Do you smoke tobacco?

[cabba2203]

I am a former smoker. (started at 17) I have been quit since 2004, got asthma now.

Yippie! Those Camels made me so cool. <_<

[NeoConMan]

First, you have to be impolite to smoke when others are around

My mom got PISSED when I told her that - I was about 16 I think.

After awhile she grudgingly admitted it.

Finally quit when she was nearly 70.

 

 

 

throw your butts on the ground.

Don't EVEN get me started on that one.

Out the car window, anywhere, no excuse.

After I commissioned a brand new power plant and then put smoking restrictions in place, OSHA nailed us for old butts.

Yeah, I'm on the Safety Team. You want ME to pick those f-ing things up on a 3,000 acre site?

 

 

 

Second, when people smoke they make themselves second class citizens.

Yes.

It's true.

You're labeling yourself whether you want to believe it or not.

Not saying I agree with it...

 

 

I still don't get too bent outta shape if people are polite when exercising their chosen vices.

If I don't like it, I stay away and leave them to their doom.

What they do to their children rests on their shoulders.... :unsure:

[jannusguy2]

14 mos. free of smoking. pleased to no longer be a slave to tobacco. i have purchased 2 new Gibsons and a Martin with the $ saved.

[grampa]

.

 

I know that the propaganda against tobacco is awfully strong; in fact, stronger than anything having to do with various illegal drugs that most of us would admit are far more injurious to the health.

The "proofs" of tobacco-related illnesses and deaths? I think you'll find that for the past cupla decades if somebody died, the anti-tobacco statisticians would manage to find a connection. I really saw that at work with one elder family member where the hospital folks did everything possible to find one that didn't exist.

 

Ah, well.... I get grouchy on this one. I dislike that because I'll freely admit I get a bit grouchy when I hear and see things as they are put out in almost identical sorts of terminology as used for prohibition.

 

Yet... one thing forgotten about prohibition is how many strong companies were destroyed - and I've always wondered whether there weren't something about an attack on corporate entities and regional economies as much or more than the evils of nicotine...

 

But of course, that's awfully politically correct to suggest, eh? No honest politician ever would encourage that, would they?

 

m

 

I had the "opportunity" to meet one of the leaders of the anti-tobacco movement a few years back. He was one of the most self-righteous people I've ever met. He knew he was right and wanted everyone to live as he saw fit.

I do smoke the occasional cigar or cigarette, I really do like tobacco but I know how to be temperate in its use. I do miss some of the great imported cigarettes I used to get - Balkan- Sobranie Turkish were the best. I don't think tobacco is evil and I actually think it can be beneficial. The problem is the addictive nature of people, some can't have just one drink or cigarette without going over the edge into addiction.

[Kiwi]

I smoke a pipe occasionally, like once or twice a week tops. As long as I don't get addicted, it's fine by me, and I can stop whenever I want (yeah, that tired old excuse, true though.)

[craigh]

My old guitar teacher when he wasn't gigging gave guitar lessons all day long & constantly smoked. He had a quintuple bypass in his early 50's & died about a year & a half after that. RIP Bernie.

 

Craig

[milod]

Funny thing about smells...

 

They bring different responses from different people. I also know nondrinkers who have negative feelings about alcohol for various reasons who can smell the stuff from half a mile (okay, that's exaggerated) and almost gag.

 

Back in the old days there were a lot more professions where folks inhaled various hydrocarbons - such as all sorts of solvents, asbestos, ag chemicals. Nowadays that's a no-no. On the other hand, we didn't have the degree of plastics that do interesting things to the human body. Sometimes you can smell it, sometimes you can't.

 

So... yeah, our lifestyle has changed over the past 50-60 years more than most people consider. We've cut down on smoking and drinking as a culture and yet... look at the increase in a number of "diseases." I'm pretty certain we're all going to die some day. I think one might figure a "cause" from about anything if one angled things correctly. That "cause" often is part of a campaign that takes a long time to come to fruition, but usually ends up with the argument of, "if it saves just one life..." Then there are personal anecdotes and federal grants and...

 

So gee, some folks make a pretty good living out of the campaigns, too... Sorry, but yeah, some cynicism on tobacco is obviously warranted, but I'm sorry, I've seen more than enough to bring cynicism on the other side of it, too. Ditto a dozen or more similar campaigns.

 

I've noted nobody has questioned that U.S. exports have taken a huge hit from the anti-tobacco "thing." Does anybody really think that there aren't some political/cultural agendas involved?

 

m

[NeoConMan]

Does anybody really think that there aren't some political/cultural agendas involved?

Ya think?

 

 

I can't touch that Milo.

Duane would ban me in a second, and then consider locking the thread...

 

 

 

Remember when gasoline smelled GOOD?

 

Benzene was an important component of that.

 

And EPA be damned, gasoline is STILL the best damned solvent/thinner/parts cleaner there is.

 

[dem00n]

Did someone just say smoking has to do with politics and religion?

 

 

Holy milk shake....

[sparky scott 29]

I use to smoke for 20+ years, quit 5-6 years ago..

[milod]

Demoon...

 

No, I wrote "political/cultural." Instead of what you and others have heard in school the past 20 years or so, consider what happened to U.S. exports as the tobacco biz has been pretty well shut down. Consider what has happened to the corporations producing tobacco and their other divisions, not to mention the farmers.

 

Franklin D. Roosevelt used to say that nothing happens by accident.

 

Consider the losses of the U.S. economy from the loss of a major export sector. Then ask who wins if U.S. exports lose a significant percentage of products exported?

 

Me cynical? Darned right.

 

In 1975 I also took photos of huge ships carrying U.S. grain to Europe. Ain't that market now. I can tell you "why," but it's largely politics as related to general economics.

 

U.S. ag exports to Europe have dropped like a rock. Ag exports to the Pacific Rim haven't picked that up and "we" are competing also with our friends in Australia who have a very similar culture.

 

But ask yourself even at your age: How's the U.S. export economy doing? How about the economy in general? Why is Gibson one of the few relatively healthy U.S. export corporations and yet suffered public relations attacks referring to some imports of wood?

 

As for "religion" involved... With all due respect, after you've seen a number of "anti" campaigns over 50 years, you begin to wonder the degree to which some campaigns develop much of the same sort of belief structure as religious belief. Historian Arnold J. Toynbee even referred to "religion" as a major segment of leadership creativity in keeping a given culture "fresh" and indeed, viable - or essentially self-destructive.

 

So... <grin> Let's just put it this way: There's a lotta stuff to consider besides what you hear in school.

 

m

[zigzag]

I've noted nobody has questioned that U.S. exports have taken a huge hit from the anti-tobacco "thing."

m

 

I've lived in Winston-Salem, NC and Richmond, VA. I smoked cigarettes from 16 years old to 52 years old. Quit a bunch of times, several times for several years; this time, for six years. Tobacco is a killer, and anyone that believes differently is dead wrong. That loads of people have quit is a tribute to their character and will power, not to mention the economic benefits from increased productivity and reduced health care expenses. I've also seen what anti-smoking campaigns have done to tobacco growers and producers and the towns where they are based. Fortunately, RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris were both diversified, and as such, were not crippled by those campaigns. Plus, PM and RJR both produce cigarettes and packaging in China, Japan, and a good part of the rest of the world. Tobacco grown in the USA is still the major component in those brands. Both stocks are still pretty potent.

 

What has killed the economy and agriculture in my part of the world is what has happened with textiles and cotton growers. Both of those industries have been "heading south" for the last 40 years or more. Textiles is all but dead.

[Zonkers]

Criminalize tobacco, it has zero health benefits, decriminalize marijuana, replace tobacco crops with marijuana crops, zero loss of income for several states (probably be record profits).

I don't smoke pot, but I know it has numerous health benefits, from glaucoma patients to AIDS patients. Ok, running too far off topic.

[ShredAstaire]

Why you guys gotta get all political in my thread fo?

[grampa]

Why you guys gotta get all political in my thread fo?

 

It's the nicotine talking.

[zigzag]

Shred, we're just tiptoeing on the edge. But I'm done.

[ShredAstaire]

That's ok zigzag. As long as you're tiptoeing, its coo. :) lol

[Zonkers]

That's ok zigzag. As long as you're tiptoeing, its coo. :) lol

 

 

Me too, sorry

[milod]

No textiles where I live. Small grain, some corn (maize) and livestock. Both markets have gone to @#$%.

 

That's really where I'm talking from because it's everyday life.

 

Yeah, I know I'm cynical, but instead of discussing the putative evils of tobacco and or adding a "red herring" argument on maryjane, how about consideration of trade policies that have changed U.S. economics - products that have been vilified and a look at who stood to gain.

 

The "tobacco" companies have had a degree of "protection" through some corporate gamesmanship but consider the losses to the U.S. export market as a percentage of exports compared to 1970 or, what the heck, 1870 or 1770.

 

Note that U.S. and Canadian beef similarly has been vilified and consider the impact on exports from both North American nations. Meanwhile how many companies handle most of the beef packing? What do they gain from a virtually captive and functionally monopoly market? Then note that the bipartisan U.S. Country of Origin Labeling law for meat has been sandbagged by anybody with the ability to sandbag and... yet you know where your shirt and guitar were made.

 

Doesn't anybody ever ask who gains? Textiles went abroad due to "costs." Wheat exports due to "geopolitics?" Tobacco and beef due to... attacks based on health risks... Ethanol for fuel? Heavens no, 'cuz it might increase the cost of food that's far lower than most places and ... who gains?

 

Consider this too: Some here say Gibsons are too expensive. My question is what if the economy in general were better and more people could more easily afford them?

 

m

[grampa]

Thinking about who gains will just make you mad. Torches and pitchfork mad.

[zigzag]

... how about consideration of trade policies that have changed U.S. economics - products that have been vilified and a look at who stood to gain...

 

I would but I promised Shred...

[ShredAstaire]

zigzag, you have my blessing. Keep it friendly. :)

 

The only smokers i hate are the ones who stand outside directly outside a door where other people have to walk through their cloud.

 

Oh yeah, thats most of y'all!

[NeoConMan]

Torches and pitchfork mad.

How ya doin' Grampa?

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to MY world....

[milod]

Shred....

 

All kidding aside... I think some smokers feel sufficiently "put upon" that they do that by intent - more of a statement of general disrespect to "the man" than anything else. The fact that it's taken equally as personally by nonsmokers exiting the place where smokers feel personally locked out is pretty much ignored by both "sides" at that point under their own feelings that they're individually "under attack."

 

In fact - it's kinda like protest rock.

 

That may not be "right," but... I think the general mentality is likely not at all uncommon among guitar players, regardless of age or preferred style of music. The specific target may differ and may, in fact, be opposite factions of whatever, but the commonality of response reflex is kind interesting.

 

m

[ShredAstaire]

milod...i think most of them don't do it on purpose. But its almost worse that they do it without thinking about it...

 

I'm gonna stand by all the smokers next time after a big ol chili dinner and fart all over them...see how they like that. LOL!!!