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Just because I didn't know this about cigarettes. (Original Post) Skidmore Jun 2014 OP
I've been telling my patients who smoke about this for years. Aristus Jun 2014 #1
It's this information that finally gave me the determination to quit 16 years ago Shampoobra Jun 2014 #21
I am an unapoligetic smoker tech3149 Jun 2014 #33
KnR Hekate Jun 2014 #2
"American-style cigarettes." Damn, we even have to make harmful things more harmful at home :( arcane1 Jun 2014 #3
Yup, other countries have laws. We call that "Big Government" here. Spitfire of ATJ Jun 2014 #10
When I smoked, I used to smoke menthol cigarettes. I guess this explains why. nt raccoon Jun 2014 #4
Me too... truebrit71 Jun 2014 #8
k/r Dawson Leery Jun 2014 #5
Phillip Morris was forced to admit this in 1998 or so. dixiegrrrrl Jun 2014 #6
I have never been a smoker so I didn't track on this Skidmore Jun 2014 #12
And then only after extensive litigation made them give up their "trade secrets" gratuitous Jun 2014 #15
Although for obvious reasons I don't blame people for getting addicted to smoking, Aristus Jun 2014 #22
Getting started is the key gratuitous Jun 2014 #26
Smoking as rebellion strikes me as a little odd. Aristus Jun 2014 #28
The cig companies gave away millions of packs to the military during the ww2. dixiegrrrrl Jun 2014 #41
Free Cigs DustyJoe Jun 2014 #42
Even with the societal pressure, I still don't understand it. Aristus Jun 2014 #43
To someone with chronic untreated depression LadyHawkAZ Jun 2014 #46
Interesting. Aristus Jun 2014 #47
nicotine is a mild antidepressant LadyHawkAZ Jun 2014 #48
Commercials, plain and simple. marlboro man rustydog Jun 2014 #49
The first Surgeon General's report about the dangers of smoking Art_from_Ark Jun 2014 #50
Ciggy-free for four years this July.... truebrit71 Jun 2014 #7
I'm on four days Nevernose Jun 2014 #11
Yes you will! truebrit71 Jun 2014 #18
Congrats! almost 3 months for me. Behind the Aegis Jun 2014 #39
On July 4th I'll be 7 months of independence :) arcane1 Jun 2014 #13
Good for you! truebrit71 Jun 2014 #19
I've been calculating my savings at $7 per day arcane1 Jun 2014 #34
awesome d_b Jun 2014 #51
I didn't know about this either. NealK Jun 2014 #9
And that's without even mentioning LadyHawkAZ Jun 2014 #14
Filters on "lo-tar' cigs have more ventilation-- which you defeat by covering with your fingers. Gidney N Cloyd Jun 2014 #16
Wow ... I had heard about the additives but never imagined there were so many Auggie Jun 2014 #17
I worry this might be the same fate with Marijuana LynneSin Jun 2014 #20
I'm hoping that won't happen. Aristus Jun 2014 #24
And nothing in there about the radioactive properties of cigarettes OnlinePoker Jun 2014 #23
A new vapor shop opened up by my house Revanchist Jun 2014 #25
then Philip Morris and the rest of the companies NJCher Jun 2014 #27
And RJ Reynolds merged with Nabisco. arcane1 Jun 2014 #35
it's the hardest thing i ever quit...ever spanone Jun 2014 #29
The great thing is they are putting some of that shit in the stuff people vape CBGLuthier Jun 2014 #30
You can make your own liquids or buy from a reputable company Revanchist Jun 2014 #37
4.5 yrs smoke free now LittleGirl Jun 2014 #31
2 years ago in septemmber, quit heaven05 Jun 2014 #32
Cancer in a stick. EEO Jun 2014 #36
This diagram makes cigarettes look like high precision weapons... Helen Borg Jun 2014 #38
They are. nt. Skidmore Jun 2014 #44
British doctors to vote on cigarette sale ban for those born after 2000 muriel_volestrangler Jun 2014 #40
Congratulations to all of you on this thread who have been able to successfully kick the habit. Skidmore Jun 2014 #45

Aristus

(66,075 posts)
1. I've been telling my patients who smoke about this for years.
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 03:11 PM
Jun 2014

You all just thought it was just dried brown leaves in a paper tube, huh?

Shampoobra

(423 posts)
21. It's this information that finally gave me the determination to quit 16 years ago
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:15 PM
Jun 2014

Once I learned how devious the industry had been in getting me hooked, I was pissed off enough to quit cold turkey. My determination was fueled by the prospect of never giving them another cent.

tech3149

(4,452 posts)
33. I am an unapoligetic smoker
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:46 PM
Jun 2014

but I quit smoking manufactured tobacco products a decade ago. My last chest Xray was three years ago. The radiologist questioned if I really smoked as much as I claimed. Back when I was in my twenties another doctor posed the same question.
I'd advise anyone to avoid smoking for all the reasons I'm sure you would agree with. The problem with most processed tobacco products is that they have so many chemical additives to control how they burn. My hand rolled will not burn if I don't draw on them.

We all know it's stupid to smoke and I'd be the first to steer anyone away from starting. The problem is the industry has done everything possible to continue their profits for as long as possible.

For myself, I don't really care anymore. I lived my life and had a good ride. I got to share the best part of my life with one of the best people on the face of the earth. I got to see my parents get the most of their last days. There may be more I can do but it seems like too many don't want to listen.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)
6. Phillip Morris was forced to admit this in 1998 or so.
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 03:51 PM
Jun 2014

That essentially they were deliberately making tobaco more addicitve.

I got so mad that I quit smoking. ( Anger is a good motivator for me).

Phillip Morris got into so much trouble it had to re-organize and take on a different name, officially becoming Altria, in 2003.

Much like Blackwater, the name change was cosmetic.

Skidmore

(37,364 posts)
12. I have never been a smoker so I didn't track on this
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 03:58 PM
Jun 2014

at that level back then. Happy you were able to kick the habit.

gratuitous

(82,849 posts)
15. And then only after extensive litigation made them give up their "trade secrets"
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:02 PM
Jun 2014

The tobacco companies, using every trick in the book (and a few they wrote themselves), made cigarettes more addictive through "trade secret" processes and treatments. Look at the climate change denial industry for how Big Tobacco's tactics translate across an issue (fake controversies, attacking researchers, generating bogus studies, "the issue hasn't been settled yet", and so forth).

Considering all the time, money, research and effort Big Tobacco has put into creating generation and generation of tobacco addicts, I am pretty forgiving toward smokers and applaud anyone who is working to overcome their addiction. If you fail to quit 10 times, try to quit 11 times.

Aristus

(66,075 posts)
22. Although for obvious reasons I don't blame people for getting addicted to smoking,
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:20 PM
Jun 2014

I often wonder how they started in the first place.

"In my day, we didn't know it was bad for you" seems to be avoiding the issue a little. After all, everyone alive today had radio growing up, right?

Didn't they ever hear on the radio a report of a catastrophic fire somewhere, and the reporter is on the scene trying to get the story?

"What killed them, chief? Was it the flames?"

"No, it was smoke inhalation."

How can people not have known it was bad for them?

gratuitous

(82,849 posts)
26. Getting started is the key
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:33 PM
Jun 2014

And Big Tobacco has for years made sure that as boys and girls grew up, they were aware of smoking. They have done extensive research on teen-age rebellion, teen-age peer pressure, teen-age desire to stand out from the crowd, and teen-age desire to be in with the right crowd. Big Tobacco routinely denies that it markets to children, but there's no question that they do, just not overtly enough to be called on it.

People start smoking for any number of reasons, and Big Tobacco has the corner on them all, whether it's young people acting out or trying to fit in or appearing grown up or looking cool or creating your own identity or showing your parents that they aren't the boss of you. Juvenile brain development being what it is, Big Tobacco has rightly perceived that a combination of sales techniques is likely to get a certain percentage of people to try smoking long before they have the cognitive reasoning ability to think long-term or realize that they may be making a lifetime decision. Oddly enough, the military operates on many of the same principles.

Aristus

(66,075 posts)
28. Smoking as rebellion strikes me as a little odd.
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:36 PM
Jun 2014

After all, back in the days when everyone was doing it, where was the sense of rebellion?

Not to mention the fact that buying cigarettes props up a billion dollar industry, which is a pretty bourgeois thing to do.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)
41. The cig companies gave away millions of packs to the military during the ww2.
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 05:32 PM
Jun 2014

That pretty much got my mother's generation hooked.
1940's radio, and magazine ads, and later tv commercials, all extolled how good, how relaxing, cigs were.
They even had doctor figures smoking while pushing the cigs.
Movie stars pitched cigs, and there was a LOT of smoking in the movies of the day.

No, no one added it up. Lung disease and the link to smoking was covered up by millions of tobacco dollars, just as sane discussions of the dangers of radiation is shouted down and covered up, even on this site.

Aristus

(66,075 posts)
43. Even with the societal pressure, I still don't understand it.
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 05:55 PM
Jun 2014

It looks bad, tastes bad, smells bad.

What's the attraction?

LadyHawkAZ

(6,199 posts)
46. To someone with chronic untreated depression
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 07:16 PM
Jun 2014

that "bad smell" smells delicious. That's how I got started.

Aristus

(66,075 posts)
47. Interesting.
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 07:23 PM
Jun 2014

I wonder what depression has to do with it?

I empathize with my patients who smoke. I know from reading the science how difficult it is to quit smoking. But I've never smoked habitually, so I don't know personally how difficult it is.

Occasionally, for my patients who smoke and have depression, I'll prescribe some wellbutrin to see if it helps.

LadyHawkAZ

(6,199 posts)
48. nicotine is a mild antidepressant
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 07:44 PM
Jun 2014

As soon as I got put on thyroid meds, I lost most of my interest in cigarettes.

as a kid, I freakin' LOVED the smell of the smoke. As a teen and adult I loved the taste. Now, not so much.

rustydog

(9,186 posts)
49. Commercials, plain and simple. marlboro man
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 08:50 PM
Jun 2014

The Flintstones advertised Winstons I believe. Kind of like coal and oil industries hiring "scientists" to debunk Global Warming, The tobacco industry hired their own "doctors" and "scientists" who said the cancer connection was bunk, a lie by Government...

Money, powerful persuader when you make hundreds of millions on people dying. How do you replace the dying consumer? Target smokers at a younger age! Let Fred Flintstone tell you what brand he smokes!

Art_from_Ark

(27,247 posts)
50. The first Surgeon General's report about the dangers of smoking
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 10:34 PM
Jun 2014

came out 50 years ago, in January 1964. I first learned about it 5 years later, in my Children's Encyclopedia of American History, and it made a big impression on me. I also coughed and felt generally uncomfortable when I was around smokers, so that was enough to convince me not to start. And then there was this anti-smoking commercial:

Nevernose

(13,081 posts)
11. I'm on four days
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 03:57 PM
Jun 2014

I don't feel any better yet. Mostly I feel like incredibly anxious. I'll get there!

Behind the Aegis

(53,823 posts)
39. Congrats! almost 3 months for me.
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 05:28 PM
Jun 2014

The cravings, at least mine, lasted for almost three weeks. I get them from time to time, but not anything like before and not as long. Also, you may stop coughing for about a week, then start up again and it may last for months. That is the cilia growing back and clearing out the lungs. If it lasts too long or you are really hacking up some bad stuff after a few weeks, go to the doctor. It will turn to dry couching, not hacking, after 3 weeks or so. You may also suffer flu-like symptoms...it is part of the process too. Your sense of smell will start returning, if it hasn't already, but by the second week, it will be in high gear!

Good luck!! You can do it! I did after 29 years and almost 2.5 packs a day!

 

truebrit71

(20,805 posts)
19. Good for you!
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:13 PM
Jun 2014

It just gets better and better...food tastes better, your clothes don't reek, and you have a little extra change in your pocket too!

d_b

(7,451 posts)
51. awesome
Tue Jun 24, 2014, 10:33 AM
Jun 2014

I quit around valentine's day 2009. Trying to get one of my best friends to put them down.

LynneSin

(95,337 posts)
20. I worry this might be the same fate with Marijuana
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:15 PM
Jun 2014

Tobacco has been in existance for the ages. But it wasn't until Big Tobacco came along and found a way to mass produce cigarettes and start adding all the extra chemicals like in your picture. And when tobacco became mass produced that's when there was a rise in smoking related health issues.

I truly believe if we still lived in an era where tobacco was used from plant to pipe we probably wouldn't see as many issues. And I see potential of the same thing happening as Marijuana becomes legal. Big Tobacco would love to be able to mass produce Marijuana cigarettes but they will take a natural product that is already smokable as-is and change it a way to ensure addiction to the product and increased use (hence more sales). And yes I know Marijuana isn't addictive but that doesn't mean it couldn't be made addictive thru the powers of modern chemstry.

Aristus

(66,075 posts)
24. I'm hoping that won't happen.
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:25 PM
Jun 2014

Tobacco, despite its macho reputation, is a pretty fragile plant. It's labor intensive to cultivate, susceptible to all kinds of pests and variations in weather and soil quality. It pretty much requires an industry behind it.

Marijuana is a weed. Pretty hardy, too. It tends to grow best in warm climates, but it can weather (literally) a lot of harsh conditions, and is pretty easy to cultivate. It's much more easy to grow in the back yard than tobacco.

I would be wary and suspicious of any marijuana product grown and processed by a major corporation.

OnlinePoker

(5,702 posts)
23. And nothing in there about the radioactive properties of cigarettes
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:22 PM
Jun 2014

Nothing like sucking radioactive materials directly into your lungs to get the cancers working.

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/sources/tobacco.html

Revanchist

(1,375 posts)
25. A new vapor shop opened up by my house
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:31 PM
Jun 2014

And they make their own blends so I don't have to worry about that dubious Chinese stuff. Switching from analog to electronic was one of the best decisions I ever made.

NJCher

(35,422 posts)
27. then Philip Morris and the rest of the companies
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:35 PM
Jun 2014

went into the food biz.

Their addictive elements of choice are sugar and fat. They went into the food business because they thought their days as cigarette mfrs were numbered, buying such companies as Kraft and General Foods.

They have loaded up processed foods with so much sugar and fat that they maxed out. They literally noted in their sales charts that every time they added more sugar or fat, the more product people bought.

Look what they did to the American public in the process.

The whole story is described in Salt, Sugar, Fat, one of the best books of this type I've ever read (author is Moss).


Cher

CBGLuthier

(12,723 posts)
30. The great thing is they are putting some of that shit in the stuff people vape
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:38 PM
Jun 2014

and they don't even have to tell them. So all the vapers think they are doing something healthy while sucking in more chemicals than came in the deluxe Mr. Science Junior Chemistry Set.

Revanchist

(1,375 posts)
37. You can make your own liquids or buy from a reputable company
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 05:13 PM
Jun 2014

that isn't associated with big tobacco. Most Vape suppliers are small business and rely on producing a good product to ensure their success.

 

heaven05

(18,124 posts)
32. 2 years ago in septemmber, quit
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 04:43 PM
Jun 2014

after 45 years of the cancersticks. Thanks. Hope they realize just how many chemicals and additives are shortening an already short lifespan.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,146 posts)
40. British doctors to vote on cigarette sale ban for those born after 2000
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 05:28 PM
Jun 2014
Doctors are to vote on whether to push for a permanent ban on the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after the year 2000 in an attempt to protect the next generation of children from the deadly effects of smoking.

If the motion is passed at the British Medical Association's annual representatives' meeting on Tuesday, the doctors union will lobby the government to implement the policy in the same way it successfully pushed for a ban on lighting up in public places and on smoking in cars carrying children, after votes in 2002 and 2011.

Tim Crocker-Buque, a specialist registrar in public health medicine, who proposed the motion, said the idea was that "the 21st-century generation don't need to suffer the hundreds of millions of deaths that the 20th-century generation did".

"Cigarette smoking is specifically a choice made by children that results in addiction in adulthood, that is extremely difficult to give up," he said. "80% of people who smoke start as teenagers. It's very rare for people to make an informed decision in adulthood. The idea of this proposal is to prevent those children who are not smoking from taking up smoking."

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/jun/23/doctors-vote-cigarette-sale-ban-children-born-2000

Skidmore

(37,364 posts)
45. Congratulations to all of you on this thread who have been able to successfully kick the habit.
Mon Jun 23, 2014, 06:37 PM
Jun 2014

My hat's off to you. My father was a chain smoker and I am the only one of eight children who grew up not to be a smoker. That does not mean that I didn't breath in enough second hand smoke over the years. My daughter attempted smoking when she was in her teens and nearly died when it triggered a severe asthma attack. A horrible and scary consequence but it kept her from becoming addicted. I have a lot of admiration for you because I know that it was a hard decision and the follow-through was even more difficult. Continued wishes that you are able to sustain your smoke-free life.

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