Tobacco as a treat

[ChaosSix]

Since last month I have bought a pack of vanilla tobacco, rolling papers/Zig zags and OCB/,slim filters, a rolling machine.I seem to smoke only once a week, as a way to give myself , a "treat", and I don't want to get addicted to smoking.
I was wondering will smoking /about 2 cigarettes/ only once a week get me addicted? Sorry, I know the question is stupid.
My other idea of a "tobacco treat" is snuff, which somehow seems like a better option. What should I do?

[johnmrson]

Will it get you hooked? It depends. Tobacco effects different people in different ways. I used to smoke cigarettes but gave them up 5 years ago. I didn't smoke a great deal and giving up was pretty easy. I still treat myself to the occassional cigar. It's not a regular thing but when I feel like one I'll have one. Some months I'll have 4 or 5 and other months I'll have 1 or 2. I certainly don't class myself as hooked.

[Matt555]

Sorry buddy, but no one can answer this. All people are different and get addicted by different amounts. What I can tell you, is most people who end up becoming full on smokers start the very way you just described. I don't think anyone ever plans to become addicted to cigarettes, but it just kinda happens. Here is a cool thing you may not have known; nicotine is more chemically addictive than heroin. That sir, is just a fact........but hey, if you can keep it to 2 cigs a week, good for you!

[urr-lord]

just don't let the health nazzzs see you.or let your insurance company know.you may get hit with a large surcharge.

[wdwrx]

As a life-long smoker, all i can say is that "watch out... it's a slippery slope!"

[goby]

As a life-long smoker, all i can say is that "watch out... it's a slippery slope!"

I'll go further..... DON'T DO IT!!!!

Find a different way to treat yourself. BTW, snuff is addictive, but it is much, much, much healthier than cigarettes. I think I read that if all cigarette smokers started using snuff cancer would be reduced by 75%.

BTW, does it have to be a tobacco treat? Could it be a fine port or Scotch?

[Saltysteele]

by switching to snuff, you're just switching from lung ca to mouth ca. they add ground fiberglass to snuff to scratch the mucosal lining, to allow for better transfer of nicotine to the blood.

if i do any oral tobacco, i do redman loose leaf. still not the best, but.....

2 cigs a week won't addict you. but, then you go to a party and buy a pack of smokes. have some left after the party, so you smoke them until they're gone, because they'll get stale by next weekend. then, hey, it's tuesday, did something good, i'll buy a pack.. a year later, you're up to a pack a day. very slippery slope, and one you don't know you're sliding down, until you're near the bottom of the hill.

[BBrad]

As a life-long smoker, all i can say is that "watch out... it's a slippery slope!"


I'll go further..... DON'T DO IT!!!!

Find a different way to treat yourself. BTW, snuff is addictive, but it is much, much, much healthier than cigarettes. I think I read that if all cigarette smokers started using snuff cancer would be reduced by 75%.

BTW, does it have to be a tobacco treat? Could it be a fine port or Scotch?

I quit smoking (for the sixth time in my adult life) a year and a half ago. I had been smoking that time for eight years - a pack a day, every day. Prior to that startup, I had been off tobacco for five years.

Like anything, once addicted, one has to stay completely off the product to remain clean. I know that even now, if I were to light one up . . . just one . . . that I would be right back to a pack a day within days. Having "a smoke" during a personal crisis is what caused my relapse.

Yes, I still relish the aroma of a fine cigar or pipe. Every day I still have one or two times that I crave a smoke. The toughest thing I do daily is tell myself "NO".

The stuff is so addictive - please stop now while you still can.

As for me, I'm in my early 50s, and am now battling high blood pressure and the beginnings of COPD. I pray that my body can recover enough to allow me to grow old . . .

Please, please don't smoke.

[jwhite]

I can tell you from personal experience that cigarette smoking is highly addictive. I wouldn't wish anyone to start. But in my experience pipe and cigar smoking isn't nearly as much. I have no trouble leaving my pipes or cigars at home when I go on errands or to work. I NEVER left the house without cigarettes. They had to be close at hand at all times. Also my smokers cough went away within a couple of days after leaving cigs behind. Now I'm not going to pretend that Pipes are healthy, but neither is Prime Rib, or a good scotch. For me it is a quality of life issue. If you want to enjoy an occasional tobacco treat go that rout. There are quality cigars and pipe tobaccos that are vanilla BTW.

[Argonaut]

Just be like Bill Clinton and don't inhale, if you avoid taking it into your lungs I doubt you would get enough nicotine to become addictive, especially if it's only once or twice a week. As they say, use at your own risk.

[Aaron W.]

I started out like that 24 years ago and got up to 2-3 packs a day by the time I quit 2 years ago. Stick with a pipe or cigar and don't inhale those if you do its pretty rough. There is a post somewhere here about a guy quiting read that if you can find it.

[ratcheer]

As a life-long smoker, all i can say is that "watch out... it's a slippery slope!"

I had to work 12-hours per day 6 1/2 days per week during a labor disruption (strike) in 1983. I had been stopped smoking since 1973. But, everyone around me was smoking and it was getting to me. So, I decided to smoke again for just as long as the strike lasted.

The strike was over less than two weeks after I started smoking, again. But, I was hooked, again, and it took me about six months to completely kick it.

Tim

[bythbook]

why risk it?

don't do it.


just don't.


on the other hand, you're a big boy and you are your own man.... Who am I to be so directive?

[Jatte]

Once a week will probably turn into once every 6 days, then one every 5 days,

you'll hit a point where one a day will be the norm, then you'll slowly work to 3 a day, so a pack a week,

that will double, then double again, 4 packs a week is almost half a pack a day, and you will be very unahppy with yourself


If i was you, i'd do snuff, or snus :) check out my signature, we can show you the right way :)

btw, i 'm a 1-20 cigarette a day smoker, depending on the day and what i'm up to sometimes i barely smoke, sometimes i smoke almost a pack

slippery slipper slope :)

send me a pm if you want to know about snus :)

[Will P.C.]

People,and the news medias say its addictive for a reason. It changes the brain

[ChaosSix]

I am not going to buy anymore tobacco anyways. I was thinking of rolling cigarettes for friends because the prices of normal cigarettes have risen. I'm going to keep the snuff though , it seems to clear my nose and sinuses in a way that medicaments with camphor or menthol can't. I am having a different treat on different days . I smoke on Thursdays , and am now considering to just buy some chocolatey flavored cigars for future tobacco treats . My treat on most evenings is a nice drink . Today , I didn't smoke but enjoyed some Ballantines :thumbup1:

[ouch]

I wouldn't call crappy cigarette tobacco a "treat". If you want to treat yourself, get a proper cigar or some fine pipe tobacco.

[Not A Nice Person]

Inhaling smoke is bad in general, but most of the addictiveness of cigarettes comes from their engineered nicotine levels and chemical additives. Roll your own blends generally lack those.

Cigars aren't addictive, for the most part, but they do become a bit of a passion. :lol:

I might smoke anywhere from 5 cigars in a day, to 1-2 in a week, depending on what's going on in my life, but I've never, ever, had a "niccy fit" or shaky hands wanting one. Not like cigarettes at all.

NANP™

[TimmyBoston]

I don't understand why anyone would want to start smoking cigarettes as a treat. It's a terrible, terrible, terrible decision. :thumbdown

[kprincehouse]

Former smoker here. I quit recently after about ten years of smoking. I sincerely wish I had never started.

I've only known one person who was able to smoke only occasionally (and he pulled this off only with great difficulty, and only by never buying cigarettes himself but rather smoking only when hanging out with us smokers). I've known many more who got hooked and found it incredibly difficult to quit.

You'll do what you want to do, but if I could go back in time and make the decision over again, I would stay far, far away from ever having even one. I know you'll make your own decisions, but for what it's worth--in my opinion, throwing your new rolling machine in the trash and not looking back would be by far the best move you can make at this point.

[syzygy]

I come from a family of smokers and I am the only one who has never smoked. About 5 years ago I took up pipe smoking as a hobby and even though I have smoked as often as twice a week in the past (while in University) I have still never felt any feelings of addiction. I only smoke once a week and sometimes less and that's just fine with me. Once a week won't kill you, once an hour constitutes a problem.

[jwhite]

I am not going to buy anymore tobacco anyways. I was thinking of rolling cigarettes for friends because the prices of normal cigarettes have risen. I'm going to keep the snuff though , it seems to clear my nose and sinuses in a way that medicaments with camphor or menthol can't. I am having a different treat on different days . I smoke on Thursdays , and am now considering to just buy some chocolatey flavored cigars for future tobacco treats . My treat on most evenings is a nice drink . Today , I didn't smoke but enjoyed some Ballantines :thumbup1:

Good deal. The cigars are definitely the better choice.

[52tele]

I'd rather have a piece of dark chocolate. :thumbdown

[Monkeydad]

I'll go further..... DON'T DO IT!!!!

Find a different way to treat yourself. BTW, snuff is addictive, but it is much, much, much healthier than cigarettes. I think I read that if all cigarette smokers started using snuff cancer would be reduced by 75%.

BTW, does it have to be a tobacco treat? Could it be a fine port or Scotch?

Agreed completely. It's too risky to be a part-time smoker.

[bythbook]

...and for what it's worth: I smoked pipes for many years - and I was an addicted tobacco fiend for the pipe. Just as bad as for cigarettes.

Never smoked cigars, so I don't know about that, but if it's tobacco, it ain't good.


I've been quit (this time) for two years and four months (I had quit before for 10 years).

I know very well that if I smoked a single cigarette - or packed & smoked a bowl - I'd be full-blown in it again.

Just cuz I don't smoke doesn't mean I'm not addicted.

[ratcheer]

I've been quit (this time) for two years and four months (I had quit before for 10 years).

I know very well that if I smoked a single cigarette - or packed & smoked a bowl - I'd be full-blown in it again.

Just cuz I don't smoke doesn't mean I'm not addicted.

I agree. I quit smoking from 1973 until 1983. Then, I smoked for a few months in 1983. So, I have now been off smoking since early 1984.

I am now 58 years old. Every now and then, the question comes into my mind, I wonder how old I would have to be so that I could start smoking again and I would die of natural causes before the smoking killed me?

Tim

[bythbook]

I agree. I quit smoking from 1973 until 1983. Then, I smoked for a few months in 1983. So, I have now been off smoking since early 1984.

I am now 58 years old. Every now and then, the question comes into my mind, I wonder how old I would have to be so that I could start smoking again and I would die of natural causes before the smoking killed me?

Tim

isn't that something? you haven't smoked for 26 years and you're doing the calculations, still.

[JPM]

It probably depends on whether you have tendencies towards addictions. Some people can drink alcohol and walk away from it, some can't.

Although, I do think I read some where that nicotene is a very addictive substance. I suppose if you can keep it to the couple a week it's okay. If you find yourself wanting more, I'd quit.

[andrew98]

I smoked 10 years, and I've been quit for 3 now. Snuff, dip, and chew are almost as bad for your health as cigarettes. Dip is nasty stuff with all kinds of additives, and nicotine is indeed as addictive as heroin. Studies have shown that. Also, paying good money for someone to kill you with chemical-laden tobacco is crazy. Cigarettes are full of cadmium, arsenic, ammonia, benzene, and a host of other chemicals (http://quitsmoking.about.com/od/chemicalsinsmoke/a/chemicalshub.htm).

If I were going to start anything, I'd smoke a pipe once a week. It's my understanding that outside of flavorings, quality pipe tobaccos don't have quite as many dangerous chemicals. I can't see that rarely smoking a pipe would be terribly detrimental, as long as you didn't inhale.

-Andy

[Not A Nice Person]

My ex-brother in law, nice guy, quit smoking something like 10 years ago. He told me once that if he was ever in a plane and it was going down . . . he'd ask if anyone around him had a cigarette.

That's some serious addiction, lol. :001_unsur

I've quit cigs 14 years ago, with one pre-surgery relapse. But with smoking cigars instead, I never even consider them anymore. One is a luxury indulgence, the other an industrially engineered addiction delivery device.

Life is choices.

NANP™

[DarthFlader]

Snuff, dip, and chew are almost as bad for your health as cigarettes.



Wrong.

Smokeless tobacco is 98% safer than smoking, including a pipe. Snus is the safest tobacco out there, followed closely by nasal snuff. American chew and dip are not quite there yet on safety, but they're still much safer than even smoking a pipe once a week.

And whoever wrote that dip has fiberglass in it must be joking. I thought that myth died out years ago.

Proud member of the Snuff Haus. Stop on by if you need any more information on the health risks of smokeless tobacco, or come on by to Snuson.com or Snuscentral, or any other site devoted to truth in tobacco.

[ratcheer]

I like me some Levi Garrett loose leaf chewing tobacco. But, I don't chew anymore, either.

Tim

[andrew98]

Wrong.

Smokeless tobacco is 98% safer than smoking, including a pipe. Snus is the safest tobacco out there, followed closely by nasal snuff. American chew and dip are not quite there yet on safety, but they're still much safer than even smoking a pipe once a week.

And whoever wrote that dip has fiberglass in it must be joking. I thought that myth died out years ago.

Proud member of the Snuff Haus. Stop on by if you need any more information on the health risks of smokeless tobacco, or come on by to Snuson.com or Snuscentral, or any other site devoted to truth in tobacco.

I read the extensive writeup on Snus. I can see how that's a safer form of Tobacco. No way I'll ever believe dip and chew are safe for daily use. I've seen high school kids with receding gums and leukoplakia. No thanks.

-Andy

[Not The Original Kermit]

I started smoking as a teen because I thought I was cool. I managed to quit 6 years ago and it was a struggle.

When I met my wife, she was a pack a day smoker. (she quit the same time I did and we're still married and didn't manage to kill eachother) She told me she started smoking on weekends while at the clubs and never considered herself addicted or a smoker.
Before she knew it, it was every 3 days, then every 2 days and before she realized, she was up to a pack a day.

It sneaks up on you, my advice echoes others here, never start, I wish I never did. I read an article awhile back about how long it takes you to recover from the affects of cigarette smoke. something like 10 years after your last cigarette before your risk of cancer and stroke goes down to that of a non-smoker.

[DarthFlader]

I read the extensive writeup on Snus. I can see how that's a safer form of Tobacco. No way I'll ever believe dip and chew are safe for daily use. I've seen high school kids with receding gums and leukoplakia. No thanks.

-Andy

That's fine, but realize that your opinion isn't supported by 400 years of statistical evidence. Even the most TSNA-laden chew or dip is 50% less likely to give you any kind of oral cancer, compared to any type of combustible tobacco. I also find it odd that you've "seen" many high school kids with leukoplakia, as it's a very rare disease that effects less than 1% of the population, and the majority of that single percent are smokers between the ages of 40-60 who have smoked for longer than twenty years. Sorry if I'm calling your bluff, but I just don't believe you.

I too smoke the occasional pipe and cigar, but no way would I recommend them as a safer alternative to smokeless. Safer than cigarettes, yes, if we're talking lung cancer. But pipe smokers and cigar smokers share the threat of oral cancer right along with cigarette smokers. The threat looms less large with smokeless, and the threat doesn't exist at all with genuine Swedish snus.

There exists a common misconception that smokeless tobacco is just as (if not MORE) dangerous than smoking, and that is plainly and simply untrue. There's not a credible study on earth that will show any different.

I'm certainly not advocating that everybody run down to their local gas station and buy a big old bag of Red Man, but I would certainly recommend it to someone contemplating smoking, as it's a much, MUCH safer alternative.

It is estimated that if everyone in this country who smokes cigarettes switched to smokeless tobacco, tobacco related mortality would drop to 2% of what it currently is (other studies show the number to be closer to 5%). Either way, tobacco related mortality would be eliminated by anywhere between 95 % to 98 %. I like those numbers, and those are odds I can live with. Instead, the government (which sees mucho tax revenue from smoking tobacco compared to smokeless) would rather you die with a cigarette in your hand than to acknowledge smokeless as the safer choice.

We, as a country, could do what Sweden did and drive cigarettes away in favor of the safer alternative, but instead we embrace that time honoured notion that smokeless is not at all a harm reduction product.

Here is some further reading if anyone is so interested: http://www.tobaccoharmreduction.org/faq/healtheffectsofst.htm

Understand that I'm not here to pick a fight, but I find it unsettling that someone would recommend a more dangerous product while poo-pooing a safer alternative.

[chjome]

Sorry buddy, but no one can answer this. All people are different and get addicted by different amounts. What I can tell you, is most people who end up becoming full on smokers start the very way you just described. I don't think anyone ever plans to become addicted to cigarettes, but it just kinda happens. Here is a cool thing you may not have known; nicotine is more chemically addictive than heroin. That sir, is just a fact........but hey, if you can keep it to 2 cigs a week, good for you!

That's a myth; nicotine is only slightly more addicting than alcohol.

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/3599/drug20chart.gif

[plexibass]

There is no proof the op will get addicted. To many variables.

[hicksdm]

From what I can tell from the original post is that you are using pipe tobacco in your handrolls. I have done this for years but when I smoke I do not inhale, like a pipe or cigar. I can smoke 1-2 a day or go months without (I have done this on deployments). It is like everything else, moderation. I dont care if it is alcohol, tobacco, red meat, or whatever else society tells else is bad for you. If you enjoy it then it is entirely in your hands. I choose to smoke my hand rolls, not inhale, and enjoy it while I am smoking them. YMMV!

[arghblech]

That's a myth; nicotine is only slightly more addicting than alcohol.

Holy necro, Batman!

[Neuromancer]

If you really want to treat yourself, get into cigars, or pipes & pipe tobacco...you can start with a corncob pipe and a nice cool smoking aromatic tobacco for less than $20...

Check this (http://withpipeandcigar.blogspot.com) out...

[Jwolf24601]

I have been a casual user of tobacco for 12 years now. Never been addicted, sometimes go months between uses.

Depends a lot on the person I guess.

I'd say if it makes you happy then try it, if you start feeling like you "need" or even "really want" to smoke then stop, before it gets out of control.

[mboschm]

Be careful. Avoid inhaling, and be counscious of what you're doing. The slope is REALLY slippery. I was able to stop before I lost control, when I saw that my "weekly pipe" had become "tue-thu-fri" pipe.

[justinp]

Life is short, do what you want. This is the tobacco forum, not the good decisions forum.

That said, cigarettes are a bloody miserable ride compared to pipes, cigars, snus, and chew. If you're wanting something tobacco, see if you like snus; odds are very very high that the worst that happens as a result of a snus habit is needing to poo at an inconvenient time. Seriously, it's almost totally safe. Not quite, but to the point where most of the risk washes out with other lifestyle factors.

[drewmac]

Heres the thing, I smoke pipes and cigars very occasionally and I consider it to be like alcohol (or really anything else in life). There's an appropriate amount to everything. If you drink a six pack of beer everyday, like say a pack of cigs a day or three cigars, bad things will happen to you. I enjoy, at most, two cigars or pipes a month. Sometimes I go months without either. Now, I can't guarantee that I'll be free of tobacco related illness, but my risk is significantly lower than heavier smokers. Heck some bar patrons are subjected to more smoke (albeit secondhand) than I do.

[Psicko]

I would say not to smoke, but if you do I reccomend pipe smoking. I have been smoking a pipe since 2002 or so, I quit completely for a year or so and didnt think anything of it. I personally am not addicted, as I just went several days or so without a bowl and was just too busy and lazy to do so.

[justinp]

Though NB that it is possible (in fact easy) to become addicted to any tobacco product. How big of a deal an addiction is is a matter for you to decide on your own; I disliked (though never really hated, just would have preferred not to) being addicted to cigarettes, though quite liked being addicted to snus. I'm currently 'clean,' which I am approximately neutral on. The nice thing about addictions is that you're rarely bored...

[ImBrocks3]

by switching to snuff, you're just switching from lung ca to mouth ca. they add ground fiberglass to snuff to scratch the mucosal lining, to allow for better transfer of nicotine to the blood.

if i do any oral tobacco, i do redman loose leaf. still not the best, but.....

2 cigs a week won't addict you. but, then you go to a party and buy a pack of smokes. have some left after the party, so you smoke them until they're gone, because they'll get stale by next weekend. then, hey, it's tuesday, did something good, i'll buy a pack.. a year later, you're up to a pack a day. very slippery slope, and one you don't know you're sliding down, until you're near the bottom of the hill.

This sums it up for me... very tough addiction and its the "treats" that got me hooked. I am using a Volcano Inferno e-cig now and it really helps with my cravings.

[life2short1971]

I have not been without cigarettes in my pocket at all for more than a couple hours since before my teens. Don't start! PLEASE!