[anonLSD]

People smoke cigarettes primarily because they are profoundly addictive, both chemically and psychologically. That confounds ordinary risk/reward analysis, and so I think it is a red herring here.

Also, the "Hope you..." phrasing makes your comment come off as a bit sneering/condescending, just FYI.

[1337p337]

When I am reading HN, it's almost always during time outside the office in the smoking area, or in front of my house, smoking a cigarette, like now.

I would certainly agree that nicotine is profoundly addictive, and the cigarette as a delivery system equally so. It reduces anxiety (especially useful to smooth the effects of caffeine), acts as an apetite suppressant (long nights hacking can be interrupted by a five-minute smoke break rather than a thirty-minute food break), and is a mild stimulant. One issue here, though, is that as you become addicted, most of the anxiety you calm with cigarettes is caused by withdrawal symptoms or even fear of withdrawal symptoms, like headaches, hand tremors, dizziness, blurred vision, all very unpleasant. The pavlovian response is pretty strong: inhaling cigarette smoke gets you the effects within seconds. In the case of withdrawal symptoms, you have this discomfort, and it is relieved almost instantly after you inhale. People with anxiety disorders or depression have a strong tendency to self-medicate with nicotine.

Psychologically, it's nice to have something to do with your hands while standing around outside waiting. Like time in the shower, sometimes I have my best ideas outside smoking, thinking about nothing in particular. And an excuse to get up from the computer and go out for a little while is great, too. There are social benefits as well, if you live in a neighborhood or work at a company where there are people coming and going, happy to converse outside.

So the addiction goes fairly deep, and is often not understood by non-smokers. The fact that you see, in almost any major metropolitan environment, homeless people smoking is a pretty good indicator. Personally, there are times when I have opted to smoke rather than eat or sleep, and it is confounding but there's a deep urge anyway, as if my body were telling me that I "needed" to smoke, in the same way that it tells me I need to eat or sleep.

I've made a number of attempts to quit, and have found the nicotine patches to be the most useful method. (I have a couple of boxes of them at home, waiting for Monday to roll around.)

[jtheory]

I'm grateful fairly frequently that I never went beyond sampling cigarettes as a kid. So a bit by chance, I don't smoke now, and I'm sure as hell not going to start as an adult.

It's just profoundly clear to me (from your comments, from similar discussions with lots of other smokers) that there's no going back to a pre-smoking life. Life after quitting smoking (or any other deeply-rooted addition, I suspect) is not at all the same as a life where you never started; that bridge is burned.

[1337p337]

Well, once you're off, the benefits start to pile up quickly. Food tastes better, you don't cough up strangely colored things early in the morning, your lungs don't burn, etc. It's still an incredibly difficult addiction to quit, much moreso than I expected before I started smoking. When not smoking, I do tend to miss all of the benefits, especially the extra time to think, but I've in the past replaced it with taking brief walks to get some coffee or tea.

[ajays]

I think most smokers start at a young age; if you're not a smoker by age 25, there is little chance of you becoming one after that. This is why a lot of cigarette advertising is subliminally targeted at young folks.

[guelo]

FYI, for me, Chantix is a quit smoking wonder drug, it made it surprisingly easy for me to quit my 15 year pack-a-day addiction.

[1337p337]

Per the Wikipedia page it looks interesting, although I've been almost successful with the patch in the past, and know essentially what to expect. I had used the gum (the gratification wasn't quite instant enough) and the "e-cigarettes" (nicotine vaporizers) before with neither working for very long. I had also tried (ill-advisedly) Adderall, which is supposed to calm nicotine cravings for some. (It really only made me giddy and scatter-brained. A very fun drug that made me almost entirely useless.) Should my next attempt work out the same as my previous ones, I'll definitely look into Chantix.

[pessimizer]

What's been working for me over the past year is Swedish snus. It has definitely broken me of the 20 year addiction to the process of smoking cigarettes. It's amazing how much of the addiction was to everything about smoking other than nicotine. Snus is a borefest. Avoid any of the American snuses (Camel/Marlboro), it'll turn you off to the idea before you get started because they're sweet and gross and barely have any nicotine. I recommend the "General" white portion and/or mint, and the mini-portions are unnoticeable.

Easy to reduce on because you know exactly how many milligrams you're taking (like methadone or something) because of Swedish labelling rules. I'm hoping to be off snus within the next three or four months, but there's no big hurry because it's pretty cheap and very safe in comparison to other tobacco products.

Internet ordering directly from Sweden is easy, and some of the fancier US tobacco shops are starting to carry it - so you might get lucky.