The Smoking Thread

Smoking was news the other day, but it's normally not, so I am creating this thread.

The purpose of this thread is for the discussion of anything that can be smoked (other than food) and your experiences with smoking.

Here's my history with smoking:

Age 12: A childhood friend and I were hanging out at the apartment of someone who was more a friend of his. This kid lived with his grandmother. The grandmother smoked a brand of cigarette called, "More," which can still be found today and are truly excellent cigarettes, albeit pricey.

This would have been just before my 13th birthday. I guess the friend of my friend smoked regularly, so there was no real, "Peer pressure," he asked if we wanted to try smoking---which we both wanted to do.

I enjoyed smoking immediately. I've, "Quit," a few times in my life, (it's only really quitting if you never do it again) but for the most part never looked back.

Ages 13-15: I lived in that same area of a few small towns during these years.

There was a convenient store in the town next to mine from which I could sometimes buy cigarettes, depending on who was working. When it was the wrong person, I'd buy a bag of potato chips for $1, then I'd go return the chips I had purchased to the shelf and palm out a pack of unfiltered Dorals, which were $0.99 at this time. The reason for the unfiltered was because I could hide them in my palm without going to my pocket. I didn't want to get nailed for stealing cigarettes that I wasn't really stealing.

After that, I discovered that the gas station in my town would sell them to me. The guy said that he didn't care, but I could only come up when there were no cars (there was a lockbox outside with the smokes). He said if I walked up when there were cars, then he would never sell them to me again. Even when that guy left, I'd been there enough times that the other guys must have figured I was an adult, because I never had a problem.

The best part was I could go up even when cars where there with the other guys!

Ages 15-17: We moved, but it wasn't a problem. I got a paper route almost immediately and had a few stops at local bars who would get one, or more, papers. They'd basically just turn a blind eye to me using the cigarette machine. One female bartender would literally have me nod at her so she could turn her back. I gave her a $20 tip on a Pepsi one Christmas...I got a lot of tips around then anyway.

When not in that town, I didn't have much of a problem. That tended to happen back then when you're over six feet tall. If I couldn't get them at one place, then I'd usually get them by the second place without being carded and always by the third. Different times.

I get carded at a higher rate now than I did then. Mid-late thirties with a full beard. Best I could do then was a goatee of questionable quality...usually just a mustache.

Age 17: The only time that I ever had trouble was two weeks, or so, before my 18th birthday. I was living in a different town, again, and there was a massive crackdown in that county as well as the county I used to live in where they sent in underage folks (who got to choose between that and going to juvie, I guess) and almost every location sold underage to at least one of them.

I guess I could have asked my mom, but I'd have felt bad. She knew I smoked a cigar from time-to-time, even bought them for me if I gave her the money, but she had deniability when it came to me smoking cigarettes. She's a smoker, of course. I was probably eighteen for a few months before I started smoking cigarettes in front of her.

Had to get my friend to buy me a carton. First time I'd ever bought an entire carton. He bought the carton for me as he was eighteen, I reimbursed him and then we went to the bar whereupon I bought him a couple drinks.

I guess that particular crackdown didn't care about alcohol.

Saw my mother's sister decline and die from smoking related illnesses over 15 years or so. She had one of those lung testers you blow to measure lung capacity. I could blow more air just from my mouth than she could from her whole lungs. That and a nonsmoking family ensured I never started.

When I was a cashier I never carded. We were not trained to card and they did not seem to take it too serious. Sold to little kids buying for their parents once or twice.

I stocked the smokes for about 8 months. I could nail an order exact. I would intentionally miss sometimes to get rid of the hard packs which never sold well, people thought you got 1-2 less drags. Brand loyalty to this day amazes me. Don Draper was right when he said the whole business was about getting new smokers, not conquest customers because people never switch brands.

Instead of teaching kids how bad smoking is we should tell them how much money you will waste. When I stocked them a carton was lets round it to $13. A carton a week thus round again to $600. That was 1988. Would be around $1400 today. back then a carton a week was a light smoker, 2 packs a day was common. You are talking a good part of someone's retirement savings.

Getting Caught, Kind Of!

There were three occasions during which I was a minor and was almost caught at school for tobacco products. You'll note that I did not say, with.

Middle School

It was pretty well-known at Middle School that I was the hookup guy. You could get them for $1 per smoke, or $10 if you wanted a pack. Packs must be ordered and paid for at least two days in advance. Cigarettes are only available in Marlboro Red (didn't want my gas station hookup to quit selling to me).

Anyway, this was all about a quarter-mile from the school. If you were a walker, you knew where to find me. Don't know how the bus kids left and came to find me, which sometimes happened, but that's not my lookout.

I never took the cigarettes onto school grounds, is this point. I suggested to others that they not do it, either. I told them that, if they got caught, then there would be no reason to roll on me because I'd be clean anyway.

One kid rolled on me. School staff ambushed me! Came into class and made me empty my pockets and pull them out on the spot! "Take off your shoes! Untuck your shirt and shake it! Pull your pants above the tops of your socks!"

Nothing, nothing and nothing.

After that, they took me to my locker and went through that after I removed the padlock. Whole lot of nothing. Nobody home. The rules are the rules. Back then, schools didn't think what you did outside of school was their business, so as far as they were concerned, they had nothing on me.

Being an A student also helped. They didn't even tell my mother.

Didn't sell at that High School or really any other (except to close friends) after that. No money at the high school, too much competition, not worth getting caught. Also, I'd basically have to take them on school grounds---which is something I never did.

Second High School

This was great because I still never took smokes to school and only ever sold them to one good friend of mine---which took place outside of school.

For whatever reason, some senior believed that I didn't smoke because of my grades and thought that I couldn't smoke without coughing. Anyway, we went to the bathroom to smoke.

We took a few hits and he said, "I guess you do smoke." He asked if I wanted to go ahead and, "Kill it," which I did, then he left.

A teacher came in shortly after and saw the smoke wafting up, but did not see me smoking. I came out of the stall and he said, "Okay, you're with me, (last name)."

We went to the principal's office and my end of the conversation went like this:

Mission: Look, I smoke, I'm not even going to lie. (Nodding to the deputy whose girlfriend lived on my paper route) You've seen me smoke on my paper route, but I never bring cigarettes to school. You can search me and my locker and I guarantee you'll not even find so much as a match. What happened was I walked into the stall and there was a still burning cigarette on the floor, so I threw it in the toilet and flushed it. I didn't switch stalls because the smell of smoke doesn't bother me because, as I said, I do smoke.

They didn't even search my locker! I must have sounded confident. They wouldn't have found anything. The school bus stop was within 500 feet of my house and, unlike some other people, I can go several hours without smoking.

Third High School

I did get caught at the third High School, but that was weird. Everyone walked around with packs and cans clearly showing in their pockets at that school.

Anyway, my girlfriend at the time had asthma...and she was in her mid-twenties, so I didn't want to screw that up. I found her pretty attractive. I quit smoking while I was dating her, for the most part.

I either chewed chaw or dipped Renegade pouches. Anyway, I had a can of Renegade pouches outlining my pocket, but the teacher just yelled at me to go put them in my car and not bring them in the building again. If I hadn't driven that day, he said he'd have just taken my can and made me come back for it at the end of the day.

Different times.

High School. One idiot was dropping out of high school. Decides to be "that guy" and walked in the office to sigh out smoking a cigarette. There was a major/minor policy on smoking where you got 5 days suspension if caught but 10 days if they deemed it "blatant" which this would be the most blatant possible. He had to finish the suspension before he could check out. Buddy of mine saw it didn't know he was dropping out, I didn't see it knew he was. And that is how everyone knows what happens around the neighborhood.

Quote: AZDuffman

Saw my mother's sister decline and die from smoking related illnesses over 15 years or so. She had one of those lung testers you blow to measure lung capacity. I could blow more air just from my mouth than she could from her whole lungs. That and a nonsmoking family ensured I never started.

God willing, that'll be me one day. Actually, my lung capacity is pretty good, as long as I'm not going uphill. On level land, I can run basically as long as anyone else my age who is not a health nut.

Wizard even bet me I couldn't run up an escalator once...I think this was at The Plaza. I won the bet.

Quote:

When I was a cashier I never carded. We were not trained to card and they did not seem to take it too serious. Sold to little kids buying for their parents once or twice.

Much different times! Maybe the one cashier who sold them to me at the convenience store thought they were for my Mom? You know, I never thought of that. Good thing he never asked her about it, assuming he knew her at all.

Quote:

I stocked the smokes for about 8 months. I could nail an order exact. I would intentionally miss sometimes to get rid of the hard packs which never sold well, people thought you got 1-2 less drags. Brand loyalty to this day amazes me. Don Draper was right when he said the whole business was about getting new smokers, not conquest customers because people never switch brands.

Nice! The big irony is that we had an area of the grocery store called, "The Smoke Shop," and I covered breaks in there before getting moved in there full-time when I turned eighteen. This has to do with those two weeks before my 18th birthday. I had to call in someone from the office if beer came in, or give them the tobacco products and direct them to a register with someone 18+ to go to instead.

Anyway, I was selling the very smokes that, all of a sudden, I couldn't buy anymore!

You're right on the last part, so was Don Draper! I'm the only cigarette smoker I've ever known who is NOT brand loyal. I get different ones every time and alternate smoking a menthol cigarette and a non-menthol. I also try anything new full-flavored or full-flavored menthol as it comes out.

Filtered Lucky Strikes are one of the worst cigarettes I've ever had. There are only two brands of cigarettes for which I could not finish the pack in my entire life...and those were almost the third.

Quote:

Instead of teaching kids how bad smoking is we should tell them how much money you will waste. When I stocked them a carton was lets round it to $13. A carton a week thus round again to $600. That was 1988. Would be around $1400 today. back then a carton a week was a light smoker, 2 packs a day was common. You are talking a good part of someone's retirement savings.

I smoke exactly eight cigarettes every day as long as I wake up when I intend to. I often wake up before that, so on those days, nine or ten.

I do remember the Dorals being $0.99 circa 1996-1997 at the convenient store. They were the only ones not kept behind the counter.

Quote: AZDuffman

High School. One idiot was dropping out of high school. Decides to be "that guy" and walked in the office to sigh out smoking a cigarette. There was a major/minor policy on smoking where you got 5 days suspension if caught but 10 days if they deemed it "blatant" which this would be the most blatant possible. He had to finish the suspension before he could check out. Buddy of mine saw it didn't know he was dropping out, I didn't see it knew he was. And that is how everyone knows what happens around the neighborhood.

That sounds about right. Carrying an A average has its benefits with Administration, that's for sure. I got In-School Suspension and after-school detention on many occasions, but that was always for mouthing off. I showed up. Doubt if the principals even really knew about it.

My Mom had a rule on that, "As long as you are maintaining an A average, the teacher was in the wrong AND what you said was funny."

Quote: Mission146

Much different times! Maybe the one cashier who sold them to me at the convenience store thought they were for my Mom? You know, I never thought of that. Good thing he never asked her about it, assuming he knew her at all.

In these cases the kids bought cartons. 10 year olds do not buy cartons for their own use. We only sold packs from a machine. Even in the late 1980s the stores had a more "don't turn away business" attitude towards smoke sales. Seriously I was NOT ONCE trained to ask for ID or to spot a fake ID. Today you have to be 21, saw a kid in the store on NYD or day after this year, got carded but was not 21 so they said, "sorry, Charlie." He was upset.

Quote: AZDuffman

In these cases the kids bought cartons. 10 year olds do not buy cartons for their own use. We only sold packs from a machine. Even in the late 1980s the stores had a more "don't turn away business" attitude towards smoke sales. Seriously I was NOT ONCE trained to ask for ID or to spot a fake ID. Today you have to be 21, saw a kid in the store on NYD or day after this year, got carded but was not 21 so they said, "sorry, Charlie." He was upset.

I'd be irate!!!

Imagine if you'd been smoking since the age of...let's go 12...you finally turn 18 and think you're set for buying tobacco for life...

BAM!!!

Now it's 21, and more people are carding.

When I went to Hi school, admin figured it was more important for the kids to graduate than kick them out for smoking. So they set up an outdoor smoking area where both students and teachers would congregate between classes and smoke.