Why is it that every trucker I meet smokes?

You know about that too? Great. Thinkin bout that makes me wanna light up.

 

I've been smoking for 51 years. I started when I was 16 years old and have no desire to quit. I am 67 years old and don't have lung cancer. My brother is 78 years old and still smokes Camel non filters 2 packs a day and doesn't have lung cancer. 70-80 years old and not died from smoking yet so I don't see the need to quit. Smoking isn't as bad as they let on. All these years they have been punishing weed and saying it kills but now two states say otherwise. People are wrong all the time. Smoking is a choice whether you want to or not. A waste of money yes but not illegal or harmful.

 

On that we will disagree. At least 10 people I know have died before their time from lung cancer-2 of them friends I grew up with. It was caused by smoking to much,at least according to the Doctors.

What I do know: I have been smoking since 12 years old (1972) probably not everyday though since 17 years old. My "wind" is getting to be terrible. I also know "smoking" is an addiction...And yet different for everyone as to what level. I have a friend since the playground years who ONLY smokes on weekends..I do not understand that. I have a brother who will not smoke for 5-6 months,then will smoke steady for a year..I do not understand that.. In my case it is easier to imagine life without a hand than without my cigarettes..

I am sadly like most-addicted to cigs..Some experts say comparable to an addict on morphine. My Dad (who is still around) quit in 1983 and recently told me he still sometimes reaches for a cig at a stop light..So indeed that is the "habit" part of it..

Of course I hear stories of an uncle (why ALWAYS an uncle) who lived to age 93 and smoked 3 packs a day. I have NO DOUBT some of these stories are true but to suggest cigarettes are in no way harmful to one's health over the long term is IMO ridiculous..

On the OTHER hand I am sick and tired of being treated as a 2nd class citizen BECAUSE I smoke. The being quarantined in certain areas wherever I go..The apologetic clerk who smiles sadly when she sells me a carton,and the occasional 'I can smell smoke on your clothes' when around a certain group of people..

For don't they know..With all the tax revenue we create spending on tobacco..They had better hope

we stick around a LONG time.. BTW volvodriver I'm glad you don't have any effects from smokin.Maybe one day we can...ummm..."smoke one."

 

I hadn't thought about it, but come to think of it, I would say that almost all of the truck drivers that I've worked with/hired over the years have been smokers. It wasn't a deliberate effort on my part to hire smokers; it just turned out that way for whatever reason. I'm not sure why smoking is so common among truck drivers, but some of the reasons already mentioned probably play some part.

I work in an office in management, and smoking is a taboo in most companies. It's not so bad here in the South, but don't even THINK of smoking/letting them know you smoke in states like NY or California! I don't even know if most of the people I work with are even aware of the fact that I smoke since I work on a tobacco-free campus and chew on Nicorette a couple of times in the morning/late afternoon and leave during lunch to hide behind a gas station and smoke. I know it's bad for me, I know I should quit after 28 years of it...but I like it and don't have plans to quit at this point.

 

I'm currently 3 days into my battle of quitting cigarettes. I am using the patch, as well as an e-cig for those times when I just can't get past a powerful craving. I've been a pack a day smoker for most of my 30 year smoking habit, and right now life feels abnormal without my smokes. It is indeed a hard habit to break, and it is as much a habit as an addiction. I'm not having nicotine fits, just missing the physical aspects of smoking which were, lighting up first thing in the morning with a cup of coffee, the famous after dinner smoke, smoking while driving, or waiting at a customer, and any other time I would normally light up. Even though I know the health benefits of quitting, the fact that I smell better without the smoke in my clothes and hair, and the improving sense of taste and smell, I still am not 100% sure I'll succeed. Time will tell...

 

Funny this got a post today. I got bipolar with my habit today. For a while now I have tried to limit smoke breaks to every three hours or so. I tried only smoking at stops but I don't stand around anywhere long enough for that to work. I also seem to cheat at every other three hour break because some super trucker or 4-wheelin brainiac does something to affect my driving. Well, this week I pushed it back to four hours. I really do want to quit. Of course this time when I tried to smoke early, I grabbed the pack and threw it onto my bunk. "Now what ######?!" lol. Luckily I calmed down before I throttled myself but we made it through the day with only three smokes! Hey, look it's been four hours. Woohoo... Ahem, 4 smokes.

 

you guys can do it.it gets easier.i smoked for 35 years and quit just over a year ago.

 

parents thought me not to be quitter

 

I am constantly amazed at the ability some people have to convince themselves something is true despite TONS of overwhelming evidence that it is false.

 

Well, lots of people think if it hasn't happened in my life then it is a lie. As if thier own life is somehow a large enough sample size to determine anything, it isnt. Hey, I never won the lottery and I played it so it must be a hoax right?