Tobacco! can you not be addicted?

[Othello]

Just some random thought's I have been puttering lately..

I recently started smoking Tobacco. Not cigarettes.

It started when a roommate brought home several fine cuban cigars. I enjoyed there flavor and not having to smoke them in the back shed of happiness (the usual weed hang out). Anyway, after the first few a week or so later I picked up a package of Captain black sweets. These things are dynamite, the aroma and flavour are just perfect for a mini cigar.

I went through maybe one - two cigars in a regular routine day, sometimes more if I was at a party or sitting outside drinking etc.

Well, as soon as my old man / woman saw this, they are completely fire and brimstone over the whole situation. Don't get me wrong, im an adult and can legally do anything with tobacco I want. They swear im still an addicted tobacco lunatic (both non smokers btw).

I don't think im addicted. The simple fact is I enjoy smoking, I enjoy tobacco, either in pipe or cigar form. I never feel the desire to smoke more, its usually just something fun to kill some time waiting for the bus, etc.

Four months later, I still smoke the same amount I did when I started, and have stopped for several weeks in between, yet I still come off to my non-smoking compadres as a brainwashed drone of Big Tobacco Inc.

So the bottom line I am asking, do any smokers here who actually enjoy there tobacco habit and don't think its all mind control?

 

[glock23]

Captain Blacks are great. I used to pack them full of weed and smoke em in the park Tobacco is bad, though...Try and minimize your usage...limit yourself to one a day or one every other day. I've never been addicted to tobacco but I do try to limit my usage for health reasons.

 

[Laxpunker]

When I first started smoking I felt the same way as you. My habit started at a pack a week, then two packs, then a half a pack, etc. Now a pack a day later I am quite aware that while I can change the amount of nicotine I need in a day, I can't go a day without it. If I really moderate myself I can make it through a day with only five cigarettes, however that ranges to twenty depending on the circumstances. I highly suggest to quit the foul substance now while you aren't CRAVING it. Because believe me, it only gets harder the more time passes.

I'm not trying to come down on you or anything, however I think most people that say they aren't addicted really are kidding themselves in a sense. Because if they aren't addicted they soon will be.

 

[glock23]

I've been smoking for about 12 years...I don't need it. I've smoked a pack a day once or twice, but tobacco grosses me out. Weed feels like peace is enveloping you. I smoked a few cigarettes on Saturday night, but none since. I have several packs but I just don't wanna smoke. I smoke small amounts of ganja in my glass pipes and that's really all I want and need. Tobacco really hurts your lungs.

There are times when I don't mind having a cig, don't get me wrong. I love a good cigar or a good blunt. I just don't wanna consume the same volume of tobacco that I used to. I might smoke 2 - 3 blunts a year, compared to 2 - 3 a day at times when I was younger.

 

[Guest]

It's addicting for sure. I can go 6 months or so (which I recently have done, but i smoked a cig tonight b/c i couldn't control the desire) without smoking and still have cravings when the scent gets into my nose or i see someone smoking.

 

[glock23]

Yeah that does it to me too. So does the smell of ribs, coffee and of course, good pot. I can totally go without tobacco. Without pot is a whole other issue

 

[Guest]

Here's another side of the story. I smoked NON-ADDITIVE cigs for 6 months... partly as an experiment to see if I would get addicted, and it was also very nice.

I like the calming effect of nicotine, at least at the time.

But I decided to quit, and it was completely easy. I quit 3 months ago or so, and have had maybe 6 cigarettes since then. No real desire anymore.

I think its possible, that the additives companies put in their cigarettes are addictive. Like sugar, especially. They actually put sugar and chocolate in the cigs... you know both of those substances are addictive when eaten, which usually hit your blood stream in, oh, 30 minutes perhaps? So, what happens when sugar and chocolate hit your bloodstream in 1 second?

I think that could be one of the BIG reasons for getting addicted to cigs... so stick with the non additive tobacco , just like the Indians!

 

[tngreen]

ya i think you can. i smoked for a little while when i had to quit smokin bud and just couldnt ever get into it. the taste just didnt do enough for me and nicotine never got its teeth into me. its pretty cool to say i quit cold turkey no problem.

 

[green_grow]

dude ... nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet. that's why big tobacco is known as big tobacco . i was a using addict for 27 years; i'm glad to say that i quit before it killed me, but not before i spent the equivalent of a 1 bedroom apartment on it. if i knew then what i know now i would never have lit up again after trying it out for the first time.

 

[green_grow]

sorry ... i wandered away from the original question a bit ... yes, it is possible to smoke tobacco and NOT get addicted to the nicotine; but it is quite rare. i wouldnt bet on it.

 

[glock23]

Indica...did you smoke American Spirit? I read a report where they said American Spirit has the highest nicotine level of any commercially available cigarettes.

 

[Irishslappop]

i had a cig that was a quater cloves. tasted pretty good.

 

[Tillianne]

dude ... nicotine is one of the most addictive substances on the planet. that's why big tobacco is known as big tobacco . i was a using addict for 27 years; i'm glad to say that i quit before it killed me, but not before i spent the equivalent of a 1 bedroom apartment on it. if i knew then what i know now i would never have lit up again after trying it out for the first time.

This person said it quite well, and I agree 100% with him. I have been smoking for almost 20 years, and I am preparing to quit Monday. I am very sick, and cough all the time, so I really need to succeed.

Don't even try nicotine, or smoking. It is a nasty habit, and will only make you sick, or worse yet, end up killing you.

 

[glock23]

nah, some of us can handle it. a lot get addicted though. even though i don't get hooked on nicotine, i'm not about to try heroin...fuck the gateway drug theory, all i do is smoke pot

good for you for quitting. i'd hate to die because of tobacco. i need to cut down on the ganja too...i love it, but it isn't good for your lungs...

I have tobacco all over the place...I just choose not to smoke it. If I have a sudden urge, it's there, but I haven't smoked a cig in over a week. Haven't had cravings either...haven't smoked a blunt in almost 2 months!

 

[sproutco]

"Long ashes" to everyone

"Long ashes" to everyone

If you are interested in cigars, this guy has a radio program once a week. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cigar_Dave

 

[Guest]

has anyone here tried homegrown tobacco?

I read that one of the chief reasons for commercial tobacco being so carcinogenic is the high levels of nitrosamines
these nitrosamines (largely or exclusively?) arrive during the curing process usually used by commerical growers, which if I remember right is high temp flu-curing (???)

either way: tobacco cured at cool temps is not nearly so injurious to one's health, according to some propaganda I have read by home tobacco growers

I have some Nicotiana rustica on the go, the old tobacco often used before the advent of commercial tobacco
rustica has far more nicotine (v. bad for the heart) and far more other funky chemicals like harmines
on the whol it is way more psychactive, and unless I am mistaken is the cultivar found in various forms in the gardens of Amazonian shamans
in Virginia prior to the advent of Imperialist Tobacco Inc. this was what the gnarly old timers were getting baked on

I am looking forward to a few fearsome blunts

Namkha

edit: yeh, I am the same re. addiction, and have no probs stopping smoking for months or years at a time
I actually dislike cigarette tobacco intensely - cigars preferably or some rolling baccy
I smoked at university but stopped without realising - basically I don't enjoy tobacco unless I have a coffee or drink to get rid of the vile taste (only cigars taste good IMHO)
I think addiction varies greatly from person to person: I am aware of the odd craving after a period of smoking, but I would hardly call it insurmountable; personally all that is required is to remind myself that I don't like smoking, and that it is a fucking waste of money, most of which goes to pay for some cunt's war in a foreign land

 

[glock23]

I love Partagas cigars best of all. I grew out some tobacco a few years ago. Got the seeds from a place in the UK. It was very strong and flavorful...made good blunt leaf but it was a little harsh in cigarettes. They were air dried and cured.

 

[Guest]

I don't think I have tried Partagas.
I am pretty ignorant about cigars, though what I can say from experience is that I prefer the lighter leaved style.
The dark leaved I often find are either too bitter or too sweet - I like the aromatic style ones I tried... I forget any names I may have known...

if it is anything like wine I usually like some fairly unorthodox slightly unsophisticated style - e.g. I like full sweet Riojas, (and I like Mocha coffee beans ... ((not Mocha coffee and chocolate what the fuck is that about?)) )

 

[glock23]

haha you're an interesting one nam. try the partagas; they have wrappers from cameroon. extremely aromatic and flavorful. a detective once asked me if i used them to roll blunts with....i was like...ER, NO! everyone started laughing cuz of the way i said it. i really don't though.

 

[Guest]

american spirits

american spirits

hey glock 23,

yeah..i did smoke ameican spirits. they have a high level of free-base nicotine..whatever that means. i smoked 1 a day, sometimes 2 but rarely. But I also vaporized tobacco 1-2 times a day.

And I had zero problems quitting. I just decided to and I was done.

What I missed most was the 5-10 minutes I took out of my day to just breath and meditate in that way. I've started medititating now and its awesome...without the smoke. Its weird, I tried smoking again recently just to see if I'd still like it, but it really didn't do much for me.. I didn't like the taste, and I couldn't get into it meditatively like I used to... but maybe thats just becuase I forgot how to be comfortable with it.

I think alot of people probably smoke for the break it gives them in the day. But if your going to smoke I don't know why people smoke things with additives. IMHO I think those are what are most addictive... but to each his own.