If you smoke - just stop it

[Rubberhead]

I'm 60 years old and have never smoked but I've been robbed of dozens of men that mattered to me. They all died much earlier than they should have simply because they smoked. I could write a book and may share a few chapter but for now, here's my Top 10 reasons to quite smoking while you still can.

1. You stink,
2. A pack a day habit diverted into a 401k instead of being smoked will be worth $1 million in 36 years (at 10% return),
3. You stink, and those around you notice it,
4. Your legs could die three (3) years before you do (a chapter in the book),
5. You stink, and those around you notice it, they're just too polite to tell you,
6. You don't look cool, you look stupid,
7. You're robbing the world, your family, your PH and yourself of the best of you,
8. You're reducing your hunting ability,
9. If you live long enough, smoking is 100% fatal,
10. Did I mention that you stink?

 

[Aaron N]

But it’s their god given right!

 

[uplander01]

Knowing what we know now about what many of the things we inhale, eat, drink, etc.do to a person in the long run it's hard to believe anyone does it any of it. But quite frankly the thought of giving up wine, 2 Hearted Ale, meat, or pasta to me is like giving up things that I truly love, might as well give up sex and hunting as well. A guy ain't going to live forever and to me it's not worth giving all that shit up so I can live 5 more years when I can't do anything anymore anyway. Watching my dad go through it right now at 88. Bottom line, 90% of the people that make it into their 80's, especially men that have worked hard their whole lives are going to have a miserable 5-7 years at the end.

 

[gbflyer]

I'm 60 years old and have never smoked but I've been robbed of dozens of men that mattered to me. They all died much earlier than they should have simply because they smoked. I could write a book and may share a few chapter but for now, here's my Top 10 reasons to quite smoking while you still can.

1. You stink,
2. A pack a day habit diverted into a 401k instead of being smoked will be worth $1 million in 36 years (at 10% return),
3. You stink, and those around you notice it,
4. Your legs could die three (3) years before you do (a chapter in the book),
5. You stink, and those around you notice it, they're just too polite to tell you,
6. You don't look cool, you look stupid,
7. You're robbing the world, your family, your PH and yourself of the best of you,
8. You're reducing your hunting ability,
9. If you live long enough, smoking is 100% fatal,
10. Did I mention that you stink?

And generally, they are assholes about it.

 

[mdwest]

Ive never smoked cigarettes (although I have smoked a pipe at one time, and used to be very into cigars years ago)..

that said.. if we condemned everyone that had a habit or a hobby that we didn't like.. we'd all be fucked sooner or later...

Im much more into the idea that you do what you want, I'll do what I want.. and as long as you doing what you want doesn't negatively impact me, I'll do my best to make sure what Im doing doesn't negatively impact you..

We don't allow smoking in restaurants any longer.. we don't allow smoking on aircraft.. or city buses.. or in most buildings.. etc..etc..

its been a very long time since I've been bothered by someone else's cigarette smoke.. and on the very rare occurrence where it has happened over the last 40+ years since smoking has largely become unpopular in the US, its been pretty easy for me just to move a few feet away and no longer be bothered..

I guess I'd ask, what if someone tomorrow declares you never be allowed to have a fine wine because alcoholism has robbed them of too many people.. and people sweating out alcohol the next morning stink... or you can never eat another hostess product because Americans are fat asses and too many people are dying from diabetes.. and fat sweaty people stink.. or that you not be allowed to hunt deer anymore because too many women are crying at home while their husbands go missing for weeks at a time during hunting season, etc..etc.. would you concede? or tell them to pound sand?

Maybe my Indian neighbors should be banned from cooking their currie dishes? the women are starting to get a little portly over there, and if you've ever smelled an indian that's been eating currie every day for a week.. holy shit do they stink!



Were I a smoker (Im not) and anyone told me to "stop".. I'd very likely fire one up immediately and then start chain smoking until you finally got frustrated and left..

Im grown.. if I choose to destroy my body with cigarettes, whiskey, too much fatty red meat, or anything else.. and Im not infringing on your rights in the process.. I'd prefer that you not try to infringe on my rights because you feel inconvenienced in my execution of them..

People need to stop any bad habits they might have because THEY have a desire to stop.. not because anyone else wants them to stop..

 

[deewayne2003]

Ive never smoked cigarettes (although I have smoked a pipe at one time, and used to be very into cigars years ago)..

that said.. if we condemned everyone that had a habit or a hobby that we didn't like.. we'd all be fucked sooner or later...

Im much more into the idea that you do what you want, I'll do what I want.. and as long as you doing what you want doesn't negatively impact me, I'll do my best to make sure what Im doing doesn't negatively impact you..

We don't allow smoking in restaurants any longer.. we don't allow smoking on aircraft.. or city buses.. or in most buildings.. etc..etc..

its been a very long time since I've been bothered by someone else's cigarette smoke.. and on the very rare occurrence where it has happened over the last 40+ years since smoking has largely become unpopular in the US, its been pretty easy for me just to move a few feet away and no longer be bothered..

I guess I'd ask, what if someone tomorrow declares you never be allowed to have a fine wine because alcoholism has robbed them of too many people.. and people sweating out alcohol the next morning stink... or you can never eat another hostess product because Americans are fat asses and too many people are dying from diabetes.. and fat sweaty people stink.. or that you not be allowed to hunt deer anymore because too many women are crying at home while their husbands go missing for weeks at a time during hunting season, etc..etc.. would you concede? or tell them to pound sand?

Maybe my Indian neighbors should be banned from cooking their currie dishes? the women are starting to get a little portly over there, and if you've ever smelled an indian that's been eating currie every day for a week.. holy shit do they stink!



Were I a smoker (Im not) and anyone told me to "stop".. I'd very likely fire one up immediately and then start chain smoking until you finally got frustrated and left..

Im grown.. if I choose to destroy my body with cigarettes, whiskey, too much fatty red meat, or anything else.. and Im not infringing on your rights in the process.. I'd prefer that you not try to infringe on my rights because you feel inconvenienced in my execution of them..

People need to stop any bad habits they might have because THEY have a desire to stop.. not because anyone else wants them to stop..

@mdwest Amen and you sound like this guy.....Billy Bob that is

Personally I dipped Copenhagen for 20+ years and no amount of people complaining around me got me to stop, I just got tired of it.

Although I do not understand the Heroin like affect that cigarettes have on people, your typical pack of cigarettes has 12-20mg of nicotine per pack depending on band and flavor. Copenhagen on the other hand has 88mg of nicotine per can and I used to go through a can per day........

However never in my life have I asked a waitress for a spit cup or had to put a dip in while other people are eating - I find this just as vulgar as blowing smoke in some ones face while their eating.

 

[mdwest]

@mdwest Amen and you sound like this guy.....Billy Bob that is

Personally I dipped Copenhagen for 20+ years and no amount of people complaining around me got me to stop, I just got tired of it.

Although I do not understand the Heroin like affect that cigarettes have on people, your typical pack of cigarettes has 12-20mg of nicotine per pack depending on band and flavor. Copenhagen on the other hand has 88mg of nicotine per can and I used to go through a can per day........

However never in my life have I asked a waitress for a spit cup or had to put a dip in while other people are eating - I find this just as vulgar as blowing smoke in some ones face while their eating.

A doc would know a lot more than I do.. but I don't think its the nicotine that gets you.. my understanding is its the tar and other carcinogens.. I think the nicotine is just the thing that your body starts to crave and makes you want more..

dip, chew, snuff, etc don't think have much if any tar or lead or arsenic like cigarettes do..

Im going to guess things haven't changed much even though its been a very long time since I served in uniform... but when I was in I'd guess 80% or more infantrymen and SOF personnel dipped or chewed.. and I'd guess probably at least 25% or more of the entire Army did..

we also had smokers.. but they were pretty far and few in between... I don't have any actual study or survey data, but my guess is less than 5% were smokers... even though the Army was a HUGE overall consumer of tobacco products..

 

[deewayne2003]

A doc would know a lot more than I do.. but I don't think its the nicotine that gets you.. my understanding is its the tar and other carcinogens.. I think the nicotine is just the thing that your body starts to crave and makes you want more..

dip, chew, snuff, etc don't think have much if any tar or lead or arsenic like cigarettes do..

Im going to guess things haven't changed much even though its been a very long time since I served in uniform... but when I was in I'd guess 80% or more infantrymen and SOF personnel dipped or chewed.. and I'd guess probably at least 25% or more of the entire Army did..

we also had smokers.. but they were pretty far and few in between... I don't have any actual study or survey data, but my guess is less than 5% were smokers... even though the Army was a HUGE overall consumer of tobacco products..

Oh I agree with you.....

The comparison I was making about nicotine is that snuff has at least 4X the addictive substance(nicotine) in it per volume that cigarettes do, but I've never thrown a fit for a pinch of snuff the way I've seen cigarette smokers when they are unable to light up. Seriously smokers act like their going through heroin detox if they can't smoke.

I will also add.... No one ever got a "dip break" at any job I had, unlike the cigarette smokers who thought it was their god given right to stand around smoke for 10 minutes every hour!

 

[elkocountygun]

But it’s their god given right!

Robert C Ruark. thx for the quote. enjoyed his books. especially "use enough gun"
"A man and a gun and a star and a beast are still ponderable in a world of imponderables." Robert C Ruark

 

[SFRanger7GP]

When I was a barrel chested freedom fighter, I smoked like a dragon. Camels; camels without the filter in the field. Standard ration of 3 packs a day. I also smoked cigars and a pipe. And I chewed. Mostly Cannon ball plug tobacco. I was a smoking, spitting, air cooled machine. When the Army’s fun police decided to mandate “smoking areas”, I declared myself a mobile smoking zone.

In 2002 I flew from my South American natural habitat to SOUTHCOM for a meeting and some “donkey BBQ”, aka an ass chewing. I stopped to buy a pack of smokes before the meeting and when I saw $5 a pack, I bought a pack of Big Red gum instead. Ranger math was at $5 a pack, I am smoking away a new gun or other fun toy every month. I quit that day and have not smoked since nor have I had any urges.

Did I immediately or later feel great and healthier? Nope! I was in great physical condition. I quit for tacaño. (Cheap or stingy in English)

I am really not bothered if others smoke as long as we are not locked in a closet size room together.

So…..smoke ‘em if you got ‘em boys!!

Safe travels.

 

[Denvir Tire]

A doc would know a lot more than I do.. but I don't think its the nicotine that gets you.. my understanding is its the tar and other carcinogens.. I think the nicotine is just the thing that your body starts to crave and makes you want more..

dip, chew, snuff, etc don't think have much if any tar or lead or arsenic like cigarettes do..

Im going to guess things haven't changed much even though its been a very long time since I served in uniform... but when I was in I'd guess 80% or more infantrymen and SOF personnel dipped or chewed.. and I'd guess probably at least 25% or more of the entire Army did..

we also had smokers.. but they were pretty far and few in between... I don't have any actual study or survey data, but my guess is less than 5% were smokers... even though the Army was a HUGE overall consumer of tobacco products..

I always carried a pack of Winston on the morning run. This way, I didn't need to get to the barracks for my ,after PT smoke.....
Good Times

 

[VINOYASADO]

I have paid my Mouflon hunt with the savings of 1 year of cigarrettes! Not a lot of money but was really encouraging and keeps me going

 

[Red Leg]

Robert C Ruark. thx for the quote. enjoyed his books. especially "use enough gun"
"A man and a gun and a star and a beast are still ponderable in a world of imponderables." Robert C Ruark

Though he did drink himself to death by fifty.

 

[Speedster]

When I was a kid my stepdad smoked about 2 to 3 packs of Lucky Strike non-filters a day. Now that I am away from that it is amazing how much I notice the smell of cigarette smoke on someone. I am sure when my siblings and I went to school we must have reeked. BTW, my stepdad died of throat cancer at 65.

 

[CBH Australia]

But it’s their god given right!

So is his opinion.

I’m a reformed smoker and I really don’t like it now but I probably wouldn’t start a post on it.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

A doc would know a lot more than I do.. but I don't think its the nicotine that gets you.. my understanding is its the tar and other carcinogens.. I think the nicotine is just the thing that your body starts to crave and makes you want more..

dip, chew, snuff, etc don't think have much if any tar or lead or arsenic like cigarettes do..

Im going to guess things haven't changed much even though its been a very long time since I served in uniform... but when I was in I'd guess 80% or more infantrymen and SOF personnel dipped or chewed.. and I'd guess probably at least 25% or more of the entire Army did..

we also had smokers.. but they were pretty far and few in between... I don't have any actual study or survey data, but my guess is less than 5% were smokers... even though the Army was a HUGE overall consumer of tobacco products..

The CO gasses are the most harmful components of smokes. Red blood cells are tricked into carrying the stuff to other cells to fuel cell maintenance. Those cells can't use it = their premature death. Ever wonder why a lifetime smoker looks fifteen years older than he actually is? That's the reason. Muscles get saggy, hair gets ratty, bags under eyes, poor color, gravelly voice, etc. I can spot a smoker from thirty yards. And I can smell one from twenty feet. Heart disease is the biggest risk for smokers. Even more than lung failure.

And to all those guys who say "Oh well, gotta die someday" they apparently don't know the difference between death and suffering. I'm gonna get old for sure, but I won't be doing it dragging around a gawdam oxygen bottle or pushing people out of the way in an electric cart at Walmart. More importantly, I don't want my family suffering unnecessarily on my account. Either emotionally, physically, or financially. Remember, we are being watched. Set an example for the next generations.

The idea that smoking is some kind of professional obligation is just a poor excuse. I did my time in the US Army, also a cowboy, firefighter, aluminum plant laborer, and commercial truck driver. I never had to stop smoking or chewing ... because I never started.

As far as I'm concerned, chewing tobacco ranks right up there with scratching balls or picking nose in public. Gross. I never could understand the attraction of looking like a slob.