Smokers?

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I'm going to take a wild guess that the majority of you are not smokers.

If most AS folks aren't, I imagine it would be for the following reasons - A) Unpleasant sensory experiences assosiated with smoking or being around cigarette smoke. B) A big reason why people start smoking is because of peer pressure, which I don't think most AS individuals would suffer alot from. C) Smoking is a pretty irrational and pointless habit, particularly if one isn't already hooked. AS logic might come into play here.

I'd just like to test my hypothesis.

Ironically, I'm going to ignore the fact that I myself am a smoker. Due to anxiety and boredom. Yep, a foolish chemical solution to a real problem. Not to mention my addictive personality.

I don't smoke cigs scare me to death

1.) Increases the risk for all types of cancer, that stuff in cigs don't just up the chance for lung cancer.
2.) Increases the risk for heart attacks and strokes.
3.) They smell horrible, yuck I can smell them 30 feet away they stick that badly.
4.) They taste horrid and I am not the one smoking them.

I smoke because I had no friends in elementary, middle or high school. I started college at 16 and a girl wanted to be my friend who smoked, so I tried it. I'm still hooked at 40 and badly want to stop it. I have a smoking cessation appt with my dr next Thurs.

Do not smoke, never tried, doesn't bother me at all if others smoke a lot. Some cigarettes have a pleasant smell actually.

I don't care for smoking.

Perhaps I wouldn't remember to do it regularly anyway because I fail to experience addiction to many substances. Addiction seems the most basic reason to keep on smoking for most smokers.

Besides, it's so costly. And there's no reason to start really. Nothing to gain from.

Maybe it would help with my hyperactivity some, but even caffeine helps only some in large quantities so smoking wouldn't have much of an effect unless I smoked non-stop which would be annoying and hindering in work.

I kinda don't care much about the health risks. They don't mean much to me. Seriously, I don't make a fuss of how many toxins and chemicals go into my body when I eat normal foods, so why care about the health risk of smoking?

I just think it's completely pointless to do anything you don't gain something good from.

C) Smoking is a pretty irrational and pointless habit, particularly if one isn't already hooked.


Actually nicotine does help lessen anxiety, which is why I smoke.

i just smoke really ive tried to quite but its just not gonna happen

No I've never smoked. I see smoking as a social habit, and because I never really socialise I never picked it up.

I do hate it when others smoke in front of me. I really can't take the odour.

It's a sensory thing. I can't really stand being near cigarette smoke, so I'd have to be out of my mind to deliberately produce and inhale the stuff.

Yep, this would be my reason for not quitting.
But even though it helps, there are plenty of other less damaging ways to cope with anxiety. In my case I'm just too lazy to experiment any more.

*smokes right now*

*blows it on all the non-smokers*



(i cant help but notice, the option of SOCIAL smoking, got 0 hits. AAAHAHAHAHA )

my first ciggie was at age 7.
age 9 i was caught behind the cleaner's shed at lunchtime with a packet of tailor-mades and a few other reject kids who went on to better things. I spent an entire term having to write out the spelling book every morning tea and luncthime.

By 13 i was smoking fully.

by my 30's - 3 packs a day or the equivalent in rollies up until 40.

miss them every day. haven't touched one since.
don't intend to. by 40 they really started to make me feel seedy.

LOVE the waft of other peoples' smoke in the same way i love the smell of rubber or the smell of petrol or other chemicals.

i know also it was an anxiety thing for me too. it disguised stimming and kept my hands busy and free from tapping and fidgeting.

Last edited by millie on 15 Mar 2009, 1:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm an ex-smoker, and like the OP, I smoked mainly because of anxiety.

I remember that when I was a kid I observed how happily chilled-out my smoker dad was getting after lighting up a cigarette. when he was upset or angry I would actually bring him fags and tell him "go have a smoke, and then we'll talk like civilised people" lol.

so in my case there was no peer pressure (only me and 2 others from my class smoked in high-school) and I was used to the smell. I just thought that it will make me more relaxed, and it did. it also made my concentration much better.

but I'm off it now and feel so much better- prior to my quitting I had been getting weird signals from my body that it was time to stop, so I did. I do miss it though.

not anymore

I voted for it, I've only been off for some months so technically, I'm still a smoker. and last 3-4 years before quitting I only smoked socially.

I love the smell of people smoking cigars. I don't smoke them myself, but damn, they smell good!

I have a severe anxiety disorder that I'm working hard to manage. I'm trying (with my dr) to get the right level of meds to work for me. I see her tomorrow. I want to get the anxiety under control so I can get off the cigs and save $180 a month!

I never smoked. Aside from the health risks, which weren't quite as well-known when I was at an age when I might have started, there were a couple of other reasons why I never did:

1. My mother smoked, and the second-hand smoke burned my throat and made me gag. Whenever I have to be in a room with smokers (which, thanks to current smoking laws, is never anymore), my throat gets really sore. I'm happy to say that my mother smoked her last cigarette on New Year's Eve 1980, and hasn't smoked since.

2. When I was in high school, and EVERYONE else was starting to smoke, I felt so alienated from my peers, and despised them so much, that I didn't want to do anything that would lump me in with them. That included smoking, trying drugs, and cheating on tests. Not that I was a goody-two-shoes; I cut school all the time. But those were the things that it seemed like EVERYONE did, so those are the things I rejected. I had a best (only) friend, who was a bit of an outcast like myself, but she eventually joined in with the "punks" and started smoking and trying drugs. That was a huge disappointment, because I thought she prided herself on not being a herd animal. It was like, "Et tu, Brute?"

When I was in the Air Force, again, EVERYONE smoked. My boss sat defiantly under the "no smoking" sign, and smoked all day. If you complained about your roommate smoking, you'd get a talking-to about your attitude problems. I had a constant sore throat, which I now realize was from being around constant second-hand smoke. The doctors were always giving me antibiotics, because that was their answer to everything. Very weird.

Having said that, if people want to smoke in their own houses, I don't care. Of course, if my neighbor goes out on his patio and smokes, it comes right into my window and makes me gag, so I'd rather that he didn't. And if the person in the car in front of me lights up, it's the same thing. But as long as I don't have to smell it, I don't care.