Can smoking be good for you?

[Chainsaw]

I've smoked half my life. Now at 32 have kicked the habit, and become a second hand, and occasional smoker. I have found now that my hay-fever has returned with avengence, as well as my allergies.

Possibly my mental endurance has been affected negatively as well.

Is there anything possitive health wise, emotionaly, et-cetera that we can take away from smoking?

 

[Puzzicato]

WARNING: NO BASIS IN ACTUAL SCIENCE I reckon that the hayfever is because your mucous membranes are throwing off their coating of tar and whatnot, so the allergens in pollen etc are able to actually kick off your histamine reaction instead of getting clogged up. After a couple of seasons you will probably develop some level of immunity.

As a non (and anti-) smoker, the only benefit I can see to it is the social aspect. The kinship among smokers hanging around outside pubs is something I admire, and I envy my workmates who get to go outside for 10 minutes every hour to feed their addictions!

Aside from that, it is expensive, smelly and unattractive, so well done for quitting!

 

[Chainsaw]

Actually I was thiking more in "Vintage" terms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCMzjJjuxQI

Cheers!

 

[Miss sofia]

I read somewhere that John Lennon said that smoking made him feel grounded in an otherwise chaotic world and without smoking, he always felt the sensation that he might just float away ......Read into that what you will, i'm still pondering on it myself.

 

[Puzzicato]

Actually I was thiking more in "Vintage" terms.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCMzjJjuxQI

Cheers!

From that point of view... that moment of time in old movies when the detective pauses and lights a cigarette is invaluable! And the sexual tension in a woman touching a man's hand while he lights her cigarette - spellbinding.

And still unattractive and expensive and well done for quitting lol

 

[Edward]

I read somewhere that John Lennon said that smoking made him feel grounded in an otherwise chaotic world and without smoking, he always felt the sensation that he might just float away ......Read into that what you will, i'm still pondering on it myself.

Sounds like he was definitely smoking something.

 

[LizzieMaine]

According to Leading Physicians, smoking aids digestion, calms your nerves, clears your complexion, soothes your T-Zone, keeps those future shadows of fat away, gives you a Treat Instead of a Treatment, is Less Irritating, and Satisfies.

Or so the ads told us.

 

[olive bleu]

i knew a woman who became pregnant for the first time, late in life.At this point she had been a smoker for 20+ years. Her doctor actually advised her that the stress of her trying to quit would have actually been greater than any risk posed to her unborn child, if she continued smoking.Sounded crazy to me.

 

[MisterCairo]

You haven't really quit, though, have you? Occasionally smoking makes you an occasional smoker.

Cold turkey! Also makes a great sandwich!

 

[Chainsaw]

You haven't really quit, though, have you? Occasionally smoking makes you an occasional smoker.

Cold turkey! Also makes a great sandwich!

What's the saying....

I quit buying! Bumming the occasional cigarette, is just taxes on second hand smoke I guess.

Cold turkeys fantastic too!

 

[Chainsaw]

According to Leading Physicians, smoking aids digestion, calms your nerves, clears your complexion, soothes your T-Zone, keeps those future shadows of fat away, gives you a Treat Instead of a Treatment, is Less Irritating, and Satisfies.

Or so the ads told us.

In Victorian times Nicotine was in every Doctors medicine case, along with various others things. It was a very important medicine, but fell away from use ?

Is nicotine still used as medicine? Anybody?

 

[Miss sofia]

Apparently tests have shown that nicotine can aid people who suffer from depression, who normally do not smoke, not that non-smokers are being encouraged to light up, or slap on a patch, but apparently scientists are trying to formulate something akin to nicotine, but without its harmful properites to help combat depression. Well i never!

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Medicinal cigarettes" were very common up thru the World War 1 era -- they were prescribed for people, including kids, with asthma, catarrh, and other respiratory issues. They weren't tobacco cigs, though -- they were usually made from various medicinal plants such as cubeb flowers, eucalyptus, and menthol.

Nicotine is still a common pesticide -- I used to know a poultry farmer who would buy tobacco dust in big barrels to sprinkle on his chickens to kill mites and parasites.

 

[Chainsaw]

Wow! Who would have thought that tobacco was so useful?

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I've heard occasional smoking isn't going to affect your health. I used to smoke, and chew. Have all but gave up both. I have a cigar when my Pa offers me one, and a dip of the chew maybe once every few months, if I'm real stressed. I will say, my health has really benefitted since I gave up the stuff. The inside of my mouth was calloused and white and nasty from chewing, and I could hardly make it up a flight of stairs without being winded, thanks to my friends Newport, Marlboro, Swisher, and Basic Menthol. You're much better off and kudos on quitting.

 

[Puzzicato]

soothes your T-Zone,

Excellent!

Lizzie, when did they start targeting ads at women (I assume few men are bothered by a shiny t-zone, or future shadows of fat...)?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Excellent!

Lizzie, when did they start targeting ads at women (I assume few men are bothered by a shiny t-zone, or future shadows of fat...)?

The whole "Reach For A Lucky Instead of a Sweet" campaign for Lucky Strikes in 1928 was the earliest I recall as being explicitly oriented toward women -- pretty amusing when you consider that today Luckies are considered a rough, tough, outlaw brand. The idea of the campaign was that by lighting up whenever you craved candy, you could keep the modern trim, slim figure.

There were campaigns before that which sort of appealed to women thru the side door -- I'm thinking especially of the famous Chesterfield ad from 1925 or so, which showed a couple sitting in the moonlight with the fellow lighting up and the gal suggesting "Blow some my way." But the "Reach For A Lucky" campaign seems to have been the earliest to frankly admit that women were smoking unapologetically, and they had their own specific reasons for doing so.

The Federal Trade Commission cracked down on American Tobacco over the claims that Luckies were better for you than candy -- due in part to a protest by a candymaker's trade association -- and the campaign was revised in 1929-30 to one that was a bit more subtle: you'd see a picture of a slim, trim woman in the latest fashions, surrounded by a dark silhouette of a woman with drooping hips, flabby arms, and multiple chins. "COMING EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS BEFORE -- REACH FOR A LUCKY INSTEAD" went the copy. It's likely these campaigns got more women to take up smoking than any other -- and had more of a long-term impact than any other cigarette advertising by really impressing on the public mind the idea that smoking would keep you thin, a belief that still drives many women to keep smoking today.

 

[Puzzicato]

Interesting - I somehow had the impression that only bad girls smoked until the 50s! Although now I think about it, of course there were all those lovely 1920s cigarette holders and more feminine styled cigarette cases.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Interesting - I somehow had the impression that only bad girls smoked until the 50s! Although now I think about it, of course there were all those lovely 1920s cigarette holders and more feminine styled cigarette cases.

There was a fascinating cultural double standard about women smoking -- in reality huge numbers of women did so, completely unapologetically. But in the popular culture of the time, showing a woman smoking was a very common way of suggesting she was of low virtue. In radio soap operas, any woman who ever mentioned smoking was automatically considered evil -- significantly, no cigarette ever sponsored a daytime serial!

 

[Matt Deckard]

Wait wait wait wait... are women that smoke not of low virtue?

And going by that standard, I've only had a long term relationship with one woman that didn't smoke. I switched to the smokers hoping for some adventure because of their crazy smoking ways.

Of course none of the gals I know appear to smoke unless it's some event where it tends to look cool. Hmmm. This may mean I need to meet a chain smoker to get what I'm looking for. Hmmm. But could I deal with the hacking cough.

Let me think about this.