Personal question: got smokes?

[Shreyas Sampat]

I don't smoke. No real reason, nothing against smoking... just don't.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Chris (Lehrich),

It's not really a puzzlement. The body uses all sorts of toxins in great and bizarre ways. It's been pretty much proven than nicotine sharpens the mind and works as a mild anti-psychotic. (Studies of Wellbutrin and decrease in smoking cravings nailed this one.)

The smoke-haters: trust me, I didn't mean to offend. You guys are definitely the ones on the attack, though. I'm probably the most courteous smoker you'll ever meet: I won't smoke anywhere near anyone who objects, and refuse to smoke where children can even see me, and will berate others for doing so.

My favorite smoking moment: after kicking back 10 consecutive six-minute miles at a charity run for the American Lung Association, lighting up as I stepped off the track and seeing the looks of horror. Even with my courteousness, out-running all the health nuts and then seeing their outrage at knowing I was a smoker was as funny as it gets.

[clehrich]

Brilliant!  I love it!  God, I wish I'd done that!

I knew I liked Clinton.  :)

[greyorm]

Non-smoker. Never have, never, never, never will. Killed my grandfather shortly after I was born, so I never had the chance to meet him.

My wife smokes, however. She keeps "quitting" half-assed. It's the only issue besides money we regularly argue (viciously) over. I hate -- let me capitalize that -- HATE smoking. However, she does smoke outside, including in 40 below Minnesota winters. I have no sympathy.

As for smokers...persuant to the big controversy in this area recently about public smoking. I say fuck 'em. Engage in filthy habit in dark holes and the privacy of your own home. Beyond that, your choice to do it, and I don't care whether or not you do.

Interestingly, I never pegged Clinton as a smoker. Not a big deal, really. And you get a golf clap for your conscientiousness.

[montag]

I'm a heavy smoker, ... and I blame my oral fixation on my mom ;)

btw:

It's been pretty much proven than nicotine sharpens the mind and works as a mild anti-psychotic. (Studies of Wellbutrin and decrease in smoking cravings nailed this one.)

Interesting. I knew about the benefits to concentration (same as any mild stimulant AFAIK) and I know that psychiatric patients smoke a lot and that it reduces the effects of medication (smokers need higher doses on average). Admittedly the latter is based on experience and annecdotes only, never bothered to look up a study on that. Could you share some info on that anti-psychotic effect (which would run counter to what I'd expect)?

[W. Don]

I'm probably the most courteous smoker you'll ever meet: I won't smoke anywhere near anyone who objects, and refuse to smoke where children can even see me, and will berate others for doing so.

I might give you a run for your money, Clinton. I can't stand smoking around non-smokers. In the same way you do, I abhor smoking where kids can see me. I teach special children for a living, so maybe that has something to do with it. We'll probably get along great smoking-wise -- just find ourselves a nice decent spot where we won't bother anyone.

I dig that charity run stunt.

- W.

[Jason Lee]

It's been pretty much proven than nicotine sharpens the mind and works as a mild anti-psychotic. (Studies of Wellbutrin and decrease in smoking cravings nailed this one.)

Interesting. I knew about the benefits to concentration (same as any mild stimulant AFAIK) and I know that psychiatric patients smoke a lot and that it reduces the effects of medication (smokers need higher doses on average). Admittedly the latter is based on experience and annecdotes only, never bothered to look up a study on that. Could you share some info on that anti-psychotic effect (which would run counter to what I'd expect)?

You've got to put that in context, though.  Yes, it does increase cognitive functions, because nicotine stimulates the release of adrenal hormones, which increases cognitive ability.  Of course, it also increases blood pressure.  A quick search yields this article discussing the similarity of nicotine and cocaine's effects on the brain, wherein is briefly discussed the increase in cognitive function.

According to the Wikipedia, the high percentage of schizophrenics that smoke may be because they are self medicating.  There is apparently research looking into using nicotine to treat Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's.

Stimulants stimulate, that's really all there is too it.  We use stimulants for all sort of good things, measuring the gain against the additional stress imposed on the body.  So, it wouldn't suprise me in the slightess to discover all sorts of medical/psychiatric uses for nicotine.  Of course, there is a lot more to cigarette smoke than nicotine.

EDIT: I'm not sure I buy the Wikipedia's statement about schizophrenia.  Cigarette smoke (like cocaine) increases dopamine levels, and high dopamine levels are implicated as the cause of schizophrenia and other psychosis.  Though I'm really not knowledgeable enough to say for certain, that just seems ass-backwards to me.  So yeah, that's counter to what I would expect as well.

[Christopher Weeks]

For the record, as much as I think you guys are filthy animals, I do not feel that I have the right to legislate your activity out of your hands.  Clinton, I am not on the attack.  I will continue to vote against smoking bans, while enjoying their success.  I will not frequent stores, restaurants or bars where smoking is allowed, but I fully support the right of those establishments choose not to have me.  And it appears that there are enough of you to keep them in business, so it seems like an equitable arrangement.

But I wonder why I can't piss on the sidewalk.

Chris

[Ben Lehman]

When I was 14, my brother sat me down and said "Ben, I've been smoking for the last 4 years.  At first, it feels really good, but now it doesn't feel good at all, and I can't stop.  Don't start."

And so I didn't.

I did get into Magic: the Gathering in High School, which is more healthy for the body but less healthy for the social life and pocketbook.

yrs--
--Ben

[Ole]

I quit smoking almost two years ago, and for the last couple of months there have actually been days that I have not thought about it.

[ethan_greer]

This:

http://www.simplephrase.com/formerglory/journal/011024.html

And this:

http://www.simplephrase.com/formerglory/journal/011204.html

[Marhault]

Non-Smoker.  I guess, occasionally in a party-type atmosphere, but that's about it.

[lumpley]

Sometimes I think that, Jesus Christ, I oughta know what smoking a cigarette is even like.  What kind of an insulated freak am I, that if somebody says to me "y'know, kind of like taking one single puff on a cigarette -" I have to say "no, no I don't know."  There's not a food I won't try, I'VE EATEN BUGS and I haven't ever smoked anything.  I kind of pride myself on trying things, just to see.

Sometimes I dream that I'm smoking a cigarette.  In my dream, it's just like breathing in incense, and I go "this is just like breathing in incense ... which means I must be dreaming.  But everything seems so real!"

Then I get obsessed and start to make plans about, y'know, how casually I'll try it, and how I won't feel weird about it, it's just a thing, right, not weird at all, I mean come on, and my plans get more and more pre-planned, and whether I'll gag and cough or not, or what.  And pretty soon I'm playing this whole scenario out in my head over and over, until finally I go - dude, this is lame, if you're going to try a cigarette just TRY A DAMN CIGARETTE.  But by then it's too late to "just" anything, it's a huge production, so I go - yeah, yeah, you're right, that's what I'll do sometime after this huge production thing has worn off.

Sad but true.

-Vincent

[Ole]

A single puff for a non-smoker is mildly nauseating, for a smoker is a taste of paradise. In order to fully appreciate the experience you have feed the addiction for a couple of years.

[Malechi]

I was a practically a smoker for the first 18 years of my life.  I was a smoker in-utero, in-2000km-car-trips, at-the-dinner-table and on-the-way-to-the-hospital-with-asthma-attacks...and yet i've never lit up.  

I'm 29 now and despite not living in a house of smokers fo 11 years, being on asthma medication and a good deal of exercise I apparently still have the lungs of a 70 year old.  

I'm thinking of suing my parents for the loss in IQ for smoking in-utero plus all the other possible problems and increase in risks for lung cancer etc... but hey...its a smoker's right ...right?