Are you smoker?

[Louis]

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Leica T + Vario Elmar-T, 18-56

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[mikemgb]

Not since 10:20pm, December 31st 2001.

Because I still track everything: I have now stopped smoking for 16 years, 9 months, 4 weeks, 3 days, 21 hours, 29 minutes, 26 seconds. That translates into 184,286 cigarettes NOT smoked, for a savings of $41,464.54

I love the colours in this shot, and thank you for reminding me of my fight with that addiction.

[Louis]

Congratulation, my friend. I am not a smoker either. I took this shot only because of the colors and the nice light I had at that moment.

Your feedback is very much appreciated; thank you.

Kind regards,

Louis

[stuny]

Other than my never being a a smoker, I agree with Mike. 

[dkCambridgeshire]

Excellent 'Invitation to smoke' photograph.  

Ref., "Are You Smoker" … Since 26 December 1991 I'm an ex-smoker. I planned, for 6 weeks prior, to quit on 1 January 1992. However, after brainwashing myself during that time by repeatedly reading, 'My notes as to why I MUST QUIT SMOKING', decided to bring the day forward slightly. One of the notes read, "You will not have withdrawal symptoms"   And that sums up my greatest achievement … almost 28 years ago during which time I've 'not spent on cigarettes', in terms of present day values (£11.65 per packet),  approx. £235,000.  

Best wishes

dunk 

[Louis]

1 hour ago, dkCambridgeshire said:

Excellent 'Invitation to smoke' photograph.  

Ref., "Are You Smoker" … Since 26 December 1991 I'm an ex-smoker.

I almost 28 years ago during which time I've 'not spent on cigarettes', in terms of present day values (£11.65 per packet),  approx. £235,000.  

Best wishes

dunk 

Dunk, congratulation for your will power. 

Now, imagine all the Leica gears you can get with 235,000!

[pico]

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1 hour ago, dkCambridgeshire said:

[...] repeatedly reading, 'My notes as to why I MUST QUIT SMOKING', decided to bring the day forward slightly. One of the notes read, "You will not have withdrawal symptoms"  

I quit in 2001. I was so ready to quit, but it was difficult until one morning as I prepared to walk to work I had a thought that bordered upon a spiritual revelation, "Throw that pack of cigarettes into the trash right now, this minute, and quitting will be easy. It might never be easy again." It worked!

 

[dkCambridgeshire]

50 minutes ago, Louis said:

Dunk, congratulation for your will power. 

Now, imagine all the Leica gears you can get with 235,000!

Louis, I wanted to quit for years but thought I'd never succeed … Was not willpower … It was 'self-brainwashing i.e. 'auto-suggestion' … and reading my 'why I must quit notes' including the chosen 'quit date' several times daily for several weeks, reinforced those suggestions. Everyone who hopes to quit has reasons for wanting to quit … so just write them all down … and keep reading them … over and over … including a several weeks forward 'chosen quit date'. 

And yes… I subsequently did manage to buy Leica gear which would have been unaffordable prior to quitting.

dunk 

Edited October 27, 2018 by dkCambridgeshire

[Graham (G4FUJ)]

On 10/27/2018 at 2:52 AM, mikemgb said:

Not since 10:20pm, December 31st 2001.

I gave up a couple of years before that - a really bad cold that settled on my chest and took weeks to clear was the main deciding factor.  Never been tempted since.

It's very nice to be able to occasionally visit a pub here in the UK and not exit smelling like an ashtray.

[gbealnz]

Holy smoke guys, bad pun I know, but horrendous amounts of money diverted, from the cigarette manufacturers to Wetzlar.

Can't think of a better reason, other than your own health that is. Well done.

I've never smoked either.

Oh, sorry Louis, neat shot too.

Gary

[Louis]

Glamorizing smoking!

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[Louis]

But I guess this is closer to the reality!...

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[mikemgb]

17 hours ago, Graham (G4FUJ) said:

I gave up a couple of years before that - a really bad cold that settled on my chest and took weeks to clear was the main deciding factor.  Never been tempted since.

It's very nice to be able to occasionally visit a pub here in the UK and not exit smelling like an ashtray.

I have never seriously been tempted but I do still miss it occasionally. Two things keep me going: I quit at the same time as my wife and I'm damned if I'm going to light one up before she does, 😁 and I know that if I do start again I will want to quit again one day and I do not want to have to go through that quit hell again.

[fotografr]

Great colors and compositions, dreadful habit. I'm also an ex-smoker as of 1988. I had an arrangement with my wife that actually made it easy to quit. I had accumulated a very nice system of Leica M cameras and lenses and when I told my wife I wanted to quit smoking, we made an iron-clad agreement. If I ever started again, I would forfeit all my Leica equipment which she would then sell. It worked or I would not now be a member of this forum.

To this day I can't stand the smell of cigarettes. Today I was out walking and there were three women several meters ahead of me. One was smoking and I had to cross the street to get away from it.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

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Edited October 31, 2018 by fotografr
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[Louis]

Once you realize you get more pleasure taking photos with Leica than smoking, it is a good sign; you are over with smoking! 😳

[dkCambridgeshire]

8 minutes ago, Louis said:

Once you realize you get more pleasure taking photos with Leica than smoking, it is a good sign; you are over with smoking! 😳

… and also when you realise people including your nearest and dearest are no longer stating, "You smell like an old ashtray !!!"

dunk 

[stuny]

My "longest" friend (I knew him since he was 14 until his death at 68) smoked heavily, and continually made "deals," to stop.  Twice he rewarded himself with fine watches, and several times with high-end audio upgrades, but he never stopped for long.  His smoking caused treatable bladder cancer, heart disease, and eventually premature dementia, the worst possible case for an exceptionally bright individual who was defined by his intellect.  My father's quitting was successful, following an unusual turn of events.  I quote here from an unpublished book I wrote about him:

Have you ever noticed that the most vehement anti-smokers are ex-smokers?   Clyde was an ex-smoker, and consistent with so much of his other behavior, he was all the way at the anti end of the smoking continuum, out two or three standard deviations.

Until late in 1939 Clyde was a chain smoker, lighting his next cigarette with the largely smoked current one.  Upon waking he would reach over to the night table to grab a cigarette and matches and light up, even before slipping on his boxer shorts and basketball style white undershirt to walk to the bathroom.  Then, as he’d shave he would have a lighted cigarette in his mouth, making the process of shaving just a bit more challenging.   Usually another lighted cigarette burned away on the edge of the sink.

Clyde also suffered from chronic ulcers.  Prior to the 1980s discovery that most ulcers in the GI system were caused by bacteria, medical experts assumed ulcers came from, and were exacerbated by certain life-style behaviors.  Consequently, Clyde ate bland food well into his 70s, seldom drank alcoholic beverages until then as well, and had been advised to give up smoking.

One late November day in 1939 he had an appointment with a Pittsburgh physician reputed to be quite successful at treating ulcers.  After he announced himself to the receptionist, she went to notify the doctor Clyde was there.  She walked away from Clyde shaking her head and mumbling something, apparently having smelled the cigarette smoke on him, knowing how her boss would react.

The receptionist returned, ushered Clyde into an examination room, and left.  Moments later the doctor swept into the room, his white lab coat flaring out behind him.  Before getting close enough to shake Clyde’s hand and introduce himself he stopped, screwed up his nose and said, “You are a smoker!  I don’t treat smokers!  They’re continually shooting themselves in the foot, and they never run out of ammunition until the day they die!”  With that, he turned on his heel and left the room.

The ploy had its intended effect.  Clyde raced after him, grabbed his lower arm, and begged the doctor to treat him, promising to quit smoking right away.  To make his point he grabbed his pack of cigarettes out of his jacket pocket, crushed it, and gave it to the doctor.

The doctor relented and examined Clyde.  He gave him some specific orders and set a follow-up appointment for a week later.

The following week as soon as the doctor entered the examination room he could smell that Clyde was still an active smoker.  He shouted, “You’re wasting my time and your money!  As long as you keep smoking you’ll never get well and I refuse to treat you!” 

Remarkably, this got through to Clyde and he began crying and begging the doctor to give him one more chance.

The doctor relented and said.  “Okay, I’ll give you one more chance.  I can’t stomach the sight of you anymore today, but I will meet you tomorrow night at precisely 10:30 at…” and gave him an address of a pier where the rivers converge.  Clyde thought it was peculiar but figured the doctor knew what he was doing. 

He was right.

The next night was bitter cold, with gusting winds blowing off the water.  The doctor was already there waiting for Clyde.  When Clyde got close the doctor shook his head and resignedly said, “Just as I feared, you’re still smoking.  Well, all right.  Please take off your watch and hand it to me.” And Clyde complied without asking why.  “Now give me your wallet.”  And Clyde complied again.  “I’ll give these to your widow.  Now jump in the river, because an ulcer patient who smokes will soon be of no use to his family, so you may as well save yourself a few months and get it over with now.”

Clyde, who was not a swimmer and feared the water, was suitably impressed.  He never had another cigarette in his life. 

Too bad fear is seldom a strong enough motivator for getting people to stop harmful habits.

[Louis]

I am always amazed how smoking becomes a different issue in different places. Even in the US; in DC smoking is a bad taboo while in Miami almost everyone is smoking!

Not even mentioning different countries and cultures! In France, most of the people smoke while I noticed in Far East almost everyone is smoking!

That makes me wonder if different DNAs have different reactions to tabaco! My parents were not smoker and after trying, I am not a smoker, either. During my youth, I spent almost 10 years in different art related schools. In that environment, smoking cigarettes and other stuff is a natural thing!... But the air and the the smell always made me feel sick!

Edited October 31, 2018 by Louis

[stuny]

Louis -

I suspect smoking is more cultural and image than DNA, though an addictive personality is certainly hereditary.  On our first trip to China in 1995 we went with a small group of people.  One of the men was the lead lawyer for a very large US cigarette maker.  Of course he was smoking continually, as was the all but required culture in his firm.  He also continually took note of what people were smoking. and so many people were smoking.  We found this to be true in another dozen Asian countries we've visited since, but not so much in Bhutan or Japan, suggesting further that is I cultural rather than DNA.  In Myanmar we saw a boy of about five working at a small manual machine making incense sticks, smoking while working.  I can't find the photo of him, unfortunately.

Much of Asia has come to the conclusion (if at all) that smoking is bad for the health far after the western countries did so.  As recently as walking home yesterday through a neighborhood of Korean immigrants, I found multiple people outside every building smoking.

In the US at present, the smoking rate for adults is down to 14%.

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Hallo,

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[fotografr]

On 10/31/2018 at 10:27 AM, Louis said:

 

Not even mentioning different countries and cultures! In France, most of the people smoke while I noticed in Far East almost everyone is smoking!

 

Part of the reason for this is that when US cigarette companies realized they were going to be facing lawsuits and condemnation here, they began to market cigarettes heavily in Europe and Asia with ad campaigns and low prices. They basically "dumped" their products on the rest of the world.