Why We Smoke...

 
   In America, Tobacco Cigarette's Day's Are Numbered

I have to admit as healthy as I have been most of my life I have spent some time on the wrong side of a cigarette filter. So let's try to figure out why. None of the much flaunted appeals of cigarette advertisers, such as superior taste and mildness, induces us to become smokers or to choose one brand in preference to another. Despite the emphasis put on such qualities by advertisers, they are minor considerations I found. Smoking is as much a psychological pleasure as it is a physiological satisfaction. More than the taste, I think it's a sense of satisfaction you get from a cigarette that you can't get from anything else. Let's face it smoking is fun, and in the right hands pretty sexy. So what's the nature of this psychological pleasure? It could be traced to the universal desire for self-expression. None of us ever completely outgrows his childhood. We are constantly hunting for the carefree enjoyment we knew as children. Smoking, for many of us, then, becomes a substitute for our early habit of following the whims of the moment. Unfortunately this whim is decisively lethal. Smoking becomes a legitimate excuse for interrupting work and snatching a moment of pleasure. You sometimes get tired of working intensely, and somehow if you sit back for the length of a cigarette, you feel much fresher afterwords. It's a peculiar thing, but smokers wouldn't think of just sitting back without a cigarette. I guess a cigarette somehow gives you a good excuse, to stop work, or perform less efficiently during the time your smoking.

Smoking is a reward, and most of us are hungry for rewards. We want to be patted on the back. A cigarette is a reward that smokers give themselves as often as needed. Smokers promise themselves, "When I have finished this piece of work, when I have written the last page of my report, I'll deserve a little fun. I'll have a cigarette. The first and last cigarette in the day are especially significant rewards. The first one, smoked right after breakfast, is a sort of anticipated recompense. The smoker has work to do, and he eases himself into the day's activities as pleasantly as possible. He gives himself a little consolation prize in advance, and at the same time manages to postpone the evil hour when he must begin his hard day's work. The last cigarette of the day is like, closing a door. It is something quite definite. That finishes the day.

Smoking is often just a conditioned reflex. Certain situations, such as having a drink, beginning and ending work, voluntary and involuntary interruptions of work, feelings of hunger, sex and many others often regulate the timetable of smoking. Often I did not even want a cigarette particularly, but someone would light up, and so would I. The satisfied expression on a smoker's face when they inhale the smoke is ample proof of their sensuous satisfaction. The immense power of the yearning for a cigarette, especially after an enforced abstinence, is always a topic of conversation among smokers. Known as the modern hourglass, the smoking of a cigarette functions psychologically as a time indicator. When I smoked waiting for someone who is late, I used to say "Now I'll smoke one more cigarette, and then I am gone," more times than I can remember! It is much easier to watch a cigarette get smaller and smaller than to keep watching a clock and look at the hands dragging along. A cigarette not only measures time, but also seems to make time pass more rapidly. That is why waiting periods almost automatically stimulate the desire to smoke. One character of cigarettes I saw many times was reflected in the fact that they help smokers make friends. Mostly with other smokers. In many ways, smoking has the same effect drinking has. It helps to break down social barriers. Two smokers out on a date light up a cigarette. Immediately they feel at ease, they have found the first interest they both share.

 

In mythology and religion, smoke is full of meaning. Historically it's floating intangibility and unreal character have made it possible for imaginative people to experience it's mystery, and magic. Today, smoke still has a strong fascination. To the cigarette smoker, the clouds he puffs out seem to represent a part of himself. Just as most people like to watch their own breath on cold winter days, smokers like to watch cigarette smoke, and even blow rings with it. Again making one's breath visible. This could explain the emotional attachment of smokers to their smoke.

 Usually the way we smoke is characteristic of our whole personality. The mannerisms of smokers are innumerable. Some people always have cigarettes drooping from their mouths. Others let the cigarette jump up and down in their mouths while they are talking. A lot of women blow smoke with a gust of wind, right into your face. Some men, when they want to appear to be aggressive, hold their cigarettes with thumb and forefinger so that the glowing end shows toward the palm of the hand. Often smokers will assume a pose, because they have found that it fits their personality best, or at least they think so. While every smoker has to go through the motions of lighting and inhaling the smoke, the way in which these acts are carried out varies according to their mood. The nervous smoker has a faster smoking tempo than the relaxed one. The angry smoker blows the smoke in an aggressive way, almost as if he were trying to blow somebody down. 

Smokers convince themselves that smoking helps them think more clearly. We know the mind can concentrate best when all outside stimuli have been excluded. So for smokers, smoking literally provides a sort of "smoke screen" that helps to shut out distractions. Although short term studies have proven that smoking too much can, and will reduce efficiency. Most people dislike the smell of something burning it's natural. One usually very much dislikes their first cigarette. Taste for cigarettes must be acquired slowly. Whenever a smoker tries out a new brand, with a slightly different taste, he finds that he has to repeat this process of becoming accustomed to the taste again. Often smokers who say they do not like the taste of certain brands really mean that they are not accustomed to it. If we consider all the pleasure and distraction provided, by this little "coffin nail", we begin to understand why it is difficult to destroy it's power by means of warnings, threats, or preachings. This pleasure miracle has so much to offer that we can safely predict the cigarette, is here to stay. Though maybe not in it's tobacco, and paper form. The electronic cigarette is the fastest growing market in the US. You can have any flavor under the sun for your vapor or vape cigarettes. With or without nicotine, and you can even choose the amount of nicotine. Nothing burns, the product is heated till vaporized, you inhale, and all you exhale is water vapor. So clean, you could vape in church. My personal opinion, if you smoke now, and would like to quit, do it. There are so many helpful programs out there now, seek them out. Find one that works for you. If at first you don't succeed try, try again. You won't miss it after a while. I promise. Good Luck...

  Doc's Fitness Tip's Publishes Twice Weekly.

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