How did you start smoking?

Lounge
1

I was so anti smoking until 19, years old. Then during firsy day of uni met my pothead friends and started smokong weed daily, then when wr didnt have weed we smoked tobacoo. Then one day i startrd to have urge to have my own tobacco and learnt how to roll since age 20. I didnt chainsmoke, but when i got sz, my nerd to smoke only grew

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2

I started smoking around 14 to impress my friends.

But I was never a regular smoker until I got on drugs,

Then I smoked a lot.

When I quit the drugs, the urge to smoke went away.

Now that I still smoke cannabis, I vape.

It’s not ideal and I’d like to quit, and I think the Wellbutrin I started taking is reducing the cravings.

3

I started to spite my parents

4

I smoked when I was like 13 or 14 just to try it but I didn’t inhale. I did it a few times. Then one night when I was 15 I was watching an old black and white movie and there was a man smoking a cigar and I could see the smoke rising and I got a really strong urge to smoke so I went to the laundromat and bought a pack of menthol cigarettes and this time I inhaled. Soon I told my Mother I was smoking and she was very upset but she smoked too so she allowed it.

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5

I started in earnest when my girlfriend at the time was smoking. I was 26 when I really started. I became addicted really quickly.

6

I was 12, with two of my girl friends, in the laundry mat of my moms apartment complex. One of my friends regularly stole packs from her grandfather’s carton, Marlboro Red 100s. I was determined not to cough when I inhaled, because they had made it clear it was very uncool to cough.

I didn’t make it a habit till I was 15, and I haven’t really stopped since.

7

Experimented with it in my early teens. Became hooked around 19, my girlfriend at the time smoked, and I picked it up from her.

8

I started smoking when I was11 on my first day of high school

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9

You started high school at 11 @Joker . You must have been very Advanced for your age

10

I smoked on and off as a teenager, but not as a regular thing. It was when I lived with my first girlfriend, Michelle that I started picking up the habit.

I remember the first time I bought a lighter instead of $0.02 matches. It struck me like a thunderbolt, now I’m a smoker

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11

i smoked a bit on and off in the army and then later in my other jobs i also smoked off and on and then when i got to psych ward first time i needed to have some help and then started to smoke regularly.

12

I was probably 12 when I first smoked a cigarette. One of the kids on the street stole a cigarette from his dad. It was a big deal, he concealed the cigarette until we got down to the ravine and then he presented it like it was some sort of forbidden object. Which it was in a way. My first puff was like being kicked in the chest and I coughed a lot.

When I was 13 my friends were always trying to get cigarettes. One day we walked for hours going to every store and getting turned away. Then at one store I was waiting outside with one friend and two of the other guys went inside, and they ran out both carrying a large amount of cigarettes. The shop was unattended and they grabbed everything they could.

13

I started smokin hookah at 18 socially, I used to be under the false perception that hookah was healthier than cigs, then I went to hookah and cigars like black and milds and blunts when blazing
I started smoking cigs at 26 and have been vaping then nicotene pouches since 2017, I’ve broken down and bought a pack of cigs a couple times in these last few years. It takes years for the health risks of smoking to clear after you quit so that’s my next goal.

14

Tried a cig with a buddy of mine during freshman year of college. My other friend said “don’t do it man you’re gonna get hooked”. My dumb self goes “nah I’m just gonna try one I won’t get addicted”

Turns out he was right :stuck_out_tongue:

15

I started experimenting-smoking tobacco pipes and cigars when I was 17 years old then I started smoking cigarettes when I was 20 or 21 or so.

I also occasionally chewed tobacco in my late teens.

I smoked cigarettes up until my mid 40s.

I finally quit cold turkey years ago and never looked back.

I was a heavy smoker at one point.

2 packs a day.

Edit: I used to smoke Marlboro Lights

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16

I got kicked out of mainstream middle school, but the high school age for the local Catholic school was 11.

When I was a kid the teachers consistently told my parents I was a couple of years ahead of my peers, which is why I used to be disruptive as I generally finished work quickly and got bored

In England in the 90’s, they didn’t really accelerate people in State schools

My parents did try and get me to go to a private school, but I refused and said I wouldn’t show up - which was probably a mistake looking back

Nevermind, when I was 22 I went back to education and graduated with a University degree at the best school in my county

Proved all the nay-sayers wrong, and it was a real achievement - especially given my mental illness playing up at that time too

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17

I started smoking cigarettes at 15. Started smoking heavy (2 packs a day) at 18. Kept this up until I was 23 when I quit inhaling them. I continued to puff on them though. Did this until I was 46 when I quit altogether. I’m 61 now.

18

@Joker very impressive. What did you major in in University?

19

Now I wish I’d studied a STEM subject

However, I double majored in History and Sociology.

My main focus was the History of Science and Classical Sociological Theory

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20

I had my first smoke when I was 13, my friend got into his moms stash of cigs and we all had one. I didnt become a full time smoker until I was 15. I was an on and off smoker until a couple years ago when I fully quit. I have asthma so its a bad idea for me to smoke.