Jared J. H. CatapanoAn ode to cigarettes
February 15th 2008 00:43
Ahhh, smoking. What about it is so tantilizing? Simple, it's a drug and I am addicted. Haha.
I would like to express both my love and hate for Sir Walter Raileigh for bringing tobacco from the New World to England a few hundred years ago. Cheers Walter you beautiful scumbag.
Back in the New World, tobacco was used by the Native Americans in religious ceremonies, and the way they smoked it (infreqently and with respect), it still gave them a high and made them feel they we're in touch with the Great Spirit.
It took white people to turn it into an insturment of addiction and self-destruction. Thanks Whitey!
For a long while, tobacco was used by the rich elite in Europe, much like tea first imprted from China.
Cigarettes, as we know them, didn't turn up until the early 20th century. Before then it was all pipes and cigars for the white man, and water pipes (Hookahs), for those residing in the Middle East.
In order to get more females smoking, cigar companies released cigar-ettes, for the ladies.
They were an instant hit and today are far more popular and successful than pipes and cigars.
This comes down to the way we smoke cigarettes.
Nicotine is a strange drug. When you smoke tobacco slow, much like the Native Americans with thier pipes and ceremonies, and Middle Easterns in thier Hookahs do, it acts as a depressant, brining about feelings of relaxation and euphoria. When you smoke it fast, such as in a cigarette, nicotene acts as a stimulant, and pretty much the only feeling you get out of it is 'I want more'.
I fall into the second aspect. I want MORE!
I first took up smoking as it gave an extra hit after a bowl of the other sacred herb, and it is scientifically proven to get you more high. That's why a lot of drinkers are also smokers. It gets you smashder!
I grew up around smokers. Both my parents smoked, my mother was a pack a day queen! Funny, but the smell of it never got to me when I was a kid. I remember her and my dad smoking, tapping ash into the ashtrays littered about the house, but the one thing I didn't remember was the smoke. Maybe I was pre-disposed to smoke, which is a nice way to lay blame at the feet of someone else. I clearly never had a problem with smokers and eventually became one myself. My parents both successfully gave up over 10 years ago and I am very proud of them for that. If they still smoked I doubt they would have the money to help me out from time to time (I kid! I love you guys!)
I used to only have 1 cigarette a day, along with 1 bowl, after my classes at uni were over. But I found myself giving as much time to the ritual of tobacco as I did the other smoke.
Those we're the salad days.
I would get home from my classes, boil the jug, brew a Milo or a cup of tea (this was before the start of my love affair with another stimulant, caffine), put on some relaxing sounds, sit out on the porch and take a good 10 minutes to smoke my cigarette and drink my drink.
That was it for the day.
But the need grew man, it grew. Ever so slowly, I found myself wanting to have another one. While I denied this impulse for a while, the need crept in slowly, and as it did, my smoking of tobacco increased.
I found myself slipping in an extra smoke here and there, taking a few extra with me on a night out, or just hanging with other smoker friends, having one or two more than I usually would. Again, it was the ritual, the social aspect. As long as you we're smoking with friends, you didn't have to fill the air with talk about nothing.
It used to take me a week to get through a pack of 20 Marlboro Reds. Then over the years, the frequency of smoking and buying naturally increased. Now, almost 10 years after taking up the habit, I go through a pack of 25 every 2 days.
That still isn't bad. I know people younger than me that smoke a whole lot more than that, and I do feel somewhat proud that I don't smoke a pack a day.
But I will if I keep going. It fits with the law of increasing returns. The more you do something, the more you will end up doing something.
So I vowed a couple of years ago to give up tobacco by 30. I have known older people (in their 50's), who said to give up by 30, just so your body can recover enough so you don't end up screwed by the time your body starts naturally decaying and the medical bills start piling up.
I may not believe anything, but I do believe what these people said to me.
They we're in their 50's and had been smoking for about 30 years each. One of them had shrunken arteries in thier legs, diabetes and was in hospital at least once a year with a 'scare' heart-attack.
The other had given up cigarettes, but summarily become addicted to Nicotne laced gum, which sells for pretty much the same as a pack of smokes.
They had both given up smoking, but was it too late? They both say they miss the hell out of smoking, it having worked it's way into almost every aspect of thier lives. Smoking on the phone, smoking in the car, smoking while out on the town, smoking, smoking, smoking. Will the craving always be there? I think that is the hardest fact any smoker (or addict addicted to anything), has to come to terms with.
I have had a long relationship with tobacco and it has become a part of my lifestyle.
Have a cup of coffee, damn, not without a smoke! Go out drinking, gotta take some smokes! Going to a bbq, take some smokes! Get out of bed, damn I could use a smoke!
But everything ends, EVERYTHING!
One day my eyes will close and never open again. Everyone I know will be gone some day. The universe itself will not last forever.
So how hard can it be to give up smoking by the time I turn 30?
The trick is to find something to replace it with, which sounds easy, and with a little effort, it is easy. There's heaps of things I can do in the 3-6 minutes it now takes me to smoke a cigarette down to the butt (thats where they hide the CRACK!); call a friend on the phone, watch a little more porn, write, read, play guitar, pursue a relationship of some kind, explore the inner world of the subconscious through meditation, to name a few...
But for now, I smoke, and I enjoy it. But at least I have a deadline, and this one I plan on keeping.
Any tips for the quitting smoker? Post them here even though we've heard them all before.
I would like to express both my love and hate for Sir Walter Raileigh for bringing tobacco from the New World to England a few hundred years ago. Cheers Walter you beautiful scumbag.
Back in the New World, tobacco was used by the Native Americans in religious ceremonies, and the way they smoked it (infreqently and with respect), it still gave them a high and made them feel they we're in touch with the Great Spirit.
It took white people to turn it into an insturment of addiction and self-destruction. Thanks Whitey!
Cigarettes, as we know them, didn't turn up until the early 20th century. Before then it was all pipes and cigars for the white man, and water pipes (Hookahs), for those residing in the Middle East.
In order to get more females smoking, cigar companies released cigar-ettes, for the ladies.
They were an instant hit and today are far more popular and successful than pipes and cigars.
This comes down to the way we smoke cigarettes.
Nicotine is a strange drug. When you smoke tobacco slow, much like the Native Americans with thier pipes and ceremonies, and Middle Easterns in thier Hookahs do, it acts as a depressant, brining about feelings of relaxation and euphoria. When you smoke it fast, such as in a cigarette, nicotene acts as a stimulant, and pretty much the only feeling you get out of it is 'I want more'.
I fall into the second aspect. I want MORE!
I first took up smoking as it gave an extra hit after a bowl of the other sacred herb, and it is scientifically proven to get you more high. That's why a lot of drinkers are also smokers. It gets you smashder!
I used to only have 1 cigarette a day, along with 1 bowl, after my classes at uni were over. But I found myself giving as much time to the ritual of tobacco as I did the other smoke.
Those we're the salad days.
I would get home from my classes, boil the jug, brew a Milo or a cup of tea (this was before the start of my love affair with another stimulant, caffine), put on some relaxing sounds, sit out on the porch and take a good 10 minutes to smoke my cigarette and drink my drink.
That was it for the day.
But the need grew man, it grew. Ever so slowly, I found myself wanting to have another one. While I denied this impulse for a while, the need crept in slowly, and as it did, my smoking of tobacco increased.
I found myself slipping in an extra smoke here and there, taking a few extra with me on a night out, or just hanging with other smoker friends, having one or two more than I usually would. Again, it was the ritual, the social aspect. As long as you we're smoking with friends, you didn't have to fill the air with talk about nothing.
It used to take me a week to get through a pack of 20 Marlboro Reds. Then over the years, the frequency of smoking and buying naturally increased. Now, almost 10 years after taking up the habit, I go through a pack of 25 every 2 days.
That still isn't bad. I know people younger than me that smoke a whole lot more than that, and I do feel somewhat proud that I don't smoke a pack a day.
But I will if I keep going. It fits with the law of increasing returns. The more you do something, the more you will end up doing something.
So I vowed a couple of years ago to give up tobacco by 30. I have known older people (in their 50's), who said to give up by 30, just so your body can recover enough so you don't end up screwed by the time your body starts naturally decaying and the medical bills start piling up.
I may not believe anything, but I do believe what these people said to me.
They we're in their 50's and had been smoking for about 30 years each. One of them had shrunken arteries in thier legs, diabetes and was in hospital at least once a year with a 'scare' heart-attack.
The other had given up cigarettes, but summarily become addicted to Nicotne laced gum, which sells for pretty much the same as a pack of smokes.
They had both given up smoking, but was it too late? They both say they miss the hell out of smoking, it having worked it's way into almost every aspect of thier lives. Smoking on the phone, smoking in the car, smoking while out on the town, smoking, smoking, smoking. Will the craving always be there? I think that is the hardest fact any smoker (or addict addicted to anything), has to come to terms with.
I have had a long relationship with tobacco and it has become a part of my lifestyle.
Have a cup of coffee, damn, not without a smoke! Go out drinking, gotta take some smokes! Going to a bbq, take some smokes! Get out of bed, damn I could use a smoke!
But everything ends, EVERYTHING!
One day my eyes will close and never open again. Everyone I know will be gone some day. The universe itself will not last forever.
So how hard can it be to give up smoking by the time I turn 30?
The trick is to find something to replace it with, which sounds easy, and with a little effort, it is easy. There's heaps of things I can do in the 3-6 minutes it now takes me to smoke a cigarette down to the butt (thats where they hide the CRACK!); call a friend on the phone, watch a little more porn, write, read, play guitar, pursue a relationship of some kind, explore the inner world of the subconscious through meditation, to name a few...
But for now, I smoke, and I enjoy it. But at least I have a deadline, and this one I plan on keeping.
Any tips for the quitting smoker? Post them here even though we've heard them all before.
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Comment by Harry
Sydney Diary
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Brisbane Diarystar
Zoo Parent
Comment by Emperor Norton
Yes, I have quit in the past, must be headin into my 4th try.
One interesting technique was given to me by a mate at uni. He said to get rid of your smokes, power through the day, then have a shot of whiskey and a lollipop to congratulate yourself at the end of the day. Still, this could lead to other addictions. Lollipops.
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
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Fat Cult
Techbreak
I'm not a fan of cigarettes, but I love it when someone's smoking a pipe. That's a good smell!