Is anything more despised in America than cigarette smoking?

As it should be.

MAGATs are more despised, I would venture to guess.

Fags cigarette smoking.

Equality

Intellectualism is more despised, OP.

[quote]MAGATs are more despised, I would venture to guess.

How? Half the country is MAGA and the rest are MAGA adjacent.

Uh, OP, everyone vapes now and smokes weed.

OP really wants a cigarette and is trying to desperately to convince himself of something. Kinda sad that he’s admitting that he has no self-control and needs a nanny government to step in for him.

What, R8?

You’re projecting, dummy. Try going on the patch if you’re embarrassed. It worked for me.

18 years ago.

Fat people. Yes, half the country is fat. But it's still okay to sneer at, mock, express disgust about the overweight.

I'd say public urination and defecation is a bit higher than smoking ciggies.

I have always found the smell of cigarette smoke disgusting, but I have to admit one thing. I have also always found the sight of a good looking man taking a drag off a cigarette one of the sexiest things ever.

It wasn't any campaign that made people stop. It's the ridiculous prices that made people quit. $10-15 a pack is an expensive habit to hang on to.

The only people I see smoking are hard-core Trumper-type white trash.

And they buy those cheap off-brand cigarettes.

You should hear some of them cough! I (almost) feel sorry for them.

[quote] It's the ridiculous prices that made people quit. $10-15 a pack is an expensive habit to hang on to.

You don’t think that was social engineering?

I was gonna start a thread earlier asking How are young people smoking? Then I googled it and the answers were things like, it looks cool, peer pressure etc. But a campaign showing teens that no matter how much face creams they apply or gym sessions they do, they are gonna end up yellow, smelling and coughing. There's the anti smoking campaign right there...get them where it hurts, in the looks department.

^^^That's what made me quit, R16. When I was 30 (1988), I read in (I think) Dear Abby that smoking shrinks your capillaries and gives you wrinkles.

It wasn't too long after that that I quit smoking, and never smoked again.

There's seriously no excuse for anyone under 70 to be a smoker. All of the health risks were known when people under 70 were of the age to begin smoking. If you're older than that, you get a pass since I know it was culturally acceptable (even desirable) for many years, and I know it's hard to quit.

Jews in America!

Nobody shamed me out of smoking. I didn't give a shit what anyone thought. But I knew it wasn't good for me. I tried many times but finally quit for good while watching my mother die of lung cancer.

I quit a few years before smoking became expensive ($1.25 machine, $10.00 a carton). I started to notice people standing outside in winter in front of office buildings, as smoking was gradually becoming verboten indoors. I told myself I was not going to be one of those people, and I quit that next summer. It was my third time quitting, but it stuck. I have not wanted a cigarette since.

It amazes me how prevalent smoking still is in other countries.

Germans smoke like chimneys, and it's across socioeconomic classes. It's kind of like the US was in the 70s and 80s.

Science

Reality

Peer-reviewed evidence

Rational thought

just to name a few things more despied off the top of my head.

[quote] I started to notice people standing outside in winter in front of office buildings, as smoking was gradually becoming verboten indoors. I told myself I was not going to be one of those people,

That was one of the things I missed. I met interesting people from other offices.

Nonsense, vapes are the new cigarettes. Nothing ever changes. And being a rebel who defies the sheep is always kewl. Smoking is also being glamorized in movies again.

People who don’t like pitbulls

People who think tattoos are a sign of a personality disorder.

I really enjoyed smoking in college in the 80s when it cost 75 cents a pack. Everyone seemed okay with it. Makes me gag now.

The people who keep talking about vaping need to learn how to read. The thread doesn’t ask about vaping. this thread is about smoking. Vaping is not smoking.

Nor does this thread ask whether vaping is more popular than smoking. The question is, is anything more despised than smoking in America? A proper answer to that might be, “Yes, vaping is an example of something that is more despised than smoking.” That would be a valid response.

But really, vaping is irrelevant to the question

r30 You doing ok?

r30 is busy playing hall monitor.

Sometimes I stop at a local dive bar for a beer after Trader Joe's. There's a smoking/vaping patio there and all the blue-collarish guys in their twenties are out there vaping or with a Zyn canister on the table — the kind of guys who, a generation ago, would have been smoking cigarettes.

For young people I think it has more to do with the cost than health reasons. Younger people also aren't going out clubbing and ordering mixed drinks; it's cheaper to pregame at home with an edible. Same here — vapes are far less expensive than a cigarette habit.

I agree with r30. Vaping is problematic in its own right but simply doesn't have the same ick factor.

I smoked throughout my twenties in college and grad school, but it was on and off. I did love a good cigarette though. Drinking never appealed to me, but kicking back and having a cigarette was my one vice. I 100% understand people's aversions to it, but I roll my eyes at the people who will fake cough when passing by a lit cigarette as though it's going to kill them. We are exposed to so many chemicals (especially in big cities) that we inhale on a daily basis, and acting as if a whiff of secondhand smoke is going to lead to your imminent death is pretty silly. I don't judge smokers, though I think they'd be wise to at least switch to vaping if they don't want to quit nicotine. The jury is still out on the health effects of vaping of course, but it is 100% less riskier than cigarettes.

I used to care, but now that microplastics are poisoning all of us and with no end in sight, it’s hard to get too worked up about a cheeky fag.

Grammar Nazi’s Animal haters the homeless and people who drive those big white trucks to get a gallon of milk. Oh sorry was that an incomplete sentence.

Animal cruelty.

Jamie Lee Curtis.

Yes, Trump and he smells worse than cigarettes.

R15 The price escalation had a lot to do with government taxation so yes.

[quote]The government-sponsored anti-smoking campaign that ran from the late 1990s through the 2010s must be, hands down, the most successful public information campaign waged by any government in history.

This is the one thing the US got absolutely right and it's kinda shocking, considering the emphasis on individual rights. It's crazy how long it took for Europe to get its act together on ciggies. I blame the French, personally. And if any of the Balkan countries had been in the EU at the time when those prohibitions started getting passed, we'd still all be smoking inside.

[quote]Animal cruelty.

It didn't stop Kristi Noem's ascent, but I bet smoking cigs would have.

*

I quit in 1984 and still miss it terribly —especially when paired with alcohol and coffee.

Danish ex Queen Margrethe II no longer puffs her beloved high tar Karelia Agriniou unfiltereds imported from Greece.

Fifty years ago: "Honey, look on the bright side. He just started smoking cigarettes, not marijuana."

Today: "Honey, look on the bright side. He just started vaping, not smoking cigarettes."

Child abuse is more despised than smoking.

r48 Well, for normal people. Not for rethugs.

R45 While still in my early twenties I quit smoking one day on impulse because I got out of breath climbing the stairs of the subway station. I wrongly attributed it to cigarette smoking, when it fact I was coming down with a bad chest cold with congestion that didn't become obvious until the next couple of days. I had two packs of unopened Chersterfields in my desk at work and which I threw in the waste bin under my desk. A coworker who saw me was flabbergasted and asked for them. I told him he can have them, since I officially quit cold turkey. I actually never smoked again. That was just over 40 years ago. A couple of close friends who smoked at some point months and years later each said they intend on quitting, but they never did. One died of lung cancer age 57. The other died two years ago of COPD.

I see e-cigarettes and vaping as just bullshit alternatives to regular cigarettes. They also are addictive and also cause serious disease.

[quote]I see e-cigarettes and vaping as just bullshit alternatives to regular cigarettes. They also are addictive and also cause serious disease.

No, the bs is from the government which claims vaping is the same as smoking cigarettes. Sure, it's addictive. But inhaling a mist is virtually harmless to your lungs compared to inhaling smoke from burning tobacco. Think for yourself. The state has an agenda.

Chesterfields? Are you 105?

I quit smoking cold Turkey on my 51st birthday. I had smoked a pack of full flavored, high nicotine cigarettes each day for thirty years. I loved smoking. The feeling of inhaling did it for me. I rarely smoked in my home and never at work. I smoked on the way to and from work and when I traveled, I smoked almost nonstop.

The price went nuts toward the end on my smoking. When my beloved Marlboro Reds started costing north of $50/carton, I began ordering cartons of duty free cigarettes from a place in Cyprus. Prince Reds, which I smoked when I lived in Sweden, were my go-to.

I understand what OP has observed. Virtually nobody smokes any more in places you used to see and smell it. Occasionally I smell cigarette smoke when I’m stopped in traffic, but not often. The beach? No. Outdoor shopping areas? No. Even bars and restaurants are nearly cigarette free. I don’t hate it, but I appreciate when I am out of the country and am around people who are smoking. It makes me want to buy a pack and join in, but I don’t.

R51 I disagree. Twenty plus years from we will likely learn that all those chemicals present in almost all vaping have given cancer to a new generation of "alternative smokers".

[i] Vaping exposes users to dangerous chemicals including addictive nicotine, cancer-causing chemicals like formaldehyde and benzene, heavy metals such as lead and nickel, and lung-damaging substances like Acrolein and Diacetyl.[/i]

Here’s a view from a former smoker: I notice that those who still smoke cigarettes will distance themselves from others, go up an alley, whatever. Walk down streets in New York, Boston, or Chicago and you just smell weed everywhere. It’s nauseating and to me is much worse than secondhand cigarette smoke was. To complain about secondhand pot smoke marks you as uncool and judgmental.

Also, remember how they used to say that second-hand smoke killed hundreds of thousands of people annually? When was the last time you saw a statistic that showed how many people are alive because cigarettes have become so taboo?

The current strain of marijuana that are sold in big cities like NY I consider to be stink weed. The pot I grew up in my teens - thirties that friends smoked had a sweeter less offensive smell. Today's breed of pot smells like a skunk. I can no longer keep my windows open at home at night because the stink from neighboring buildings will waft in late ion the evening and while I am sleeping. At least cigarette smell wasn't so overpowering and far reaching. If a neighbor smoked I wouldn't know unless I was living in a next door apartment. The smell of today's pot is far reaching.

[quote]I disagree. Twenty plus years from we will likely learn that all those chemicals present in almost all vaping have given cancer to a new generation of "alternative smokers".

I would bet money on this. Vaping cannot be a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes. With vaping, people are still inhaling a million chemicals into their lungs.

Norwegian tennis star Casper Ruud complains about the smell of weed at the US Open

I had to quit because of the judgment I received at the hands of Datalounge queens who will rim a stranger and bottom for the homeless. But a whiff of a cigarette from two blocks away? Too much for their delicate sensibilities and a violation of their constitutional right to never be exposed to anything they find unpleasant.

I have never smoked weed, but for some reason I really do love that smell.

Too funny r59!

I could never get over the smell. My white trash father and stepmother smoked and hotboxed a new car in weeks. The house stank, which meant my clothes stank when I went to school. When my brother still lived there and he’d come visit our grandparents, his clothes went right in the wash and the suitcase went outside to air out.

It explains why I’m so particular about being clean and smelling good and having decent teeth now.

Also I have plenty of other bad habits, haha.

Would today's high schoolers believe it when you told them many if not most high schools used to have designated smoking areas where a kid could light up between algebra and Spanish?

r63 I went to high school in the 90s and smoking was banned everywhere on campus by then, but the teachers who had been at the school for years told us that in the 70s not only could the teachers smoke in the teachers' lounge, there was an INDOOR lounge where the students could go and smoke!

I was in high school 1978-82. Teachers who smoked did so in the teachers lounge on the second floor. That room was converted to a classroom my sophomore year, so they had to smoke in the boiler room in the sub basement. No more speed sticking a cigarette between classes! Students were not allowed to smoke at school, so lunch periods the smokers walked to the sidewalk across the street to smoke. My senior year, I had two free periods and hung out in the boiler room smoking with the teachers who had those periods off. It amazes me what teachers reveal to kids in such situations. I loved being able to have those experiences.

We had a smoking room for students 1972-76 when I was there. They called it the STUDENT ACTIVITY ROOM.

“We’ll take 2 seats in the non-smoking section, right past the smoking one.”

[quote] It amazes me what teachers reveal to kids in such situations. I loved being able to have those experiences.

I stayed friendly with three of my high school teachers after I graduated. A few other students and I would occasionally meet up and visit with them for lunch at restaurants etc. It was so funny how after we were no longer their students and out of high school they would tell us ALL the gossip about the other teachers and administration. The teachers/administrators they hated, the ones who were married and had affairs, the ones who had drinking problems etc. The would spill all the shit to us. Our high school was like one big soap opera, which we didn't know about until after we'd graduated.

In the '70s my friend had a "no smoke toker aka NST", a vented plastic cylinder that contained a lit spliff in a holder screwed into one end. It wasn't fool proof but we could smoke weed and hash in the smoking sections of movie theatres without much bother.

I'm not surprised r68. So many extended family members were teachers and at one time my father was a department head at the school board. At one time I had an older brother teaching at my large high school as well as one of my father's cousins as a student supervisor. I knew a lot I shouldn't have but mostly kept my mouth shut. And the school was so big I rarely saw my brother there. Other teachers sometimes saw me as a sympathetic but discreet ear.

When extended family got together, out came the booze and the stories.

There is no possible way that vaping is as bad as smoking. It's surely not risk-free, but when you compare the components of the two, it's common sense. There are around 200 chemical components in your typical liquid vape juice; in a burning cigarette, there are over 7,000. Those are facts. It's likely as time goes on that we'll see the health effects of vaping, but I think they will be significantly less. A flavored water-based vapor and smoke from burning organic matter are two very, very different things.

You also have to take into account the depositing of tar which comes with smoking tobacco (or any other substance, for that matter), which is a major component of smoking-caused lung diseases. With vaping, there is no tar because nothing is combusting. There are still chemicals of course, but we inhale all kinds of chemicals (organic and otherwise) constantly, especially in urban environments. Is vaping good? Probably not. But it is hardly comparable to smoking.

r71 Breathing industrial pollution and even car exhaust on the freeway is worse yet we never hear how many of us die from that. There is a political motivation behind the suppression of both smoking and vaping.

I used to love to smoke. I did not smoke that much but I always loved it. I also lived in Europe on and off in my late 20's and 30's. And Yes, I did smoke. Nowadays, at 55, if I can afford it, when I travel to Europe I try to get a room with a terrace and I smoke. One for breakfast and one in the evening. The pleasure I get from those two cigarettes is incredible to me. But I am a "non-smoker."