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.
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.