicals in cigarettes, its impossible to memorize them all. If you walked around drinking a bottle of rocket fuel, people would probably think you were a skitzo. But, wrap the poison in flax and suddenly it looks harmless, or in some cases "cool".

I don't care if you smoke or not. I just don't know the point behind starting the habit in the first place.
EmpirezTeam wrote:
I don't care if you smoke or not. I just don't know the point behind starting the habit in the first place.

Let me clarify. First, I smoke natural cigarettes. Being in tobacco country, I can easily get natural cigarettes, that are pure leaf, wrapped in paper with a menthol filter on the end. I'm bypassing the tax doing this(buying direct from a farmer), so ~$3($15 for 100) for a pack of cigarettes isn't bad. Also, I'm by no means a pack a day smoker. It takes me 4-5 days to go through a "pack." I'm not addicted either, I've done checks to make sure, at the least, I'm not yet chemically addicted.

As to why start in the first place, nicotine is a stimulant. It gives you a nice, relaxed high for about 5 minutes after the cigarette is finished. Also, many people I associate with(college students and young adults) smoke. So sitting outside, smoking a cigarette and socializing is the norm. I'm not saying I wouldn't have a social life, but it would be much, much different.
See, Verm, he just clarified what I said:

"He smokes because it calms him down and helps him perceive life in ways you could never imagine."

"Its also used as a social-enhancer and allows him to have fun when hes in different social settings"

"It gives you a nice, relaxed high for about 5 minutes after the cigarette is finished. Also, many people I associate with(college students and young adults) smoke. So sitting outside, smoking a cigarette and socializing is the norm."

First, I was right about you having a puppy and now I was right about you smoking to remain calm and be apart of social settings. I somehow know all these things about you. Have we met before in person? o.O



hell is a silly concept.
The peoples republic of china wrote:
hell is a silly concept.

Eh, existence in general is a silly concept.
So it -is- to be cool with the crowd. Denial.

Where it may have a calming effect initially, eventually he'll have to smoke them just to keep from being anxious, jittery, having headaches, and/or whatever else nicotine withdrawals cause.
Vermolius wrote:
So it -is- to be cool with the crowd. Denial.

Nah, at the stage of life I'm at, I don't hold any value to "social status." If I did, I wouldn't be on BYOND.

When something like this comes up, ask yourself one thing. Is the person a ginger?
You should have punched the fat kid in thou face gave him a cigarette,a lighter and walked away.
Mostly just family inform me I need to quit smoking, even the ones that smoke themselves. I don't think anyone has ever came up to me and tried to tell me it was bad, at least that I can recall. Having a fat kid tell me it though would be amusing.
Disturbed Puppy wrote:
Vermolius wrote:
You seem to neglect the concept of second hand smoke altogether. Sure, I'll let you disrespect yourself but when I have to breathe your stupidity I don't take kindly to it. Beings as how you were outside it's not so bad. Continue being cool, dude.

Being as how it's outside it's negligible. And being that it's not an attempt to be cool, it's a non-issue. And being that he has his own health issues to work out, he needs to worry about how much more of a cost he is to society than I am, he doesn't need to be preaching his rhetoric to me.

Actually, being while one person lighting up one time will produce a negligible amount of smoke, keep in mind that there are roughly 1.2 BILLION smokers in the world, and most of these people are going to smoke more than 1 cigarette on a given day. Obviously this is going to have an environmental impact that should be appreciated.
Vexonater wrote:
Actually, being while one person lighting up one time will produce a negligible amount of smoke, keep in mind that there are roughly 1.2 BILLION smokers in the world, and most of these people are going to smoke more than 1 cigarette on a given day. Obviously this is going to have an environmental impact that should be appreciated.

An individual who's diet consists mainly of fast food and what is purchased at large scale supermarkets will have an even greater impact on the
environment. Also, I doubt he uses an alternative source of transport anywhere he goes.
Disturbed Puppy wrote:
Vexonater wrote:
Actually, being while one person lighting up one time will produce a negligible amount of smoke, keep in mind that there are roughly 1.2 BILLION smokers in the world, and most of these people are going to smoke more than 1 cigarette on a given day. Obviously this is going to have an environmental impact that should be appreciated.

An individual who's diet consists mainly of fast food and what is purchased at large scale supermarkets will have an even greater impact on the
environment. Also, I doubt he uses an alternative source of transport anywhere he goes.

I agree completely, but just because there's more than one thing contributing to a problem doesn't mean you can say that "Why should I stop X just because Y is also bad." That's like saying you should be able to be a rapist just because other people are murderers.

Anyway, all silliness aside, all you're doing is removing personal responsibility by saying other people should change instead of you. That's what's wrong with the world right there.
Vexonater wrote:
Anyway, all silliness aside, all you're doing is removing personal responsibility by saying other people should change instead of you. That's what's wrong with the world right there.

I ride a bicycle to and from work and to and from the store(local grocery store). I eat mainly farm-raised fish, and nationally grown produce. My carbon footprint, with smoking cigarettes,* is still less than most Americans.


* I also smoke cigars about one or two a week.
I eat fast food, smoke cigarettes, drive cars, and buy all my food at Aldis. Why deny myself these pleasures so that a fat kid doesn't get second hand smoke?
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