Just wanted to see what everyones opinion on tobacco is. I smoke a cigarette once in a while. I get American Spirit tobacco and roll it up myself. I dont like the chemically saturated cigarettes the the big companies sell. Feel free to flame me for smoking once in a while i like hearing any input.
No, I’m not gonna go off on you how smoking is bad. I am 20 now and I used to smoke,quit back in march, and I smoked for 10 years. I can see your smoking as how I consider beer drinking, every once in a while is okay, but all of the time is stupid and detrimental. American Spirits are damn good though, no floor tobacco.
I know you’re probably going to get alot of ‘don’t smoke’ replies here, and I;m afraid this is one of them, but I’m a x-ray technologist by profession and so I have extensive knowledge of and first hand experience with what smoking does to health.
Let me first say right off that if you excercise regularily and eat right, the occasion cigarette is, in all liklihood, not going to kill you. And if you’re choosing a brand that is less heavy with toxins all, the better, but having said that let’s look at rhe facts.
First, the tobacco, at least in the concentration in any cig, is going to contain high amounts of nicotine, not to mention other chemicals, all of which cause addiction, or in other words, a chemical dependency. This wreaks havoc with the body’s chemical receptors, and therefore your MOOD. These chemicals cause huge releases of dopamine which cause the ‘euphoric’ sensation with any mind altering substance. The problem is that when the high is over, the body hungers for that dopamine rush again, only the next time it takes more product to get the same buzz. Then you end up with moodiness because the chemical imbalance causes ups and downs, not to mention dulling your neuroreceptors and harming your nervous and hormonal systems (basically ALL thought and action in the body are produced by nervous conduction and neurotransmitters (chemical hormones).
But aside from that look at what it does to the cardiovascular system - that’s the real kicker.
Any smoke inhalation causes retention of chemicals and tar within the alveoli of the lungs. The alveoli are the tiny sacks like bunches of grapes that exchange the O2 for CO2 in the lungs. The they expand and contract upon inhalation and exhalation. When you smoke, crap gets trapped in that exchange and forces the alveoli to stay open, unable to deflate so you can breath out. Effectively what you have now is emphysema, a condition where you can’t breath out.
There are a whole host of disorders of the lung called COPD’s, which are chronic conditions associated with the lung from exposure to environmental toxins. I encourage any smoker to read up on these.
I know i’ve already rambled on here a bit, but just bear in mind all of the physiologic changes to lungs that occur in smokers, including cancer (the big buzz word).
Lastly, heart disease and stroke are major players too, because in the massive free radical generation and strain on the heart from COPD’s of the lungs cause arterial deposits and stenosis of the arterial wall, fueling high-blood pressure and increased pressure on the heart. We all know what that means.
Sorry if I got carried away here, but I see firsthand everyday in the hospital what it does to people. It’s really disturbing, and I wish good luck to anyone trying to quit.
My opinion? It sucks.
what do you think about PIPE smoking? You don’t inhale, or chewing tobbacco?
I highly resent smokers. Most of the smokers I know are poor, and they constantly are struggling just to stay barely out of debt. Yet they spend $5 a day on cigs.
I know a dead-beat dad who can’t support his kid. But the fucker smokes like a chimney.
In Canada, we have to pay insurance for health care. Guess what? I have to pay more fucking money to support the smokers in their diseased deaths. Yep, outta my tax money. I can think of better things to spend tax dollars on than treating idiots for something they knew was bad for them.
If you have a cig once in awhile, I can’t really resent that. Hell, I go to pubs once in awhile and get second hand smoke. But people who are addicted? They’re selfish assholes. They are fully willing to butt out anywhere (at the bus-stop especially) and drop their cig on the ground. If you ask them to pick it up, they refuse. “The city hires people to pick them up”. Fuckers. I can think of better things for the city to spend money on.
It’s the health care that really bugs me. The provincial gov’t pay for medical care and for education. Fucking smokers move money away from education to health care. Assholes.
Smoking is good for you. It will help you build muscle and lose fat. It’ll help save you save money too, and it really attracts women.
There. Is that what you wanted to hear?
“These chemicals cause huge releases of dopamine which cause the ‘euphoric’ sensation with any mind altering substance.” ummm i think theres a release but much smaller release whereas a huge release might be for something like heroin… the nicotine buzz is nothing hugely pleasureable… if you really can handle it and not let the cigs grow on you, then you’re ok. personally i feel like i cannot breath the day after a cig so i rarely smoke them.
Most of my friends smoke, it seems. A lady I’m spending a lot of time with these days smokes sometimes. I don’t. I guess it doesn’t bother me terribly - much less than drinking soda bothers me. I’m not sure what you mean by opinion? It’s probably not androgenic… but you know that.
Obviously its not good for you, but neither are a lot of things we do… Lets just hope that in the long run there is a balance between the good and bad somewhere… I think Stress will kill you faster.
You mean cocaine. It’s cocaine that messes with dopamin, heroin interferes mostly with serotonin .
well i was gonna say cocaine but my understandin is that it itself does not flood dopamine rather it keeps the current and new dopamine trapped in circulation which ends up stockpilin more and more… as opposed to an actual flood
Nicotine and Cocaine both stimulate a large release of dopamine in certain parts of the brain. Heroin is primarily an opiate. That is its main mechanism by which pleasure is achieved, however both serotonin and dopamine are altered with its use.
Hello horace,
I won’t flame you since you don’t deserve it! 
However, you must know you’re playing with fire: I got one friend too who had stopped smoking, then return to 1 per day and 2 months later, he’s around 3-4 per day. So watch out, you’re playing “roulette russe”, you might lose…
Since I’m asthmatic, I consider smoking on par with shooting a .44 cal bullet right through my left foot.
Just my 2 cents,
-LPdSB
i just think that coke is an extremely poor comparison to nicotine.
If it’s really once in a while then no big deal. Be honest with yourself though, how often do you buy it?
Just thought I’d follow up on my posting, and get in on the little debate b/t JP and dman. I didn’t mean to imply that cigs produce the same intensity of response as, say, cocaine, but that the response is there, like in the same way that it is with sugar and sugar addictions. I think cigs though are more dangerous simply because they are more subtle. I mean, I’ve never done coke, but if I did and went on a rampage and woke up three days later in some small-town jail with a tattoo on my ass and some dude next to me calling me his wife, I think I’d be pretty determined to seek help. Cigs on the other hand sort of grow as a habit until you find yourself hooked. Now I don’t smoke. Never have, never will, b/c I think it’s just about the most disgusting habit there is, but I know a lot of people who do, and they say without hesitation that IT IS a mind altering product. I mean, why else to smokers smoke like crazy during stressful times?
I would seriously doubt that one cigarette once in a while would do any serious damage (though different people have different ideas of ‘once in a while’). Just don’t be a dork and start making once in a while into once a week, then once every few days, then once every other day, and so on until you’re truly addicted. Just think of it this way – your body has a certain limit for toxic substances like cigarette smoke. Stay under that limit, and you’re probably fine. The only thing is, nobody knows where their exact limit might be. Some smokers die in their 20’s from tobacco related illness, some live to 100 and die of something completely unrelated. Most people are somewhere in between. Even if you want to ignore the long-term risks, short term risks include greater chance of respiratory infection, and lowered lung capacity. Of course, I’ll repeat what I already said, if you TRULY only smoke once in a while, your body will probably, USUALLY repair any minor tweaks pretty easily.
I live in Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario (Canada) and all restaurants, bars even, are 100% smoke free and its awesome. Cigarette smoke is insidious and annoying. I used to be irritated by smokers themselves, but now, as long as they destroy their health in their own privacy, I can’t say I really care. A friend of mine is only 26 and he has just been told he’s got pulminary disease - wonders why he always has bronchitis?! What a waste.
I dont think chemically saturated anything is a problem when ur smoking. Quit. Seriously. Its seriously impairing ur performance at the gym, besides all the jack quack the government has already laid out for us. Look around - no hardcore weightlifter is gonna be sporting a smoking habit. They know better. forget about wether ur ciggies are chemically saturated - thats the least of your worries.
quit smoking and take a fat dip. our gym has a bunch of tins of kodiak and skoal behind the desk, and a bunch of spitters. nothing like a fatty chaw on a long car ride.