Surfing and cigarettes

[Aruka]

I smoked my first cig at like 12 years old. I just wanted to do whatever my two older brothers were doing. By 15 I was pretty well hooked. I was active. Skating, surfing, running cross country. Still, it eventually started to take it's toll. I would get sick all the time and I quit running and I could just feel it wearing me down. I was smoking easily a pack a day by the time I finally quit at 21. It took me almost a whole year of trying for it to finally stick. Quitting was easily one of the hardest things I've ever done. For anyone who hasn't been addicted to nicotine it's hard to stress how difficult quitting is. Just like everything there is probably a genetic component. I would quit for a day and then break down. Quit for a week and then break down. Once I lasted a whole month before slipping up and then it was right back to a pack a day. My boss at the time told me don't tell yourself that you're quitting forever, just keep putting it off every time you have a craving. That seemed to be the mental trick that finally got me over the hump. It's been almost 18 years now and while I almost never think about it there is still a part of my brain that wakes up when I smell tobacco smoke drifting by.

I'm so glad I quit.

 

[silentbutdeadly]

I don't smoke but I reminisce the days when you could smoke inside of a bar or restaurant.

why

 

[SlicedFeet]

I’m a Nicotine Addict. Will be for the rest of my life.

Started early, first sig was 5th grade.

Mixed it up with dip, Copenhagen.

Have quit tons of times, usually years at a time. My longest run was 6 years.

Currently non smoker/dipper. I did smoke during covid and it put a major claw in me.

If I have one smoke, I will be back to smoking a pack a day instantly.

Cold Turkey is the only way to quit.

Still amazed I’m alive right now…but there have been other consequence from smoking.

Kids…beat the sh!t out of any of your friends who vape, smoke, or dip…tell them you‘re doing them a favor and I will back you up.

 

[N2Stock]

why

It was fun as a teen playing pool in a smokey smelly bar, with some classic rock blasting and eating handfuls of cashews from the 50 cent dispenser.

 

[SurfFuerteventura]

Do not mix.

 

[Samuel65]

Surfing and cigarettes go great together, but cigarettes are terribly slow. There was a time when I started smoking just to impress the girls. However, as time passed, I realized I had become dependent on cigarettes. The girls, of course, stopped worrying me, and I began to think about quitting smoking. It was very hard for me to do my favorite surfing because of this. So I've now switched to sticks from uk.neafs.com. They do not contain tobacco, so they are great for getting rid of addiction. It's been about a month, and I feel much lighter and better. Over time, I plan to get rid of this.

 

[potato-nator]

used to twist rollies as a cover for weed puffin.
they can run interference pretty well.
plus splains the rolling papers.

 

[Waterlogged05]

Tobacco is a vasoconstrictor (closes your veins - high blood pressure), and cannabis is a vasodiolator (expands your veins - lowers blood pressure). I've probably done some damage to my lungs by cannabis smoking for so many years. But I still jog 2 miles almost every morning, and it feels good.

I notice w the green, you cough up more of it.
W cigs, it tends to stay in there more.
Both bad for you but cigs really get up in there

 

[PJ]

It was fun as a teen playing pool in a smokey smelly bar, with some classic rock blasting and eating handfuls of cashews from the 50 cent dispenser.

Forgot about the cashew dispensers - in bars, gas stations, dry cleaners - everywhere - and cigarette machines that you pulled that long rod with the plastic end towards you and it mad a lot of noise then dropped out a pack.

 

[sickdog]

I may have invented aversion therapy (for myself anyway). Smoked cigs from age 15, added weed at 18, and when I was invited to move to the NS, (years before leashes), and being a poor swimmer, decided that one of them must go.

I bought a pack of Salem's (menthol, which I hated), and actually sat down and chain smoked about eight in a row, until I was ready to barf. Never smoked a cig. again, Still today, 50 years later, I can still relive the awful taste in the back of my tongue, and shudder slightly. If it works for anyone else, please pass it on.

 

[000]

i dont understand how anyone can START

its so hideously stinky i could never suck that sh!t into my mouth and lungs

 

[Hump]

I started smoking at age 15 after I joined a rock-n-roll band and wanted to look cool.
Smoked from then on, all through the navy (cheap smokes) and forward into civvy street.
Always had an ashtray on my desk, you could smoke almost anywhere, on planes, in bars, pubs, cafes and such, and nobody said anything.
Tried quitting a few times during the era when I was actively surfing, but failed each time.
Twice had fairly long periods when I'd quit and both times met women who smoked and I started up again.
That old post-coital smoke is hard to resist.

Finally quit tobacco for good about 12 years ago but still a daily toker.
I have an annual physical and always ask my Doc about my lungs and he always says they sound good.
He knows I toke but seems ok with it in my case and I've had him for 25 years or so.
Only been a daily toker for 11 years, so not all my life, just to keep perspective.

Pot is an expectorant for sure which is why we cough and clear out stuff so often, but as that's mostly done at home and rarely out in public it doesn't affect anyone else much, and even though it's not attractive at all it's part of how the body functions.

I'm 77 now and breathe well, sleep well and everything still works well, although not as good as years ago, naturally.
Were I to start working out a bit I could probably regain my endurance somewhat too.
Been rowing almost every night in the Tyee Pool and that helps a bit, too.

Big fish so far. (not mine)



I have tortured myself numerous times thinking about all the money I spent on tobacco during the years I smoked, as well as all the waves I missed because of my smoking.

Dumb.




Take care.

 

[Boneroni]

I smoked a pack a day from 16 - 28 years old.

Once my (then) girlfriend got pregnant, I went to a hypnotist and quit cold turkey.

I've been nicoteen free for almost 15 years.

 

[TeamScam]

The line between young boy and idiot is so transparent.....

Lollooza I would never throw tha
t statement out there my wife would eat it up and spit it out in my face every time I do anything remotely fun.

We in my neighborhood had so much fun playing whiffle for a few years there around 1980, seems almost Norman Rockwell-ish now.

 

[tacos]

Who on here said something along the lines of “imagine the stupidity required to light something on fire and then purposely inhale the smoke“? was that VonMeister? one my favorite things I’ve read on here.

 

[Maz]

Coffee and cigarettes: the breakfast of champions. Frankly, more sailors could stand to forego the breakfast calories on the mess deck and do that instead.

In Indo after a morning surf, a strong Bali coffee (big spoonful in a beer mug, add sweetened condensed milk and boiling water) and a clove ciggie, you pretty much hear the angels sing. So so good.

 

[JeffRSpicoli]

And in the proper order:
-tasty waves first,
-then a cool buzz...

Never could/can surf buzzed...

 

[brukuns]

I never really started smoking... I decided early on that buying a pack was taboo for me and that was the one thing that held me back. But have always snagged a cig from friends when we were drinking. Even today I still snag a cancer tube from friends when drinking... tbh today I simply ask for a puff, a full cig is too much.

I like the feeling of smoking for some stupid reason, which is why I go through weed so fast when I get it... I smoke more for the taste and the act of smoking than to get high... so I light a joint and I smoke it end to end when a couple puffs would probably be enough to give me a high. If I have it it's around 1g a day. I don't know, seems like much as that's all me.

 

[Ifallalot]

I smoked a pack a day or more from about 18 to 33. I quit by using a vape for about 9 months. Then I got sick of dealing with all the bullshit from vapes and quit it all

That was about 10 years ago but I know I can never touch a cig again or i'll be right back at smoking

 

[HatterasGlass]

I smoked a pack a day or more from about 18 to 33. I quit by using a vape for about 9 months. Then I got sick of dealing with all the bullshit from vapes and quit it all

That was about 10 years ago but I know I can never touch a cig again or i'll be right back at smoking

100% same story here except I went to 40.
If I had nothing to live for, I'd fire it back up in a skinny minute.