I started smoking when I was 11. Why? Because all my uncles on my mom's side did and one day on holiday in Indonesia when all the adults went out, they left their cigarettes in the house and I wanted to try and see what it was like to smoke. Needlessly everyone who smoked knew what the first time smoking was like. Then a few months later I came back to South Africa and found a box of my cousin's camel filters in the cupboard and decided to try it again as I was doing it wrong because adults can smoke without choking, so I ended up trying it until I started smoking like an adult a few days later in the shed.
When I achieved smoking I felt I was an adult and even told my best friend about it and he decided to come and try it with me in the shed. But when I got the hang of it, I thought I was cool because I could do an adult thing! Luckily I wasn't that hooked and it wasn't until I was 16 that I became a social smoker due to house parties and alcohol, also with pressure and stress with getting good results, that I became addicted. From then on I smoked whenever I felt nervous or stressed and that happened a lot in varsity where during exam time I was smoking 4 packs a day! Normally I smoked half to a pack a day during breaks and before or after varsity and carried on to my work life.
Then 3 years ago I started vaping as I was finding I wanted more nic than a pack of Marlboro Lights could offer me but I was playing sports with my friends and it was having an effect on me physically-out of breathe, tight chest, vomiting after intense training sessions-it was a blessing that my friend introduced me to vaping and now I vape everyday and have become more involved in the hobby side of it. If I were to have kids, I would hope they choose neither but if they had to choose I would rather them vape than smoke!
