h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I smoked occasionally at school but stopped when it started to hurt my throat too much. However, I do find that when I have a few drinks (and in many cases, a lot more) I want a cigarette. I think it's got something to do with the head rush I get from just a few drags of one. It's also something I do a lot with a group of friends who all smoke, even though when I'm sober I don't actually like doing it. I must agree with those poor smokers who are victimised for their habit though (a rare viewpoint for a mostly non-smoker). The worst people are the 'reformed' smokers, who think they are on a higher moral plain because they have given up and think that everyone else should aspire to be like them. Having known a few of them, I can testify to the comments and dirty looks they shoot at others who have decided to light up. I have a comment I keep in reserve for such people when they get too gung ho:

You've got to die of something; you might as well make it something you enjoy.

Alcohol and nicotine being such close friends is accountable to the simple fact that alcohol widens the blood vessels and nicotine tightens
them. So these two toxics add up perfectly while you are drinking.
The following hangover, however, is significantly longer and much more violent. Be that as it may, this has never stopped me from smoking whole plantations while drinking like a stabelboy.

ah, but I never get hangovers regardless of whether I smoke whilst drinking or not!

- You know, there's a word for people like you...
- Oh yeah ?
- Yes, bitc*!

From "Frasier"
(nothing personal...)

Yeah well...Some people are just jammy eh!

I have sympathy for the hangover afflicted though, I'm not one of those bi****s who flaunts her lack of pain and nausea and suggests enthusiastically that we all go bungee jumping or whatever whilst wondering why my friends are clutching their heads and groaning at the thought of moving out of a darkened room...Just cos I've never had one doesn't mean I can't imagine what it's like.

I gave up 3 and a half years ago after a bout of pneumonia which nearly finished me off {I was 39 at the time}.I had smoked heavily 25+ a day for over 25 years.
I gave up using Nicotine Replacement Therapy {Nicorete Microtabs},which I unfortunately still use.
My wife still smokes,not many, but a few.
I have tried really hard not to be a preachy ex-smoker,there are many around,but we are not ALL like that.
Addiction,of whatever form,is an illness we ALL fall prey to at some point in our lives!

O.K. nobody is saying people should not have the right to smoke. It is still a free country, but surely, non-smokers - the majority of the population and the 2/3s of smokers who would like to be non-smokers should be able to enjoy a drink and some entertainment at their 'local' without being choked by secondhand smoke. Some smokers are rather selfish, and pubs would be much more pleasant places without ashtrays! The health aspect is one thing but the other side of it is the stench in our hair and on our clothes. It is time to stub it out!