I love smoking

[lazi]

Actually I don't smoke, but I'm sick and tired of the bully tactics used by the anti-smoking brigade to brow beat people with their absurd "smoking kills" propaganda.
I'll give you an example or two. I don't smoke (as I said) and I don't drink and I don't use any drugs and I have been in and out of hospital all my life, lost my right kidney, etc, etc
My sister on the other hand smokes mediumly heavily, she drinks and she has never been to hospital except to give birth to two healthy boys.
Another example...
My father who smokes outlived my mother who does not smoke, by ten years.
I am NOT advocating smoking, and while there is some merit to the anti-smoking lobby, I feel their propaganda is very lob-sided and does not give us the true picture.
I am looking for stories of people who smoke and who nonetheless lead healthy and long lives. I think their side of the story should be told too!
Do any of you have stories like that?

 

[Cookie]

My father who smokes outlived my mother who does not smoke, by ten years.

Did he smoke in the house & expose her to his second hand smoke?

My Aunt died recently at 85ish, smoker all her life. Same with my ex mom inlaw. Both had oxygen tanks, but were sneakin' smokes because of their addiction.

 

[pinballdoctor]

I am looking for stories of people who smoke and who nonetheless lead healthy and long lives.

Smoking doesn't just give you cancer, it depletes the vitamins in your blood on a daily basis. In particular vitamin C, and some B vitamins, especially folic acid (B9).

If these vitamins are not replaced daily, it is only a matter of time before some serious health issue arises...So the answer to your question relates to diet and lifestyle of the smoker.

I often hear of non-smokers who die from lung cancer, which is the most popular cancer, and for a long time could not figure out how this could be possible. However, once I understood how free radical damage causes disease, I realized that most of these people got lung cancer from constantly inhaling fumes from cooking oils, margerine, etc., while not taking antioxidants to offset this free radical damage.

On a final note, I smoked for about 25 years before I quit (16 years ago) and can honestly say that quitting was a difficult process. I was at the point that I could not even walk up one flight of stairs without being winded. At that point I was smoking about 50 cigs per day. I had no energy, my clothes stunk from the smoke as did my breath. My fingers were yellow with nicotine, and it was quite an expensive habit as well.

I'm glad I was able to quit because I know some people who can't, even after numerous tries. Its a filthy habit, and the bottom line is that you cannot be healthy if you smoke. people who are long term smokers and say they are completely healthy are not telling the truth because smoking sucks the energy from your body, and it gets worse from there.

 

[kind2creatures]

I lost my sister who was a smoker to lung cancer that spread throughout her body in her early 40's. I used to smoke myself, but was smart enough to quit.

It doesn't take a genius to know how much smoking damages your health, even if it doesn't kill you. Some people's bodies take abuse better than others. I don't preach to anyone about quitting, they can pick their own poison.

Smoke a pack+ a day for even 5 years, then tell me that you "love smoking". https://www.natmedtalk.com/blog.php?bt=353

 

[jfh]

I had a great-uncle who smoked early in life then chewed tobacco the rest. He always carried an empty coffee can around with him to use as a spittoon when he couldn't just spit on the ground. Ugh! He died in his early 90s. Don't know why. Probably senility with no one taking care of him. He drove a Victorian A model Ford. The kind that you stand in front of to crank to start the motor. He drove it until he was 88, when he sold it to a couple of con artists for $100 in the 1960s. Dang, dang, dang. I was in high school and would have totally loved to have that car.

 

[lazi]

Thanks guys
again...I don't smoke, but I have close associations with people who do, and I'll say this: it is not as clear cut as the anti-smoking brigade make out. The anti-smoking vigilantes are (in my opinion) guilty of not telling the truth. Quitting is NOT necessarily the best option.
Take my sister again...perfect health all her life no shortness of breath or anything...she could do anything I could do and then...
She bought into the anti-smoking hype and quit. Now she is a MESS. She has ballooned out to more than twice her normal weight, she struggles to walk, etc, etc...in her case quitting was the single worst thing she could have done.
On top of this the QUIT SMOKING PROPAGANDA is downright harmful...most people simply cannot quit, and now they suffer from guilt as well. If the smoke does not kill them, the guilt surely will!
I'm looking for stories of people who smoke and feel healthy well into old age...I know they are out there!

 

[Gnomenclature]

My mother smoked for 64 years and was the picture of health. Now she walks around with an oxygen tank following her.

I had bronchitis yearly until I moved out of the house where she smoked. I haven't had it since. Funny thing.

Oh, and when my corn allergy was raging if I caught the faintest hint of cigarette smoke (cigars and pipes are fine), I was down with a severe migraine for 4 days and possibly the ER. So I didn't leave the house, lest I walk into a store where someone was smoking outside.

So...thank you for smoking.






Not.

 

[lazi]

OK, Gnomen says, "my mother smoked for 64 years and was the picture of health. Now she walks around with an oxygen tank following her."

Does that prove that smoking is the culprit? There may be a myriad of other factors that contributed. Say for example the pollution in the air, the pollution in the water, the pollution in the food...I could go on...

And I'll give you a story of my own...A friend of the family did NOT smoke, did NOT drink, did NOT stress out. His face was as unlined at 50, as the day he was born. He was also a "picture of health". He worked for my dad, servicing motor cars. He dropped dead at 50 from a heart attack while servicing a motor car

Does that mean servicing motor cars "kills"? Should servicing cars be banned?

As for Gnomen's problems with cigarette smoke, that sounds VERY much like an allergy to smoke...like some people have an allergy to bread, eggs, milk, etc...does that mean bread, eggs and milk should be banned?

Hey guys, I'm not advocating smoking...I'm just saying if we wish to victimise smokers and smoking, let's at least be absolute precise and accurate with our condemnations.

Also what I'm saying is that quitting is an option for some, but not an option for the vast majority, and we have to find effective ways to cope for those who simply cannot (or should not - like my sister) quit

 

[pinballdoctor]

And I'll give you a story of my own...A friend of the family did NOT smoke, did NOT drink, did NOT stress out. His face was as unlined at 50, as the day he was born. He was also a "picture of health". He worked for my dad, servicing motor cars. He dropped dead at 50 from a heart attack

Cancer does not happen overnight, it takes years if not decades to progress, and the same can be said about your family friend.

He may have appeared to be a "picture of health", but he wasn't...at least not on the inside. Anyone who dies from "natural" causes, dies from a nutrient deficiency. A heart attack is a symptom, not a cause.

He may have been deficient in vitamin D, as heart attacks are common in the winter, (especially from shovelling snow) however, if he died during one of the other seasons, he most likely was deficient in selenium (if he died from cardiomyopathy heart attack) or was deficient in copper (if he died from aortic aneurysm)

Of course this is just an educated guess, and only the coroner would know for certain, and an autopsy would have had to be done to determine exact cause of death, since something "caused" the heart attack.

We do know one thing for sure... smoking did not kill him..

 

[Gnomenclature]

Does that prove that smoking is the culprit? There may be a myriad of other factors that contributed. Say for example the pollution in the air, the pollution in the water, the pollution in the food...I could go on...

And it could be evil spirits too.

Look, the link between COPD and smoking cigarettes is so beyond proven it's not worth the effort for me to even link you to anything.

HOWEVER...I have no idea why I didn't think of this before *slaps head* but while I was amazingly reactive to normal cigarettes in the past (now they merely stink like the dickens), I had a gardening client where one of the partners smoked, and I had no problem going into their house.

Why? Turns out the partner smoked organic cigarettes. They're just tobacco without all the toxic chemicals added to them. So if you really like smoking, you might do better with those on several counts. Just a thought.

And I'd guess no one's done any research on the effects of organic cigarettes and health, since most smokers don't use them. Too bad, really.

But I think it's not much of a stretch to believe that maybe smoking cigarettes that aren't laced with things like formaldehye and dioxins might be less damaging that then usual ones that are laced with such toxic stuff.

As for Gnomen's problems with cigarette smoke, that sounds VERY much like an allergy to smoke...like some people have an allergy to bread, eggs, milk, etc...does that mean bread, eggs and milk should be banned?

If it were an allergy to smoke then cigars and pipe tobacco would give me the same reactions. They didn't.

I already said part of it was a corn allergy. Oh, and several volatile chemicals like toluene and...things they lace conventional cigarettes with. You're not just smoking tobacco.

But by all means explain -- do I have to be a hermit because you happen to choose a habit that you can't practice in public without inflicting it on others?

Does your "right" to smoke your poisonous cigarettes trump my right to have a life at all?

Is that really your moral stance here or have I misunderstood you?

What you do in your own home is truly your business. I'm not part of the ban-smoking-everywhere crowd anyway. I'm far too much of a realist to take such a view.

Hey guys, I'm not advocating smoking...I'm just saying if we wish to victimise smokers and smoking, let's at least be absolute precise and accurate with our condemnations.

Actually I'm not advocating victimizing anyone. I don't see how that even helps anyway.

But I do think it's rather laughable for someone who harms me to claim that they're the victim if I merely suggest perhaps they should stop harming me, since smoking is hardly a necessity of life.

A parallel argument would be that people who drink should be able to drive when they're impaired because...they like drinking. The impact on others be damned, I guess?

Also what I'm saying is that quitting is an option for some, but not an option for the vast majority, and we have to find effective ways to cope for those who simply cannot (or should not - like my sister) quit

Actually quitting is an option for the vast majority. The problem is access to the means and programs to do so. Those who do have access (through insurance and businesses who help employess) have a much higher success rate than those who are pretty much on their own.

Despite knowing where my mother's smoking habit would lead her, because there's a large extended family and the pattern of who ends up with an oxygen tank and who doesn't is painfully obvious, I also realize that nicotine is more addictive than heroin (thank you Surg. Gen. Koop for that) and quitting is hardly an easy thing. I didn't toss blame at her all the years she was smoking, nor have I gone into "I told you so" mode now. What would be the point? Everyone gets to make choices and we all make some that are not so good. *shrug*

Also claiming "you just lack willpower" is somewhere between ridiculous, wrong, and downright unhelpful, so I don't do that.

However, denying well-done science is not an appropriate response, nor especially helpful, so don't expect me to play ball with you trying to pretend smoking is just peachy keen any more than I will join anyone in equally unscientific views such as the Universe was created in six 24-four hour periods or that there are multiple human "races."

 

[truestorytotell]

Even though i've wanted to quit smoking (alcohol no problem) on many occasions and have cut down on smoking considerably i still do smoke...

I roll my own cigarettes, normal filters.

The paper i use is a roll basically and its unbleached and chlorine free...

The tobacco i use is 100% leaf tobacco produced without additives...fine cut...

I know this is still a very unhealthy habit, but im hoping that this is the ''best'' way to smoke that has the least chemicals for me to inhale so lowering the dangers from most other options with added chemicals and flavours and whatnot...But many people have smelled the tobacco usually when i give to others to roll and i can honestly say that 1 in 5 people tell me they like it, and 4 in 5 tell me they dont like it, just by smelling it...i love it

there is one more brand around here without additives but its much heavier on the throat, with the same ''light'' rolling papers, and even though i like heavy cigarettes that one is too much...

 

[Audi]

Thanks guys
Take my sister again...perfect health all her life no shortness of breath or anything...she could do anything I could do and then...
She bought into the anti-smoking hype and quit. Now she is a MESS. She has ballooned out to more than twice her normal weight, she struggles to walk, etc, etc...in her case quitting was the single worst thing she could have done.

I agree with you to a point, there are many illnesses blamed on smoking when the cause is often elsewhere, but for weight gain after quitting, smoking is definately responsible

a lot of people who smoke are slim and energetic because the nicotine stimulates the thyroid and their metabolism is sped up they are essentially in a slight/moderate hyperthyroid state

when the smoker gives up smoking the thyroid is no longer getting the stimulus from the nicotine and there is a backlash, the thyroid becomes hypothyroid (metabolism slows down) this is the reason people gain weight and feel worse after quitting

some peoples thyroid recovers eventually and finds it's equilibrium
and they lose the gained weight but most remain slightly/moderately hypothyroid
there is only so much punishment the thyroid can take

your sister should have her thyroid checked out to see where it's at

 

[knightofalbion]

This will clear up some questions about the negative health impact of smoking and why it harms some so terribly but seemingly not others

https://naturaltreatmentsforcancer.blogspot.com/2008/09/krebiozen.html

 

[JanH]

I don't care what others do in the privacy of their own home or car, BUT, I do object strenuously to smokers who pollute MY air, leave their filthy butts lying about, and leave MY hair and clothes stinking, ruins my meal at a restaurant, not to mention the health problems of headaches, etc. So, smokers, the anti-smoking brigade may not care what YOU do to your health, but we do care that your smoke isn't confined to your little corner of the world.

 

[Arrowwind09]

Lazi,

My husband has smoked since highschool and he is 63 now. He goes in for a yearly exam and they say his lungs are in perfect health. He has also excelled in cardiac stress tests. He is building our house at the present, doing most of the work himself.
He can hike at high altitude without difficulty.

When we got married he agreed not to smoke in the house and he has stuck to that so I and the kids have not been exposed.

But when I was a kid both of my parents smoked and I remember riding in the car with the air so thick of smoke you could hardly see out the windows..

My lungs have been fine until I worked in a facility where I developed sensitivity to the chemicals they used on the carpet to cleaning... so I have mild reactive airway disease... a type of asthma that I keep under control with homeopathics.

My mom smoked starting at the age of 14 and she died at 79 from complications from copd. She had no symptoms until age 75. I dont know if smoking caused this or not. Likely it did. But until then she had barely had a sick day in her entire life.

I agree with you. I think the propaganda is out of hand. I do not think that it causes all of the diseases that they claim... but I also think that some people will be more vulnerable to it than others.

Recently my husband gave up regular cigarettes and he only smokes roll your own organic tobacco from Native Spirit that he special orders from the grocery store. It is also less expensive that regular cigarettes.

Both of us also supplement with vitamin c and other antioxidants and have been doing so for about 8 to 10 years.

I would much rather see chemicals that are added to food regulated along with GM foods and pesticides etc, with the zeal that smoking is...

As a nurse I have seen many people die from lung cancer, most of which never smoked a day in their lives. It is one of the leading causes of cancer these days. I suspect that radiaiton might have something to do with it.

Always remember... Statistics lie and that statistics are slanted to reflect the political or economic interests of those who pay for the studies.

 

[Audi]

I don't care what others do in the privacy of their own home or car, BUT, I do object strenuously to smokers who pollute MY air, leave their filthy butts lying about, and leave MY hair and clothes stinking, ruins my meal at a restaurant, not to mention the health problems of headaches, etc. So, smokers, the anti-smoking brigade may not care what YOU do to your health, but we do care that your smoke isn't confined to your little corner of the world.

actually smokers are confined to their little corner of the world at least in my country and I believe it is so in the civilised world
there is no smoking in restaurants or inside any buildings so no non smoker's hair or clothes can stink of cigarettes unless you hang around with smokers
industry & cars do a lot more to polluting the air than what smokers can

 

[Arrowwind09]

actually smokers are confined to their little corner of the world at least in my country and I believe it is so in the civilised world
there is no smoking in restaurants or inside any buildings so no non smoker's hair or clothes can stink of cigarettes unless you hang around with smokers
industry & cars do a lot more to polluting the air than what smokers can

yep, as the antismoking frenzy proceded a major industry in Dallas just kept on dumping their toxic chemicals on the local populace without hardly a peep from the public... even after poisons were found in school air vents. Why? Because they all worked there and the company had a strong political lobby.
Follow the money and you will understand.
and I wonder how many of the cancers in that neighborhood will get blammed on smoking.

 

[Audi]

I think this anti smoking frenzy (smoke screen) has been whipped up to draw attention away from chemicals,pollution etc etc because it is much easier to blame smoking for every illness than correct pollution, or remove chemicals from our daily lives

it is a known fact that fine particles of pollution lodge in the lungs,heart,kidneys and the body cannot get rid of it, it causes cancers and other diseases similar to asbestos , a lot of elderly people die on a high pollution days
and chemicals, we all know they have many different affects on our health but are hard to avoid where as cigarettes aren't so yeah blame everything on cigarettes

imagine if our governments were forced to get rid of pollution and chemicals ,it would destroy most industries and our countries economies would crash

 

[Mad Scientest]

It is probably a bit higher now but the last statistics I recall stated the cost of manufacturing a pack of cigarettes was 32 cents per pack. This also included advertising and all obscene profits that these evil companies made. Everything else on a $7-8 (or whatever it is now) pack was tax!:shock:

So who is making these hugely obscene profits, without even having to produce a product? :twisted:

 

[lazi]

Pinball
What you have enumerated is what I’m trying to say…there are MULTIPLE causes for disease. And yeah I don’t for a moment advocate smoking, but I am strongly against the simplistic (and incorrect) slogan of the anti-smoke wowsers: quit or die. There is, as you pointed out, pinball, more to it than that.

I cannot comment on all the points Gnomen has raised (it would take a book) so I’ll limit it to one. He says:
Look, the link between COPD and smoking cigarettes is so beyond proven…
Then he says:
denying well-done science is not an appropriate response
Well, science once told us that the world was flat and that the sun revolved around the earth. What was science yesterday is no longer science today. Science, while extremely useful, has its limitations and can effectively only cope with a few “controllable” variables – whereas in “real life” there are virtually unlimited variables. You know…if someone sneezes in China,there is a tidal wave in New York…that is, even “small” variables can have a huge effect
For years science has been touting that cholesterol is the harbinger of heart disease. The problem is, as they are now finding out, the problem is that about 50% of people who hit the pavement have normal levels of cholesterol.
Gnomen’s “beyond proven” is going a bit “beyond”. It is not even proven, let alone “beyond proven”.
But thanks for your tips on “organic smokes”. I’m looking for proactive. I am against BLANKET CONDEMNATION.

truestory
Yours is the kind of response I’m looking for because (I believe) you are in the majority, and those who kick smoking are very much a minority. And I don’t for a minute believe that those who kick the habit really do. I think the taste and the desire and the craving lingers on and on. I know of one guy, a farmer who I bought my land from, who kicked smoking. Quit it cold. Just like that. Two years later he started again. There are a LOT of stories like that.
All I’m saying is, if you can quit with impunity, good luck to you. But most cannot and the “QUIT OR DIE” propaganda is both wrong and in fact makes matters worse. Now people are not only smoking but they feel guilty as well…and the guilt will kill them deader than the smoking will!

Audi
That is an informed response…it shows that all is not black and white in this quitting game…I’m just wondering if people are warned about this thyroid problem and the no doubt other problems facing “quitters”? More to the point, are they told what to do about it? I suspect not…and they go at it bull at a gate style, only to find the nirvana promised by the anti-smokers is a mirage.
My sister’s daughter in law also quit…they quit at the same time - and the daughter in law is now also grossly overweight, but she is young and can cope with it, but my sister is mid-sixties, and she cannot handle that excessive weight.

Kight, I did not read past the second paragraph of your article. The article says: quitting smoking is a guaranteed way to improve your health and longevity. Well, my sister quit, and got worse. Much worse. I dislike these blanket generalizations. They are nearly always wrong!
And what about people who try to quit and cannot, and now, on top of the smoking they blame themselves, feel guilt, etc…
The best we can say, Knight, is quitting MAY improve your health. If you go any further than that you put yourself out on a limb.

Arrow
You bring up some great points…I can only address some of them
1 – your husband is doing well and smoking. I believe there are many like him. Let’s be real. The body is an incredible ADAPTIVE organism. Bacteria, for example, can adapt to the harshest chemicals we throw at them. Likewise the human body can adapt IF WE LET IT AND NOT BURDEN IT WITH GUILT, ETC.
Your mom died at 75, a very respectable life span…sure smoking may have contributed, but I think it’s irresponsible to say smoking was THE cause.
And I love your comment that we should pursue the chemicals in food with the same zeal with which we condemn smoking. Now I really do think that would be a huge PLUS.
And yeah…you mention political and economic interests…it is no secret that there is a LOT of money in promoting “quitting”.
Like you I recommend a more moderate, responsible approach and recognize that everyone is not equal and may require different approaches, rather than then “one size (quit) fits all”.

Audi, you say: industry & cars do a lot more to polluting the air than what smokers can.
Cars kill too. Should we “quit” cars as well?
On a similar note, the third cause of death in the western world is iatrogenic disease – that is “doctor-caused” illness. Should we hang a placard on every surgery door: “WARNING: DOCTORS ARE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH”?
I mean, it would be true.

audi, You call it the anti-smoking frenzy a smoke screen. Yes, I call it a scapegoat.
A similar situation exists on the roads where you have the oft-used slogan, SPEED KILLS. This one is another money spinner and huge amounts are going into government coffers on that argument. The fact is that speed is just one factor amongst others. Other factors are driver inattention, faulty cars, drink driving, faulty roads, driver drowsiness. The speed kills slogan is dangerous because it allows us to overlook other factors which may be just as important. Likewise, the SMOKING KILLS slogan may make us overlook other things that are just as important.

Madscientist is not happy that the cigarette companies are making huge obscene profits. So?
So is the anti-smoking brigade making a lot of money.
Point is…just because the cigarette companies are making a lot of money does not justify the misery caused by the frenzied anti-smoking crusade

 

[truestorytotell]

The thing is that the more i get into a healthy lifestyle and the holistic approach on the matter the more i learn, so i adapt to what's healthy and to what suits me, what works for me...

So things i can cut out like Chocolates and Alcohol and canned food and so much more i did, i do...

But cigarettes are a pleasure for me, so by me pushing myself to quit and pushing and pushing (and failing) has a negative consequence on my mental health, so ok my solution was to find the ''healthiest'' way to preserve an unhealthy habit that makes me happy...That way is described in my previous post and i try to smoke in moderation too but do not sweat over it, as far as cigarettes are concerned...

And also from a long experience i had with cannabis i learned about myself, the person i am. Me im the type of radical person and i know that by me letting myself enjoy cannabis FREELY (the way i always end up) will ALWAYS eventually lead me to consume 2-3+ grams a day, staying away from people, spending Alot of money, damaging my health (i always smoked joints, weed mixed with tobacco without filters, so imagine), and i went through phases of smoking and selling and stopping and i always came back, and everytime i came back i started little by little, even when trying to limit it and be in control and just do it recreationally and frequently i ALWAYS ended up smoking like a TRUE pothead, like a ****ing addict...and when this deadly circle repeats itself over the years over and over again you eventually get to know yourself, understand yourself, realise you cannot control it, and so you got (I Got) 2 options left, smoke the way you love, or dont, and as far as cannabis is concerned i decided Not to since some time now...
But this is all me, im sure others can just have a joint at night a few times a week here and there and im not saying i wouldnt do it if i could, but i cant and since i cant i gotta do whats right for myself, because i know myself...

But all in all i do love smoking weed, so if it happens for me to be in a situation where its being smoked, i will smoke..I pushed myself far enough, now again i go back to mental health and if its really occasional i think it even benefits.. i just try to keep myself away from those situations where there's a joint being passed around even though they occur so frequently, and i also never go out and buy any for myself to smoke, i used to love smoking at home, alone...so i limit myself, and that self-imposed limit is the way to go for me, and i can do that as far as weed is concerned...

And to end it, of course im a good person and wont light a cigarette if someone next to me is eating or is a non smoker, i will ask for permission and if they say no than i will just wait untill their meal is over or just get up, move, and smoke elsewhere...
But there are always people that can have a huge effect on a person by what they say, usually those people are family, so when those people start ''busting your b**s'' about you smoking, it can really bring you down and i understand that bcuz you know, been there done that, so eventually for that and many many other reasons i've cut everyone out of my life, and its kindoff a lonely place to be, but necessary, like Jesus went through(if you believe in god hehe) but that a long story...end

 

[knightofalbion]

Knight, I did not read past the second paragraph of your article. The article says: quitting smoking is a guaranteed way to improve your health and longevity. Well, my sister quit, and got worse. Much worse. I dislike these blanket generalizations. They are nearly always wrong!
And what about people who try to quit and cannot, and now, on top of the smoking they blame themselves, feel guilt, etc…
The best we can say, Knight, is quitting MAY improve your health. If you go any further than that you put yourself out on a limb.

1) I admire anyone who is prepared to stand against the crowd - even if I don't agree with him/her.

2) Every cigarette smoked takes something from your lifespan. And it does increase the risk of multiple conditions from dementia to your teeth falling out, so yes, giving up smoking DOES improve good health, or decrease risk of bad health, depending on how you want to look at it.

I'm genuinely sorry to hear about your sister, but that is a poor excuse. I'd say she died despite giving up smoking, not because of it.

You should have read on, then you would have seen how and WHY some people avoid lung cancer, whereas others do not, even though they may be smoking the same amount or perhaps even more.

 

[Cookie]

Thanks guys
again...I don't smoke, but I have close associations with people who do, and I'll say this: it is not as clear cut as the anti-smoking brigade make out. The anti-smoking vigilantes are (in my opinion) guilty of not telling the truth. Quitting is NOT necessarily the best option.
Take my sister again...perfect health all her life no shortness of breath or anything...she could do anything I could do and then...
She bought into the anti-smoking hype and quit. Now she is a MESS. She has ballooned out to more than twice her normal weight, she struggles to walk, etc, etc...in her case quitting was the single worst thing she could have done.

Na na na na noooo.
Quiting wasn't the worst thing she could do, getting fat was.

 

[Cookie]

OK, Gnomen says, "my mother smoked for 64 years and was the picture of health. Now she walks around with an oxygen tank following her."

Does that prove that smoking is the culprit?

Well lazy, don't you think it's logical that eventually your luck is going to wear out if you load your lungs (more than several times) daily with smoke & chemicals from a burning stick within a couple inches of your lips? I'm no rocket scientist, but if I had to guess, I'd say there's your culprit.

 

[jfh]

People with addictions find all kind of excuses to justify their addictions.

My mother smoked from teenage years until her death at 75. Liver tumor. The liver processes, or tries to process, the toxins. She tried to quit once, but started gaining weight. She said she could not afford a new wardrobe. Well, that is partly true. We were on the poor side of the tracks.