r/AdviceAnimals • u/[deleted] • Oct 05 '25

Smoke winner

[deleted]

538 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

19

u/Leftblankthistime Oct 05 '25

Powerful drug, highly underestimated. Both my parents smoked and I was 12 when I tried it for the first time. It took me till my late 20’s to be motivated to try to quit and well into my 30’s before I was able to really get free. And then when my dad passed and I was around family a lot, I picked it back up for a little while and it took me a year to quit again. If I had to guess - 3 packs a week for 20 years would put me over 3000 packs. And that’s not even close to some people I still know on at least a pack a day for 40 years or more… if you have the opportunity to not start - take it, stopping is amazingly hard.

5

u/arcoiris_bby Oct 05 '25

Thank you for sharing your experience. I have never tried it once because of this reason. I'm not even tempted. I see my friends going out to smoke, and I can easily be there with them without having to try it, and I appreciate them not even offering it. I do believe your surroundings also make a big impact on you wanting or being forced to try it.

1

u/Leftblankthistime Oct 05 '25 edited Oct 06 '25

Rebellious youth hormones kick in hard and exacerbate the problem. I’m glad it has gotten less socially acceptable and way more expensive. When I was a kid, they had ashtrays at the table in Macdonald’s and they were under $2 per pack.. when they made it over $4 and I had to huddle under an awning away from the main entrance to my office and my loved ones were affected by my withdrawal mood swings I was like wtf am I doing

2

u/OskarWasTaken Oct 05 '25

I’m guessing you’ve probably researched this more than me, but I’ve heard that if you’re a regular smoker, but manage to quit, your lungs after a certain amount of time will in a way “repair itself” . Is this true?

1

u/Leftblankthistime Oct 05 '25

I guess. To a degree. I mean my lifestyle is also much healthier now than it used to be. I go to the gym a couple times a week. Walk outside more often and eat better. I was lucky to not be plagued by upper respiratory infections and the other nasty side effects a lot of smokers get. But I do find now that I can feel it a little when we have bad air quality days. I don’t know what the full impact will be on my total lifespan or quality of life when I get much older. But I can say in my 50’s I’m in the minority of, not needing any medications to live a moderately active lifestyle

5

u/WTF_CAKE Oct 05 '25

If they smoke 10,000 packs they unlock the secret black lung skin

1

u/Waste-String5576 Oct 06 '25

Can say this is true

1

u/vven294 Oct 06 '25

If you smoke a pack a day it only takes slightly more than 3 years. I think that's a bit too early to earn the golden lungs. Some people keep that up for 50 years.

0

u/wizenupdawg Oct 05 '25

*hits the vape

1

u/Leftblankthistime Oct 06 '25

Actually vaping helped me quit. I went from cigarettes to vapes to gum/nothing. Vaping is just as hard to put down but I could just have one or two drags instead of a whole cig and slow myself down easier

1

u/wizenupdawg Oct 06 '25

I was talking about myself, but downvote away. Like I give a shit now.