Do you remember the first time you ever smoked a cigarette?

[red dog 1]

I actually don't remember the first time I smoked a cigarette.
However, I do remember the first time I ever smoked a cigar.
I was about 9 or 10.
I was home alone, and I found a wrapped cigar that someone had given my dad.
I fired it up and started smoking it.
I immediately started coughing and began to get sick.
That was the last time I ever smoked a cigar.

I started smoking cigarettes in the 6th or 7th grade while in boarding school.
We bought them from a high school guy for 50 cents a pack.
My first choice was Parliament.
Soon I switched to Marlboro.
By the time I was 15, I was smoking any kind I could get for free.
I often hung out at my aunt & uncle's place.
They bought cigarettes by the carton, 9 or 10 cartons at a time, (Herbert Tareyton and Camels, I think)
I was there alone a lot, so I smoked about a pack a day without them even knowing.
By the time I was 16, I wanted a car really bad, so I quit smoking to save up for a car and haven't smoked since.

[Thomas Hurt]

1. Never smoked a cigarette, tried a cigar once and grass a couple, just didn't do a thing for me.

[liberal N proud]

2. 1st and last

1 was 15 and with a bunch of friends. Everyone shared, I tried it, tried to be cool but decided very quickly that I didn't want to buy cigarettes the rest of my life.
Bought a pack gave it to the group to cover the half dozen cigarettes I had smoked.

That was 45 years ago.

[hlthe2b]

3. Not until college--out with friends drinking...

The smell of stale cigarettes was so obnoxious to me the next day (and migraine-inducing), I only did so a handful of times. Fortunately.

[happybird]

4. Not sure of the exact age

but I was young enough to be playing under the bleachers during one of my older sister's soccer games. Mom dropped a half smoked cigarette and I picked it up. Was smoking a pack a day by 14 and still do at 43.

I've given up all my other addictions- alcohol, drugs, and even coffee, but nicotine still has a grip on me. I'd love to quit. Every attempt has failed.

[trof]

8. OK, unasked for advice is seldom welcome, but here goes any way.

I got pissed when Alabama raised tobacco tax ONCE MORE.
I really feel like that's taking advantage of addicts.
Addicts to a LEGAL substance.
There are SO many levels of hypocrisy there.

Anyway...
I weaned myself.
I decided that all these years I had let the cigarette company dictate what my 'dosage' would be.
One whole cigarette.
I discovered that 1/2 a smoke really satisfied my needs for about an hour.
I'd stub it out and save the other 1/2 for later.
I began to time myself.
1/2 smoke per hour.

Pretty soon I had cut to 1/2 pack a day.
And at near $70 a carton I was also saving money out the ass.
Then I cut to about 1/3, then 1/4 pack.
Then to 3 cigs a day, then 2.
This all took a few weeks, but I think I was detoxing.
I'll tell ya, it beats the shit out of cold turkey.

Eventually I got to where 1 cigarette per day, in small doses, was enough.
And then one morning I poured a cup of coffee, took one last puff off a butt from the day before and said "OK, this is it."

I had a few twinges in the days that followed, especially if I got pissed off or stressed about something.
But they were no longer in the house, so that passed off.

Now I don't miss it at all. Don't even think about it.
And I now have about $210 (3 cartons a month X $70) in additional disposable income every month.

You might give it a try.
It sure worked for me.
Good luck.

[happybird]

9. Thank you

I welcome your advice because I know different methods work for different people. 👍

I have been doing the 1/2 a smoke at a time thing for probably a year. It has reduced my daily intake a little (15-16 cigarettes a day instead of a full 20), but I haven't tried timing it. I think that will help because I am a mindless smoker- put out half and 10 min later I'm smoking the other half, even though I don't need it. It's such an ingrained habit, and I think it also has a lot to do with the hand actions. I am definitely going to try hourly timing.

The prices are killing me. I'm from VA where smokes were always pretty cheap. Now I'm in WV and it's currently $2 more per pack than VA prices. It's absurd. And it's paying a lot of money each month to end up with lung cancer or COPD.

A friend and I were just talking earlier about how much money we'd have for retirement if all the tens of thousands of dollars (if not hundreds- and it likely is in the 6 figures, but I am too scared to do even a rough calculation) we've spent over the years on cigarettes, bar tabs, and other substances had instead been socked away in a Roth IRA. It makes me want to scream.

[UniteFightBack]

13. Try vaping. I started just to cut down on cigarettes and I was off cigarettes in about 3 days.

It's cheaper and you can control the nicotine. I've cut my nicotine intake in half and I'm going down another step again soon! It's a little bit of a trial and error to find what you like but once you do you're all set.

[trof]

21. You're exactly where I was. One more tip.

Yep, I did the 'mindless' smoking thing too.
Especially at the computer. It was like I couldn't write without a cig going.
I'd have one burning and couldn't even remember lighting it.

I took my package of cigs and put them in the kitchen at the other end of the house.
I put the carton in the garage.
No when I wanted one I had to make a conscious effort to get up, walk the length of the house, and get a smoke.
That really helped.

[Cousin Dupree]

5. Smoked part of a cig at my firend's house at age 16. Then ate cherry pie. Then threw up.

But somehow I persisted (dumb) and got myself a horrible 2-3 pack per day habit. Finally quit in 1995 after many tries. The pneumonia helped. Hardest thing i’ve ever done.

[trof]

6. God, I don't really know. 12? 13?

I filched Camels from my mom's purse.
Me and my buddies would pass it around behind Johhny's garage.
I was a pack a day smoker until about 3 years ago.
I'm 77.
No worse for the wear apparently.

[mitch96]

7. Same here, 12 or 13... smoked, got a headache and puked...

I persisted cause it was "cool". Both of my parents smoked and all my relatives smoked..
Quit when I was 24 or 25.. One of the hardest things I ever did.. I still had the urge to smoke for about 7 years... but it's not a drug...
Tried snuff when I was seven.. As the commercial said, just a pinch between your cheek and gum... now THAT was flat out weapons grade stupid...
m

[customerserviceguy]

10. Yes

Three puffs on a Marlboro Light in my junior high years, and then I said, "Does anyone want to finish this, I'm never doing that to myself again." And I never did.

[rurallib]

11. Was just talking about that this weekend

I was @ 12 or 13. But I lived in a house where my parents were very heavy smokers. So I don't remember getting sick or even dizzy. I am guessing I already had a lot of nicotine in my system by then - so I already had a tolerance.

However, at age 25 I hadn't smoked for about 3 weeks at one stretch. I smoked about half a ciggy and was really dizzy and felt like puking. That was my last one.

[csziggy]

12. Took one puff once, tried to hack my lungs out - never again

[ProudLib72]

14. First time was in college

At a party somebody gave me a clove cigarette. I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I used to ride a bmx bike around campus to get between classes (really big campus). For some reason I decided it would be super cool to smoke a clove while riding my bike to class. Not a good idea!

I smoked lots of cheap Swisher Sweets freshman year. Evidently, I reeked of cigar stench. One of the people on my hall in the dorm sprayed deodorant under my door. I distinctly remember thinking, "WTF????" However, I do not blame whoever did it now.

[argyl]

15. I remember the last one. A Parliament.

Needless to say, I bummed it off my boss at the time. Smoked it right after quitting time. About 5:00 PM.

I'd gone almost two days without a smoke and then I had that last one. Thirty five years ago. I had dreams where I'd been smoking for years. Waking up with fresh breath let me know it was a dream.

Lately I've been watching some of these compilations of old TV commercials. Smoking as a sign of sophistication, the Marlboro Man, Fred and Barnie having a smoke together. It's surreal now and I remember these commercials. I can imagine what Millennials think of them.

Haven't seen a cigarette vending machine in God knows how long. Used to be everywhere. Dairy Queens, IHOPs, maybe even churches.

I don't think they even have them in bars anymore.

[mr_lebowski]

32. Only place I even see 'em anymore is in casino's

As least, as of about 7 years ago (the last time I was at this particular casino) there still was a smoke vending machine at the Oaks Casino in Emeryville, CA. They were long gone from everywhere else by that point. Could be gone by now but I kinda doubt it.

[Major Nikon]

16. First time was Prince Albert in the left handed can

[red dog 1]

23. Did you ever call up a tobacco shop & ask them if they had

Prince Albert in a Can?

[OriginalGeek]

17. I do. Poodgie and me were in 5th grade in the early 70s

His dad smoked unfiltered menthols and we stole one and shared it. It was awful so we tried it again. (you know, to make sure we were doing it right). Still awful but we knew some cigs had filters so we went up to the grocery store and told the lady our dad sent us up for a pack of Marlboros. She looked absolutely uninterested and took our quarter and we went on our way thinking how clever it was of us to just ask for smokes..

I still have a crush on Poodgie's mom. She was one of those free-spirit kinda ladies and undergarments were more of a non-free-spirit thing so she often bounced in ways I didn't understand but knew I liked.

Poodgie's dad had Playboy calendars on the wall.

My mom would have beat me senseless if she'd a known what was over at Poodgie's place. I spent a lot of time at Poodgie's and then we moved before that summer was up and I never saw him again. I don't even know his last name or real first name but we were best of friends for a summer at La Spanada apartments.

I was up to 3 packs a day of Marlboro red in a box when I quit on 4/20/2003. I'm glad I quit but I miss Poodgie. And his mom.

[Aristus]

18. I was fourteen or fifteen.

I had been warned not to inhale, and I didn't. But I was still left with the feeling: "This is the stupidest goddamned thing anyone has ever done! People pay for this? Jesus!"

Never smoked again after that...

[Harker]

19. I was probably 7.

Some friends and I had a pack of cigarettes and a Playboy magazine stashed in the woods across the street. Everything was grand. Then it rained.

[red dog 1]

24. You win the prize for being the youngest smoker on this thread.

At 7, I think I got my first bicycle,,or it could have been at 8.

Playboy at 7?

[Harker]

29. The boobie prize.

I didn't know how it all went together, but I sure liked liked the whole idea.

[dewsgirl]

30. My friends and I were 9, (2girls 2 boys) we stole my brother's sex magazine (not playboy,

much dirtier) and would look at it up in our attic.

[mr_lebowski]

33. Pretty sure my smoke and first Playboy were both around 7 y.o.

My dad had a subscription and they were just there in my folks room. My folks didn't much care if I looked at 'em. They really weren't all that explicit.

TBH I also the read lots of the articles, and that was probably a lot worse for me in terms of 'exposure'.

I remember there was one issue that had a huge article about all the illegal drugs in the US, with a big chart showing whether they're uppers, downers, opiates, etc, what they felt like, what their street/slang names were, how addictive each one was, whether you could OD and die on them.

I read the hell out of that article, and decided back then which ones I wanted to try eventually and which ones I didn't. I was 10 at that time, I believe.

I even checked out some books at the library about Drugs afterwards, to learn even more about them, fully intending to try some of them when I got older but to stay away from the dangerous ones.

Anyways, my cigarette ... my mom and stepdad let me smoke it cause I was asking about my stepdad's smoking habit ... I'd expressed curiosity, and they'd apparently decided a great way to dissuade me from 'sneaking' one was to just give me one, and watch me try to smoke it.

Which was, suffice to say, extremely unpleasant. Think I had 2 puffs, and about coughed up a lung, and they were much amused. Long term, this strategy ... didn't really work. We moved to Hong Kong when I was 13, where there was no smoking age and packs were like US$.50, and all the other expat American kids smoked, so ...

[hunter]

20. All I ever got was second hand smoke and a few trips to the Emergency Room.

My grandma never did connect her heavy smoking to my severe asthma and sensitivity to cigarette smoke.

The smoking eventually killed her. She's a dead cowboy, like the Marlboro Man.

In her later fifties my grandma looked about as old as my eighty year old parents do now.

My brothers and I were spared quite a few worse vices -- drugs, drinking, smoking, prostitutes, whatever -- by our car and motorcycle vices.

On our tight budgets, cars, motorcycles, parts and tools, always came first, even beyond cheap beer most days.

My rough skills as a car and motorcycle mechanic have served me well over the years.

[bikebloke]

22. Mid-teens

I took one puff. My mouth tasted so filthy dirty, that I was doomed to a healthy life.

[milestogo]

25. No.

Because it hasn't happened yet.

[CentralMass]

26. Tried once or twice when i was aroung 14 . It irritated the heck out of my lungs and I never tried

it again.

[Freethinker65]

27. Yep. I was 41 years old!

Then the cops came and told us older women the park closes at dusk. True story.

That is also the last time I tried smoking a cigarette 😀

[Kurt V.]

28. navy boot camp. it gave me 10 min extra break twice a day.

[doc03]

31. Don't remember when but my friend would

barrow two Pall Malls from his mother. Must have been 9 or 10. We even picked butts up from the road and smoked them in a pinch.

[Clash City Rocker]

34. Yeah. I was in college

I woke up one morning, went outside for my daily first smoke of the day, and asked myself, why am I doing this? I get no enjoyment from it, other than avoiding the lousy feeling from not smoking. It’s expensive, and forces me to go outside to avoid the terrible smell it would give my apartment. I threw my cigarettes in the trash and never smoked again. I’m lucky, I quit the first time I tried. My dad, by contrast, had to try about 30 times before it took.

[Kablooie]

35. I was about 9. Stole one of my mom's cigarettes, went out in the street and smoked it.

It made me so sick I've never had another cigarette since.

[samnsara]

36. took a puff once and that was that.. i never ever smoked cigs..

[samnsara]

37. thats GREAT that at such a young age you were able quit just like that....

..what kind of car did you buy?

[red dog 1]

39. A 1954 Mercury for $200

I put up $100 and my parents put up the other $100

It was an old car, but was owned by a mechanic so it was in pretty good shape.

[sinkingfeeling]

38. Started at 18, the first week of college. Stopped in Jan. 2009 with cancer surgery.