Why is it that every trucker I meet smokes?

http://www.tobaccofreekids.org/research/factsheets/pdf/0260.pdf

29% of smokers earn a poverty level income or less. 18% above poverty are smokers.

25% of high school dropouts smoke. 5% with a graduate degree smoke.

 

I don't believe their survey. I have never heard that they asked for input around my area so they "survey" a selected area to use to make their census look good.

 

Surveys and polls are not worth much these days. Depending on how questions are asked, the numbers can be skewed to reflect whatever is wanted. A lot of people don't like taking surveys, and that's from a clearly anti-smoking organization . . .

 

[h=2]Why is it that every trucker I meet smokes?[/h]

Seriously, I'm buying a pack of cigarettes just to make friends. Almost every day someone ask me for one.

Because you haven't meet every trucker. Truck drivers are a extremely diverse group, covering the whole spectrum of human kind. Look around a bit. There are many drivers that fall on the plus side of evaluation, we're not all dirtbags. How many gas haulers do you think smoke?

Look around, that's all I'm sayin'


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I smoked 2-3 packs for 14 years. Quit cold turkey and didn’t smoke for 17 years. Stupidly started again 5 years ago as a way to deal with my ex’s crapola. Justified it as better than drinking or other stuff.

I want to get into trucking at the end of the year but worried about passing a physical if I have to have a heart check after exercise. Cardiologist says my heart's fine but my stress test sucks. I have thought a lot about how I quit the first time. For what it’s worth, here’s how I did it and hope to do it again as soon as the divorce is finalized:

1. Had a symbolic last smoke. The first time, I remember driving over the bridge at Blythe, and tossing that last darn butt into the river. That’s it, I’m done.

2. Drank at least 4 liters of water the first 2 weeks to wash the cigarette residues out of my body and help get rid of the chemical crave.

3. Substituted salted sunflower seeds for an urge to smoke. Any time I got the urge to smoke out of a crave or a trigger, I popped 10 seeds into my mouth to give my mouth and fingers something to do until the urge passed. Usually 3 minutes later, that urge would pass and no more thoughts of having a smoke. Until the next urge came up. Still had a good reason to brush my teeth often.

4. Realized that I would still encounter something during my days that would piss me off or stress me and my normal reaction would be to light up. Time for more seeds, a deep breath and deal with it.

5. A lot of my smokes were habitual.Wake up in the morning, light up. Come to a stop light, light up. Finish eating,go outside, and light up. Switched these for some seeds.

6. I changed my habits and avoided smoky places or smokers, and alcohol for the first bit so I wouldn’t get tempted. After awhile, the awful smell would keep me away.

7. I detailed my car and home the second day to get rid of the cigarette smells and anything like matches,lighters, etc.

8. I remember my first reward 10 days later –walking across a WalMart parking lot, I could actually smell a good looking woman’s perfume from 50 yards away. What a smell! I hadn’t smelled anything very well for a long time.

9. After a month, I realized again how a smoker really smells, and that locked it up. I didn’t want that cloud of stench following me around.

10. Every week, I tossed the money I would have spent on cigarettes into a drawer. After that, if I now and then got an urge to go buy some new toy, I spent that money without guilt. If I hadn’t quit smoking, it would have been long gone anyway. Instead, I got a shiny new toy.

 

Just come and find me. Never smoked, never will.

Disgusting habit.

 

It's all about the image. The tough guy, the "Marlbaro man".

If you want to look like a real trucker, always have a cigarette dangling on your lips. Even if you don't smoke, an unlighted one will do.

 

Me too, going on three years ago. I thought I'd replied to this thread but it must have been another one about filthy smokers LOL. I think I posted my story another place so I'll spare a lengthy post about me. Instead, a few interesting things for smokers thinking about e-cigs..

• You will never find one that tastes and feels just like your old brand since you aren't actually burning tobacco. Inhaling vapor, similar to what comes out of fog machines at nightclubs, just isn't the same as inhaling tobacco smoke. It takes a lot of patience to trial and error your way to something that satisfies nearly the same as the real thing.
• What they sell at truck stops, Walmart, etc are mass-marketed cigarette look-alikes that will probably piss you off more than they help. They are also overpriced, with the price point deliberately set just a tiny bit lower than the real cigarettes.
• Using an e-cigarette, aka "vaping," is a lot more fiddly than smoking. There's a lot more handling involved than just taking one out of the pack, sticking it in your mouth, and lighting the other end. The best way I describe it is: learning a new, healthier habit to replace your old, unhealthy one. You didn't get hooked on cigarettes in one day, so don't expect to pick up an e-cig and just carry on like nothing changed. It's different.
• When you finally find the combination of equipment and flavors that feels right, it's a miracle. In my case that took me about four months. Expect to be really patient. The good news is: they still sell cigarettes and there's no rule that says you have to put those down the minute you start vaping.
• Much better vaping supplies are available on the internet. In the past year or two, the number of actual retail stores has exploded. If you've tried a truck stop version that didn't work out, you're doing yourself a disservice by not going to a vape shop and seeing and trying the good stuff.
• The E-Cigarette Forum was my go to place to self educate. Every bit as useful to learning e-cigs as TTR is for trucking.

Right now I am getting a rare rest break at the J in Fairview, TN thanks to some fortunate load scheduling. While tying this, I am enjoying a Chai Tea flavor from my favorite vape shop in Woodstock, GA with this:



I place an order for liquid every 4-5 weeks for about $65. My other go-to flavors are a grape flavor and a mix of watermelon and raspberries. That is what has taken the place of smoking Camel filters. I also buy a pack of 5 replacement atomizer heads for about $15 every 2-3 months. I spend about 1/3 what I did on the real ones, after a little up front money trying different stuff to get to where I am.

The battery in that Provari last all day, I have two in rotation and put a fresh one in each morning. A full tank of liquid will go for 6-8 hours. I don't care if people think it's drug paraphernalia or think I'm chewing on a small flashlight. It's gotten me off cigarettes for 2+ years while still deeply enjoying the act of "smoking."

 

The designated smoking area at most loading racks is usually pretty crowded.