A question for the smokers out there..

[Michael Gibbons]

I was wondering what is the highest price you would pay for a pack of cigs before you say it's too high and quit smoking? $7, $10, $15?? Just wondering.

[Jim King]

The highest price I paid was a heart attack and a couple of strokes.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I quit when my first child was born.

The things I didn't know~!! I thought my body could "heal" from what nicotine did. I was one of those who thought that if you smoked young it was OK 'cause you'd heal.

Little did I know that I was merely giving cancer an early foothold. The oddest thing about nicotine is that it binds specifically to certain cellular components sending them a molecular signal that they should not die. This, in spite of doing those same cells such damage that normally they'd die off and get replaced. So cells that should be replaced don't die but they are damaged and that damage leads to mutations in cellular replication.

Because of the nicotine there are vastly greater number of cells that replicate and mutate. This one set of facts raises dramatically the chance that one of them mutations will "take" become viable, and be able to eat, and replicate. That is a cancer.


Interestingly only nicotine is known to do this. Marijuana does not. The smoke can harm or kill cells but, there is no inhibitor to the cellular death so when you hurt 'em bad enough they die and are replaced before they can mutate.

[David G Baker]

I quit before I paid the price that Jim King paid but my asthma prescriptions are costing more than cigarettes currently cost. The price is still hanging over my head and will probably do so for as long as I live.

[Greg Cole]

$0.00..... one of the parents smoked while I was a kid & I HATED IT. Eventually the 3 kids beat Mom into submission & got her to quit.
I'm amazed with the 3 guys I work with who do smoke and what the pay for them, or when they travel for work they bring cartons with them, cause the prices of a pack at the destination is "too much".

Cliff,
You are a fountain of information.... as always.

Greg

[Jason Beam]

Before I quit (after 13 years) in 2004 (on valentines day), it was after several "when the price hits..." promises. I'd said when they go over $2 i'd drop 'em - that was in '96. Then I when cartons were over $30 I'd quit - that was in '01. Then I said when they're over $3 a pack they'd be out .. that was '02.

I finally quit, but it had nothing to do with money (addiction rarely does, by the way). This girl I'd come to fancy flat out said "I will not live with a smoker." And that started it for me.

For a few months after that proclaimation, I started focusing on all the crap I didn't like about smoking. I thoroughly enjoyed the act of smoking - love the sensation of inhaling the smoke - it was a great feeling. I knew I'd have to fight my mind, not the butt. I hated the taste left in my mouth after a cig. I hated that I had to go outside most of the time. I hated having to keep carrying the dang things (and a lighter) around with me - not enough pockets. But most of all, I hated being OUT of them. I hated what being out of cigs turned me into. That put me over the edge. I don't like being controlled like that, and I realized it was my own doing. I had to decide, to my CORE, that I flat out DON'T do that anymore.

Once that psycology was in place, I asked my doctor for the pill and two weeks later I threw away the last half pack I had left and haven't looked back since. Every urge that came along was answered with "That's not who I am." It was WAY easier than I thought it would be. I'd made my mind up, TO THE CORE. Comin up on 4 years now!

Don't try to apply logic to a smoker's habit. There isn't any. No matter what you tell them, it won't help. People flat out need to make up their minds, through and through, that they're not smoking anymore. It's rarely about money. And it's very rarely about the possibility of health issues, sometimes not even the REALITY of health issues.


EDIT: Oh, and that girl I'd liked back in '04 - we celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary on the 3rd of this month.

[Jim O'Dell]

I'm like Greg. My Dad smoked up until I was 5 years old and quit when he was paying 35 cents a pack because of the price! And he ws shipping them in across state lines to get that price, by the case. He and one of his emploees smoked the same thing and would split a case. Dad was smoking 4 packs a day at that time, quit cold turkey. He's 78 now, and no problems with his lungs. Jim.

[Steven Wilson]

Paying it now, one heart attack, two stents, one EP study and some other things. I gave up when my kids were born. Sure don't want them to emulate daddy by smoking. Hopefully I'll live long enough to see them grow up.

[Paul Brinkmeyer]

It was the burns from the "paddles" when they brought me back that did me in. Hurt for 3 months.

[Steven Wilson]

Paul, aren't those "paddles" fun? I had a little "Afib" episode while fly fishing and had to get myself to an emergency room an hour away (fun climbing up a hill when your heart isn't pumping too effectively). Anyhow, they stabilized me with some drugs and let me go (still in "afib") so that I could drive the 8 hours back home. Next day I check into the Emergency room (they were expecting me) they send me up to the Cardiac Critical Care Unit and my doc comes by to give me the "shock". They setup the paddles, and then the doc wrapped his hands in towels and pressed down hard on my chest when he did the shock. Doing so keeps the burning down and you only have some muscle soreness for a few days.

[Bruce Page]

The wife & I quite one year and two weeks ago. I figure we have saved about $2800.00 so far.

[Paul Brinkmeyer]

When my attack came, I knew what it was right away, so I had a couple of cig's before I let my wife know. And I had another on the way to ER. I KNEW they would make me quit smoking. I was on the table when I "left". almost exactly 60 min after it started. It was a nurse who paddled me. She stopped by and apologized for the burns, guess they were in a hurry so no prep time for this, thus the burns. Never smoked after that.

[Roy Hatch]

Bumper Sticker:

Have a Heart Attack - Quit Smoking

A doctor explained to me that only 10% of smokers will die of lung cancer. It's because there are other consequences of smoking that will get you first.

In Korea, cigarettes were included in our rations and if that wasn't enough, the PX (when there was one) sold them for $1 a carton. I quit anyway.

[Tim Morton]

when my father had his heart attack and we had to rush him to the hospital ...i remember what I thought was him struggling to get into the car....in fact he was struggling to get a pack out of his coat pocket....the man could not walk or talk....but he still wanted a cigarette... and my mom after being diagnosed a few years later with lung cancer still had problems quitting.

[Bruce Page]

when my father had his heart attack and we had to rush him to the hospital ...i remember what I thought was him struggling to get into the car....in fact he was struggling to get a pack out of his coat pocket....the man could not walk or talk....but he still wanted a cigarette... and my mom after being diagnosed a few years later with lung cancer still had problems quitting.

Quitting was one of the hardest things that I have ever done. They say it's harder than quitting heroin.
And here's the rub; if a doctor told me "Bruce, you were tool late, you only have 6 months to live" I'd probably buy a pack on the way home...