Do you have a workshop just so you can smoke?

[David Cramer]

I don't know if it makes me very smart or very lucky, but I am now in my upper 30's and have never smoked a day in my life, nor have I been drunk or taken drugs of any sorts. You'd never know it to look at me, but it's true. Like most guys, I get offered beer every time I meet someone for the first time and I always get a strange stare that is many times combined with a comment like "you don't drink"? To each his own and yes, I know that I'm in the minority.

I'd rather put the little bit of money I have towards something woodworking related. Does the fact that I've never smoked make me better or smarter than anyone else, heck no! I just made different choices, personal choices that I felt were better for me.

As human beings, we are all built differently and think differently. I have family members who are what many would call addicted, and believe me, they don't want to smoke and have tried many, many times to stop. I am not stupid, nor am I Einstein, but without ever having smoked, I am smart enough to know that it must be very, very difficult to stop smoking or they would've stopped years ago. They know it's bad for them, but as much as they try, they just cannot quit.

Also, like Mr. McCormick, I have someone very close to me that is in extremely poor health due specifically to smoking. If she could turn back time.......................well, you know.

I don't know about being blessed because to me it's just a personal decision that I made when offered a cigarette many, many years ago. If you're trying to quit, keep at it and good luck. It's gotta be a very,very hard thing to do, but also very rewarding when you succeed.

David

p.s. Mr. McCormick, I know it must be an extremely tough time for you and I sincerely hope everything turns out well for you and your wife and that her surgery is a success. David Cramer wishes her well & hopes she comes out of it in good shape. She's in my prayers.

[Chris Gombola]

I think when people make the point that cigar smoking is less harmful, they are assuming that the average cigar smoker smokes far fewer cigars than addicted cigarette smokers. I smoke cigars occasionally with a few of my friends. Maybe 3-4 a month in the summer, almost nothing in the winter. I'm not addicted, I don't inhale. I simply enjoy the aroma and relaxation. It's this type of casual smoking that is less harmful than someone who is addicted to nicotine and putting leaf to lips once or several times a day.

I've talked to a doctor who said that if you had to smoke anything, cigars at least are relaxing to a lot of people and can lower blood pressure!

Inhaling isn't a prerequisite to the inherent danger of tobacco use since it's not just about lung cancer. That said, it's a decision you need to make for yourself.

I have never smoked in my nearly 52 years of life. Thinking logically, I'm not sure that a woodworking shop is the best place to smoke if you do smoke. Where there is an open flame or ember, there is always increased danger that it might come in contact with materials you might not intend, merely by having a lit cigarette, cigar or pipe in the workshop environment. It's the nature of the beast. And unless you are an unusually fastidious person, there is likely a much higher volume of significantly flammable materials in your shop that might immediately come in contact with that material should you drop the smoke or even just an ash that includes smoldering material. But again, you have to make the decision for yourself.

[James Stokes]

I smoke and know it is bad for me. It is hard to quit. My father never smoked a day in his life and died from cancer. One sister who also has never smoked has been fighting cancer for about 5 years now. I have one other friend who has never smoked and is now fighting prostate cancer.
Every one dies from some thing. I do agree with smoking you are more likely to get cancer but my mother is 92 and has smoked all of her life, she is in great health go figure.

[Dave Falkenstein]

AFAIK smoking is a factor in lung cancer, not prostate cancer or many other forms of cancer. Lots of people that don't smoke get cancer. A bigger percentage of people that do smoke get cancer. Not everyone gets cancer. Not everyone that smokes gets cancer. You chances are improved if you do not smoke - period.

My Mother smoked for most of her adult life. She had severe emphysema by the time she was 60. She lived to about 75, but could not walk across a room without getting winded. Your Mother is lucky. My Mother was a more typical example of the unhealthy results from smoking. Trying to rationalize smoking makes about as much sense as trying to rationalize anything that everyone knows is bad for you.

I smoked as many as three packs a day when I was young. One day I said, "I'm quitting", and I did. It's a matter of REALLY committing yourself to not being a smoker, at least in my own experience. Good luck quitting the next time you try. Go for it - your loved ones will be happier.

[Don Bullock]

I've never been banned from the house for smoking (don't smoke), but SWMBO won't let me eat sardines in the house. Years ago i used to eat them out on the patio. In recent years have kicked the habit.

[Jim Becker]

Don, it could be dangerous to eat sardines in your shop....be careful...

Now my brother at one time used to eat peanut butter and sardine sandwiches. Deadly for sure, but somehow he survived to father six kids...oy!

[Karl Brogger]

This thread cracks me up.

As a person that has two parents that were killed by cancer, and probably from smoking. Tobacco use is one of the greatest of all human inventions. Can you even fathom how our severly over populated planet would be over populated if it wasn't used? Granted many die after they have reproduced, but it still has to cut down on the herd pretty well.

I don't smoke, but I chew. If I had to give up my pulse, or chew, it'd be a tough call.

[eric auer]

My father in law passed from throatcancer at 62, Life long Cigar man, by the time they operated on him it was all over the place, he had a long shot with Chemo but it didnt work.

My daughters (10year old) best friend since daycare lost her father, 50 years young this year, 4 kids from 10 to 15 (1 set of twins).
Cigars only, lung and throat Cancer.

Sure it coulda happened without smoking at all, but I kicked my 3 packs a day habit when my daughter was born, I see no reason for her to grow up without a Dad just because I cant be bothered to Quit.

Looking at her everyday, I realize what an easy choice it really was.

Eric

[Clifford Mescher]

I smoked alot when I was young. Quit many years ago. It still smells good. Don't like people preaching. Period. If someone wants to quit, they will. If they don't want to quit. Leave them alone.
I hear the crusader's next quest are the overweight people. Who will they go after next? Clifford

[Glen Blanchard]

My Dad smoked 3+ packs of cigarettes each day. He started smoking at age 14 and passed away (heart disease) 10 years ago at age 73. Even a quadruple cardiac bypass in his late 50's did not slow him down. I still remember him getting up every morning and having a coughing "fit" for 10 or 15 minutes. Yuck !!

As for me? I am proud to say that I have never even had a drag!!

[Scott Myers]

I'm glad we live in a free country where one can smoke... or not. I think tobacco users/smokers all know the risk and they should be free to take it.

I only get a little cranky about smoking when smokers don't think about non-smokers when they smoke. I live in Ohio where the public smoking law is in effect. My particular pet peeve is when smokers go outside to have their cig and they stand near and on the upwind side of the door. So it blows back in or you have to pass through it walking in or out. It is just not thinking about others. I have a fairly sensitive upper respiritory and happen to also be quite allergic to tobacco smoke. I get pretty ill for about a day when I am exposed to cigarette smoke for 10 minutes or so. I believe I got that way from being raised in a house of chain smokers. (My mom smoked 3-4 packs a day for many years before she quit cold turkey. She is still alive and well, as she hasn't smoked now for more than 25 years.)

[Dave Falkenstein]

...Don't like people preaching. Period....

I suppose preaching about not smoking is something like preaching about not preaching.

[Clifford Mescher]

AFAIK smoking is a factor in lung cancer, not prostate cancer or many other forms of cancer. Lots of people that don't smoke get cancer. A bigger percentage of people that do smoke get cancer. Not everyone gets cancer. Not everyone that smokes gets cancer. You chances are improved if you do not smoke - period.

My Mother smoked for most of her adult life. She had severe emphysema by the time she was 60. She lived to about 75, but could not walk across a room without getting winded. Your Mother is lucky. My Mother was a more typical example of the unhealthy results from smoking. Trying to rationalize smoking makes about as much sense as trying to rationalize anything that everyone knows is bad for you.

I smoked as many as three packs a day when I was young. One day I said, "I'm quitting", and I did. It's a matter of REALLY committing yourself to not being a smoker, at least in my own experience. Good luck quitting the next time you try. Go for it - your loved ones will be happier.

Interesting Clifford

[Neal Clayton]

as for quitting, like mark twain i've quit lots of times .

actually had a harder time trying to quit caffeine, going cold turkey on that is physical torture. can't sleep yet tired, constant headaches, no energy yet restless. and when you finally buckle and go get that first coke or cup of coffee after a day or two, it's like liquid cocaine going down your throat.

[Jason White]

After all, sometimes a smoke is just a smoke.....

I suppose preaching about not smoking is something like preaching about not preaching.