Do you ever smoke cigarettes, or did you in the past? In 2018, it was estimated that 13.7% of U.S. adults were current cigarette smokers, which rounded out to about 34.2 million people. Of those, nearly 75% smoked every day.
In the U.S., the Midwest had the highest percentage of daily smokers, clocking in at 16.2 percent of all residents smoking. The South followed close behind, with 14.8 percent of residents being smokers.
According to the CDC, the tobacco industry spends, on average, $9.06 billion every year on advertising and promotions of cigarettes and other tobacco products. That’s about $25 million dollars every day, which is more than $1 million every hour. Can you wrap your head around that?
Please tell us in the poll below, are you a cigarette smoker? Thanks for voting.
I never quit, I just stopped. Once in a while I would sure like. A puff. Haven’t had one for 40 some years.
I also stopped and always have said “Once you start smoking you never “quit”, you only quit smoking when you die.” Been off that ‘weed’ ’bout 20 years after smoking for 22 years and it has not bothered me a bit.
Smoke cigars
I enjoy an occasional ‘stogie’ with friends at our local Cigar Bar. It’s a fun time.
No but once did…qualified response.
Back in the day (early 70s) I tried “smoking” … but I didn’t want to smoke cigarettes because I was rebellious and my parents both smoked cigarettes. Yet I was a girl, so cigars were totally out of the question. Ugh.
Then I found CIGARELLOS…. little cigarette-sized cigars, slim in size but dark in color. Aha! That’s for me! A **feminine** cigar…perfect!
I think I bought a total of 2 packs during this experiment. Since I rode the city bus to my first post-high school job, to and from my house…excuse me, my Parents’ house (yeah, I still lived at home with the ‘rents), the bus ride afforded me opportunity for only one smoke each way. I’m not sure I ever learned to inhale…just puff and pose. But that’s what mattered….the puff and pose. I looked cool…I was sure of it.
It ended when I realized what a waste it was of the very little money I was making on my very first job.
So while I DID smoke (and look cool…I was sure of it!) for about a month at age 18…. it was just as laughable then as it seems now. Never tried it again.
I smoked from age 16 until I was 41 and by then I was a 2-pack a day smoker. Quitting was the hardest thing I’ve ever done and the best thing I ever did for myself. I haven’t smoked now in 28 years!
I was raised with lots of love but very little guidance or “rules” in life, which is what happens when young teens get pregnant…….I was raised with my parents, not by my parents. Anyhow, by age 12, my Aunt was giving me cigarettes as “payment” for watching my baby cousin…… Needless to say, I smoked for many, many years. I am 50 & in October it will be my 3rd Anniversary of being a non-smoker. Hardest thing ever but I’m very proud of myself. I have come a long way from where I started (in many areas of my life)………….& I just keep going.
Way to go, Renee! Keep up the good work. 😀 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Thank you!
Keep on keeping on!! Congratulations!
I only smoke cigars or a pipe. My last cigar was 1986.
June 29, 1980 I gave my life to Christ, my cigarettes and lighter lay on the dash when I went into church. After committing my life to Jesus that morning I have not taken another puff, I was a 2 1/2 pack a day smoker and He took it away. That was the day before my mother’s birthday and she said that was the best gift I could give her was the call I made to tell her. My wife also quit that day for 6 weeks and went back to them and smoked the rest of her life until she passed away from lung cancer at the young age of 61. I am living proof that second hand smoke is harmful as I have a mild case of COPD from breathing her smoke.
Praise the Lord! Bless you brother in Christ. I quit after 46 years when my wife was diagnosed with lung cancer; I wanted to provide her an incentive to quit too. She smoked til the day she died at 53; way too young. I’m now 82 and have emphysema but certainly glad I gave up the smokes 22 years ago.
Never smoked, I raised Tobacco and thought it would cut into my profit margin if I went to the store to buy it back. Also I knew all the chemicals we had to use on it , no way I was putting that in my system.
For me it was pretty simple.
A gallon of gas or a pack of smokes was the same price when I was in High School. $0.30 each.!
I could buy packs of cigarettes hangout at the large Pizza Inn parking smoking cigarettes looking Kool OR I could buy gallon of gas and go riding around cruising.
Riding around cruising chasing girls was a Hell of lot more fun than sitting in a parking lot smoking nasty smelly cigarettes thinking I was Kool.
As a result I never smoked cigarettes. Pot smelled even worse and cost more!
I was out!
Having said that I ALWAYS made sure the windshield washer bottle on my car was full of good Whiskey with the windshield washer hose run into my glove box. Need a little kick to your Coke? Open the glove box door, hit the windshield washer switch and there ya go instant mixed drink!
Now that was Kool!
STUPID but Kool.
With that setup ya never had to worry about the Cops finding liquor in your car!
Like many others in High School we ALL did a lot of STUPID STUFF in High School and most of us lived to tell about it!
Like many young kids I tried them. My father found out and sat me down at the kitchen table and made me deep inhale one of his unfiltered Camels. My Mom was very angry with him however thankfully I got so sick from that experience that I never wanted to look at a cigarette. Unfortunately he did not take his own advice and died by 62.
Amazing, 54% of the people have chosen the middle answer which is meaningless.
Did you ever smoke cigarettes?
No, I once did, but I quit
So No, you never did, then how did you quit?
I occasionally smoke once in a blue moon then one day got real sick so now I don’t do it anymore. Smoke like 2 or 3 time a year for special occasions. Just the cigars
I agree, pretty stupid question the way it is worded. I chose that one also because I used to smoke back as a teenager in the 60’s but quit thank God. Obviously they are missing one category, oh well.
“No, I don’t smoke cigarettes now, however I have in the past. I quit smoking 22 years ago.”
I think that answers the question asked in abbreviated form due to space limitations. Sometimes our minds just have to fill in the blanks.
Question may be lacking grammatically, but I’m betting NOBODY misunderstood!
May 31 1988, driving 400 miles to son’s graduation with wife and m-i-l in car decided not to foul the air with my pipe. Somehow I have not smoked anything since that day. Prior to that I smoked pipes, cigars and cigarettes. Had given up the cigarettes sometime before, don’t remember when or why.
I smoked for a dozen years starting as a teen. After getting married we had trouble having a child. I read in Reader’s Digest a series called “I am Joe’s Body.” One of the series said that men who smoke frequently had a lower sperm count! I cut back and quit completely in six months, ending about Thanksgiving. Seven months later in June we learned that my wife was two months pregnant. Was it my smoking? I can’t prove it but I have a strong hunch it was. My son is now over 40 years old and I am the grandfather to twin boys. Another good thing is that after six months I could walk in the house and tell what my wife was making for supper by the smell of the food she was cooking!
I quit in 1964 at 24 years old. Probably one of the smartest things I’ve done.
Never ever!! I thought it was disgusting growing up as a child watching my parents friends smoke. My parents never did and neither have I. I now have asthma as an adult, so I’m thankful I never did. I was around a lot of second hand smoke growing up in the 70’s and 80’s and I’m sure this effected my lungs. And worst of all my mothers passed away with lung cancer at 57 as a non smoker. So go figure!!
We lived in West Germany for a few months while my Dad worked in the Middle East. I was about 16 years old. Can’t remember why but I got mad at them and was left at our apartment, alone, and my Dad had left his Salems sitting on the table. I went out to the balcony and smoked six, in a row, and became super light headed and very nauseous. Never smoked them again.
I quit 32years ago after a 2pack a day bad habit. I said to myself “when they become $1 a pack i quit*
I walked into the gas station and said *a pack of camels please. She reached up,got them and said $1please. I said i changed my mind. N o thanks. Never smoked again. Now cigarettes are in the $8/10 a pack range. Pure stupid.
Same story as yours. Also said I would quit when they hit a buck. That also happened when my wife was pregnant with our first and I did not want my kid to deal with 2nd hand smoke or see her dad smoke and pick up the habit. Still thank her to this day for giving me a great reason to quit!
I smoked pipes back in the 1970’s and then quit. So I had to answer no because I never smoked cigarettes.
Same here. I smoked a pipe while in the Air Force in the late 70’s into the early 80’s. I quit when I moved back home as my parents had quit smoking. I never started again. I still like the smell of good pipe tobacco but never did like the smell of cigarettes.
I quit 35 years ago and it took many years to quit. Tried everything and then a customer told me about her psychotherapy sessions. Thought it was BS at first, but I gave it a chance and made it happen. It worked!!!! :). Unfortunately I can’t refer her to anyone. I found out she herself died of cancer, but not from smoking.
I tried while in high school and didn’t like them.
But 55 years ago I went into the Army and while training the sergeant would say “take a break, light ’em if you got ’em.” Then the non-smokers would get extra duty cleaning the area. After 4 months of fake puffing I was hooked.
50 years ago the price went from $4 to $4.10 a carton (10 packs/carton). I decided that was too expensive and never bought or smoked another one.
I quit smoking cigarettes, but I enjoy my cigars every day.
Quit smoking 22 years ago. Started smoking in 6th grade occasionally and by high school, full blown smoker. When you live at 7,500′ and you can’t breathe it is time to quit.
I marked “Never” but that is not entirely true. I did experiment with smoking briefly as a teenager, but I did not like waking up in the morning with my mouth tasting like I had eaten a welcome mat. So I shortly gave up on it and never looked back.
smoked 1puff..came home from collage on a weekend, told my dad that many girls were smoking and I was going to also..He assured me that was OK, BUT..if I was going to smoke, I had to do it right..He would teach me..He lit a cigarette, handed it to me and said “now take a real deep breath”
I did, and when I finished coughing never touched one again..He was the best teacher I ever had..taught me a very good lesson..got his point across..this was in 1958..
Lay down the habit 40 years ago on a five dollar bet that I couldn’t. Haven’t had one since. Funny thing is, I do not remember if I ever collected the five dollars or not.
I have never smoked even though my Dad did and my husband did. I never even wanted to try in all my 75 years.
Started over 60 yrs ago when I went in Navy. Our training officer gave us a smoke break and if you didn’t smoke he found some extra duty for you. I learned very quickly how to smoke. Smoked for 10 years. I quit in mid 70s when our neighbor got throat cancer and haven’t missed it since.
I quit 37 years ago cold turkey after 3 packs a day. Good lord at todays prices I couldn’t afford it!!!
I gave up cigarettes but I still smoke 🙂
I replied NO,I once did but I quit. LOL, although it is hard to quit something you never did. I smoked from my late teens until I was 40. I quit and never looked back.
Curious , where is the tobacco industry spending all this money on advertising ? I live in Canada and tobacco advertising was banned 15-20 years ago here. Stores can’t even display them where you can see them, you have to ask and they will open the door and get them for you. FYI, I stopped smoking Mar 31, 1989.
After being in the Navy where the saying was if you have them light them, otherwise keep working, only paid $1.00 a carton, always said when they went to $2.00 a pack , I would Quit, and I did., Now some are over $5.00 a pack
I quit smoking July 4, 1975. I smoked 3 packs of Winchester little cigars, a package of 5 Hav-a-Tampa jewels, and 1/2 a package of Benson and Hedges menthol (to keep me opened up) daily. The cost then was about $2/day.
After 10 years, I figured how much $$ I saved and bought a 1980 Corvette. 10 years latter, I bought a 27 ft boat. !0 years later, I bought a motor home. Now, I’m thinking about a plane.
If you smoked that much (and still are alive) what have YOU got to show for it!!!
I did briefly in the period from 1966 to 1971. I was smoking 5-6 cigarettes a day and also smoked a small pipe briefly in 1967-8- Turned heads with that! The ex (1+ packs a day) kept saying we had to quit as we couldn’t afford it. He’d say we’ll quit as soon as I finish this carton. He never quit. Food budget was $7.50 a week and cigarettes were $1 a pack- but 75 cents if you bought a carton, that’s why I finally quit. I knew that quitting was hard-. I analyzed when the urge to smoke hit me- at coffee break time, in between classes standing around with my friends, when I would have a beer after work. I switched from coffee to tea, walked swiftly around campus instead of standing with my friends, and had a glass of cheap wine after work (Pagan Pink Ripple!) I haven’t wanted to smoke since about a week after I quit.