How did you get addicted to smoking?

So, in light of all the "how to quit smoking" threads on forums everywhere sharing tips on how to quit, i've came up with this idea.. share stories on how you got hooked in the first place. So go..

Honestly cause the "cool" kids did it..I became one of the "cool" kids in 11th grade..So started smoking, drinking, dating the cheerleaders blah blah..It took me 10 years to kick the habit and I am so thankful I did...Smoking is not cool and I realized that very quickly but kicking the habit was very hard. Oh well past is past you grow up, learn and move on.

My older sister smoked. I thought it was cool. I started when I was like 12 just experimenting, than stopped, started seriously at 14-15 years old. Stopped at 17 and started smoking cigars, I still do. Wish I never started.

the stress relief it offered, because i was always doing badly and getting in shit in my old school. smoked for a few years, and soon before i left that school i decided i wanted to leave the smoking behind too. so i stopped smoking and drinking a couple months before i left. i got crap grade in my exams there and when i started my new college i decided i didn't want to do any of that, so i stayed out of trouble and worked hard.

when i stopped smoking weed i decided to change to cigs. big mistake

I've picked up a bad habit of social smoking.

Not addicted yet :\

i haven't started smoking because of my dad. he's a smoker and seeing him unable to quit is what kept me from ever starting. i smoked a few puffs in grade 8, didn't like it, then i smoke two cigarrettes in november 2006, got a buzz but i was disappointed that i did it. not going to touch the stuff.

I have smoked several times but it has never really appealed to me. It tastes horrible and you stink.

i can't even remember how anymore. I did quit over the summer, cold turkey. been strong since, until recently. Honestly, i really dislike smoking now that i have quit, it really bothers me that I can't take deep breaths and feel refreshed, I end up smelling like shit, and I get a horrible taste in my mouth that makes you want to spit... So i guess the reason I picked up again is because i've been irresponsibly drunk over the past 2 weeks and everyone I've been around smokes, so like Toksin, i've picked up a habit of social smoking (which, btw, IS an addiction...)

Started on hookah, slipped into cigs playing poker games.

I watched my nanny (grandmother) die from lung cancer in the 8th grade. Never tried smoking and never will. What I saw her go through I wish on NOBODY and I never want to go through that either.

to impress chicks when I was like 13-14yrs old.
Feb 21, it will be a year of smoke free :bloated:

It sucks worse then any drug I've kicked :shakehead
I smoked roughly 20 yrs, I do feel much healthier now
And I have more money! :D

But I think of it every minute of the day :(
I tried everything, cold turkey is how I finally beat it.

My father died from emphysema ,
but he also worked for "Raybestos" while he smoked 3-4 packs a day. :headshake

Started when i was 15, dont remember how. But its been going on for 8 years now and i toy with the idea of quitting when im not having a craving.

No willpower when it comes to teh smokes. :(

Hmm, "social smoking" describes my habit pretty well. I dont actually smoke or crave for a cigarette, but i smoke anyway when i'm out. I didnt start because of the image or feeling, just the thrill. The funny part is I cant stop.

I started smoking when I was around 15 or 16, dropped it for 3 years then took it up again, right before final exams at HS. Then smoked at uni where it seemed like everyone smoked. Then worked for a company where 4/5 people smoked. I went from a pack a day to a couple of smoked a week when I met my current gf about 2 years ago, and about a month and a half ago I finally gave up the social/occasional habit. :)

thats why i said "social smoking" is an addiction. people shouldn't kid themselves, its just denial talking when you say you can quit anytime. but you won't.

Hmm, "social smoking" describes my habit pretty well. I dont actually smoke or crave for a cigarette, but i smoke anyway when i'm out. I didnt start because of the image or feeling, just the thrill. The funny part is I cant stop.

Actually, "addiction" describes your habit pretty well. I used to think I was a social smoker too. I used to think I could quit whenever. HAH.

I was wrong.

But I think of it every minute of the day :(
I tried everything, cold turkey is how I finally beat it.



Sums it up pretty well.

I started smoking cigs when I was 17. I guess I did because my parents both smoked forever and then they quit for health reasons a few years before I started. The whole mindset was there and my oldest brother smoked. I saw how he smoked and drank and got the chicks so I had to be a Billy Badass too and do the same. It was tough actually getting my own cigarettes underage but when you're young you can bring yourself to do anything you really want to it seems. So anyway I smoked for about 12 years. I did quit for 6 months when I was 18-19 when I was dating this one girl. We broke up at the end of our 6 month anniversary date and I started smoking that night. Then I saw her later at a party smoking and that just verified how I was right to get back smoking and dropped her instead. Then years later I quit after graduating college but started back up when I started graduate school... haha. But after smoking for 12-13 years I vowed to quit when I was 30 years old. It's a tough addiction to break because you can easily mask the fact that it's killing you and do it anyway. But when I saw my 40 year old brother (the same one who I used to see smoking when I was a kid) start to have heart and other health related issues I quit cold turkey and have not smoked a cigarette in over 2 years. It was still tough even after seeing my brother laid up for health problems. But I did it and wish I had stopped 12 years earlier and maybe been a healthier person during my twenties...

momma told me not to so out of spite, I took hers and smoked em. That was back when I was like 11 or 12. I am now 27, just quit a few weeks ago. But not in my mind. I want one soooooo bad it is killin me. Every time I smell one I want it, I step into a store I wanna raid tha shelves....But at tha same time I smell it so strong in my home that too is killin me..It is nasty and gross. I ripped up my carpet tha other day to get tha smell out. uuuuuugggggggg dont start if you havent allready......

Started in the Army.

TS

I don't remember how I got addicted. One day I just began smoking and a year later I still was. I smoked for nearly three years I guess, but that's nearly five years ago that I quit. Never again.