Have you ever been a regular smoker/chewer?

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Used to chew tobacco and dip snuff since I was in high school. This lasted for roughly for roughly 20 years and really got a wake up call when my wife had a dream that saw me having part of my jaw removed and had a hard time eating food. I have been smokeless tobacco free for close to 15 years now and don't miss it one bit. Sure the first few weeks were tough but never gave in to the cravings. Teeth are a lot whiter now and gums are healthier.
 
Originally Posted By: Al
I had my first cig at about 15. Smoked off and on for 20 years. mBut in that time I averaged way under a carton/year. Never got hooked and some years I maybe had a pack.

Haven't had one for 38 years not any cigar either.

I wil also point out that. I started having skipped heartbeats (at the age of 35). Went to the cardiologist and even though I was smoking maybe an pack a month. He said I was playing fire.

I stopped and started running. My heart was pounding and I told myself I would rather be dead than put up with heart rythm drugs. I survived and continued running for 25+ years. And go to the gym 4 times/week (at the age of 71). I do have a touch of COPD which is very very mind and functionally does not bother me. I also play Cornet and I am easily OK there.

Folks that smoke will live to regret it and admit it was the worst thing they have done in their lives...even if they smokie ocasionally.

The only thing worse would be to have a spouse that smoked...even ocasionally.
 
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Never smoked (disclaimer later).

When I was a kid, Dad chainsmoked while we drove (5 up) in a Datsun 120Y. Picked us up after school Friday, drove 500 miles to relative's house, went to bed. breakfaster with them, then onto another-morning tea, another-lunch, another-dinner and stay overnight...repeat Sunday and drive back starting 2PM for school Monday.

Must have received all the nicotine I'd need in a lifetime during those days. I have absolutely no issues being around smokers butnever wanted to try it.

Had one single solitary cigi in my life last year, sitting with a photo of Dad, and wondering if he'd have been better off staying smoking than battling with it, becoming smoke free, then having anxiety/depression get him when he should have been enjoying life...they certainly proved fatal enough.
 
Quit the smokes 12 years ago. Went cold turkey one day and have never looked back. Ate more ice cream and gained 10-15 pounds though. A good trade-off.
 
I have puffed on some Cigars when at work aa fellow employee would smoke them as a treat. The best part was when theFarrier was shoeing my wife and daughters horses ,he offered me a chaw? I said ok and within two hoofs being cleaned up I was lying on the ground in a fetal position sick as a dog! I am not into Tobacco.
 
14-20, half pack a day. Wouldn't say peer pressure but I did enjoy it--but I always knew it wasn't a life long habit. Saw it as something that some people did as a rite of passage. Turns out I was right. I only smoked for a few years, then gave it up. Of course, at that time I was in a different place in life (college) and perhaps the surroundings went a long ways too (leaving behind a more poor area).

As a kid I wouldn't have thought I'd see the end of smoking in my lifetime, and would have guessed my kids would likely have to deal with the temptation to try: but by golly, the last few years have changed quite a bit. They may well make it into their 20's without trying. At the very least I'm hoping they will avoid even trying.
 
I used to smoke a pipe daily for a couple of years. Actually love the flavor. But common sense prevailed and decided it wasn't in my best interest. I was never addicted to it.
 
Originally Posted By: HosteenJorje
NEVER

DITTO!

Also had the "pleasure" of being the only non-smoker in a smoker's office... Guess who emptied the ashtrays?
 
I smoked a pack a day for 11 years, then quit cold turkey 31 years ago...
 
I have never met a non-smoker that regretted not picking up the habit...on the other hand....

Breathing in toxic fumes for a bit of buzz that slowly declines over the years, never made sense to me. I never had a single drink of alcohol, never tried any drugs either. I have seen what that stuff does to people and that poo is scary to me. I heard the suppliers/dealers are lacing weed with fentanyl now...good luck with that. Not even once.
 
I smoked for 6-7 years then stopped due to a change in my environment and pressure from the wife... I still will buy a pouch of chew for long drives some times. It keeps you awake and I like that tobacco/molasses flavor
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I tried a Skoal Bandit one time and it wasn't in my mouth but a few seconds!
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One of the worst thing I have ever tried. Not sure if they are considered "chew" or not, but I'll never try them again, I know that much!
 
Originally Posted By: Nyogtha
I was one on salary + sliding scale overtime (colloqially referred to as Chinese Overtime)


Had to google it, as the resource is broken...would jump at that from my P.O.V.

Have been on "Balance time" with a 70 hour maximum balance for a decade and a half...the hours over 70 evaporate. Any week where you work shorter hours comes off the balance. (actually it was a 35 hour balance until 3 years ago).
 
Originally Posted By: Fsharp
I smoked for 6-7 years then stopped due to a change in my environment and pressure from the wife... I still will buy a pouch of chew for long drives some times. It keeps you awake and I like that tobacco/molasses flavor
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Try sucking on some coffee beans instead.
 
Originally Posted By: irv
I tried a Skoal Bandit one time and it wasn't in my mouth but a few seconds!
shocked.gif
One of the worst thing I have ever tried. Not sure if they are considered "chew" or not, but I'll never try them again, I know that much!


That would be dip which I don’t like either. Dip is ground fine and pretty strong. You just tried a small pouch of it, imagine what a full lip of the loose stuff is like!
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Chew is big pieces of tobacco leaf either loose in a bag (think red man) or formed into a biscuit looking think you tear a piece off of. You keep it in a wad in your cheek and mash it around a bit with your teeth to get it to release juice. It’s a lot more mellow, doesn’t burn your mouth and is usually sweetened with molasses and maybe some spices. It does make you spit a lot of that nasty looking brown juice.

I’ll have to try the coffee beans idea, but I feel like the occasional chew can’t be THAT bad.
 
Never smoked or chewed especially after seeing how my uncle had mouth cancer and the $$$ it cost him


Chewing or dipping is a very disgusting habit just like smoking
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: Nyogtha
I was one on salary + sliding scale overtime (colloqially referred to as Chinese Overtime)


Had to google it, as the resource is broken...would jump at that from my P.O.V.

Have been on "Balance time" with a 70 hour maximum balance for a decade and a half...the hours over 70 evaporate. Any week where you work shorter hours comes off the balance. (actually it was a 35 hour balance until 3 years ago).



There were no OSHA fatigue standards back then; my personal record was 6 days with 6 hours sleep covering all the work my company had at the Shell Norco facility docks for a week in late spring of 1987 when I was 24 years old. The times this really worked in our favor is when assigned to a lightering, where tankers too large to dock in the US would park about 100 miles offshore and offload to multiple smaller capacity tankers, some purpose built for the job. Then you got to charge every clock hour starting with choppering out to the mothership or riding the first lightering tanker out, generally got a cabin to use on the mothership, got served all meals on the mothership and still got to charge meal per diems but the cuisine was quite variable by nationality of officers and crew.

I would have gladly traded for a straight night shift job with time-and-a-half but unemployment was 20% to 25% locally during the oil & gas domestic crash in those years. This line of work was a godsend ghat let me pull myself out of hand to mouth living and finish my education. We were on a bi-weekly pay period so sliding scale overtime didn't kick in until you had worked over 80 hours in the two week pay period. Back then my basic salary was $1500 / month plus the sliding scale overtime. Sometimes if your office didn't land many contracts you could skate doing well less than 80 hours in two weeks but that was a bad sign layoffs were around the corner. Two of the four very close calls with death or serious permanent bodily injury I've had in my life were while I was on the job in this line of work.

I finished my degree and started at double that pay as an engineer, but was never reimbursed for my overtime again for the rest of my career. Sometimes I would earn bonuses and peak performance awards but never again paid beyond salary for hours worked.
 
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