I miss smoking...

[mAlice]

Hi All,

This isn't a thread to make you relapse into the old tobacco smoking habits... but rather fondly reminisce of the life and times that you had as a smoker.

I used to smoke for around 7 years (27 May it would be exactly 7 years). I have ADD, I always fell to the smokes as a way of calming myself and collecting my thought. Sure it was fun sharing a cig with a friend, but I really did enjoy lighting one by myself, with a nice drink of some sort. Especially when the summer storms are raging in Centurion... I would walk outside in the p*ssing rain, go sit under the lapa and listen to the thunder rolling in. This was my most serene moments in life. Something that just isn't the same with vaping.

Another fond memory would be with my girlfriend. We have been together almost 2 years. My parents (which I still live with) aren't very understanding when it comes to sleeping over at her house, and unfortunately they didn't know (or at least didn't call me out on) my bad habit of smoking cigarettes. So I would drive to her house, pick her up and we would drive to the nearest Mcdonalds to go have a couple of cigarettes. We would chat about literally anything for hours on end... sometimes finishing a pack of smokes in 4/5 hours. I really miss this... It doesn't quite feel the same without an analog between the fingers.

I would really like to hear the opinion of others on this... and I would like some reassurance that I am not the only one.

 

[Kayzer]

Ahhh... I also have many find memories of smoking in my youth.

My fav was lighting up a Camel Mild and enjoying a coke. It tasted like Bacardi rum and coke, which in turn brought back more fond memories.

Also used to watch the beautiful highveld thunderstorms with a fag in hand. Those were the days.

I quit for my health though. I was fat and unhappy. I've lost 16kg in the past year and looking trim and muscular.

My trusty vape keeps me from relapse. I'm down to 3mg now.

I'll keep my fond, ashy memories though. But I hate the smell of cigarette smoke now: it makes me sick to my stomach.

Sent from my SM-N920C using Tapatalk

 

[Kalashnikov]

If your missing that feel.. Why not get a greensmoke? i still think that is the closest thing to a cigarette. it even looks like one.

 

[zadiac]

Nope. Not here. Sorry. The health problems I had while smoking outweighs any good (if any) memories from smoking. I've packed away anything smoke related in my memories to a deep dark place and hope they never surface. I have now more joy from vaping than I EVER had from smoking.
I can go and sit outside on the front porch while it's raining and just vape away in total bliss and just relax while having a nice glass of wine.
I never did that with smoking because it always left a k@k taste in my mouth.
I can get in my car on a Sunday afternoon and go for a drive while vaping to my heart's content knowing that I'm not poisoning my body while having a nice quiet drive.
I can have loads of fun with friends at a braai or some get together and vape away and no one complains about it, while they did when I was still smoking.
Sorry, I just cannot agree with you on this.
Vaping just beats smoking on so many levels.

 

[rogue zombie]

I smoked for 20 years, so I would say for at least the last 5 I hated smoking. I cannot even remember the last time I actually enjoyed a smoke.

I know I obviously did for many years, but it fully became a filthy habit for me, which made me feel like shit - head clogged up everyday with sinus by nightfall. Bad sleeping patterns etc. Shortness of breathe to climb a flight of stairs.

No good memories here.

 

[Jos]

The only good memory of smoking I have is the last ciggie I crushed up the day I decided to quit

 

[blujeenz]

@mAlice Its hard to change direction and strike a new path through the jungle, which is what you have to do if you want to change your life. Dwelling on how easy it was to walk on the previous one just makes it harder on yourself.
That whole "fond memories" thing takes a while to wear down to a background sound rather than the main train of thought, after 2 or 3 years it doesnt occupy prime estate in your mind so much anymore.
Bearing in mind, Im not talking about erasing all your memories about friends and family, rather its about isolating the cigarette part of those memories and erasing that fraction of the main event.
Basically mind games got you into it, linking smoking with great times, so mind games is whats going to get you back out again.

 

[Cespian]

I think I have mentioned this before, but the 2 things I do miss (ALOT) are:

1. Braaing with a cig... Suppose just for the manliness factor of having that cig dangle loosely on your lip while tossing a 400g T-Bone.
2. The bathroom struggles... lol. Cigs just loosened things up and made things easier. Besides for bowl irritant, it was kinda like a timer too. Now with the vape, I find that my timer is pins and needles lol. (#DontJudgeMe).

 

[mAlice]

@mAlice Its hard to change direction and strike a new path through the jungle, which is what you have to do if you want to change your life. Dwelling on how easy it was to walk on the previous one just makes it harder on yourself.
That whole "fond memories" thing takes a while to wear down to a background sound rather than the main train of thought, after 2 or 3 years it doesnt occupy prime estate in your mind so much anymore.
Bearing in mind, Im not talking about erasing all your memories about friends and family, rather its about isolating the cigarette part of those memories and erasing that fraction of the main event.
Basically mind games got you into it, linking smoking with great times, so mind games is whats going to get you back out again.

Hi @blujeenz

I completely understand where you are coming from. I guess I just needed to know if anyone else felt the same. I don't think I will ever smoke again, the smell and taste turns me off immensely. But like @Cespian said, there are a few memories that will be remembered with great detail, and one of those details will be the cigarette.

Although listening to @Cespian ramble about his steak and the smoke hangling from the corner of his mounth, I dont think I'll ever be as manly.

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is, I too have felt the health benefits of quitting cigarettes, but apart from the bad health, and all that stuff, it still was a part of my life for a very long time. Smoking is infact the only reason I can strike up a conversation with a random stranger. It gave me a lot of self confidence. I used to hide my lighter and ask random people for a light, we would casually chat for around 10 - 15 minutes, and I would leave having met a (usually) very polite and interesting person. I can't exactly go around and ask people if I can borrow their mod for a quick toot or two...

 

[Cespian]

Hi @blujeenz

Smoking is infact the only reason I can strike up a conversation with a random stranger. It gave me a lot of self confidence. I used to hide my lighter and ask random people for a light, we would casually chat for around 10 - 15 minutes, and I would leave having met a (usually) very polite and interesting person. I can't exactly go around and ask people if I can borrow their mod for a quick toot or two...

Man, you just hit the spot with that paragraph. The funny thing is, I have music on shuffle at the moment, and "Photograph" from Nickelback just played and switched over to "Lips of an Angel" from Hinder... so you can imagine this sad reminisce scene that has just been set. It feels like my hair spontaneously grew and covered my one eye and auto black lipstick and eye shadow appeared.

BRB, just going to go cut myself quickly...

PS. On a more serious note, while there are these fond memories, the good of quitting cigs outweigh any possible reason for staying on cigs (unless of course you are a fan of stinking, cancer and other lung diseases ).

 

[mAlice]

Man, you just hit the spot with that paragraph. The funny thing is, I have music on shuffle at the moment, and "Photograph" from Nickelback just played and switched over to "Lips of an Angel" from Hinder... so you can imagine this sad reminisce scene that has just been set. It feels like my hair spontaneously grew and covered my one eye and auto black lipstick and eye shadow appeared.

BRB, just going to go cut myself quickly...

PS. On a more serious note, while there are these fond memories, the good of quitting cigs outweigh any possible reason for staying on cigs (unless of course you are a fan of stinking, cancer and other lung diseases ).

Lips of an angel hits home for the wrong reasons... Such a good song!

@Cespian

Real men listen to Nickelback! No matter what other people say