Women who smoke, what made you to start it?

31 comments

1. European, everyone did when I was a teenager. Quit some years ago.

2. I liked the smell and wanted to experience it. I only smoke occasionally now.

3. Stress build up. Usually because of ex boyfriends who fucked me up and being the eldest daughter stress from the family.
   Now everytime I feel anxious or stressed, I need a smoke. The minute my stress is down, I can go for months without smoking.

4. It was the 90s and it seemed the thing to do.

5. my academics.

6. It was cool back then and my friends were doing it.

7. Stress. And I have a bit of a self-destructive streak. I know it’s bad for me, but that’s partially why I do it.

8. Nursing school of all things. I would bum a cigarette off of someone before a test to calm my nerves. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤣

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10. Stress

11. Smoking cannabis? Working in the food service industry. Smoking cigarettes? Watching Mad Men lol. I have only smoked maybe 3-4 cigarettes in my day but only on occasion and when I’m drinking.

12. Getting back at an exboyfriend who hated it. Smoked socially while drinking before this, and he shamed me every time I did it. I was attracted to someone else who happened to be a smoker, and my roommate was a smoker, so I dove into that harder. Ditched the ex and ended up marrying the other guy. We’re both still smokers, much to our chagrin.

    My husband started smoking because of my roommate. She was always a smoker, and she and my husband dated before I met them. She cheated on him, he started smoking. She moved in with me, he and I started dating. She moved out, he and I had a kid and got married.

    These damn exes, though, making us start smoking lol… /s

13. I smoke weed because it helps with physical and mental pain. I started it because it’s the only herbal medicine that brings me to peace.

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15. All the cool indie kids did when I was a teenager. I began socially smoking at gigs and was further encouraged when I realised that smoking was a good way to meet interesting people — while standing outside the club, when someone bums a cigarette off you or asks if you’ve got a light, and that turns into a conversation. My life at the time was also very stressful, so I started chain-smoking alone by the riverbank in the evenings. I have fond memories of how relaxing and comforting that was for me.

    I also just *like* smoking, full stop — the taste aside and light “high” aside, the ritualistic element of it continues to appeal to me. I have never touched a vape because I like the process of properly lighting up, all the way till stubbing out the cigarette.

    I do not smoke anywhere as much as I used to when I was much younger, and I wouldn’t want to. The “rule” that I abide by is that I only smoke twice a week at the very most with my partner; never alone. During our sessions, we smoke 2 cigarettes max each and maybe 3 if we’ve had particularly rough days. We are otherwise very fit and have disciplined diets; this system, for us, is much more sustainable than trying to quit completely.

    It is funny that the younger generation seems to have such a strong and disgusted aversive reaction to smoking. I’m a millennial with predominantly gen-X friends (including my husband) and everyone still likes smoking, even if they’ve made a point of quitting!

16. Everybody was going for smoke breaks at the pub and getting out for 20 minutes at a time which meant they were working like 6 hours instead of 8 and I was doing all the heavy lifting so fuck you, I’m going to smoke.
    Awful. hate it. Don’t smoke now but it got me out the pub soo…yep.

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18. Smoke what

19. Stress. Depression. Recently left the service so I feel free to do it

20. I no longer smoke, but I did previously. I was a goth-punk-metal-grunge teenager in the 90s when I started smoking. It was very common in that scene. Essentially I started because I was around it and bored enough to try. I quit because it was causing me issues with my heart rhythm.

21. liked the feeling.

22. I started as a form of self harm and every time I return to it, it is for that reason.

23. Cigarettes – Everyone was doing it and I wanted to fit in. Hated it at first but it became an addiction eventually turned into vaping. Quit both a year ago.

    Weed – I liked that my brain stopped thinking and could easily fall asleep when I was having a hard time sleeping. Quit this one when I got my sleep pattern back.

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25. The Balkans, I think that alone answers the question.
    Everybody I know is smoking, you could say that is part of “culture” here. Quit almost one year ago

26. Smoke what…

27. I started smoking at 12 due to my parents divorce and subsequent remarriages to people who hated me.my stepfather was an alcoholic pedophile who I had to fight off my whole life bc my mother said I could ‘take care of myself ‘.then she abandoned both my brother and I to my father and ran off with my stepdad,she didn’t believe he did that to me.and then I was traumatized by people who were supposed to protect me.i didn’t know how to cope(by then I had chronic anxiety, abandonment issues etc).so yeah really rough childhood

28. Found a pack somewhere and thought it was funny to keep it. A guy I was talking to at the same time was really into smoking and I developed a positive association. Became a way to chill out, but also wake me up in the morning. Really, whatever excuse I wanted. Still seems like the cool thing to do in the alt scene. I am very off and on. Typically only social at this point.

29. I started smoking cigarettes after a walk with an ex. He accidentally blew the smoke in my face and I don’t know what it was really, but I liked it. I vape now, which I’m trying to quit, but I work with kids so having the cigarette smell on me is a no. I started smoking weed with another ex and have smoked regularly since. I developed an emotional dependency to it during 2022, but I don’t smoke nearly as much now as I did then.

30. Grew up in a smoker household. But like it wasn’t bad, anyone who wanted to smoke would always go out in the balcony. But I picked up that they only smoked when something stressful happened.

    When I was 13 I stole my dad’s cigarettes because my first boyfriend had kissed another girl and I thought smoking was a magic fix to all of that. Didn’t even know how to smoke but I tried. So that’s when it started. I rarely smoke now, and don’t do it to alleviate stress. It’s like a fun thing to do if I’m getting a few drinks with the girls. I had a very toxic relationship with smoking when I was a teenager though.

    Smoking cannabis? I smoked it here and there with friends and exes but never enjoyed it to be honest, always felt anxious. Until my partner and I tried it together, we just laughed the entire time and had great sex and a lot of food and woke up very fresh the next day. So now we smoke pot only on the weekends and enjoy each others company x100 and just relax after a heavy week.

31. Dunno—it was comforting because it smelled like the people around me? I quit about 2 years now and still miss it. I have vowed if I make it to 80 I’m picking it up again.