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First post, by KT7AGuy

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Goddamit, but I'm so sick of receiving items covered in sticky yellow tar-like smoke residue and reeking of cigarettes. Do I seriously need to start asking if the item comes from a smoke-free environment every time? I swear, the next item I get like this I'm sending back as defective.

😠

Reply 1 of 30, by nforce4max

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I find this habit to be truly disgusting and may as well cover everything in dung because of just how foul it is. I can't stand being around when people smoke let alone end up with anything from there where it is as you put it.

On a far away planet reading your posts in the year 10,191.

Reply 2 of 30, by AlaricD

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Addiction is a powerful thing: Nicotine is more addictive than heroin. Years and years of advertising, and glamorization in films and television... Even now we know how horrible smoking is but there are new smokers being 'made' today. It'll be a long time before we've seen the last of tobacco.

That being said, sellers need to disclose whether items are from smoke-free environments or not. That stuff is NASTY.

And there's nothing worse than being in traffic and suddenly you get someone's tobacco smoke in your car from someone a few cars away. Or walking up the sidewalk towards the restaurant you want to go to and there's someone sitting outside of the bar next door, smoking. Ewww.

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Reply 3 of 30, by DosDaddy

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In this day an age, where the evils of this deplorable practice are no secret to anybody, taking up smoking would indicate an intelligence problem. Failing to quit would indicate an addiction problem, but a recalcitrant smoker? that's an attitude problem.

Right now I'm watching a couple of close relatives slowly killing themselves like complete and absolute fools. Their health has already departed from them, and at this point it's either going to be full blown emphysema or cancer, and there' no reasoning with these people.

Disgusting, vile, godless thing it is.

Reply 4 of 30, by eL_PuSHeR

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The best thing we did here at Spain a few years ago was to BAN smoking in public places. Those smoke clouds were overkill for little children and adults alike.

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Reply 5 of 30, by KT7AGuy

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Just FYI and so there's full disclosure: I was a smoker for 16 years. Now I'm extra-sensitive to the stench and able to smell it when non-smokers cannot. I smell it immediately on electronics, so it bothers me quite a bit, especially if they heat up. This may be why I overreacted a bit in my original post.

I quit in 2007 and have been smoke-free ever since. Even when I was a smoker, I knew well enough that it stunk and left a nasty sticky residue, so I only smoked outdoors or away from my possessions. It's easy for non-smokers to say, "just quit", or "intelligence problem", or "attitude problem", etc. Trust me, you have no idea how tightly the psychological and chemical addiction grips its victims. I liken this attitude towards male politicians legislating women's issues. You simply cannot and do not know until you walk a few miles in their shoes. The mere thought of going without my smokes was enough to instill panic.

I mentioned the psychological and chemical addiction of smoking, however it is mostly a psychological problem. The nicotine chemical addiction is much more mild than people realize, and this is why gum and patches fail so often; they do nothing to address the psychological addiction. It's quite powerful unless somebody tells you how to do it successfully. If anybody is curious, I used this book to quit:

Alan Carr's Easy Way To Quit Smoking

When I finished reading that book, I was no longer a smoker. It took about 3 hours.

DosDaddy:
It is possible to reason with smokers. You're just doing it wrong.

A few years back, I received an ABIT KT7A that just reeked of smoke and was tacky with residue. It needed to be recapped anyway so I sent it to Chris Passalacqua at badcaps.net. He mentioned that he offered a cleaning service and could save the board, so I took advantage of it. The board came back looking new and smelling fresh. If I remember right, he mentioned that his process was to soak it in Simple Green for awhile, do several rinses, and then let it air dry for several days. I don't know if I'm brave enough to do something like that myself, but his technique definitely did work for my board.

Reply 6 of 30, by zirkoni

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KT7AGuy wrote:

It's easy for non-smokers to say, "just quit", or "intelligence problem", or "attitude problem", etc. Trust me, you have no idea how tightly the psychological and chemical addiction grips its victims.

But why did you start smoking? That's the thing I don't understand. It's insane why anyone would even try it once.

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Reply 7 of 30, by dr_st

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zirkoni wrote:

But why did you start smoking? That's the thing I don't understand. It's insane why anyone would even try it once.

Social pressure, and you don't believe that it you will get addicted.

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Reply 8 of 30, by KT7AGuy

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dr_st wrote:

Social pressure, and you don't believe that it you will get addicted.

Exactly this. The late 80s and early 90s were a very different time. That's when I got hooked. Even though we all knew the health risks etc, being able to fit in was a big thing. If you smoked to fit in, you learned to like it. Pretty soon, you genuinely did like it. If you eventually found yourself in the military like me, the social pressure was even greater in that environment. Quitting was never an option, despite the government forcing us to go without smokes during basic training. Non-smokers in the military were cut out from a great deal of socializing and social events. We all smoked and we all boozed. The booze is another story entirely for another time.

Also, I am one of those people who has an "addictive personality". I've had issues with other drugs and chemicals as well. Cigarettes are totally addictive and overwhelming. The only substance that was more difficult for me to quit was HFCS. Pepsi and Dr. Pepper were my preferred brands and they were exceedingly hard to quit. I still relapse frequently. I've heard similar accounts from Mt. Dew addicts. Salt and sugar are more addictive than anything else I've ever encountered.

Reply 9 of 30, by DosDaddy

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KT7AGuy wrote:

It's easy for non-smokers to say, "just quit", or "intelligence problem", or "attitude problem", etc.

If you'd just read what I wrote a lil more carefully, you'd realize I'm in no way linking "difficulty in quitting" with anything related to intelligence. An addiction has nothing to do with that, and I myself am no stranger to it's destructive power.

"Recalcitrant" is the term I used, and that's specifically addressing those people with attitude problems (those you cannot reason with), and by that I mean, the "Who are you to judge?" - "You're not my father" - "Mind your own business" - "Go f**k yourself will ya?" - "It's my body and I do what I want with it" crowd. You have no idea the kind of garbage I get from these people irrespective of the discreetness and gentleness of my approach, and no matter the situation either.

KT7AGuy wrote:

I liken this attitude towards male politicians legislating women's issues. You simply cannot and do not know until you walk a few miles in their shoes. The mere thought of going without my smokes was enough to instill panic.

Women's issues, just like men's, are only rightfully legislated by God, and the Bible is packed with instruction. No need for politicians or walking in high heels.

Reply 10 of 30, by dr_st

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KT7AGuy wrote:

The only substance that was more difficult for me to quit was HFCS. Pepsi and Dr. Pepper were my preferred brands and they were exceedingly hard to quit.

Is it actually the HFCS? Does it have more addictive properties than regular sugar? And is it is actually the addictive component in sodas?

Some background: I live in a country where they use sugar and not HFCS in soft drinks, which makes me happy, because I have heard that it's "not as bad" for you, although in truth it's probably a small difference, if any. I do find that it tastes a bit better - I frequently visit the US, and I prefer the taste of the local sodas, but that might be a habit.

I love Cola-type drinks - Coke, Pepsi, Cherry Coke, Dr Pepper, Vanilla Coke, Lemon Coke... I guess I would say that I am somewhat addicted to them, maybe 'sociologically addicted'; that is, if they are accessible, I can consume insane amounts of them over short periods of time, and if I am around someone who drinks a lot of them, I find it difficult to resist. However, aware of my addiction, I simply don't buy them for domestic consumption, at all, and I find that I can go indefinitely without needing one; I end up drinking it, maybe on average once a week, at restaurants, events, friends' places, etc.

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Reply 11 of 30, by Falcosoft

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DosDaddy wrote:

Women's issues, just like men's, are only rightfully legislated by God, and the Bible is packed with instruction..

Unfortunately it's not so easy to follow the instructions nowadays... :
https://www.commondreams.org/further/2011/01/ … anadians-slaves

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Reply 12 of 30, by nforce4max

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DosDaddy wrote:

Women's issues, just like men's, are only rightfully legislated by God, and the Bible is packed with instruction. No need for politicians or walking in high heels.

I wholeheartedly agree and so many problems can be avoided if people would put away their pride and actually take the time to work things out but that is nearly impossible given how society works these days. Ultimately our current society is hell bent on committing suicide by any means possible, we will see in the next decade just how much of a mess that we've gotten ourselves into.

On a far away planet reading your posts in the year 10,191.

Reply 13 of 30, by badmojo

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DosDaddy wrote:

Women's issues, just like men's, are only rightfully legislated by God, and the Bible is packed with instruction. No need for politicians or walking in high heels.

This BS simply isn’t going to work here - you’re going to start fights and drag threads off topic. Please stop.

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Reply 15 of 30, by KT7AGuy

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Oh great. Lo Wang is back and wearing a new suit. 😢

Anyway, regarding the HFCS, I remember reading somewhere that over time HFCS can actually change the way our brains work. It makes you prefer it over real sugar and you begin to crave it like a drug. I can confirm this personally. I really do think HFCS tastes better than real sugar and kicking the soda habit was very difficult.

I've also read that soda is potentially just as bad as cigarettes when it comes to unhealthy habits.

Reply 16 of 30, by dr_st

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KT7AGuy wrote:

I've also read that soda is potentially just as bad as cigarettes when it comes to unhealthy habits.

It's probably as bad as tobacco, if not worse, but still not as bad as cigarettes.

Many people would be surprised to find out that the most unhealthy and deadly aspects of cigarettes are not the tobacco itself, nor its core component - nicotine. Nicotine is addictive, sitting somewhere between caffeine and banned drugs like cocaine, but other than that - in the dose that it's present in standard tobacco - it has few harmful side effects; probably not more than caffeine. The stuff that's actually linked to cancer, various lung and heart diseases and generally shitty health and early death, is all the extra crap they put in commercial cigarettes.

Hence, people who cannot quit or just don't want to, but instead move to rolling their own tobacco or electronic cigarettes, would still be noticeably reducing the potential harm to their health.

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Reply 17 of 30, by Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman

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I used to be a chain smoker and heavy drinker, but I quit drinking in 2010, and gave up smoking in 2015. Yes, both are horribly addictive, but based on my experience, going cold turkey is the best way to quit.

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Reply 18 of 30, by SquallStrife

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Can attest to all of this.

Even more powerful, perhaps, than the addictive chemical nicotine, is the social aspect.

Need a short break from work? Smoke break. Out drinking on a Friday night with your other smoker buddies? "Just one more aye". Stress or anxiety? Calming, familiar cigarette. I've had wonderful, deep conversations with friends, co-workers, and strangers alike which only started because we were both having a smoke break.

Even just the hand-to-mouth action is hard to break, for years after I quit I'd still do "the motion" whenever I was holding something cigarette shaped, like a pen, drinking straw, chopstick, etc.

I quit a long time ago, but I have nothing but sympathy for people who can't quit despite their best efforts. (And indifference towards people that don't want to quit, as long as they're courteous about what they're doing, going to designated areas, keeping smoke away from non-smokers, disposing butts thoughtfully, etc. I always tried to do these things when I had the habit.)

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Reply 19 of 30, by KT7AGuy

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SquallStrife wrote:

Even more powerful, perhaps, than the addictive chemical nicotine, is the social aspect.

Need a short break from work? Smoke break. Out drinking on a Friday night with your other smoker buddies? "Just one more aye". Stress or anxiety? Calming, familiar cigarette. I've had wonderful, deep conversations with friends, co-workers, and strangers alike which only started because we were both having a smoke break.

This is exactly what I was trying to describe, especially so in the military. All socializing was centered around cigarettes. Conversations in the smoke pit during breaks. Conversations and good times in the smoking TV & Movies room. Lunches and dinners at restaurants where we all smoked while we ate. If you didn't smoke, you generally didn't want to be around all the second-hand smoke, and so you were left out of much social activity. Although, I suppose the few non-smokers just hung out with each other or something. I did know several non-smokers who hung out with us anyway. They probably got just as much nicotine as we did from all the second-hand smoke.