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For those of you that think smoking is cool, WHY?

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Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel
According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of 'The Tipping Point', smoking isn't cool - charismatic smokers are. The cigarette isn't the only thing a 'cool smoker' influences the noob into picking up - there's usually a hairstyle/attitude/fashion statement to go with it.

Average Joe hanging out in the school parking lot lighting up a cigarette would go largely unnoticed - but if the 'cool kid' with great hair and a bad attitude lights up, the cigarette amplifies the rebel/outlaw factor that appeals to young, impressionable minds. If you go back and remember growing up, the coolest kid in class was usually the first one to try a cigarette - when others follow, they hope the cigarette will help them get one step closer to being as cool as him/her.
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Was the only person who went to a school without this "coolness" hierarchy? Sure, we had "cool kids" and "nerds" but they both looked up to each other for different reasons. In fact I think it was cooler to be a nerd than it was to be "cool" at my high school.
 
Hrm... As a smoker I have found that its not necessarily that I'm cool (far from it actually), its that other people that smoke are cool. For example. There's two groups at my work. The smokers and the non. The smoking group, yeah, we're pretty cool people. Then you go into the break room where it's non smoking... Wow, nothing but lameness in there.
 
I have noticed from where I used to work as opposed to being cool, there was some who appreciated being perceived as a persecuted sub-culture, relegated to unpleasant corners of buildings and outside of restaurants in the cold for purely a lifestyle choice. They suffer together apparently, committed to not being stamped out by society. anyhow that's how it looked to me, there even was an ad on tv that used to say 'the last refuge of the persecuted smoker'
 
I thought only teenagers thought it was cool and as they older they realized it was a mistake and is uncool(when health problems set in).
 
Originally posted by: A Casual Fitz
I never understood it either. I never started smoking, thus I have no desire to smoke. I'll never have to try to quit, never have to think about all the money I've wasted on cigarettes, never get lung cancer from tobacco...easiest thing I've ever done.
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More like easiest thing you've NEVER done.

 
I smoke occasionaly when I drink to enhance the buzz. I also smoke a cigar every now and then. I'm far from a regular smoker though...

edit: whoa... I was the first one to reply to this thread nearly 2 and a half months ago.
 
It would help me socialize with certain coworkers.. When they're all outside chatting over smokes I just walk by exhaling because I dont wanna breath that crap. They probably think I'm an asshole, but hey, not my problem.
 
Never understood it either. The whole family was glad when my dad finally decided to quit, though it's harder with co-workers who still smoke.
 
Originally posted by: Leros
<blockquote>quote:
Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel
According to Malcolm Gladwell, author of 'The Tipping Point', smoking isn't cool - charismatic smokers are. The cigarette isn't the only thing a 'cool smoker' influences the noob into picking up - there's usually a hairstyle/attitude/fashion statement to go with it.

Average Joe hanging out in the school parking lot lighting up a cigarette would go largely unnoticed - but if the 'cool kid' with great hair and a bad attitude lights up, the cigarette amplifies the rebel/outlaw factor that appeals to young, impressionable minds. If you go back and remember growing up, the coolest kid in class was usually the first one to try a cigarette - when others follow, they hope the cigarette will help them get one step closer to being as cool as him/her.</blockquote>

Was the only person who went to a school without this "coolness" hierarchy? Sure, we had "cool kids" and "nerds" but they both looked up to each other for different reasons. In fact I think it was cooler to be a nerd than it was to be "cool" at my high school.
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Wasn't very prevalent at my school either. Everyone was friendly to everyone, save for some people that everyone else hated 🙂
 
Looks cool. Not during the day though; I would keep my smoking to night time; out on the balcony, blowing the smoke out into the night air. I guess it was the image that it created that had me hooked.

I quit though after this last quarter. I get bored easily. 😀
 
Smoking isn't cool. Its an addiction. More powerfull than cocaine, or heroine. Smokers rationalize it the same way a crack addict rationalizes. The fact that its legal makes it available and removes the rest of the stigma of addiction, but smokers are still just addicts. You can't reason with an addict. You can't tell a drunk to just stop drinking, or a crack whore to stop working the streets for her fix. Remove the legal tobacco trade and you'll find male hetero smokers blowing guys for a pack.

Its the worst thing to effect modern man, worse than all the wars of the 20th century. Have you ever, had a loved one die of emphysema, its horible. Suffocating to death. And don't think that you'll quit before its to late. My mother-in-law quit at age 35 now at age 70 she requires oxygen because as you age the lungs continue to lose function on their own and if you drop 20% anyway, losing another 20% before hand puts you in the position of not being able to breath on you own even after you stopped.

What do I tell my patients who come in to the ER with COPD or emphysema or lung cancer or heart attach or stroke when they tell me that they smoke. Nothing they have done the damage and chastizing them now is cruel. I lovingly recommend that they stop because even now it will make them worse.

But to you, I stay don't or quit. Do it now and no excuses. If you smoke your nothing but an addict, a crack whore with a legal fix.
 
Originally posted by: lupi
Becuase drinking a glass of milk is worse than it.
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Where the f*** do you get that. All current studies debate the pros and cons of milk. Name one study that came anywhere near showing the statistical association of disease of tobacco.
 
I get cravings when im drunk. Other than that i rarely smoke when im not drunk. I never get cravings when im not drinking. I smoke probably about 1 cig per month.
 
Never considered smoking cool.

In fact, it's one of the biggest turn-offs I have when it comes to ladies.

She's hot 10/10. Oh shit, she smokes, 1/10.
 
How is it not cool to blow smoke in your mouth and suck on something that's on "fire". Oh..and you'll die faster so guys will like the "danger" and ladies will like guys who are "dangerous".

Personally, if they weren't toxic, I'd be blowing 2 packs a day. I love how they smell.
 
Originally posted by: bignateyk
I smoke occasionaly when I drink to enhance the buzz. I also smoke a cigar every now and then. I'm far from a regular smoker though...

edit: whoa... I was the first one to reply to this thread nearly 2 and a half months ago.
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*laughs*

i've done that a few times too in the 6yrs i've been here.

and sometimes i;m the one that revives an old thread not knowing i already wrote something. and i write something similiar to the stuff a wrote a few months b4 :Q
 
I used to wonder why I didn't see many people smoke when I went to Detroit, then I saw what costs me $20 for a carton in KY costs $51 a carton there...

I honestly smoke because it becomes a "forced break" no matter what I'm doing. At work, I'll work on something and reach a point where I'm having some issues, so I go smoke a cig. I usually figure it out while out there. just separating myself from the problem helps resolve it. When I've quit before (for years at a time) i found myself plugging away at a problem until i'm stressed like crazy due to no great reason to get up and away from it.
 
Originally posted by: mattpegher
Remove the legal tobacco trade and you'll find male hetero smokers blowing guys for a pack.
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lolz

Now that I've seen this thread I'm gonna go have one myself. :cig;
 
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