Flavored cigarettes anyone?

[meresal]

Not anymore... FDA is banning them, everything except for Menthol.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/health/policy/23fda.html?_r=1

“These flavored cigarettes are a gateway for many children and young adults to become regular smokers.”



I''m not a smoker, but I have some friends that are not going to like this at all. Anyone here smoke flavors?

 

[AdiS]

I'm a smoker, and while I like the chocolate flavoured slim cigars, I don't care much for the flavoured cigarettes. The ban seems kinda stupid to me though - if the kids want to smoke, they'll do it, regardless of cigarettes' flavour (or lack of one). Personally, I don't know anyone who started smoking because they thought strawberry cigarettes are cool. Just saying...

ETA: Just wanted to add that I'm very much against kids smoking even though I am a smoker myself (or maybe that's exactly why). I don't think the ban helps or does anything positive for the cause, though.

 

[cellososweet]

Date: 9/23/2009 10:41:20 AM
Author:meresal
Not anymore... FDA is banning them, everything except for Menthol.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/health/policy/23fda.html?_r=1

“These flavored cigarettes are a gateway for many children and young adults to become regular smokers.”



I''m not a smoker, but I have some friends that are not going to like this at all. Anyone here smoke flavors?

Really? Because the first cigarette I ever had was a Red pack Winston. I inhaled every last puff and spent the next 24 hours wanting to die. Then I went and bought a pack and didn''t stop for 7 years. You''d think the first experience would''ve killed it for me. I guess not.

What was a gateway for me was the fact that both of my parents smoked, they never made a big deal about smoking, and my mother comes from a country where tons and tons of people smoke (you''re odd if you don''t smoke). I grew up around smoking and it always just seemed like something that our family did.

Thank God I quit because it really was terrible for my health (I''m a hypoglycemic and now after having pneumonia, I have a reactive airway issue), but I don''t know if I entirely agree with the "logic" behind this.

 

[meresal]

Date: 9/23/2009 12:13:15 PM
Author: cellososweet

Date: 9/23/2009 10:41:20 AM
Author:meresal
Not anymore... FDA is banning them, everything except for Menthol.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/health/policy/23fda.html?_r=1

“These flavored cigarettes are a gateway for many children and young adults to become regular smokers.”



I'm not a smoker, but I have some friends that are not going to like this at all. Anyone here smoke flavors?

Really? Because the first cigarette I ever had was a Red pack Winston. I inhaled every last puff and spent the next 24 hours wanting to die. Then I went and bought a pack and didn't stop for 7 years. You'd think the first experience would've killed it for me. I guess not.

What was a gateway for me was the fact that both of my parents smoked, they never made a big deal about smoking, and my mother comes from a country where tons and tons of people smoke (you're odd if you don't smoke). I grew up around smoking and it always just seemed like something that our family did.

Thank God I quit because it really was terrible for my health (I'm a hypoglycemic and now after having pneumonia, I have a reactive airway issue), but I don't know if I entirely agree with the 'logic' behind this.

(Just in case there was a question... that isn't my personal quote.)
I tried smoking in high school, and then took it up casually in my off seasons in college. Haven't smoked a cigarette in the last 4 years.

I only had Camel lights when we went out, but a few of my sorority sisters had (still have) those aluminum canisters that were like strawberry, vanilla, etc. However, a majority just get the regulars (Marlboro, Camel, etc.), and not to mention most of the flavored types are so far out of a student's price range now.

Cello and AdiS, I agree with both of you... kids don't see a brightly colored box of cigarettes, and think, "I want to try that". They see their elders, parents, and older kids they look up to, and think "I want to do that/I should do that too."

I have no idea how to deter kids from smoking, but I'm pretty sure this isn't the correct angle.

 

[that_someone_special]

Yikes! Some people are going to be maaaaaad.....

 

[swingirl]

Date: 9/23/2009 11:31:35 AM
Author: AdiS
Personally, I don't know anyone who started smoking because they thought strawberry cigarettes are cool. Just saying...

Why DO people start to smoke?

 

[that_someone_special]

Date: 9/23/2009 4:10:54 PM
Author: swingirl

Date: 9/23/2009 11:31:35 AM

Author: AdiS

Personally, I don''t know anyone who started smoking because they thought strawberry cigarettes are cool. Just saying...

Why DO people start to smoke?

It''s fun to smoke while drinking??? I smoke- rarely. Maybe 1- 2 times a year (while drinking). I dunno.

 

[packrat]

I didn''t even know they had flavored cigarettes. I don''t think I''d''ve been into them anyway when I smoked. Too fussy and kid-sounding to me. Like candy cigarettes when you''re a kid. I was a Marlboro girl. Reds, in the box. Ahhhh...9 years in August and I still miss it.

Most of the adults I knew smoked and they all said "Don''t start-it''s too hard to quit" to us when we were kids. I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I felt like a rebel, doing it behind my parents back, snitching cigs from the adults that didn''t smoke nasty menthols like my parents. After a while, it seemed to just "fit" me in high school.

 

[LtlFirecracker]

Date: 9/23/2009 7:37:30 PM
Author: packrat
I didn''t even know they had flavored cigarettes. I don''t think I''d''ve been into them anyway when I smoked. Too fussy and kid-sounding to me. Like candy cigarettes when you''re a kid. I was a Marlboro girl. Reds, in the box. Ahhhh...9 years in August and I still miss it.


Most of the adults I knew smoked and they all said ''Don''t start-it''s too hard to quit'' to us when we were kids. I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I felt like a rebel, doing it behind my parents back, snitching cigs from the adults that didn''t smoke nasty menthols like my parents. After a while, it seemed to just ''fit'' me in high school.

That is a big part of it.

There are also some effects of nicotine that are favorable. It is a bit of a stimulate, so it helps people wake up and increases concentration. That is part of the reason I think many employers have not banned smoking breaks, because it does help with productivity. Also, when people try to quit, they do often gain weight, and for a young women, that is a huge deterrent.

That being said....there are so many health risks it is not worth smoking for those reasons. And many people who get those benefits still wish they could quit. Nicotine goes right through the blood brain barrier, and is very addictive. When someone gets addicted to a product, what happens is that the pleasure center of the brain re-wires to want that drug, and throws a fit (withdraw) when it doesn''t get it. Overtime, your body gets "used" to smoking, and the positive effects decrease, but the addiction continues to grow.

The younger the brain, the more "plastic" it is. So if the tobacco company gets someone smoking younger, it will more likely become a part of their hard wiring and the addiction will be harder to break. Also, teenagers are willing to try riskier things and the age when the long term consequences become an issue seems really far away in their minds.

 

[Circe]

Date: 9/23/2009 8:44:09 PM
Author: LtlFirecracker

Date: 9/23/2009 7:37:30 PM

Author: packrat

I didn''t even know they had flavored cigarettes. I don''t think I''d''ve been into them anyway when I smoked. Too fussy and kid-sounding to me. Like candy cigarettes when you''re a kid. I was a Marlboro girl. Reds, in the box. Ahhhh...9 years in August and I still miss it.



Most of the adults I knew smoked and they all said ''Don''t start-it''s too hard to quit'' to us when we were kids. I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I felt like a rebel, doing it behind my parents back, snitching cigs from the adults that didn''t smoke nasty menthols like my parents. After a while, it seemed to just ''fit'' me in high school.

That is a big part of it.


There are also some effects of nicotine that are favorable. It is a bit of a stimulate, so it helps people wake up and increases concentration. That is part of the reason I think many employers have not banned smoking breaks, because it does help with productivity. Also, when people try to quit, they do often gain weight, and for a young women, that is a huge deterrent.


That being said....there are so many health risks it is not worth smoking for those reasons. And many people who get those benefits still wish they could quit. Nicotine goes right through the blood brain barrier, and is very addictive. When someone gets addicted to a product, what happens is that the pleasure center of the brain re-wires to want that drug, and throws a fit (withdraw) when it doesn''t get it. Overtime, your body gets ''used'' to smoking, and the positive effects decrease, but the addiction continues to grow.


The younger the brain, the more ''plastic'' it is. So if the tobacco company gets someone smoking younger, it will more likely become a part of their hard wiring and the addiction will be harder to break. Also, teenagers are willing to try riskier things and the age when the long term consequences become an issue seems really far away in their minds.

I can''t speak for anybody else, but for me it was a combination of home-sickness and situational peer-pressure. It was my first year of grad. school in a *tiny* program, and everybody else smoked. So at parties, it was smoke or choke. And on top of that, I sort of missed the smell ... my dad''s a pack-a-day smoker since he was 12, and I started buying his brand to burn it like incense before thinking, "Hey, this would make hanging out with the crowd easier!"

I was an IDIOT.

Now that I''m at the age where I''m looking to start a family, that''s one thing I''m dead-set on: never, ever, ever to make cigarettes a familiar, nostalgic thing in my kids'' lives. It really does have a tremendous impact ....

 

[AdiS]

Date: 9/23/2009 4:10:54 PM
Author: swingirl

Date: 9/23/2009 11:31:35 AM
Author: AdiS
Personally, I don''t know anyone who started smoking because they thought strawberry cigarettes are cool. Just saying...

Why DO people start to smoke?

Lots of factors have already been mentioned. For me, it was a combination of several of them - my parents smoked (still trying to quit and still trying to make me quit), so in my mind I was just continuing a tradition, kinda. I didn''t feel any peer pressure, on the contrary, I was more of a rebel. The cigarettes went with the image I guess. Speaking of which, James Dean looked so hot with a cigarette in his mouth, that it proved to be a factor itself.

Gradually, I started associating the couple cigarettes I smoked a day with the few precious free moments (recesses between classes, etc.) I was able to enjoy. It sort of became a unity in my mind - free time/cigarette. When I was tired and craved for a break, I started craving for a cigarette too. I don''t know if that makes sense.

If you''re looking for a universal, valid answer why people start smoking, I''m afraid I can''t give you one. No reason anyone can give you as to why they''re risking their health like this would make sense to a non-smoker, or make you say "Aha! Now I get it!" I will never understand why people have unprotected sex for example, or get drunk on a regular basis and I don''t think any explanation would make me say "Oh, ok then".