Kicking the Habit: Smoker or Ex-Smoker

[Kdawg]

I smoke hookah frequently.

Can anyone give some real insight onto the health effects of hookah as opposed to cigarrettes? I've done some googling, but the answers seem to be pretty split.

[Kinectamaniac]

I've actually been meaning to start a thread about Electronic Cigs...I finally got ahold of a good brand, and I've been off "smoking" since April 26th...exclusively using E-Cigs. And I found a website that sells the liquid, so I can refill my own cartridges (cartomizers), taking the cost to less than a buck a day.

I used to smoke a pack a day, sometimes more than a pack a day...never went more than five days without a cigarette. Switched to E-Cigs...it was so easy I never felt the difference.

I will start a thread about E-Cigs soon. In the meantime, don't waste your money on the disposibles. Those actually cost MORE than regular cigarettes and run out of vapor pretty quickly.

[AlaskanAssassin]

Can anyone give some real insight onto the health effects of hookah as opposed to cigarrettes? I've done some googling, but the answers seem to be pretty split.

The problem is no study has been done that accurately depicts an actual hookah session. The studies most often used by the nay-sayers are set up wrong in my opinion and usually involve having a machine consistently sucking in the smoke which is not the proper way to smoke at all and probably uses the shittier products.

Hookah smoking is still smoking so of course it's not good for you, but I believe it's less harmful than cigarettes for multiple reasons. First off is most shisha/tobacco you get here in America is washed and as such most of the nicotine is removed, making it much less addictive in that sense.

Second, shisha is just tobacco, molasses and or glycerin for the flavor and is relatively harmless. This means none of the hundreds of other chemicals laced into cigarettes are present making it again less addictive and bad for you physically.

Third and pretty much finally, you boil shisha with the coals and the smoke then gets filtered through water which removes some harmful stuff, and less of it because boiling doesn't produce all the harmful products of tobacco as burning it would.

One negative which no study has truly shown is how harmful the length of sessions are (usually 45min-hour) and the volume of smoke taken in. Then again you don't or shouldn't inhale the smoke anyway.

Tl:dr: Hookah is bad, but not as bad. IMO.

[joe575]

I would normally smoke when I go out drinking, but I don't even do that anymore. 20 years old and I don't drink or smoke, like a bawwws.

Smoking isn't pleasant at all, it would make me ill at times but it seems to help socially..so it has some benefits. Going out into smoking areas at clubs, girl doesn't have a lighter on her so she asks you for one, you start talking for a bit, have a great time and all that, then BAM!..









She vanishes into the night, and you remain forever alone.

[xLETHAL VIXENx]

Lately, I've smoked a cig twice a week, if I ever get the chance. My kids are helping me cut the habit by keeping me super busy. I suppose all for the better.

[Stark]

I smoke about half a pack a day. Some days I wonder why the fuck I smoke, other times I light up a cigarette and really enjoy it. I feel like I'm a lot more addicted the the physical act of smoking than I am to nicotine; I occasionally go a few days without smoking, and I don't think about it at all until I do something that I associate with smoking. Maybe I should switch to cloves?

I've been completely surrounded by smokers my whole life, though, so it's almost weird that I didn't start until I was about 20.

[Monkoo]

Never smoked tobacco and never want to.
No reason other than don't see the point. Unhealthy and expensive. I love the smell though and for the most part imo it makes you look cooler haha

[Stark]

Never smoked tobacco and never want to.
No reason other than don't see the point. Unhealthy and expensive. I love the smell though and for the most part imo it makes you look cooler haha

Pretty much how I felt before I fully realized that my whole family, primary social group, and most of my co-workers smoked. I kind of felt like "what the fuck, why not?"

I really don't see myself smoking 5-10 years down the road. Having a kid would probably be a solid enough reason to stop.

[BraddersTheDog]

I smoke about half a pack a day. Some days I wonder why the fuck I smoke, other times I light up a cigarette and really enjoy it. I feel like I'm a lot more addicted the the physical act of smoking than I am to nicotine; I occasionally go a few days without smoking, and I don't think about it at all until I do something that I associate with smoking. Maybe I should switch to cloves?

I've been completely surrounded by smokers my whole life, though, so it's almost weird that I didn't start until I was about 20.

Yeah I used to smoke mainly roll-ups and loved the act of physically rolling up. It was quite therapeutic. When you're a smoker, everything seems better if you have cigarettes, like you've got something to do if you get bored, or "I'll have a cig in 20 minutes" gives you something to aim for. It helps break the day up. I dunno.

[Ferris]

I smoked about a pack every 3 days or so from about 19-26, then I got sick of smoking and quit. I didn't find it very hard to quit really, I just got sick of cigarettes and smoking them. One day I decided to quit and that was it.

If I'm with a friend who smokes or out at a bar I'll have one outside from time to time, but it doesn't spark any kind of craving or addiction after that. It's pretty rare that I'll have them, just recently at a wedding I went to. I was just never really addicted when I smoked, just made it a habit that I enjoyed at the time.

I went from Marlboro Reds, to Marlboro Lights then dated a girl who smoked Newport's and started smoking those for a while. Newport's are fucking awful and I don't even understand now how I managed to smoke those things.