
Why Smokers Still Smoke - stevekinney
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/28/opinion/sunday/why-smokers-still-smoke.html
======
mcphilip
Smoking is a nasty habit and harmful to my body.

Now that that's out of the way, here are a couple reasons I smoke now and
then:

1\. Socialization. For whatever reason, it's easy to meet new people while
smoking. You don't feel the need to constantly be talking so it's a pretty
chill, low-pressure way to meet coworkers, especially those outside of your
department.

2\. Reflection. I think Ayn Rand said it best:

“I like to think of fire held in a man's hand. Fire, a dangerous force, tamed
at his fingertips. I often wonder about the hours when a man sits alone,
watching the smoke of a cigarette, thinking. I wonder what great things have
come from such hours. When a man thinks, there is a spot of fire alive in his
mind--and it is proper that he should have the burning point of a cigarette as
his one expression.”

Obviously there is no requirement to smoke to get in a reflective state, but
it is a trigger that helps me.

~~~
stfu
Reminds me of Rule No 1 for the GS Summer interns: _If your boss smokes,
smoke._ [1]

[1]
[http://gselevator.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/congratulations-s...](http://gselevator.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/congratulations-
summer-interns-of-2013-grab-a-pen-here-are-a-few-words-of-wisdom/)

~~~
eruditely
I laugh at how seriously he takes himself.

------
haldujai
As an anecdotal tidbit:

The reason I smoke is completely the opposite of what this article says. I
_do_ think about the long term effects, smoking increases my ability to focus
and when smoking my product is of higher quality and my marks are higher. I'm
trading my health later on for benefits now. Personally, I feel smoking
carries less risk than cognitive enhancement drugs (I.e provigil) and causes
less long term damage. I can deal with COPD and take immune boosters, eat
healthy, and ensure I have an adequate intake of antioxidants to lower the
risk of cancer. I also don't have a defective p53 gene.

~~~
nwh
I wouldn't hire you just based on the fact that you smell like shit.

~~~
rcfox
Well, I hope you're not involved with hiring at all because you might have
just opened yourself up to discrimination lawsuits.

~~~
nwh
It doesn't matter. Even if the interviewer doesn't state that as a reason, it
still has influence. There's nothing really stopping that.

------
solarmist
tl;dr Smokers seem to be worse at delayed gratification. And are more easily
tempted into the easy/pleasurable choice, even if it's obviously a bad choice
long term.

------
rdtsc
I have seen lately advertisement for electronic cigarettes. Are those better,
worse for one's health. I don't smoke but was just wondering. They are hailed
as a non cancer causing cigarette. Is that true? What about just a nicotine
patch. Would smokers just prefer that so they can save money but still get the
nicotine boost.

~~~
revelation
Nicotine itself is safe (that is, it a neurotoxin, but so is caffeine; the
dosis makes the poison for humans). The carcinogenic substances you inhale
from smoking are mostly a by-product of the combustion process. Electronic
cigarettes work similar to vaporizers and should be safe (pending research).

Also see gwerns articles on nicotine:

[http://www.gwern.net/Nicotine](http://www.gwern.net/Nicotine)
[http://www.gwern.net/Nootropics#nicotine](http://www.gwern.net/Nootropics#nicotine)

~~~
leohutson
Nicotine is not "safe". It's less harmful than some of the other constituents
of tobacco smoke, but it's still cancer promoting in itself:

[http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v12/i46/7428.htm](http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/full/v12/i46/7428.htm)
[http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/91/14/1194.long](http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/91/14/1194.long)
[http://toxsci.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/2/279.long](http://toxsci.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/2/279.long)

------
aleprok
Does smoking cause bad self-control or does bad self-control drive people to
smoke? I do not know the answer.

What I know is that I am nicotine addict and smoking addict. It is a habit
that I go for a cigarette about every hour. It is like a clock in my head
ringing to go for a cigarette after 45-60 minutes even though the nicotine
withdrawal hits in around three hours. After that I usually will just go out
of choice for a cigarette even if I have decided not to smoke that much for
the day, because the withdrawal symptoms are annoying.

Then again I know for a certain that I am looking for activities that create
lasting profit and happiness and avoid every kind of risky things like
lottery. Even though I may once a year buy a lottery ticket to try my bad
luck, but so does everyone else.

I do know that smoking has bad social risks like yellow teeth and bad smell. I
do know that smoking causes health problems. Thing is. It is life and it is my
decision to live with my addiction, where is the self-control missing?

One thing I have noticed since some of my friends have tried to stop smoking
or actually have stopped smoking. They will still be the occasional smokers if
they stay around other smokers and often that is the case, because smokers
usually socialize with other smokers at the cigarette break and once you have
quit you will still have that carving for another cigarette and some times the
decision "maybe one" will rule them all. It's the ~20% club.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Nicotine addiction is not really the problem; you can get over that in a week.
The problem is habit: want to go outside and think; talk to friends; kill some
time while walking from point A to B? Would you rather think about smoking or
just smoke and think about something else? For a smoker trying to quit, any
whitespace/meditation time in your schedule is a potential for relapse. And
its not just a matter of not smoking for a week, a month, 3 months, or even 6
months. It is a continuous long-road challenge to really stop.

Source: me.

~~~
aleprok
Yes I do know that Nicotine addiction is not the problem. The bigger problem
is the habit of wanting to go outside and think, talk to friends, kill some
time while taking the dog out. Like I just went to smoke and thought about
this and that about how people discriminate smokers and try to get us to stop
it even though most of us avoid smoking while non-smokers are present. Though
it is their problem if they hang around with smokers while they smoke.

Oh yes and I do wear a seat belt while I am in a vehicle if the vehicle has
one for me.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Smoking is obviously bad, I think we all get that. I for one welcome "social
pressure" as an effective mechanism for getting all of us to quit; its quite
useful to limit the places that one can smoke, and to make it uncool when
hanging out with a certain crowd, or even continuous admonishment from non-
smokers. I would also be happy if cigarettes completely disappeared or were
incredibly expensive; less temptation for me.

Smoking is not a personal problem, it is a societal one. Barring effective
personal solutions, societal solutions will be more effective. Maybe they
won't get you to stop smoking, but your kids probably won't smoke, and in a
few generations it will be gone.

Consider that I never started smoking until I moved to a country at around 35
yro where smoking was common, welcomed everywhere but Starbucks, and
cigarettes are incredibly cheap ($1.25/pack). It started out as a social habit
at bars, and eventually turned into an addiction that I depended on for
creativity. Now that I've associated it with that, and have been...more
effective (coincidental or not)...its hard to just blow off the habit. Health
or a successful career?

Oh and no, I never wear seat belts because they are always hidden in the taxis
I take.

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bamurph
Addicts lack self control. Source: I'm a recovering addict.

Edit: Really, come visit an AA meeting sometime and watch everyone guzzle
coffee and light up the second they get out the door.

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ap22213
I wish there was a data source that compared risky behaviors. Like smoking one
cigarette is equivalent to driving 100 mph on a windy road is equivalent to
not eating vegetables for a week. (just making those up)

The problem for me is that I really don't know how risky smoking is relative
to other activities.

I know that it's risky. But, is it more risky than eating charcoal grilled
meat or walking across a busy intersection?

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zombio
About The New York Times (and other subscriber only content)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6111453](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6111453)

~~~
Pro_bity
Funny to note, the study cited by the NYT was published by PloS, which was
founded as an alternative to subscription based scientific journals and allows
articles to be republished under Creative Commons.

------
michaelochurch
I think anxiety disorders can also trap people in a smoking habit. I've heard
that nicotine withdrawal can cause panic attacks. I've never smoked but I know
what panic attacks are like and they really try the will power; they're so
horrible that you'll do anything (except for something immediately dangerous)
that you think can end one. Given how rapidly an ex-smoker "unquits" after
lighting up the first time, one can imagine it being hard (for some) to get
out of.

It does seem to be highly variable how hard it is for people to get out of the
habit. Some just stop one day and lose the desire, but I also know a number of
people who've "quit" several times but always fall back into it.

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pearjuice
Without reading the article: the nicotine in the cigs trigger certain brain
chemical reactions which impact feels so good it is sought-after again and
again and again.

~~~
cardiffspaceman
Well that's what everyone knows. The question is, given the known pleasures
and the known downsides, why do smokers not choose to avoid the downsides? And
the answer according to the article is self-control.

~~~
wyclif
I thought almost everyone knows that as well.

