Do you smoke cigarettes/Cigars.

[Dylan]

That is true, and that's why I don't smoke tobacco. Too much health risk for too little gain.

But, I don't judge. I see smokers throwing away years of their life on tobacco. They might see me throwing away the best years of my life playing video games. To each his own.

What I never figured out is how someone gets started in the first place. As I understand it the experience isn't too pleasant the first time.

Truthfully, I've always viewed smoking as something people end up doing either because of peer pressure or someone in their family doing it. This means that even though the first time is unpleasant, they keep at it until they are used to it because it just seems like the normal thing to do

I always thought smoking was more of an image thing. There is (or at least was, I'm not entirely sure) something cool about smoking (advances in our understanding of its effects have scaled this back, I assume). I more wonder about how it began in the first place, perhaps just a way to demonstrate social class and wealth.

[gtmtnbiker]

but I have always found it annoying that smokers usually get a pass for taking lots of breaks all day.

One should be measuring someone by their productivity and their pay level.

Example:

Joe is a smoker who takes a 15 minute break every 45 minutes but produces 120 widgets/hour for $20/hour. Steve is a non-smoker who doesn't take a break but produces 80 widgets for the same wage, $20/hour. Who would you rather keep?

Joe: 8 hours: (8 * 120 * 3/4 = 720 widgets)
Steve: 8 hours: (8 * 80 * 1 = 640 widgets)

So even though Joe takes frequent breaks, he outproduces Steve.

In my industry (software), people are judged by their output and their ability to meet deadlines, etc.

[gtmtnbiker]

I always thought smoking was more of an image thing. There is (or at least was, I'm not entirely sure) something cool about smoking (advances in our understanding of its effects have scaled this back, I assume). I more wonder about how it began in the first place, perhaps just a way to demonstrate social class and wealth.

Are there any studies that correlate smoking with income level? I have to believe that there's a higher percentage of smokers in the lower income levels than middle/upper. Same goes for eating fast food & buying lottery tickets.

EDIT: grammar typo

[Gamerforlife]

but I have always found it annoying that smokers usually get a pass for taking lots of breaks all day.

One should be measuring someone by their productivity and their pay level.

Example:

Joe is a smoker who takes a 15 minute break every 45 minutes but produces 120 widgets/hour for $20/hour. Steve is a non-smoker who doesn't take a break but produces 80 widgets for the same wage, $20/hour. Who would you rather keep?

Joe: 8 hours: (8 * 120 * 3/4 = 720 widgets)
Steve: 8 hours: (8 * 80 * 1 = 640 widgets)

So even though Joe takes frequent breaks, he outproduces Steve.

In my industry (software), people are judged by their output and their ability to meet deadlines, etc.

Wish where I worked was like that, I get hassled a lot for taking a lot of breaks. This is due to me having stomache problems, which I think are due in part to the stress of my job. However, there's maybe two or three people on my team who put out as much work as I do out of a team of roughly twenty people. So it annoys me when I get told I'm taking too many breaks. Thankfully, I do get recognized for my high productivity, but it's still annoying to hear, "could you not leave your desk so much". Who cares? I'm getting more work done than the other slackers when I AM at my desk

I'm the sort of the person, if you can get the job done, that's all I care about. That's my way of thinking

[Dylan]

I always thought smoking was more of an image thing. There is (or at least was, I'm not entirely sure) something cool about smoking (advances in our understanding of its effects have scaled this back, I assume). I more wonder about how it began in the first place, perhaps just a way to demonstrate social class and wealth.

Is there any studies that correlate smoking with income level? I have to believe that there's a higher percentage of smokers in the lower income levels than middle/upper. Same goes for eating fast food & buying lottery tickets.

Sorry, I meant way back at smoking's origin.

[Arbitern1]

I dont smoke. Smoking stuff costs alot of money. Money I would rather spend on games, DVDs, and other stuff

Yeah, smoking anything is expensive. People always talk about how expensive cigs are, but I've always imagined cigarette smokers that also smoke pot every day and how much money they're spending on the two habits.

I'm a regular on both...and where I live it comes to something like:

$4.50 a day for cigs (Newport 100's), I smoke a pack to a pack and a half a day.
$25 a week for pot.

You can do the math. I don't smoke as much pot anymore, what I smoke in a week used to last me a day and a half or so. But back then I didn't have anything else to do. Now-a-days my friends probably smoke more of what I buy than I do.

The cigs have gone up a lot since I started smoking. Back when I started I was paying $1.50 or so for USA Golds, and $2.25 a pack for Newports. I live in tobacco country so I don't have to pay as much as people in NYC do...but it is still a lot more expensive than it used to be.

Depending on where you go where i live you can get a pack of Camels for 4$ but it is still too expensive. As for kids my age and why they do it? I don't know it's stupid. I do but i shouldn't. I just grew up with the stuff and have smoked a pack about every 2 days since i was 13 -_-.

[hashiriya1]

Seven Stars here

[EllertMichael]

Can anyone recommend some good pipe tobacco?

[D.D.D.]

Seven Stars here

Isn't that a JP brand? I think I know someone who smokes those.

[Luke]

Most girls don't enjoy sex the first time either. Guys do, but they're doing it wrong anyway.

You have revealed way too much about yourself in that post.

That I didn't know how to have sex the first time around? Hell, the world can live with that knowledge. I probably still don't know to this day.

And I very rarely use emoticons.