Speaking as an ex-smoker, I can see both sides of the fence.
I never realized how offensive smoking was until I quit and began to smell the smoke from others. Oh, man, the hairs in my nose stand straight up. It actually makes me feel a little sick to my stomach. :help:
My boyfriend has given up a lot of bad habits as he has aged. When people hit the half-century mark, they sometimes do a little bit of soul searching and try to improve what years they have left on this earth. Obviously, some habits won't allow people to live a long life. :sorry:
A great pool player from Maryland, Michael "Geese" Gerace, passed away a few years ago at the age of 54 from cancer. He smoked a couple packs a day of Lucky Strikes, without the filter, for many years. Larry Lisciotti also passed away from cancer, and I do know Larry smoked cigarettes.
Of course, people do get cancer from not smoking, but if you smoke, you increase your chances of getting it. :yes:
I have BEGGED my boyfriend to quit smoking. He does smoke outside on the porch today and does not smoke in the house, but I can still smell it when he opens the porch door. I don't even want to go in the porch during the summer months because it stinks now. :barf:
I used to get a headache and swollen red eyes when in a pool room that allowed smoke, and this was when I was still smoking. Imagine that. It still made me sick then, and I continued to smoke. :embarrassed2:
I can remember a few years ago, writing on this very forum, b*tching about having to go outside in the FREEZING COLD in the winter to smoke cigarettes in non-smoking pool rooms. I complained that many smokers will not hang out in establishments where they cannot enjoy their smoking; thus, the reason why some businesses are closing their doors due to the smoking ban.
Well, fast forward to today, and you won't see me in any smoking pool room. Virginia, the tobacco State, will pass a law this month banning cigarette smoke. There is no smoking in Maryland establishments already, and D.C. jumped on board a year or two ago. :wink:
Nobody could force me to quit smoking when I was a smoker. Like any addict, I came up with every excuse why I wanted to smoke. I only wish I had quit sooner. :embarrassed2:
Come this February 16, 2010, at 1:30 p.m., it will be 2 years of me not smoking!
:clapping::clapping::clapping: