Giving up Smoking

[gfwgfw]

I have given up "sex", it wasn't very hard

[Kenmo1]

Thanks Gill - Ken always enjoys life. He is the most laid back person you could possibly meet.. Im sure that's what helped with his quick recovery. I do the worrying for both of us. I think the other thing I was grateful for was that the house no longer stank of cigarette smoke and we weren't having to decorate so often. I don't think people who smoke realise how unpleasant it can be for the non-smoker.

[Silver_Shiney]

Hey Ho

I have never indulged in any "toxic" weed

Both my parents and associates were heavy imbibers of tobacco

Two of my best work mates were misfortunes of the weed - tobacco, and knowing that to continue indulging they would die a painful demise, they both continued to suck the toxins into their wrecked lungs and their ASHES are scattered on the beautiful Purbeck hills

The point of this post is

Be a little considerate to our passive smoking brothers and sisters

Passive smoking is truly a misnomer - I am at almost *** years old can still run to catch my friendly number 18 yellow to town

Lubooo

Graham x

The "yellows" never went to your neck of the woods in my day. What IS the world coming to?

I started when I was 15 and worked my way up to 70 a day. I stopped for a while in late 74 because my girlfriend didn't like it, but started again when she later dumped me. I decided to give up when I went to Masirah in 76, but with only king-size on sale at 12.5p a packet, that resolution went up in flames (literally). Most people, coming back from there, had built up a tidy cash sum. Not me. I'd burnt it all. I had to take a loan to buy a car on my return. I realised I couldn't smoke AND run a car and decided a car was more important. Never bought a fag since (1977). My health still suffers as a result of my smoking though, and exposure to tobacco smoke aggravates a very sudden onslaught of catarrh, which is very unpleasant.

[Silver_Shiney]

Hi Mo

Yep

I am a lucky so and so, I even phoned the talking clock for a chat

And so grateful for it

Lubooo lots

Graham

I have given up "sex", it wasn't very hard

I don't know whether to laugh or cry

[Holiday Planner]

I could never have never smoked, having watched my Grandad die of Emphysema at the age of 61 through smoking 60 a day. Then my father died 2 years ago age 72 from Pulmonary Fibrosis (probably agravated through passive smoking as he never smoked).
I will never forget the sight of my Grandad and then my Dad lying on their sofas straining for breath; and if it helps any of you to give up smoking ... please do it so that your children and grand-children don't have to watch you suffer in that way.

[The Monocled Mutineer]

gfwgfw:

I think you are linking my view incorrectly, that unlike 30 years ago or more when all walks of life and socio-economic classes all had majorities who smoked, smokers now trend to largely lower socio-economic groups.

Yes, of course there are still a few professionals (even doctors, surgeons and nurses) who smoke as well as highly successful business people and the meritocracy, but unlike 30+ years ago, only a small minority of them continue to smoke.

Since the late 80s I have worked with very few smokers and in the last nine years none. In a circle of close friends, others friends and acquaintances and their partners in the village I live in and the town I work in, representative of a broad spectrum of socio-economic classes and occupations, I can only think of a couple of smokers.

The % of the adult population who smoke is 22% but I strongly doubt in a passenger manifest slightly shy of 2000 on Oriana for example, you would find 400 odd smokers, which somewhat gives credence to my view that most smokers are of socio-economic groups that take few if any holidays including the still not inconsiderable cost of a cruise, even at the value for money that P&O cruises most certainly are.

[david63]

Derek - whilst I am prepared to accept that there may not be 400 (ish) smokers on a P&O ship your statement

... that most smokers are of socio-economic groups that take few if any holidays ...

is totally unfounded. All that you can conclude is that they do not take cruise holidays - they may well, and some probably do, take several land based holidays each year.

[Silver_Shiney]

the tobacco-burning side of Oceana's lido deck always seemed very well populated to me....

[Not so ancient mariner]

Derek - whilst I am prepared to accept that there may not be 400 (ish) smokers on a P&O ship your statement

... that most smokers are of socio-economic groups that take few if any holidays ...

is totally unfounded. All that you can conclude is that they do not take cruise holidays - they may well, and some probably do, take several land based holidays each year.

But if they didn't spend so much money on tobacco (a 20 a day habit costs around £2000 a year) then more could afford to go cruising.....though whether they would choose to is an entirely different matter.

[Keechy]

The downside of giving up smoking for me was the stone and a half weight I put on, which I am still trying to shed. My addiction to cruising doesn't help of course nor my desire, when I see something good to eat, to put it in my mouth.

I thought this 'putting on weight' was a myth or an excuse to carry on smoking - my OH certainly used it. A few years back, she stopped for a few weeks an ballooned to a size 18. When she spoke to a doctor who she worked with, his response was "You die from smoking or you die from being overweight. The choice is yours." I didn't think that was very helpful.

[Dark Knight]

putting weight on is normal for a variety of reasons after giving up smoking, people do say they enjoy thier food more and it tastes better
people also eat to overcome the cravings for nicotene withdrawl and to occupy themselves , when they otherwise have been having a smoke

[Keechy]

putting weight on is normal for a variety of reasons after giving up smoking, people do say they enjoy thier food more and it tastes better
people also eat to overcome the cravings for nicotene withdrawl and to occupy themselves , when they otherwise have been having a smoke

I'm with you 100% on that. Now I've got over the nicotine craving, I'm working on the nibbly one!

[oldbluefox]

Not really DK. I really didn't notice any great differences between the times I smoked and the times I didn't. I didn't feel any healthier (when I smoked I was still very active sportswise), my food didn't taste any different and the only difference to me was in having nothing to puff on. There were no substitutes for the cigarettes but within a couple of years my weight crept up. Up to giving up smoking I had never had a problem, enjoyed my food and drink, plenty of exercise and had never dieted. Whether it was a consequence of giving up the weed or moving towards the big 40 I don't know but that was a distinct downside.

[Dark Knight]

When I gave up, I did eat more and did seem to appreciate my food more, but as an "eat to live" type as opposed to a "live to eat2 person, it made little difference
my weight did go up, but I was on a 2 week cruise at the time

[Delboy]

Our daughter posted on her Facebook page yesterday.

181 Days since giving up.

Money saved £1,113.06 .

I think she has a running clock on her phone with this info, this is the third time she has tried to give it up.

She is certainly is not one of the underclass, although she has three children, she still manages to run her own accountancy business .

However has no interest in cruising whatsoever, I think she thinks its for old biddy's

Yes she has started putting on weight, but goes out running, rides her bike and goes to Zumba dance classes at least twice a week.

[The Monocled Mutineer]

Dark Knight:

It is not bigatory to take the view that the larger proportion of smokers are these days drawn from lower socio-economic orders than in the past, as inevitably the number of smokers in socio-economic classes C and upwards declines. Of the minority who smoke (about 22%, which give take a 1 or 2% I presume you don't dispute) the majority of that rump of the UK population will be drawn for the lower social orders, and an ever dwindling number of professionals, thriving merchant class, and "middle managers" upwards still smoking.

[Quizzical Bob]

Nicotine is an appetite suppressant. It also paralyses the cilia, the little hairs on the cells that line your trachea and lungs. These catch all the dirt and muck that you breathe in on a bed of mucus and waft it towards your mouth so that you can get rid of it. They can't do this if they're paralysed, which causes the 'smoker's cough'.

I've known plenty of fat people who've smoked and plenty of thin people who don't, it's all under your own control, nobody else's.

[Mo2013]

Ceasing smoking notwithstanding, as we grow older, people tend to put on weight.

[Mo2013]

I have recently noticed a lot of young people smoking - no horror stories or pictures appearing to put them off.

[Dark Knight]

Just for info

Social Grade Social Status Occupation
A upper middle class higher managerial, administrative or professional
B middle class intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
C1 lower middle class supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional
C2 skilled working class skilled manual workers
D working class semi and unskilled manual workers
E those at lowest level of subsistence state pensioners or widows (no other earner), casual or lowest grade workers


C1...Doubtful, d or an E in reality

[Manoverboard]

I have just come back from a holiday in France, plus Barcelona, they seem to smoke like troopers over there if the dog ends are anything to go by. Interesting the largest piles are in the more expensive areas ...

[Dark Knight]

Smoking is a very expensive habbit, so to try to infer most smokers are poor peniless wretches is rather ill inofrmed
a packet of 20 cigarettes is arounf £9.00 per packet
so a twenty a day smoker would need to find £3285 after tax to support that , which is around £5,000 pre tax
daunting for a low earner on a minimum wage

[Ray Scully]

Just for info

Social Grade Social Status Occupation
A upper middle class higher managerial, administrative or professional
B middle class intermediate managerial, administrative or professional
C1 lower middle class supervisory or clerical, junior managerial, administrative or professional
C2 skilled working class skilled manual workers
D working class semi and unskilled manual workers
E those at lowest level of subsistence state pensioners or widows (no other earner), casual or lowest grade workers


C1...Doubtful, d or an E in reality

DN

As a pensioner spending half his life on unpaid voluntary work I am offended not to have been included in the list. BTW Nothing less than A star will be acceptable

Ray

[Kendhni]

Not really DK. I really didn't notice any great differences between the times I smoked and the times I didn't. I didn't feel any healthier (when I smoked I was still very active sportswise), my food didn't taste any different and the only difference to me was in having nothing to puff on. There were no substitutes for the cigarettes but within a couple of years my weight crept up. Up to giving up smoking I had never had a problem, enjoyed my food and drink, plenty of exercise and had never dieted. Whether it was a consequence of giving up the weed or moving towards the big 40 I don't know but that was a distinct downside.

Nicotine is a stimulant which increase your metabolism and also acts as an appetite suppressor (which is (allegedly) why many 'models' smoke ... to keep their weight in check).

I remember when I gave up I got my sense of smell and taste back ... at that point I realised just how badly this world smells of pollution and just how bad most food actually tasted ... virtually everything tasted of fish .. fortunately over the years the sense of smell and the old tastebuds have dulled down again to the point that I don't smell the pollution as much and modern food no longer tastes of fish.

[Kendhni]

I have just come back from a holiday in France, plus Barcelona, they seem to smoke like troupers over there if the dog ends are anything to go by. Interesting the largest piles are in the more expensive areas ...

Everytime we go to the continent now it is a bit of a shock to the system to find people smoking around you again ... it actually doesn't annoy me at all but you really do notice it.