The Great American Smokeout

[tallman]

Today is the day

 

I hope those of you who want to quit are able to do so.

Best wishes.

[Richard_D]

I just lost a friend of 25 years to lung failure at 63. He smoked all his life . Good luck to all.

[10ovr]

I quit August 23,,It's funny,The other guy's I ride with would watch to see when I was halfway finished with my smoke,,Then they would gear up,,They know when the smoke went out I would put on my helmet and go,,,,Now they don't know what to do,,I think I have saved about $686 Bucks to date,,,,That should come in handy for the Un Rally in the Cheap state of Calif

[CoarsegoldKid]

Congrats Tim. See you at UN

[yabadabapal]

+1

Thanks

[Kathy R]

Come on, you can do it

You know you want to

It gets easier as time goes on

You'll never, ever, regret quitting

 

All my best to you as you try

[Tony_K]

My mother smoked for almost 40 years. Not chain smoking or anything. Maybe 3 to 4 a day. A pack would last about a week but It caused a stroke that happened in the middle of the street in downtown L.A. while leaving jury duty. She had another a few days later. A mild stroke by all accounts with a 95-8% recovery but still horrible.

She quit smoking finally after that.

[Rideoften]

I quit July 18th. Although it was probably the most difficult thing I've ever done, it was also one of the most rewarding. Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs on the planet and is quite a challenge to overcome. I did it with the help of whyquit.com Good luck to all who try. Don't give up.

 

Ride Safe

Rideoften

[Lets_Play_Two]

My mother and dad both died of complications caused by a lifetime of smoking...one couldn't survive surgery because of general organ failure and the other had a stroke caused by emphysema. I quit April 4.....1989....3 packs a day....the smartest thing I ever did in my life.

 

Actually, nicotine is the most addictive drug:

 

Based on the level of dependence, the most common measure for determining the addictiveness of a drug, the substances ranked as follows, from most to least addictive:

 

1. Nicotine

2. Heroin

3. Cocaine

4. Alcohol

5. Caffeine

6. Marijuana

[RichEdwards]

Here's my Motorcycle Math:

Average price of a pack of cigarettes in Florida is $5.34.

Two packs a day times 365 days equals $3898 or $324.83 per month.

Monthly payment on new Ducati is $325.

Since I don't smoke, that new Ducati will cost me 17 cents a month.

[tallman]

I've got room in my garage.

I'll pay you the .17 to keep it here.

 

Showed my students some videos yesterday of the effects smoking, dipping, and other assorted nastiness can have on the user.

Good discussions, hoping it made a difference.

[OoPEZoO]

I quit cold turkey from ~2 packs a day down to nothing back in the fall of '01 or '02. I'm glad I can't remember exactly when.....that means I truely don't give a crap anymore. Best thing I ever did.......health wise and financially.

 

[upflying]

Why quit smoking when you might get 300 million dollars someday.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20091120/NEWS-US-PHILIPMORRIS-AWARD/

[Joel]

Kudos to those who have quit. Encouragement to those who want to quit. To those who don't care to quit, I'll simply say please don't do that to yourself and your family. 50 years of smoking didn't kill my Dad directly, but it certainly tied both hands behind his back as he tried to recover from colon cancer. He would have turned 81 this week, but he passed 12 years ago.

[tallman]

Joel,

Were you and others exposed to 2nd hand smoke?

Most likely.

Now we know about 3rd hand smoke and the deleterious effects it has on people and the environment.

It is a very addictive drug and the statistics and health care costs are staggering.

Best wishes.

[Polo]

Why quit smoking when you might get 300 million dollars someday.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20091120/NEWS-US-PHILIPMORRIS-AWARD/

 

That IMO is just wrong. We are discussing right here how some of us have quit.

 

When I started smoking, nobody put a gun to my head and forced me. I started because of peer pressure, trying to look grown up and cool.

 

When I grew up and learned that I did not have to impress anybody, nor needed to be accepted by anyone, and understood that it wasn't healthy I decided to quit my 1-1.5 pack a day habit.

 

Had I not decided to quit, I had nobody but myself to blame. I do not celebrate that miscarriage of justice.

[Deadboy]

I have quit a few times, longest was 7 years....started again in July for reasons still unknown....

 

 

[Rideoften]

Why quit smoking when you might get 300 million dollars someday.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20091120/NEWS-US-PHILIPMORRIS-AWARD/

 

 

When I started smoking, nobody put a gun to my head and forced me. I do not celebrate that miscarriage of justice.

 

I haven't thought about a lawsuit against tobacco companies but it would be alright with me if they got sued right out of existance. You think you started by peer pressure alone but advertising budgets of tobacco companies run in the BILLION dollar per year range and most if not all of it is aimed at the youth market. Just for kicks, goggle cigarette advertising of the 40's, 50's, and 60's. It'll blow you away. Did you know that 5 trillion cigarettes are manufactured and consumed every year worldwide? When I started smoking in the late 60's NOBODY told me nicotine was a powerful and very addictive drug. Tobacco companies contribute millions of dollars towards politicians to help them get elected and re-elected. That and the fact that the government make billions in tax revenues is the only reason nicotine products are still legal. I say sue the ever lovin crap out of them and make them pay for all the lives they have ruined. I was able (with a great deal of difficulty) to quit, some people just can't, it's too powerful. Good on you for quitting, I hope many others will toss them away, but please don't waste any time feeling sorry for tobacco companies for being sued.

 

Ride Safe

Rideoften

[Paul Mihalka]

Sometimes some good comes out of bad times. Time frame: 1946, Austria, end of WWII. I was 15 years old. Food and everything extremely scarce and rationed with coupons. We were all hungry not far from starving. I was about 5' 9" tall and at the lowest point about 90 LBS (I did recuperate ). Adults received coupons of 8 cigarettes a month. Tobacco and cigarettes were the best black market currency. I knew adults who I respected and considered intelligent, who were just as hungry as I was, but traded food for cigarettes. At that time tobacco related health problems were not known. Realizing that miserable stinking thing could have such a extreme power over people was scary and abhorrent to me. It left a lasting impression. I never smoked one cigarette in my life.

[Polo]

but please don't waste any time feeling sorry for tobacco companies for being sued.

 

Ride Safe

Rideoften

 

No, I don't pitty them. The tobacco industry is the object of massive taxation, bad publicity, public outcry, social stigma, an excuse for insurance companies to charge higher premiums; and it is still profitable. I know it is a vice, but until it is illegal, (which would make it even more profitable as it could not be taxed then), it is up to the individual to decide, and for parents to take responsibility on their children's education.

 

None of my three children is a smoker, yet I did not forbid them to try it, but were talked to as responsible persons capable of making up their own mind. I acknowledged that there was nothing I could do to keep them from smoking if they decided to do so. But gave them a choice based on information and free of threats.

 

I realize that their advertising is powerful and aimed directly at the impressionable. But I think that these suits send the wrong signal by rewarding not so much those who couldn't or wouldn't quit, but it rewards the "lack of self responsiblity" attitude that has become so prevalent today.

[Joel]

Joel,

Were you and others exposed to 2nd hand smoke?

Most likely.

 

Yes, hence part of my plea of "please don't do this to your family." Going away to college was finally a liberation from the smoking in the house, cars, etc. Occasionally I wonder about what ticking health bombs my sisters, mother and I might face from that. I know we're far from alone on that. We can't change the past, but people exposed to those conditions can change how they approach their futures. It has certainly influenced me, for the better.

[Rideoften]

 

Showed my students some videos yesterday of the effects smoking, dipping, and other assorted nastiness can have on the user.

 

Please keep doing that. Those same kids are seeing a billion dollar ad campaigne every year telling them smoking is sexy, youthful, alive with pleasure, enjoyable, sociable, fun and everything else you can think of to lure a new user.

 

Ride Safe

Rideoften

[tallman]

Around here, dip is a huge problem.

This story made an impression.

www.quitsmokeless.org/articles/rickbender.pdf

[Matts_12GS]

I realize that their advertising is powerful and aimed directly at the impressionable. But I think that these suits send the wrong signal by rewarding not so much those who couldn't or wouldn't quit, but it rewards the "lack of self responsiblity" attitude that has become so prevalent today.

 

 

Well said!

[Smoky]

Both my parents smoked. It gave my Dad heart disease,he died at 76.

 

5 kids in the family, no smokers. I quit about 25 years ago.

 

Still enjoy a cigar every week or so, more at MC events!

[Rideoften]

I realize that their advertising is powerful and aimed directly at the impressionable. But I think that these suits send the wrong signal by rewarding not so much those who couldn't or wouldn't quit, but it rewards the "lack of self responsiblity" attitude that has become so prevalent today.

 

 

Well said!

 

I agree with you that we have become a sue happy society, but what pray tell are the responsibilities of the cigarette companies? Over 440,000 people in the USA died last year from tobacco related issues. Most started using tobacco before they turned 21. The little warning printed on the side of a pack of cigarettes says"the surgeon general has determined that cigarette smoking is dangerous" or something similar. Have the cigarette companies done enough to prevent our youth from becoming users to the most powerfully addictive drug known in today's society? Or have they done everything in their power to lure in new users to replace the dying ones. Cigarette companies are deliberately taking control of our youth and I for one think they should pay and pay dearly as in "put out of business". I guess by now you know I'm a little bitter about this. Okay, I'll come down from my soap box.

 

Ride Safe

Rideoften

 

[taters]

i smoked non filtered lucky strikes for 45 years...loved smoking... but i was able to quit 7 years ago but only with the help of nicorette gum...chewed the gum for 3 days and then through it away as i did not want to get addicted to the gum....that does happen..strange thing is about once a week i get a big craving for a smoke...only lasts about a minute or two....now i won't allow anyone to smoke in my house..the smell makes me nautious..go figure..you can do it. if you smoke a pack a day trying putting $8 a day in a jar.....good luck

[CoarsegoldKid]

Before you stop smoking think about all the people you will put out of work.

I've known many people that took up smoking. I talk to many fewer now because I'm retired. Tobacco should be outlawed plain and simple. If I were King it would be. My second career was a Prosthetist. Before getting into the studies that it required I only thought of smokers as people buying time for the eventual lung, throat cancer or a heart attack. But then my mind was changed to include so many more threats to a persons health.

 

Today I tell people to enjoy their legs while they stand there smoking a cig because they may not have them for as long as they think.

Chemicals ingested into the blood stream from tobacco contain several vaso-constrictors. You've all seen the pictures of artery blockages well how about reducing the size of the entire vessel the blood must flow. Don't just think about large arteries think about the very very small arterioles feeding tissues you have come to enjoy. Without oxygen and nutrients those cells can't reproduce and die and new ones never return. Get a open wound on the foot from a nail, thorn, cat scratch. It's a matter of time and genes. You lose a toe, foot, transtibial, and eventually above the knee is gone. You will get to know your local prosthetist very well as you will need a new prosthetic many more time$ in your life. But wait there's more adventure$ to the respiratory therapist, physical therapist, and the cardiac team unless you stop smoking first. Think of all the lost riding time or different bikes you could have owned. If you're luck you just die early.

 

To top that off second hand smoke is also a threat and all smokers get second hand smoke. Have you ever considered why smoking is prohibited in hospitals. It ain't because of the smell. In China where smoking was allowed back when I did my research on the incidence of tobacco on amputations, I discovered that digital transplants thriving for days after surgery could be gangrenous in minutes after a family member smoked in the presence of the patient. It didn't take long to constrict the patients arterioles that were connected in micro-surgery.

A cigarette is more destructive to human health than almost anything you can buy. The fact that politicians take money from big tobacco so they can exist is a testament to our greedy society and their willingness to be suit wearing whores. If you smoke STOP NOW. Forward pass the message.

[KDeline]

What I would like to known is WHY did you younger folks (50 or less) even start with all the information out there about the health risks? You cigar smokers are just as bad but at every event there you are sucking it in. Don't even try the we don't inhale bull. I never even wanted to try once I saw the facts, at around twelve years old.

[motoguy128]

My wife went off to boot camp at 18. The first week she thought she had bronchitis. They took and X-ray and asked how long she had been smoking. She said she's never smoked.... but she lived in a house where both of her parents smoked.

 

I've never had a problem with people killing themselves with dangerous habits. But the problem with smoking is that it affects others, in particular children, who didn't choose to smoke or no smoke while beign exposed 2nd hand.

 

My wife's mom and step-dad still smoke, and I've backed-off a lot since we first got married but I still avoid going over to their house, which is hard to do since they live right down the street abotu 6 houses down. I can only stand being there indoors for about 2-3 hours at the most and fee like I need to take a shower afterwards. Its' disgusting.

 

If smokers could only be made to understand how disgusting the habit is and how negatively many non-smokers view those that smoke. I don't care how much my MIL cleans the house, cleans the walls, etc, it always seems dirty over there. I've told my wife "why does she bother cleaning the carpet and walls, what difference does it make. It's almost like washing your car when you live on a gravel road and it just rained.

[Mike]

I've never had a problem with people killing themselves with dangerous habits. But the problem with smoking is that it affects others, in particular children, who didn't choose to smoke or no smoke while beign exposed 2nd hand.

 

That's pretty much my take on it. If you willingly undertake and continue an activity that has a very good chance of killing you or causing a lasting disability, you have no right to expect the manufacturer of that product to pay you tens of millions for the consequences of you taking a known risk.

 

But, I applaud those who have taken the very, very tough step of quitting--it is damnably hard to do and you deserve a gold star for taking control of your life. Have a drink to celebrate.

[Polo]

I realize that their advertising is powerful and aimed directly at the impressionable. But I think that these suits send the wrong signal by rewarding not so much those who couldn't or wouldn't quit, but it rewards the "lack of self responsiblity" attitude that has become so prevalent today.

 

 

Well said!

 

I agree with you that we have become a sue happy society, but what pray tell are the responsibilities of the cigarette companies? Over 440,000 people in the USA died last year from tobacco related issues. Most started using tobacco before they turned 21. The little warning printed on the side of a pack of cigarettes says"the surgeon general has determined that cigarette smoking is dangerous" or something similar. Have the cigarette companies done enough to prevent our youth from becoming users to the most powerfully addictive drug known in today's society? Or have they done everything in their power to lure in new users to replace the dying ones. Cigarette companies are deliberately taking control of our youth and I for one think they should pay and pay dearly as in "put out of business". I guess by now you know I'm a little bitter about this. Okay, I'll come down from my soap box.

 

Ride Safe

Rideoften

 

I will not even begin to take a position that in any way could be construed as in defending cigarette companies. I agree that their product are harmful and that they aim at the crowd that is more susceptible to their advertising. "Get a young person hooked and you maximize the chances of this person remaining a customer for life; or at least while they are healthy enough not to think about it".

 

My criticism is aimed at the fact that a miniscule percentage of people are suing them, and I imagine with very little actual gain in comparison to the harm they have already done to themselves.

 

How is Smith & Wesson responsible for my taking one of their handguns and blowing my brains?

 

Advertising is just that - ADVERTISING.

 

Have you noticed how there's an increase of war movies, even a channel dedicated to discuss things military? All kinds of signals aimed at instilling a sense of patriotism, a means to a greater end, etc. The military is advertising to sell their product to about the same age group as cigarette companies. The probability of some of these young men and women dying from buying into that kind of advertising is likely greater than from buying into cigarette advertising.

 

The cigarette companies have a product and need to sell it, we as public can or cannot buy it. It is my job as a parent to guide my children, and keep them from harm and harmful paths. To teach them to reject smoking, and smokers. Anybody else, over whom I have no real influence, will probably get an earful about my quitting, and anecdotal instances of smoking effects.

 

My father was a mortician; I grew up helping in the family business. Quite a few times, I assisted the forensic MD when he was short of staff. I can describe in detail the condition and appearance of a smoker's lungs to the point of creating revulsion in the listener. That's a good anti-smoking pitch, which I use often, on younger listeners, who may be influenced; but not on two-pack a day Joe Blow, who will rationalize his way past it.

 

To sue a cigarette company is to me akin to dropping a grain of salt in the giant's boot.