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Jasmine

I started smoking a year and a half ago. I work in a restaurant, that is why I started, it is an easy break.

Joshua

I started smoking when I was 12. My father started me, he got me on smoking, he was a smoker and so he got me started.

Danielle

I started smoking two and a half years ago. It was mostly just when I was drinking and then it just kind of progressed into an every day thing but I kind of love it, so…

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Chapter 7

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Currently, the Pennsylvania Clean Indoor Air Act, passed in 2008, enforces an indoor

smoking ban in the state of Pennsylvania. This law prohibits smoking inside businesses unless they have been granted an exemption. Bars that have food sales making up

less than 20 percent of their revenue may allow smoking, on the condition that no one under 18 will be allowed in. Fines for noncompliance range from $250 to $1000. Minors caught lying about their age in an attempt to purchase tobacco products can

face up to 75 hours of community service, a $200 fine, and/or a 30-day suspension of their driver’s license.

The state of Pennsylvania allocated $17,674,000 to anti-smoking programs for the fiscal year of 2010, compared to $32,054,000 in fiscal 2009. The sale of cigarettes and the operation of cigarette vending machines both require licenses. There are, however, some locations that

may be exempt from the Clean Indoor Air Act, such as full-service truck stops,

portions of casinos, and clubs that are not open to the public.

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Within the city of Philadelphia, laws concerning smoking tobacco are similar. Smoking is prohibited in restaurants, bars, and clubs – even those that have outdoor seating areas – unless a waiver is obtained. When selling any tobacco product, the retailer must request identification when the customer appears to be under the age of 25, and is prohibited from

making sales to anyone under the age of 18. Selling to minors results in fines that escalate from $100 to $5,000 depending on the number of convictions, according to the “Cigarettes and Tobacco Products” section of The Philadelphia Code. After the third conviction in a 24-month period, the vendor’s cigarette license may be suspended for 30 days; after the fourth, the suspension is for 60 days. This extends to cigarette vending machines, which, if present, may not be in a location accessible to minors.

Cigars and other individually rolled items are taxed at $0.036 each. There is a $0.36 tax

per pack of rolling papers and a $0.36 tax, per ounce, on loose tobacco and other

tobacco related items. Cigarettes and little cigars are exempt from these taxes, according to the Philadelphia Revenue Department.

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Eric I’m 18. I started smoking, like, I think it was like my senior year, the first semester because my parents started drug testing me. I don’t know. It’s not that expensive. I mean, I buy, like, Marlboro for like, I think it’s, like, $6.75 with the tax. But if I don’t have seven bucks I just buy shitty cigarettes. I’m gonna get them either way, so its not a big deal. Yeah, I quit for, like, a week. And then I just, I don’t know. I tried smoking Black & Milds. But it didn’t work.

Virginia I had my first cigarette when I was ten, no, I had my first taste of a cigarette when I was ten. Smoked my first one in college at some point, I don’t remember. So I’ve been smoking on and off since then. Gone through phases where I had to buy my own, not too proud of that. Usually smoke, I’m going to call myself a seasonal smoker, when it’s nice out, it’s a fun activity outside, when it’s cold out, fuck no.

Jeremy I’ve been smoking since ninth grade, 15 years old. Had my first cigarette with friends after smoking some marijuana and I fell in love with cigarettes. I have been smoking for the last 21 years.

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Cole I am 19 years old. I started smoking in the winter of my junior year. The first time I smoked I was at a party with my buddy. He offered me a cigarette. Cost isn’t too bad. I always find a way to get my cigs. Doesn’t hurt me too much.

Christian I am 24 and I started smoking because of stress and social group gatherings. I tried to quit with electronic cigarettes, but they don’t work really. Cigarettes are pretty cheap, relative to other cities, so that’s why I smoke.

Joseph I am 32 years old. I started smoking when I was 12 so I guess I have been smoking for 20 years now. There was a period where I quit for about two years and unfortunately started back up and that was from the time I was 30 until 32 actually I am 33 now, I think. Come to think of it, I am 33 now.

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Dan I’m 27. I started smoking when I was, like, 12. I did it because all the cool kids were doing it. It’s, uh, way too expensive and horrible and I hate it, but I’m hooked. I never tried the patch or anything like that. Just tried to use will and that doesn’t work too well.

Matt I am 22. I started smoking when I was either 15 or 16.

Joe I started smoking when I was 18. I have been smoking for 21 years.

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Francois I’m 20 years old. I started smoking when I was 16 to look cool at the trolley stop with my leather jacket. Sartre is my hero, and he smokes a lot of cigarettes, and I wanted to be the coolest existentialist I could be. And you can’t be a cool existentialist without smoking cigarettes, so I started smoking. And, I tried to quit, and I failed. So now I just keep going. And, I’m hoping to quit at some point when my funds run out.

Megan My name is Megan. I started smoking really young. And I smoked on and off since probably 11. I didn’t really start smoking again until the end of high school. I started smoking a lot in college. I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone. It’s expensive and gross, and I don’t feel the need to quit yet, but at some point I think I will. I tend to buy cheap cigarettes. And I think it’s probably not a good idea to smoke 20 cigarettes in four days. It costs a lot of money. It’s not cheap, and I wouldn’t start if you haven’t.

John I’ve been a smoker for ten years. My first cigarette definitely at the local park, early high school probably didn’t even inhale and I think it was a Parliament Light, to be cool, you know.

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Chris I’m 19, about to be 20. I started smoking when I was 16. I started smoking because my entire family smokes and it’s a hard addiction to escape, obviously. Having those smoke-filled rooms and whatnot. I’ve tried to quit several times. Failed. I try to smoke a pack maybe every two days instead of every day. A pack a day is definitely something you wouldn’t take pride in.

James I started smoking when I turned 18, which was in June. I started smoking because a lot of my friends smoked. And I drink a lot, so they go hand-in-hand, I guess. I have kind of tried to quit a couple times, but I don’t know, not really. Now that I don’t have a job anymore, I am trying to quit because, you know, it’s like seven dollars a pack down here.

John Currently I am 25 years old, I had my first cigarette when I was 13 years old. I started fully smoking, a pack a day about nine years ago. I have been a pack a day ever since and I can’t complain.

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Anthony I started smoking when I was 16. I’m 18 years old now, I just tried to quit February 4th. I was kind of successful for a week. I can’t afford it so I just don’t buy packs anymore. I just bum them all the time, so, that’s good. I just started because, um, I don’t know. I love it. It’s just so great, you know?

Pat I have been smoking since I was about 16, so about two years now. Just stress from life, school, all that stuff. It’s kind of like a punctuation mark when I am done with classes. At least I can go have a cig. I don’t think the cost really affects it.

Jon I started smoking cigarettes when I was 13 years old. My first cigarette, I was drinking actually, my friend handed me a cigarette and I said alright whatever and I smoked and I got addicted. I am 21 now so I have been smoking for eight years.

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Carl I have been smoking for 21 years, because everyone does it. It is something to do at the bars.

Justin I smoke cigarettes once in a while. I usually smoke right before an exam. If I study for hours at a time. I like Marlboro menthol because I like the mintyness.

Josh I started smoking when I was 14 years old. I have been smoking for six years now.

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Shirley I am 46. I started smoking at 14.

Katie I am 21. I’ve been smoking for five years. I started, just a lot of family issues is what made me start. I honestly used to hate cigarettes. I used to yell at all my friends when they did it. And then one day I was so frustrated and I started. And even though I don’t have a voice, its not because of smoking.

Justin I started smoking when I was 13 years old, so I have been smoking almost 17 years, on and off, not so much lately. I had my first cigarette with a buddy of mine behind the garage of his parents’ house while drinking the warmest Miller High Life I have ever seen. It was a day to try all new things and neither of them were very good but it stuck and I have been smoking ever since.

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Ryan I started smoking when I was 20. I am not sure why I started.

Lou I am 21. I started smoking about a year ago to try and deal with stress.

Patti I started smoking when I was 17, I’ve been smoking for 11 years but nobody knows that. I am younger than that, I am not actually that old.

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Teddy I am 21, I have been smoking since I was 16. So that is five years. It’s enjoyable, especially after a meal I like it, it sort of puts the whole thing together. I probably smoke half a pack to a pack a day. It is expensive, but I understand why it is so expensive, because of all the lawsuits. I don’t think people should smoke because it’s a bad habit. For me, as an Albanian, it is more of a coming-of-age thing. It is expected that you smoke at a certain age.

NabeelI am 21 years old. I started smoking regularly back in September. The reason I started to was because of stress, it was also a social thing. A lot of my friends smoke cigarettes. So it was just one of those things that you just join for the occasion. I have actually cut down, and almost stopped except for a maybe an occasional stooge here and there. It was really starting to attack my immune system. Really just shut me down in a way. And I didn’t want something like that to stop me from living my life the way I want to.

Pete I had my first cigarette probably around my sophomore year of high school. I am 23 now so that was probably eight years ago. I had my first cigarette in my high school parking lot. I don’t smoke too much but I tend to smoke more when I am out drinking with my buddies.

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Jesse I am 18 years old. I started smoking when I was 13. I think I stole it from my aunt’s pack. She left it on the coffee table one time, so I thought, fuck it, I’ll take one. I did not start smoking until junior year. Yes, it is very expensive. I haven’t tried to quit yet, but I probably will.

Gavinda I am 20 years old. I am a junior. I started smoking two years ago. I guess it started because my friends and I were too broke to buy pot. And we just like smoked cigarettes instead. It started as a social thing, but now we just need our smokes. I did a psych project trying to quit. And it worked for a while, but after the behavioral intervention ended, there’s nothing keeping it up, so I started smoking again.

Pete I have been smoking for about four years. I had my first cigarette when I was 18 in Wildwood N.J.

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Glenn

I am 60 years old and I started smoking when I was about 15. There was a corner station that had a cigarette machine for 35 cents. I wish they didn’t have one, because maybe I would have never started. I am in the process of quitting now. My 60th birthday is in a couple months. That’s my target date. I have never seriously tried, so I am building my way up to it. Of course money is always a consideration. I could have a nice retirement plan if I didn’t smoke.

Claire I am 18 years old, and I smoke cigarettes. I started smoking when I was 16. I resisted smoking for two years. All my friends smoked and I didn’t want to. I thought it was a really bad idea, then I just started smoking one day. I asked my friend if I could have one of his cigarettes. I tried to quit a bunch of times, but drinking alcohol doesn’t really help. Honestly, when you drink, you want to smoke. So I stop ‘til Thursday, and then the weekend comes.

Queenie I am a smoker, I started at the age of 16, I am 80, so I have been smoking for 64 years. My first cigarette I used to go in back of the high school, it was like a driveway and I would sneak around and smoke out there.

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Josh I am 22. I have been smoking on and off since I was 18 years old. My first cigarette I remember specifically, I was at a bar with some friends and I couldn’t drink because I was 18, but everybody else was smoking, so I figured I needed to occupy my hands with something. I really only smoke when I drink. Sometimes I really get the urge when I am really stressed out but mostly it’s when I drink. It’s only a couple cigarettes at a time.

Miles I am 19 years old. I started smoking when I was 14. I had my first cigarette when I was eight years old. I started smoking because my older brother gave me a cigarette and I kind of liked it. I started smoking just because everyone else was smoking. Currently I am trying to quit, but it’s impossible because its the worst addiction ever. I can’t not have a cigarette. I will pay for the cigarettes anyway, because I want them. I am quitting because they are expensive and I don’t want to do it anymore for my health.

Raph I have been smoking since the age of 12, I am now 33 years old, so I have been smoking for a long time… 21 years. My first cigarette was at the St. Denis Fun Fair. I walked down to Wynnewood Lanes, bought a pack of Marlboro Light 100s. I did not know how to smoke for the first three months of smoking. I wasn’t even inhaling but I finished that entire pack that evening. I went home and my mom said I stunk like cigarettes and I said I had been at a friends’ house whose parents smoked.

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Shane I am 23. I started smoking pretty young, probably 15. I remember I got a lady at 7-11. My friend and I were waiting outside and told her that we were almost 18. And then we went to this field and I took my shirt off, so my mom wouldn’t smell the smoke on me. I got really dizzy. That was pretty much it for my first experience.

Jordan I’m 20 years old. I started smoking when I was 16. I guess my friend just gave me a cigarette one time, so I smoked it. I am worried about the cost, that does make me think that I should be quitting soon because I don’t have the money to just smoke them all the time. I probably smoke about a third or a half a pack a day.

Ryan I have been smoking since I was 18 years old, but actually my first cigarette was when I was about 12 years old, my friend gave me one and I lit it up and I did not inhale it and I was sick for about two days. I have been smoking for about four years now…on the regular.

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Alyssa I am 25. I have been a smoker since I was 15. I used to steal them from my mom, she smokes two packs a day. I quit for two years, before I moved back from Michigan. And I started again when I was working, because all the women would go out for a cigarette break, and I wanted a break too. I am in the process of quitting. My quit date is next Wednesday.

Cole 24. Started smoking when I was 16. I don’t know why I started smok-ing. I think because everyone else was doing it.

Ryan Haverford High School, Class of 1998. I started smoking summer between eighth grade and ninth grade. Started smoking regularly pretty much in ninth grade. I have been smoking somewhere between 13 and 15 years, half my life.

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Bob I am 25, and I started smoking when I was about 21. I always smoked when I drank, so it just grew on me. I started smoking a little later than most people. They usually start in high school. It kind of just happened.

Jason I am 22 years old. I started smoking seven years ago. I cut down smoking because of costs. I probably tried to quit three times prior to this. I didn’t like it, I hated it actually. I thought I wasn’t going to smoke again. And then I picked up maybe a year later.

Tim I have been smoking since I was about 13 years old. My first cigarette I stole a pack of cigarettes from my Grandmother because she smoked a whole bunch of cigarettes and I just thought I would try it out and I liked it. I have been smoking ever since for about seven years now and kind of wish I would stop but unfortunately I don’t want to.

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Joel I am 20 years old, and I started smoking when I was 13, but regularly since I was 15. I started smoking when I was able to buy cigarettes. I got arrested at school because of drugs, so my mother started buying my cigarettes after that.

Numan 23 years old. Started smoking around 18 or 19. Didn’t think about quitting until recently.

Tom I had my first cigarette when I was about 13 years old, I took it from my parents and I have been smoking for about 13 years since.

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Amy I am 19, I probably started smoking when I was in eighth grade. I buy cigarettes on occasion. I don’t buy them that often.

Ali I started smoking two years ago. It was peer pressure. Friends started it, I joined in, why not? It’s not a good habit, but it gets the day by. It costs a lot, if you look at my statement you would see a lot of packs. Have I quit? Yes. Am I a heavy smoker? No, I wouldn’t consider myself a heavy smoker. I am a social smoker.

Chris Okay, I have been smoking for six years, maybe seven. I started smoking when I was 22 years old. My first cigarette was when I was like 13 years old and I hated it and then later on when I started drinking and stuff like that I started smoking and I started to enjoy cigarettes.

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Jamie I am 22. I started smoking when I was 16. I tried to quit, but it didn’t go too well with the school and the coffee, but I am trying again, because they are expensive in New Jersey.

Dimitris

I started smoking when I was approximately 12 years old. In spite of my mother who smoked cigarettes heavily, I pretty much got started because I was trying to prove a point that I had asthma and it wasn’t good for me to be around the cigarette smoking and, lo and behold, here I am some 16 or 17 years later still smoking.

Falah I am 28, I started smoking when I was 15. The cigarettes are really really expensive. They are about seven dollars now. I plan on quitting when I am done with college and I am done with stress.

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Irene I am from Philly, and I am a singer. Probably because all my friends smoke and they were older.

Gregor My first cigarette was when I was between 13 and 14. I am 29 neow, neow, and I have been smoking for 15 years. I was goaded into smoking my first cigarette by friends of mine who were skateboarders, so I am actually a victim of peer pressure. Which is very rare to be seen or admitted but I will do it because I am very susceptible to peer pressure, which is why I am doing this interview right now.

Lauren I am 23, and I have been smoking since I was a sophomore in high school. I have never tried to quit, and I started smoking because it’s cool. Not really, but at the time it was cool.

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Juliana I am 23. I started smoking because my friends were smoking. I have smoked more or less on and off. I have probably only smoked consistently over the past year. I never really tried to quit. It relaxes me.

Jeff I am 33 years old. I started smoking when I was about 15 years old, I do not remember the first time that I did smoke.

Rachel I am 20 years old, and I have been smoking for about four years. I basically started because my friends smoked.

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Steve I started smoking a year and a half ago. Towards the end of high school. I worked at a restaurant, and if you work in the restaurant industry, you will start smoking.

Laura I’ve been smoking since I was 12, so it has been about 13 years. My first time smoking a cigarette I stole one of my mom’s Parliament Lights and I was hanging out my window in the winter and that was the first time I tried it and kind of liked it and started smoking.

Daniel I am 27 years old. I started smoking when I was 15. Black & Milds, I guess they are called. The first time I smoked one of them was at a mall carnival. That was it. I then graduated to clove cigarettes, which made me feel extremely European and awesome. But then I realized that regular cigarettes were cheaper and kind of better in a weird way. I tried to quit twice. Once I consider successful, in 2005, when I quit for seven months.

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Emily The first cigarette that I smoked was a menthol Newport that my best friend Julia gave to me. At that time I introduced her to pot so we were sort of even. I was 13. We were in seventh grade. And then after that I didn’t really smoke cigarettes a whole lot. I’ve only been smoking them regularly and buying them for maybe three or four years.

Michael

I was in Italy in 2005. I was 25 or 26, something like that, 24, maybe even 23. Oh no, wait, I smoked in college. I would drink and smoke in college. I really picked it up when I was in Italy. I am 28 years old, it was about five or six years, maybe about eight or nine years. Well, I enjoy cigarettes, I don’t smoke during the day, I don’t run around and have a cigarette. I smoke when I am drinking or I’ll be social or I want to chill out or I need to take a break and just smoke and fucking smoke.

Francis I started- been smoking for over four years now. I started smoking – actually, my one friend started early smoking, so I got a… he gave me a cigarette and I got hooked from there.

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Kevin I first started smoking when I was 18 because I worked at Wawa and they were free. I really enjoyed smoking with the deli clerk. I’ve been smoking now for five years.

Michael I have been smoking since I was 14 years old. The first time I had a cigarette I was actually at a birthday party. My friend got me to inhale and the first time I ever inhaled I thought it was the worst thing and I ended up laying on the floor of a basement that was set up like a ‘50s-style party room and was green as hell and spent the rest of the party on that floor and then decided to smoke cigarettes afterward and it was all over from then.

Amelia I’ve been smoking for about three years, and I started socially when I was either drunk or smoking weed.

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Hallie I’ve been smoking since I was 20 and I started because I was in college and I missed my mom. So I’ve been smoking for four years.

Sarah

I have been a smoker for approximately 13 years. I first started smoking as a private indulgence. I was in fourth grade up late doing homework and snuck into the basement to be naughty. I couldn’t really inhale the cigarettes but I liked the way I looked just ‘cause it was taboo. I didn’t necessarily pick up smoking at that point in time, I waited until my friends were also smoking and then once again didn’t really pick it up until I guess I was in sixth grade, 12 years old. I am still smoking at age 25.

Nicole I’ve been smoking on and off for three or four years, and I generally started smoking because I like smoking in the car while driving.

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Mat I’ve been smoking cigarettes for about six years now. I started smoking when I was 17. I’m 27. It’s a hard thing to put down.

Alex I started smoking in junior year of high school. I started smoking because my girlfriend smoked. I have been trying to quit smoking for a while. I’ve gotten down to smoking like a pack or two a week. I kind of quit for like a year or so. I would mostly just bum off of people but that got old so I just started buying packs again. Yeah... trying to get done smoking cigarettes but it’s not that easy. The whole stress thing never works with school and everything. But it’s also an alternative to smoking pot.

Steph I’ve been smoking on and off for about maybe three or four years, and I started when I started going to local shows and whatnot, just kind of going outside, and… yeah.

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Chapter 8

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Sales of cigarettes have declined over the past 10 years, according

to Fitch Ratings, a global stock-rating agency. This is in part due to increased prices as a result of federal taxes. According to a 2008 press release from the Harvard School of Public Health, tobacco sales have steadily declined by two percent a year since 1998.

Overall, sales declined 18 percent between 2000 and 2007 – in 2000, there were 21.1 billion packs sold, and only 17.4 billion sold in 2007.

Despite the drop in cigarette sales, the sales of other tobacco products increased by 1.10 billion cigarette-pack equivalents – such as moist snuff, loose tobacco, and little cigars – an estimate based on the products’ tobacco and nicotine content. The Harvard School of Public Health’s 2008 press release explains that this is partly

due to the difference in cost, as the average weekly cost for a moist-snuff user is 55% less than for a cigarette smoker. Furthermore, other products, like little cigars and loose tobacco, are only taxed at five to ten percent of the rate at which cigarettes are taxed. The increase in sales of other tobacco-based products is also the result of anti-smoking

advertisements that are most often aimed at cigarettes, but not at other forms of tobacco use.

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According to a 2006 article from the Associated Press, some employers charge smokers higher premiums for their health insurance – about an extra $20 to $50 a month. The article quotes Linda Cushman, a senior health care strategist

at Hewitt Associates, who claims that smokers cost companies about 25 percent more than nonsmokers in healthcare. Arizona Central, a webpage devoted to Arizona’s local news, posted a 2011 article that revealed a new health care requirement in Maricopa County.

Employees are now required to submit saliva tests to prove that they do not smoke; the penalty for refusing to take the test is a $480 premium. Employers are using

the test as a way to lower health care costs by encouraging their employees to become more health-conscious, but many of the employees see the test as an invasion of privacy. Despite the controversy surrounding these tests, Blue Cross Blue Shield supervisor Michelle Gorman describes these types of tests as an emerging trend.

All the higher taxes, prices, and extra costs of “smokenomics” add up, and can do quite a number on a smoker’s wallet – and on society as a whole. According to the Center

for Disease Control, cigarette-smoking costs more than $193 billion per year – that’s a combination of $97 billion in lost productivity, and $96 billion in health care expenditures. In addition, secondhand smoke costs over $10 billion per year through health care costs, morbidity, and mortality.

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Brian I’m 28. I was 17 when I started smoking. I started smoking socially. I started smoking cloves. I smoked cloves for the first three months of my smoking habit until I got sick and all my phlegm tasted like clove. So then I switched to normal cigarettes and have been smoking them ever since.

Amber I started smoking when I was 13 or 14 years old. I am currently 24 and I started smoking one day behind a restaurant, me and about six of my friends were standing in a circle. And one of my friends stole a cigarette from his dad, so about six of us were 13, passing around a cigarette. And some of us liked it and kept smoking and some of them didn’t like it and didn’t start smoking.

Daniel I started smoking my freshman year of college; it’s been about three years now, and the first time I smoked, it was actually at a college party. I was offered the rest of a cigarette and I just decided to take it, and I have been smoking ever since.

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Jay I started when I was about 15 years old. I guess the normal reasons, my friends did, my parents did, they were around, I was bored. Hmmm? I am 17.

Andy I’m 27. I started smoking when I was 15… unfortunately. You know it was just one of those things. I was hanging out with friends. They were all smoking and I smoked one and kept going.

Anthanasios It’s weird. I started smoking at a young age because my dad smoked. You go to Greece, everyone smoked. And then I started smoking a little bit of… but you smoke cigarettes with that. And then you start drinking, and then you start smoking. I smoke because I’m stressed out because of school, you know what I mean? Like dropping a class, it’s hectos. You need to drink sometimes and just go out and blow off some steam, y’know what I mean? I don’t smoke because I have to smoke, I smoke because of the situation.

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Benjamin I started smoking when I was like 26 years old, off and on. Really, truthfully speaking, I really don’t know because the habit came from my friends. From drinking beers and stuff I just tried one and I’ve been an off an on smoker ever since. It’s been since ‘86.

Angela I started smoking probably like five years ago. I’m about what… 42. Stress. Yeah this is my last cigarette. It is! It is my last cigarette!

Jennie I’ve been smoking since I was 18, so that’s like five years, and I started smoking because I just bummed a couple from my friends and then I was like, oooh, cigarettes are nice! And then, you know, eventually I got addicted and now I just can’t quit.

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Kipp I started smoking, I believe between the age of 11 and 12 because of things that I saw in my familiar surroundings. My first cigarette was the brand that my mother smoked. I guess from 12 until now, I’m 37, so yeah, number it up.

Anita I started smoking at 16. I am now 58, going on 59. I did stop for a year, I guess in my 20s. I stopped for a year, but I started a new job and I was kind of bored on breaks. Everybody was smoking. I borrowed a cigarette and started smoking ever since then and I haven’t stopped.

Robin I started smoking when I was probably 15 or 16 because I was in high school and I think I thought it was the cool thing to do probably and I’ve been smoking for like 15 years then.

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Jan Oh, I was about 18. I don’t know. I’m 63.

Anna 19 years old. Following the crowds. Clubbing. Just on the weekend, every now and then you drink and have a cigarette. Then it became a habit. From weekends to everyday. It is a habit that I want to stop. I have a granddaughter who’s nine years old and they teach them in school about not smoking. She brings home books that’s scaring the hell out of me…about the different chemicals that are released in my body. So yeah, I stopped the drinking without no problem, now it’s the smoking.

Brendan I’ve been smoking since I was 17, so that makes it six years. The first pack of cigarettes I ever bought was… my then-girlfriend at the time gave me a blowjob and I was like, I need to fuckin’ buy a pack of cigarettes! And that’s why I went and bought a pack and since then I’ve been smoking.

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Josh 16 to 18 but really 18. Just curiosity, I guess. So it’s been 15 years. Well, no, wait, no, that’s wrong. 13 years.

Ashley I’m 23. I started smoking when I was about 17. Started smoking just because I was stressed. I started living on my own and just been smoking since.

Doc I been smoking for 40 years and its the only thing that I’ve never been able to stop doing and I’m an alcoholic, I’m a drug addict and those things are no longer a part of my life but cigarettes has been a real problem for me. I can’t quit ‘em, and they’re killing me.

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Lyndsey 24. Because I was living in a rural town and everyone else smoked and there was nothing else to do. Six years.

Belinda I’m currently 62 and I’ve been smoking since, off and on since I was 16. You know there was some periods where there were years where I stopped and then started back due to deaths in families or over stressful situations and then I took up smoking as a relief. And now I am a strong advocate that tobacco is addictive, extremely, and I wouldn’t advise anyone to ever start.

Ken I’ve been smoking since I was about ten years old. I’m now 48 so I’ve been smoking for about 38 years. Well both of my parents smoked when I was a child. They had quit about 30-some years ago but I continued smoking.

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Ray My first cigarette was probably like nine. I first started smoking actually probably like 12, 13. Peer pressure, absolutely. A friend of mine made me do it. I know that I tried smoking but I wouldn’t inhale and they told me to inhale and I did. That was probably the start of it. And then it was the cool thing to do when I was a kid and people didn’t card anybody. Everybody went to Frenchies. Frenchies is the guy who sold cigarettes to everyone. Frenchies is in Rhode Island. I’m 32 now so probably about 17 years.

Brenda

I will be 54 in March and I started smoking when I was 12 years old. I have an older sister and my sister smoked and I picked it up from her. I tried to stop several times and it’s hard. Especially from the past that I came from, the drinking and the drugging, and stuff. So this is the last thing that is holding me back, my smoking, it’s hard. I think it’s like a drug. Some days it can be worse than a drug. It’s not good for anyone’s health. I am a diabetic and have slight heart problem and you know it’s not good.

Rollin I’ve been smoking for approximately seven years. Straight out of high school in 2002. Because it was a experimental thing, uh, my friend had me smoking marijuana and he said I could boost my high from smoking a cigarette and since then I’ve been smoking cigarettes and actually all of my friends that introduced me to marijuana actually quit smoking cigarettes, so now I’m left by myself smoking.

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Jenny Marie

Very unfortunately since I was 18 years old. I wanted to look older and it still hasn’t worked. I’m 35 and I have no crows’ feet, nothing, my skin is beautiful. I have to quit smoking. Don’t smoke. Don’t ever start smoking. It’s my greatest regret in life. I don’t drink or do drugs and I regret ever starting smoking. It’s become such a vice for me that I use it to calm myself during stress. I associate it with pleasure after eating, after sex. I have to quit. That was my last cigarette actually. I have no money.

Craig

I am 21, going on 22 years old, probably by the time this project’s finished. I’ve been smoking on and off for like three years. I got into it because I turned 18 and I thought it would be cool to purchase a pack of Cloves and then I started roll-ing cigarettes and now I am back to just buying packs.

Kesha At the age of 14. I was taking ‘em from my mom and my dad, I mean, my dad, my mom didn’t smoke. 26 years.

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Megan I think I was 15. It’s cool. It’s been six years.

Derrick

I’m 43. I started smoking I’d say when I was about 16, 17, but it wasn’t regularly. It was just once in a while. Partying, peer pressuring and then it became a habit. After I’d say three years, four years of smoking, once in a while I started buying packs. But I never smoked more than ten a day, you know, I always like worked out. Like right now and I still run. I run half marathons. I smoke a cigarette before I run, you know, but it’s never gotten to the point where it affected my health and I am trying to stop now.

Mr. Cook I started smoking when I was about 16. Frequently, on and off, for about ten, ten to 15 years. I started because I wanted to start.

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Larry

I think I was 16. I started because it seemed like the in thing to do around my classmates, you know, peer pressure. So I tried it and I liked it and then I would try it off and on. I would smoke again and it continues like this. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It’s been off and on for about 15 years. It’s always a battle, and I’m always fighting it but if it eases your pain, if it makes you calm. If it feels good to you sometimes you think it’s good for you. That’s one of the reasons why I smoked.

Federico I’m 49. Started smoking when I was about 16, probably due to something like peer pressure or something like that. A lot of my friends smoked. That was a while back… I’ve been smoking since then. I guess I tried to quit smoking a couple times but never really got to that point and… I still would like to quit some day but I really do enjoy it. But I know that it’s bad for me.

Andi I’ve been smoking since I’m eight and I’m 55 now and it was the thing to do.

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Jane When I was 16 because it was where all the cool kids hung out. It’s been 30 years. I really enjoy it but I have to give it up.

Gabe

I am 27. I have been smoking for like I guess nine months now. I only really smoke when I drink. I have always had friends who smoke, but I just never really was into it until I don’t know, about nine months ago, like mid-summer time. My friends had little cigars and stuff so I was with them. I had like a few beers or drinks, what-ever and I just asked to have one. During the day I have no urge to smoke, but when I drink I do and that’s pretty much it.

Alba I started smoking when I was a teenager and I have quit several times. The last time, I decided that I would quit except for vacations abroad. This is not abroad.

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Heather I think I was 15. Most of my friends did. I’m from the South so pretty much everybody did. My parents didn’t. It’s been 18 years.

Gail I’ve been smoking about 35 years. I started when I was 28 because everybody else was so I wanted to be part of the crowd so I did it too. Thought I’d only smoke one pack. Bought a carton. Thought it’d be my last my last carton and here I am 35 years later— still smoking.

Kevin I first started smoking casually very sporadically when I was 16, and I’ve been smoking for like 11 years, but steadily for about nine. ‘Cause I thought it made me look cool and I was in the military so I had a lot of time to waste.

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Colin I’d say two, three months ago because I work 90 hours a week and I’m really stressed out. Don’t start smoking. My mom lost a lung smoking. I plan on quitting because my wife is pregnant and I don’t want to smoke around the baby or a pregnant wife. That’s why I’m outside in the freezing cold smoking, because she would kill me if I came back in. I better wash my hands first too, and my mouth. Secondhand smoke kills.

Greg I am 30 years old. I started smoking when I was 14-ish. In high school it’s a cool thing to do. Didn’t smoke much back then, but just with friends and then at 18 I joined the Marine Corps and everybody either smoked or dipped. I liked dipping so I continued to smoke about half a pack a day ‘til now… so 16 years.

Bob I started smoking probably in my later years of high school, like junior or senior year. I started smoking, the first cigarette was offered to me on a corner across the street from my high school where people would stand out on the corner across from our, my high school in Audubon, NJ, and smoke cigarettes when it was allowed. They offered me a puff and I tried. I’ve been smoking since probably about, since like 1974 or 1973, coulda been 1971 or 1972, I’m not sure.

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Rachel I was 15 I guess. Yeah, I think so, about 15. It just felt like the right thing to do. It’s been ten years.

Heather I’m 26 years old. I’ve been smoking since, I think, 11? Bunch of my friends got together and we’re like, oh let’s steal cigarettes from so and so’s parents, and we got cigarettes. So we had a fort and we were all smoking. I quit for about two years and then I became a waitress and I started smoking again.

Beth I started smoking when I was in high school and I don’t know why I started smoking, but I guess I thought it was cool and some of my friends smoked so I tried it. And I’ve been smoking ever since.

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Constantine I think I was 19 so it’s like three years, something like that. Probably because of friends, the same reason. I was curious why everybody likes it and I don’t. So I just tried and I didn’t like and I tried again and that’s it. Don’t smoke. Nobody should smoke. I’m about to quit. It doesn’t matter. It’s just bad.

JohnWhen I was 18. Three years now. Because I was stressed out and this fatass over here started me because he was hitting on my ex-girlfriend at the time and I was like, give me a cigarette.

Nick I’ve been smoking since I was 18. I started smoking Habatampa cigars and then moved on to Camel cigarettes. I quit a couple times and haven’t successfully yet, and I’ve been smoking for about ten years now.

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William I was 14. My brothers and them when they start drinking, they’re smoking. Same day, drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. You know it probably was Colt 45, yeah it’s got to be. Oh, about 25 years, off and on though. I quit for five years here four years there, but I always come back. Stress starts smoking. And don’t have a beer if you don’t want a cigarette.

Jessica I’m 33. I’ve been smoking since, I guess, junior year in high school because my mom smokes so I just decided to try one of hers one day. I liked the high that it gave me and swore that the minute I didn’t get the high anymore that I would quit but by then I was already hooked. That’s it really. I mean, it’s a good break at work.

Mike I stared smoking when I was in college, 18, 19. ‘Cause women smoked and I would light cigarettes for them and that started me off. It’s true. Well 18, 54, so what? 40, 38 years.

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Joann I’m 54 years old and I started smoking in high school. So I guess I’m smoking 35 years. The only reason I smoke is because I love to do it and I quit one time for about a year and half and I never reached a point where I was okay with not doing it. I always wanted to smoke and I went back smoking cigarettes after I quit for a year and a half when my sister got sick.

Lawrence I’ve been smoking, I started when I was 16 or so, and I stopped when I was 30 for 15 years and I started again ten years ago. I’m 53. My father smoked. I snatched his Winstons out of the drawer and smoked.

Bruce I was 18. It was opening line of senior week. It’s when all the seniors you graduate with all go down to the shore for a week and just get drunk, party, screw, whatever. It’s been 18 years. I had a heart attack already, blocked arteries but smoking don’t help.

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Rachel I started smoking when I was probably 13 but really started smoking when I was 16. I smoke probably like five or ten cigarettes a day, depending on alcohol and stress levels I guess. But I just enjoy smoking in general. It’s a habit I don’t really feel like quitting and I haven’t felt the effects of it too much. I guess my voice is a little bit raspier because of the winter and smoking. Yeah it’s good stuff. I like smoking. It’s a hobby I guess. I’m 23, so it’s been ten years.

Josef

I started smoking after drinking liquor. That’s it. Like one year ago. When you go clubbing and when you are drunk, you need a cigarette and then you start a cigarette after a cigarette and then you got a tattoo.

Chris I started smoking around the age of ten and I don’t know, I don’t actually have no actual reason why I started but I just started smoking maybe ‘cause I thought it was probably fun, but then after a while it just became addictive, I didn’t even smoke for fun. I just felt like I needed it. I’m 20, about to be 25. I’ve been smoking like 15 years maybe.

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Richard I started when I was 16 because everybody else was. I grew up out in the suburbs, out in Media. It’s been 41 years. I really wish I hadn’t started but it’s too hard to stop.

Julio I began smoking at the age of 12 years old. The reason I started smoking is because I worked at a factory where cigarettes were always around. I am 81 years old now and after all of these years of smoking it has caused me to use oxygen because the cigarettes have affected my lungs.

Norma When I was 20. Just had quite a few things on my mind. I started when I was 20, I’m 63 now, so what would that be, 43 years, 33, 43 yeah, 43 years.

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Penelope I was 18. I was traveling through Europe with my partner at the time. He was from France. I was in Barcelona and there were these old Catalonian men that would sit at the bar and would talk about how their parents had fought in the Spanish civil war against Franco. They would be hand-rolling cigarettes and I hoped that someday I would grow up to be an old Catalonian man that smokes tobacco. But I do want to quit sooner rather than later but it’s hard.

Justin I started smoking when I was about 17. I’m 26 now. I don’t even know why. I don’t have a good reason. I haven’t really thought about quitting.

Utora I’ve been smoking since I was what, 18. It brings me at ease, it makes me relaxed and nobody asked me to do it, nothing like that. I wasn’t forced into it or nothing. It’s just what I would like to do, you know.

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Dean I was 14. Because my girlfriend smoked at the time and I kinda just did it because I wanted to look cool to my girlfriend who was older than me. I think that’s way. That would be about ten years now.

Justin I’m 22 years old. I’ve been smoking since ninth grade, pretty much on and off. I’m a senior at Temple. I don’t really know… I started smoking because I was in a band and my lead singer smoked and one day I just kind of went out while he was on a cigarette break and I was like, hey, give me one of those. He thought that was okay and you know he bought me cigarettes until I was of age and then finally started buying my own cigarettes.

Leonitious I started smoking when I was 24 years old and I guess peer pressure with my friends, they were all smoking and ‘til today one pack will last me three days, so.

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Dan I started smoking when I was 21. I was hanging out with friends and I was playing shows and it seemed like a fun thing to do. I didn’t smoke that much for a long time but as of like two years ago I have been smoking a lot more. I quit three times for a good few weeks for each of them and then played more shows, start smoking the cigarettes and that’s pretty much it. It’s been five years.

Linda I’m a smoker. I’ve been smoking since the age of 14. I’m 47, so that makes it 24 years of smoking and trying to quit. Why did I start smoking? Peer pressure; wanted to be like the rest of the young crowds.

Howard Alright, I started smoking at the age of 19. I started smoking because I used to drink a lot of alcohol and cigarettes went good with the beer and I think 20 years now, yeah I’ve been smoking for about 20 years.

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Dante It’s hard to gauge. I’d say 21 because I just picked the habit up. It’s been 18 years.

Marshall I’m 19. Went to Temple for a little bit. Started smoking when I was like a freshman in high school cause I smoked a lot of weed, but I couldn’t afford it I guess. So now I just smoke cigarettes and I started smoking rolled cigarettes like in the summer with all of my friends. But yeah I have been smoking since then so like six years.

Werk I’ve been smoking since I was motherfucking in my Pampers. I started because my mom actually used to fucking smoke cigarettes and she used to tell me to go get her a cigarette out her pack, but then when I got older, it was like a stress bubble, a stress reliever. I smoke a lot of weed too, probably never stop smoking weed but cigarettes, I mean they rock. I don’t care. We gonna die anyway, shit, fuck it.

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J Truth I’ve been smoking for about seven, eight years. Stress. It’s been about 24 years.

Matt I started smoking when I was 14 years old basically for boredom. Something to do. Smoked a cigarette, got light headed, liked the feeling, kept on doing it and continued on. I’m 38. My grandfather lived ‘til he was 98. He smoked and drank all his life, so longevity’s in my family.

Jose I’ve been smoking since I was 14 years old. I picked up the first cigarette and I still kept smoking. I haven’t stopped since then. Well, I’m 41 right now. Been a lotta years.

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Wanda Since I was nine because my parents were smoking. Almost 30 years.

Michael I’ve been smoking since I was nine years old. I’m currently 25. My mom smoked, my dad smoked and you know. I hung around kids that smoked so naturally I smoked. I know it’s not good for you but you know what, I can’t quit.

Mary Ellen I started smoking around 1980, I kinda did it to go along with the crowd. Oh boy, I think over 20 years now.

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James Nearly all my life. When I was about 13, give or take. Why did I start? Because they taste good. In crowd. In crowd.

Richie I am 77 years old and still smoking. Oh probably 40 years ago. Habit and for relaxation.

Bikim Started smoking when I was 12 years old. Because my cousin was smoking cigarettes and I wanted to smoke with them and I fell in. I smoked and got dizzy and I got, like what they would say, high, and I fell in the river. I liked that so I’ve been smoking since. If I’d known about marijuana before this, I would never smoked cigarettes. Marijuana is better than cigarettes, but now I’m addicted to cigarettes. I’m 57 years old so I’ve been smoking cigarettes ever since I was 12.

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Bob I’ve been smoking ever since I was 13. I’m still smoking. I’m 62 years old. Never tried to quit. I never tried to quit smoking because you’re going to go right back to the nicotine. Nicotine’s just like drugs and it’s hard to quit. I never tried to stop smoking because I love smoking. It calms me down. It relaxes me. I’m 13. I was born around the neighborhood and then I used to work at a drug store. I’d take cigarettes and shit like that. They knew I was smoking.

Rick I’m a smoker. When I was 12 years old. My oldest brother, I saw him walking around with one in his mouth and I decided to light up with him and that what hooked me. That was… 56 now, so that’s like 40-something years I have been smoking cigarettes.

Brian I started smoking about ten years ago and right now I don’t remember why.

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Chapter 9 It is no secret that smoking has been a contributing factor to many forms of cancer. In fact, the World Health Organization named smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in the WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2009. The Surgeon General conducted a case study in 2010 for their annual report, How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease, which shows that smoking is responsible for more than 85 percent of lung cancer and increases one’s risk for a variety of health issues, including heart attack. The study also found that even exposure to low levels of cigarette smoke, including secondhand smoke, causes a rapid increase in the inflammation of blood vessels. Inflammation of the blood vessels can cause heart attack and stroke. The report went on further to say that cigarettes now contain ammonia, which increases their addictiveness. Tobacco companies also use other tactics to make cigarettes more addictive, according to

the Surgeon General, such as “filter holes that allow people to inhale smoke more deeply into the lungs,” and “sugar and moisture enhancers to reduce the burning sensation of smoking, making it more pleasant, especially for new cigarette users.”

Damage can occur even when an individual isn’t smoking, through exposure to

secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke reportedly increases the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, also known as SIDS; asthma, and pneumonia in children, according to the Surgeon General’s report Children and Secondhand Smoke Exposure, published in 2007. An estimated 430 infants die from SIDS every year in the U.S., according to 2005 research from the California Environmental Protection Agency. Secondhand smoke alone is responsible for approximately half a million deaths, according to the Surgeon General’s report How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease.

The Surgeon General also stated in the report that 40 million American citizens smoke. Tobacco was also found to be responsible for the deaths of 443,000 Americans a year. That’s one in five deaths attributed to tobacco annually.

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Ahmein Nine years. Annoying teachers. I was 13. Wow, that’s horrible. Yeah, 13. 13.

Ryan I started smoking about three years ago. I smoked for about a year and a half a pack a day. And then I quit for about nine months. And I just started up again about a month ago. I quit in the first place because I got a little scared that I was not going to be able to after a while. And for expense reasons.

Kara I started smoking when I was 15, been smoking the entire time. I’m 33 now, so 18 years. I started ‘cause I was bored and friends were doing it so I did it too.

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Ronald For about 25 years. I guess people in my past smoked so I had to start smoking. I thought it was cool. I guess I was about… wow, that was more than 25 years. I’m 51 and I started smoking like 17, 18. I guess that’s about 35 years. Don’t smoke because when you smoke you get addicted to it. It’s hard to stop. I wish I could stop but I’ve been smoking so many years it’s hard to stop.

Stephanie I started smoking cigarettes with my best friend when we were 13. I’ve been addicted to cigarettes; I’m 47 years old. I’m trying to quit at this time. I’m only smoking American Easy Spirits cigarettes from the American Indians with no additives.

Andrew I started when I was 13. I suppose I started because it was relaxing and I’m 19 now so I’ve been doing it since then. About a pack a day.

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Joanne A long time. Let me think…34 years. High school, peer pressure. About 14.

Steve I’m 23 right now. I have been smoking since I was 20 and I would say I began smoking because when I would drink, I would smoke and then it became more of a regular thing when the stress got too high. But now I don’t need a cigarette when I am stressed. I just smoke because it gives me something to do. It sounds weird, but it is the truth. Like if you are driving down to the city and you are sitting in your car. There’s kind of nothing to do outside of listening to music and I rather smoke a cigarette while I am doing that.

Zack I started smoking when I was 17, so I smoked for four years now and I started smoking because of an ex-girlfriend.

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Terry I started smoking when I was 14 years old. I am now 36 and I smoke only about like five cigarettes a day and I mainly started as a social thing. Peer pressure I guess you can say and now I do it pretty much just as a habit. I don’t really enjoy it but at the same time it’s just a habit.

Joe I started smoking about two years ago and I smoke I say like a pack every two weeks ‘cause it takes some stress off.

Charles I smoked weed when I was a kid and my friends told me that if I smoked a cigarette after I got stoned I would get higher. So I started smoking cigarettes and then a year or so later I got arrested for smoking weed, so I couldn’t smoke weed, so I just started smoking cigarettes primarily and it just stuck I guess. 12. Nine years.

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John When I was young I tried smoking pot and then everyone’s like, yo, try smoking a cigarette, it makes you feel a little bit higher. And then next thing you know that became the better choice. Obviously I can’t smoke pot anymore, I teach, so I just smoke cigarettes. It’s tough to quit once you get into your routine. I’d like to quit. I’m still kind of an athlete. It will be 12 years by the end of this month. I was 15.

Tony I’m 21. First time I’ve ever smoked I think I was 16 and it was a Newport cigarette, which now I don’t like. I like regular cigs, Camels. Cigarettes make me feel good because it calms me down in times where I feel stressed or depressed. I just started smoking more frequently about a year ago. I was watching a lot of French new wave movies and film noir stuff and movies can make cigarettes seem so appealing. I guess because you don’t smell them through the screen.

Brenda I started smoking when I was 18. Because my friends did and smoking maybe four years, with a year and a half break in between.

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Allie On and off for about ten years. I think the first time I drank I smoked a cigarette and it became every time I drank I smoked a cigarette. And it became, I smoke cigarettes all the time. I was 14 or 15.

Kyle I’ve been smoking, man, for like eight years. Started probably like when I was 16. I kind of started smoking I think more out of boredom. Peer pressure type, I’m in a crowd, well then we smoked, and what we smoked wasn’t available so… cigarettes were available, and you know I ended up buying a pack.

Chris I started smoking cigars five years ago. Just relaxing, just relaxing, for relaxing purposes.

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Casey Since I was 16. I started with cloves. Like Djarum cloves. I was like, I’m in theater, I’m going to be badass. And then I moved onto menthols for some reason. Basically whoever I was dating, I picked up what they were smoking. I rolled my own cigarettes for a while because I was super cheap and it’s good to trade stuff because I was homeless for a while. I’d roll cigarettes for food. The barter system is the best thing to live on. I’ll be 26 in August so almost ten years. I’m trying to quit on Monday.

Britton I started when I was 17. Five years now. Smoke to be cool, to fit in. No, to take a little break from the day, to enjoy the outdoors, to get some fresh air. And it’s just a good way to connect with people. I have had some really deep conversations over cigarettes. That I haven’t had over tea over coffee or anything like that.

Jeff I started smoking when I was 18 which would be 18 years ago. Boredom and peer pressure.

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Janelle I started smoking when I was like 15 because someone told me that if I smoked the cigarette after I smoked the joint it would boost my high. Yea, for the first couple times and then at the end I was addicted. Almost 20 years.

Phillip I started smoking when I was 19, my first year in college. For about two years. Stress relief. Smoking cigarettes just makes stress just kind of dissolve when you are smoking, it feels good.

Kent I’ve been smoking since I was 14 and I started to be cool foolishly and it’s not. So I’m now 27, so that would be about 13 years that I’ve been a smoker.

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Adam Because of this guy, and 12 years.

Sasha I started smoking cigarettes when I was about 16, when I was working at Seattle’s Best Coffee and I just smoked on my breaks. Well I guess about now it has been about five years. I smoke because it relieves stress and also it makes me look cool when I am like in front of the mall, in front of my job smoking. People come up to me and ask me for a lighter, ask me for cigarettes and I just think that is a huge compliment.

Mary I was 18 and it was when I was pulling an all-nighter one night, my friend told me to chill out, to smoke a cigarette, and then I smoked ever since.

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Anthony Dang, I was like, 15. I’m 24, so enough years, you know what I’m saying? I don’t know. I really don’t know. I just started smoking weed and then I wanted to smoke cigarettes. I don’t know. I guess I thought it was cool. It looked cool.

Brianne I’m 22 years old, I started smoking my senior year of high school, I’m a senior at college right now. I guess I started smoking, I don’t know, I guess because I was stressed out in high school, going into college.

Ryan I started smoking when I was 15. The reason why is, one, I was bored; two, both of my parents smoked; three, I got them for free. I’ve been smoking for ten years now.

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Antoine I’m German exchange student at Penn. I think I started smoking occasionally on parties when I was student in France. So I just smoked when I went out. And you don’t see me actually very often smoking in the day time. It’s usually just when I go out. Yeah, so, probably 18. I’m 21 so.

Chris I’m 43. When I grew up it wasn’t a big sin, everybody smoked. I really didn’t start smoking until I started college.

Marge I started smoking when I was about 14 and it was just to be in with the in crowd, and now it’s an addiction for the last 32 years, and I think it calms my nerves. I don’t know if it’s a mind over matter thing, but that’s what I do.

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Brian I started smoking because it just seemed like the cool thing to do as a 14-year-old. I was 14. I’m 26 and 12 years.

Clair I’m 20 years old. I started smoking when I was 16 and I started because I think I was offered one and I just liked it after that so it just kind of continued like that.

Stan I started smoking ‘round the age of 18. I’m 60, and it was a fad back then. I was doing something everybody else try. Smoking over 30 some years.

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Charles 14, about 47 years. I have not the foggiest idea. It’s been so many years.

Clark Age 45. I started smoking from my military service, back home I had to serve in the military and since everyone was smoking, I had to, otherwise you can’t get into the crowd, right? So that was the beginning and it was about 1988, so do the calculation, it’s been many years.

Simone I’ve been smoking for five years. I started smoking with my brother. I lost my brother.

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Colin 15. Almost nine years. Stress. Cutting down, so that’s a good thing, but I used to smoke about a pack in like a day or two.

Dan I’m 21 and I started smoking at the age of 12, because at the time, it was the cool thing to do.

Tom I started smoking around age 15, and I been smoking since 50 years. I just wanted to try it out what I was 15.

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Dan 16. Oh, now you’re trying to get my age out of it. 15. She knows I’m lying. I think it’s part of my genes.

Della About a half a pack. I started smoking when I was about 17. I’m 43 and the reason is ‘cause I thought I was grown and now it’s a habit.

Yasin I’m 27, I start smoking like about ten years, ten years ago. Was my country, ‘cause I’m from Morocco. Just like that, I don’t remember how was it, you know. It was just with the friends and started smoking with friends to try it and after that, like for right now, I have to smoke ‘cause you know. That’s it.

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David Ah, man, fifth grade was my first cigarette so I guess like 11, but, like really really smoking probably about 13. A decade. Because I was curious. My older sister smoked and I thought if she did it then I wanted to know what the fuss was about and so I started smoking and then it went well with other substances so that’s why I continue smoking.

Diego Age 18. I started smoking at 17 and I did it to kind of suppress my hunger because I didn’t want to eat my family out of the house …because I did before that.

Eli I started smoking about eight years ago and probably because I drank too much and started smoking with my friends.

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Eric 24. More social. Just to, yeah, I guess I wouldn’t say that it was the thing to do but I tried it and it’s one of those things that I haven’t quit ‘cause I haven’t really had a driving force to.

Frank I started smoking at 15, I’m 34 now. It just kind of happened, and I was young and just trying to… I don’t know. It’s expensive now, so that’s a reason to quit I guess.

Farren Some friends of mine and we just tried it and then it became a habit. Around 30. Around 20.

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Jake I started smoking when I was 15, so probably like five years. And I guess the only reason I started was because of peer pressure. Smoking sucks, don’t do it. It hurts your lungs and I cough up blood.

Jason 22, on and off, maybe five years. Because of the Camel reps in Philadelphia.

Evan I’m 27, I started smoking when I was 14, I have no idea why, I was stupid… I was a kid and I thought it was cool, that’s really it, no other reason.

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Jeremy 18? 17? 17. Seven? Because firsthand smoke is better than secondhand smoke.

Joseph I’m 56 years old and I started smoking when I was a teenager. It was the thing to do.

Jim 18, 45 years, a girl introduced me. It’s true, it’s true, it’s true.

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Jeff Started smoking when I was 23 and then stopped when I was 34, that was cigarettes. And then started smoking cigars around 40. Because, no particular reason.

Johnny Probably for about five years. 18. We’d smoke at bars and stuff. We’d smoke then.

Gabrielle I am 21 years old. I started smoking probably my senior year of high school when I was about 18. I started smoking because it was more of a social thing and it kind of turned into a stress reliever thing. And now I just smoke about five or six cigarettes a day, but more if it’s a weekend.

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Liz

I was 12. Yeah, I was in the punk scene. Everybody smoked, I smoked too. 14 years now. I was in the punk scene. Everyone was smoking. I smoked too and oh dear. It depends on the day. Usually a pack. Sometimes a little bit less.

Kim I started smoking when I was 18, I’m 22 now. And I started smoking just because I was really stressed out from my family and school.

Marsha 18, because I went to college and it was just like my parents aren’t here so I’ll do what ever I want to. So that’ll be nine.

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Larry I’m age 54 and I started smoking when I was age 45. I don’t know…I was bored.

Michael About ten years. I was 18. There’s really no good reason. There’s no good reason I can think of. Um, working a restaurant, friends kinda did it, my mom smoked. Somewhere between ten and 15.

Kara I’m a junior; I’m almost 21. I started smoking when I was probably like 17. Anxiety, I guess.

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Mike 14. Three years. This job.

Louis I’m 21 years old and I started smoking probably in like seventh or eighth grade. And why… I just decided to one day, I suppose.

Myren 19. Oh, 15 years. It was a social thing. Basically, it really started after, you know, when you would eat, when you would, you know, be sitting and relaxing. Just more something just to do. For real, for real. It’s not so much a nicotine fit but I’ve had a nicotine fit so I know how it is.

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Les I’m 50 years old, been smoking since I was nine. When I was a kid that was the cool thing to do. Now, I tried ten times to quit, just can’t.

Rick About a year and a half. Because you get a 15 minute break every two hours if you smoke and it kinda pissed me off the way the city outlawed smoking. Nutter was the deciding vote and he decides to run for mayor. Thank you Nutter. And it just bugs me that something that’s completely legal, how can you do that? If you’re gonna do it make it illegal and be done with it. Never mind this crap. But that said, I smoked when I was a little kid. I smoked when I was 13 until I was 28 and then I quit.

Kishan Started smoking at 20 and I’m 22. Drinking started it, it’s always good to catch a cigarette after you drink.

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Robert About 14 years. Uh, 16. All the other kids were doing it. About a half a pack. Ten cigarettes a day.

Melissa I’m 22, I started smoking when I was 14 because my best friend would smoke at the time and we would smoke at her house.

Sherry I was 19. When you go out clubbing you start drinking and everyone else was smoking at the time. I smoke a pack a day.

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Matt I started smoking when I was 22. And I started because, when I would drink, I would smoke.

Ted I started smoking at the age of 11. From 11 to 40, well let’s see, I’m 46 now, so. I started smoking because I was cutting class in school and study hall was boring so I went out in the playground and the next thing you know, my mom was smoking, my dad was smoking. I’d steal my mom’s cigarettes. I think, this is good, this is good. I found out it wasn’t… but I still smoke, though.

Mary Mary, I’m 21 and just like a year ago maybe, probably stress…

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Terrance I’d say 17. On and off for about three years now. I was actually on probation. I couldn’t smoke weed no more so I was like, I need a smoke something so I started smoking cigarettes. And then I turned 21 so I’ve just been smoking now because I go to the bar a lot.

Mike I started smoking at 17, just like a few cigarettes now and then because my friends would smoke cigarettes and it was social. And I just did it so I wouldn’t be standing around and then I came to college and started party smoking. And then, the first couple times I didn’t think I was going to get addicted and then sooner or later you just need a cigarette, that’s the best way to explain it.

Tony Oh, man, a long long time. I’m 58 years old. I’ve been smoking cigarettes a long time. When I was 13. My mother smoked. I was trying to smoke and when I smoked I coughed. And ever since then, I used to steal my mom’s cigarettes.

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Mike I started smoking when I was like 15. I’m not really sure why... nope. Everyone else was doing it, now I can’t stop.

Robert I started smoking when I was 16 years old, sneaking through high school. And since my smoking has been going on and I need to stop smoking now, I’m not trying to stop smoking though. But there ain’t nothing else to do but to smoke. We all need to smoke cigarettes. Nerves, problems, people, aggravations and living life. Whether you do it this day, the next day, the next day, this day, this day. Problem in your mind, it’s life. It’s all good, it’s all good.

Nathan I stated smoking when I was 16. I was in England, and it was legal for me to buy them.

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Chapter 10 According to a report from the Centers for Disease Control, published in 2009, cigarette smoking causes about 1 out of every 5 deaths in the United States each year. An estimated 443,000 people die prematurely from smoking or from exposure to secondhand smoke. Another 8.6 million people have a serious illness caused by smoking, which include lung, esophagus, larynx, and mouth cancer, heart disease, chronic pulmonary disease, and stroke.

More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.

The CDC reports that the use of tobacco is the leading preventable cause of premature death worldwide, responsible for the deaths on average of five million people each year.

Smoking, on average, reduces adult life expectancy by about 14 years. Tobacco-related diseases include heart disease, which is responsible for 115,000 deaths; cancer, responsible for 136,000 deaths; chronic pulmonary disease, responsible for 60,000 deaths; and stroke, responsible for 27,000 deaths.

The hazards of smoking cigarettes don’t necessarily come from the smoke itself, but from burning the variety of chemicals it contains. The organization Health Literacy lists the number of chemicals in cigarettes at over 4,000, and lists the number of carcinogens, which are cancer-causing agents, at 51. Some of the chemicals found in cigarettes are carbon monoxide, which is also in car exhaust; tar, which is used in road materials; arsenic, found in rat poison; ammonia, found in cleaning products; and cyanide, which is a deadly poison. Despite all the potentially deadly risks associated with tobacco use, about 45 million Americans still choose to light up a cigarette or pipe or chew tobacco every day. This is due to cigarettes’ highly addictive

main ingredient, nicotine; tobacco is a natural source of nicotine. Nicotine interacts with the brain by forcing the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkiller, and dopamine, a chemical trigger for pleasure. The human body slowly builds up a tolerance to these chemical releases and requires more and more stimulation from nicotine to attain the same level of release, which is what causes addiction.

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Pat I started around when I was 15. I can’t really give you a straight reason as to why I started smoking… kind of, I guess, a mix of I wanted to and all my friends that I grew up with smoked too.

Ryan I started smoking when I was 12. Why? Because it has been known in my family for years.

Shannon I’m 30 years old and I started smoking probably when I was about 16 years old. I didn’t habitually start smoking until I was about 18 years old. And honestly I don’t really know why I started smoking. Everybody around me was smoking.

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Richard 36, I’ve been smoking for about years. I don’t know… I think it was like, everyone I was hanging with was doing it, so I just started kind of doing it.

Sean 20 years old, started smoking in eighth grade because it was a fad then and I haven’t stopped since.

Sid I started smoking probably when I was about 13 years old, I’m 60 now, still smoking. I’ve stopped several times for about a year, went back to it again. As far as it being bad for your health, I’m choking to death in the morning, literally choking to death. It’s such an addiction; I feel that I need help now. It came easy to quit the first couple times, now its becoming harder all the time. I have kids, none of them of which smoke. They don’t like me smoking in the house, so I step out onto the stairway.

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Steve I’m 21 now, started when I was 17. And I started smoking… actually I had a really bad night and I thought I needed a cigarette. I don’t know why that was the reason.

Stacey I haven’t been smoking very long, probably like a few months and I’m 21, and I only started smoking when I was 21 so it’s kinda strange I guess but, I don’t really know what made me start smoking. My friends smoke, and I kinda became used to it and I don’t know, just kinda happened.

Megan I started smoking like three years ago when I came here, I’m a junior, I guess because everybody’s doing it! No, that’s not really why. I like it, I roll my own cigarettes though, I don’t like pack cigarettes but it’s something that I like to do, it keeps my hands busy, and makes the day go by I guess.

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Sudipto I’m 25 years old. I started smoking when I was 22. I use to play sports and then I stopped playing and I decided I can smoke now, so I started smoking.

Sarah I am 24. I started smoking, I guess regularly, when I was 21. I mostly smoke when I drink but I do smoke when I’m stressed or bored I guess, and I really hope to quit soon!

Dan I’ve been smoking for three years. I started smoking because a lot of my friends were smoking and I was around it, and actually the first time I ever smoked a cigarettes I became immobilized, felt paralyzed. I couldn’t move my feet.

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Tony I’m 37. I started smoking when I was 18 and why… I really don’t know. I just, I don’t know, the people that I hung out with smoked.

Stacey 23, been smoking for about three years. Why? I don’t know. I guess my nerves are bad, it helps you get settled down.

Kate I started smoking freshman year of college around three years ago. I started pretty much because everyone around me was smoking at school and it was the social thing to do.

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Mike 36, recently started smoking again because of stress, I quit for two years.

Kyle I started smoking when I was 14. I started smoking because I was curious because my uncle and my dad used to smoke and I used to sneak the cigarette butts.

Byon I’ve been smoking for about five years, and I started because it just felt good and it is a helpful stress reliever when school gets rough.

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Mike I am 23 years old and I’ve been smoking for like 14 years, yeah. And I started I guess because everyone was doing it.

Kacee I started smoking five years ago because I was drunk. That’s how I started.

Katie I’m 19 years old, I started smoking when I was 14 because I thought it was cool.

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Michael I don’t got no reason why though…When I was 14 and I don’t have a reason why I do, I don’t know, it was just something that I picked up.

Ally I’ve been smoking for probably like two years. And I started smoking when I came to Temple two years ago. Friends who smoked. Just kinda picked it up. Drinking, smoking, goes hand and hand.

Claire I’ve been smoking since I was, I think, 16, I’m 20 now. I don’t really remember why I started. I guess cause somebody offered me one and then I just started, so yeah. And ever since...

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Joshua I’ve been smoking for two years and I started because it was a nice break in between classes and it took my mind off of school and my classes.

Michaela I’ve been smoking for five years and I started because my parents always smoked and I worked in the restaurant business where every-body smoked, so...

Alex 23, I was like 15. Why I smoke? Because I always have, it’s been like eight years.

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Ann 45, I don’t know why, it was the thing to do when I was growing up. I don’t know that I like it, it’s just a habit that I can’t get rid of.

Mia I started smoking about three years ago. Wasn’t really any true reason, it was just something I was curious why it was so popular I guess, and it has helped me get through classes at this point.

Jordan I’ve been smoking for, I don’t know, six years, and I started smoking because I started working at a restaurant.

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David Age, 60 years old. I think I started when I was like 21. At one time I could stop smoking off and on, I think when I got to my 30’s it was like, consistent. And I’ve been smoking for a while, not proud of it.

Tyler I started smoking a good three years ago, probably because it was a good way to quit smoking weed.

Brian I started smoking when I was in, I guess sophomore year of high school. Why did I start? Peer pres-sure I guess.

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Lori 54 years old. I’ve been smoking since probably 1970 and the reason I started was because I look cool.

Chelsea I’ve been smoking for five years, and I guess I started because my friends were smoking.

Isad I started smoke since I was 12 maybe. I don’t know why I smoked.

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Matt I been smoking since I was about 18, and I just started, I don’t know, because I was curious about it, and I got addicted.

Vlad I started smoking for two years. And I just wanted to stop smoking.

Justin I’ve been smoking for seven and a half years. It’s my only vice in life, and I’m keeping my sanity with it. Fuck it!

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Jon I’ve been smoking for six years, and I smoke because it keeps my mind off of things.

Karoline I’ve been smoking for four years, and I started socially.

Christopher I’ve been smoking for about four or five months now, and I started because I had to commute for a while.

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Rebecca I’ve been smoking for three years because of stress.

Sam I started smoking in high school. I started off just smoking cigarettes when I got high, and it just carried on from there.

Brenden I’ve been smoking for four years, and it’s a good thing for me when, during homework and stuff, relieving stress. On the weekends I’m less inclined to smoke cigarettes. Being in school makes me smoke more cigarettes.

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Shelby I’ve been smoking since June, and I started smoking because, I guess, it was because all my friends on senior week, cigarettes were everywhere and it just kinda got to me. And, I haven’t been able to stop since, kinda sucks.

Andrea I’ve been smoking for about a year now, and I started smoking because I was around smokers all the time.

Rachel I’ve been smoking for like, probably like a few months and just ‘cause I’m bored, I don’t know.

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Dan Probably been smoking since like tenth grade and I started because of my friends.

Harold I started smoking when I was 16. So that’s about 20 years now.

Chris I’ve been smoking since I was in like ninth grade. I started smoking because all my other friends did, and I was kind of stressed out at the time because my brother, who I was close to, just went to prison.

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William I started smoking since I was 18 and because I’m 23, I think that means I’ve been smoking for five years, but I’m not a math major. I started, I don’t know, I guess I was curious. I did it a couple of times and got a head buzz and bought a pack to deal with the first round of finals and I have been smoking ever since.

Sora I started smoking when I was 13. Stress and a lot of pressure.

Lawrence I first started smoking when I was 15, probably because all my friends were smoking.

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Ben I started smoking in 1989. I don’t remember why I started.

Francesca 21. Three and a half years. Art School. It’s stressful.

Devon 23. Three to four years. I don’t know why. I just did.

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Linda 55. 19 to 20 years. The first time was peer pressure. When I started again, it was because of anger.

Brittany 21. For six years. I started smoking for vanity reasons. Marilyn Monroe, James Dean. I idolized them, they’re beautiful and I did the same.

DevonStarted at 18. I really don’t know why.

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Naomi 19 years. Smoking for six years. I used to go to concerts and used to wake up smelling like cigarette smoke and I really liked the smell.

Katie I started smoking last year but I had my first cigarette when I was 13, so I don’t know if that counts. I only really started because all my friends were doing it and I guess I kind of liked the look, as sad as that sounds, but yeah, that’s it.

Luke I started smoking when I was 13 or 14 and I did because it was something I shouldn’t do. I stole them from my parents, stole them from my sister. Got a lot of smokers in the family. When you’re young and bored, I mean, that’s one of the things you do to kill time. Sit around, go to the movies, sit on curbs and smoke cigarettes.

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Caitlin I’ve been smoking since I was 18 so it has been four years now.

Eric I’ve been smoking since I was 14 years old. Smoked my first cigarette when I stole it from my grandmother. I have been smoking pretty much ever since for the past 16 years.

Kevin I smoked my first cigarette when I was probably 13. I have been smoking for 13 years and I had my first cigarette from off the ground that I picked up on the way to school.

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Chapter 11

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Smokers choose to expose themselves to several different health risks – but those around them, whether or not they smoke, may not understand the risks of coming into contact with cigarette smoke. Although it can cause serious long-term effects, they may not see or be aware of the direct connection between secondhand smoke and various health problems.

Secondhand smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke, or ETS, can lead to serious long- and short-term health problems. ETS is made up of a

combination of smoke that is inhaled and exhaled by the smoker.

According to a 2008 study conducted by the Mayo Clinic, constant exposure to secondhand

smoke increases the risk of lung cancer, nasal sinus cavity cancer, cervical cancer, bladder

cancer, and heart disease. Every year, 3,000 nonsmokers die from lung cancer caused by secondhand smoke. Also, in the United States, an estimated 46,000 nonsmokers contract heart disease while living with smokers.

The American Cancer Society reports that ETS also causes lung infections, such as pneumonia and bronchitis. Each year, infants younger than 18 months that live in environments containing secondhand smoke contract 50,000 to 300,000 lung infections –

this results in 7,500 to 15,000 hospitalizations.

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Sidestream smoke – smoke that is exhaled – has a higher concentration of carcinogens compared to smoke that is inhaled, or mainstream smoke. The carcinogens in sidestream smoke are also made up of smaller particles that are more easily absorbed into human skin.

The Mayo Clinic report goes on to explain that young children and infants are affected by

secondhand smoke more than any other age group; in many cases, they have

no control over their exposure to environmental smoke. Being exposed to secondhand smoke places them at an increased risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS, respiratory infections, and more severe cases of asthma.

Ear infections are extremely common in children exposed to secondhand smoke. Over 750,000 middle ear infections are reported each year, according to the American Cancer Society. According to the Surgeon General’s Report on Carcinogens from 2005, it has been

proven that being in a constant smoking setting slows lung growth in children.

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Billy I started smoking back when I came to college my freshman year, so it’s been almost three and a half years. I started because all my friends here were smoking and it was the cool thing to do and ever since then I have been smoking socially and on my own. The cost of cigarettes has affected my habit because back when I was buying them, when I was a wee youngin’, I could get three packs for ten dollars and now I can almost get a pack for ten dollars if I am lucky.

Linda I started smoking at the age of ten. I’ve been smoking for over 40 years. I started smoking because that was the cool thing to do in Kensington at the time. And I wish I didn’t start smoking because now I have a bad heart and bad lungs, and I need surgery, so smoking is definitely no good for you.

Don I would say I gave in to peer pressure, I was in high school and I’ve been hooked ever since. ten years, no... yes, ten years.

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Carol 15. I’m 32, so however long that is, 17 years I guess. It was cool at that point I guess. I don’t know, it was high school.

Eileen I started smoking when I was in college, because that’s what everybody did. It was cool, when you sat around playing bridge. I have been smoking for about 40 years.

Ethan I started smoking when I was 18. The first time was with this girl I went to high school with. I don’t know why I started smoking. It wasn’t a peer pressure thing.

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Ryan I’ve been smoking on and off for four years now, probably since I was 16. I didn’t really start smoking heavily until I got to college and within the past year and a half went up to about a pack a day. The rise in cost has just made me buy cheaper cigarettes. I’m not really brand loyal, or anything like that. I buy cartons sometimes because it’s cheaper or go to Delaware to buy them because it’s cheaper down there, but it hasn’t really stopped me from smoking too much.

Dedrick I guess I started in, like, 1990, so it’s been many years. I started smoking because it was the cool thing to do, but when you get hooked it’s over.

Joseph I’ve been smoking since I was 13 and why I started smoking was I was in the restaurant business and everybody seemed to be cool to have a smoke and I’ve been smoking ever since. Let’s see, 13 to 39, over 20 years I’d say close to it.

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Jared I started smoking when I was, like, 15, because I thought it was cool. I’ve been smoking for, like, ten years.

KevinI have been smoking since I was 18. I was at my buddy’s place. Me and him were in a band. They would go on cigarette breaks every 20 minutes and I was bored, so I said, fine, fucking give me a cigarette. Now I smoke five… six years later.

Erin Six, seven years, and then I smoked like when I was in college. It’s hard to say altogether. 19. Because I was in college and I was stressed out and everyone else smoked. Basically.

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Amanda I’ve been smoking for two years, I started when I was 19 because of stress and the rise in cost has caused me to smoke less.

Brittany Been smoking since 14, so six years. I started smoking to be a trendsetter and be cool, and no, the rising cost hasn’t affected me too much because I have a job so yeah, I am still going strong.

Mike I’ve been smoking for about 35 years. I started in graduate school, feeling a lot of pressure and bored at the same time. A friend of mine, I had not smoked cigarettes, not tobacco up to that point, and he had a pack of Salems on a table. We were sitting there and I thought, let me just try this. I’ve tried a couple of cigars, but you don’t inhale or anything. And that was the first cigarette I smoked and from there I’ve been smoking ever since.

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Andrew Since I was 18 I’ve been smoking cigarettes, 17, sorry; I don’t actually know, all the cool kids were doing it.

Tim I started smoking, I guess, when I was 18. I don’t really know why I started… but it’s relaxing. I’m 21 now so, I guess, three years.

Frank 20, on and off. I quit a couple times. About 28 years, because I had two knee surgeries and I was gaining too much weight. I was eating too damn much so I had to do something to stop eating so I started smoking.

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Richard I’m 24, so six years. I was drinking and I was drunk and my friend was smoking a cigarette and he told me they’re great when you’re drunk, so I tried it.

DJ I’ve been smoking for four years. I started when I was 18. I started because all my friends were smokers and the cost of cigarettes hasn’t really affected my smoking because I buy cheap cigarettes anyway.

Mike I started smoking around the age of 17, basically because my peers and I were smoking whenever we were hanging out. I guess peer pressure, and I’ve been smoking for almost four years now.

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Matt I started smoking at the age of 13. Why? Probably because life started to hit, and it’s a hell of a stress reliever. So I’ve been smoking now, Christ, 15 years.

GeorgioI smoke since I was 14, six years. I saw somebody smoking, they were older than me, so I just wanted to try it and I was playing soccer so I stopped, but then I started again once the season was over.

Stefan 15 years? 18. I don’t know. My mom smoked. A lot of my friends smoked. It happens over time.

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Frances I had my first cigarette when I was 16, but didn’t start smoking a lot until I was 20 and I think I started because my ex-boyfriend smoked a lot, not a great reason but that’s what happened. I try to get stuff that’s on sale sometimes, usually I just don’t care and will buy them anyway because I want one. So yeah, prices don’t really have an effect on it, really.

Tish I started smoking when I was 14, but seriously smoking about three years ago and the reason I started smoking was because my friends were and then I started smoking for stress-reducing situations I guess, and also the social implication on smoking. It’s one of those things at work when you can just go outside and have a cigarette. I know it’s bad for me and every time I smoke on the street I feel bad about doing it because people are smelling what I’m smoking but that’s probably the reason I’m gonna quit.

Lonny 18. Well, I’m 62, so what? 30 years? Because I was in basic training in the Air Force and I didn’t want to police up the area so I started smoking. I think 30 years because I’ve been smoking for a while.

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Jordan I started smoking in 2009, so it’s been about two years. And I kind of picked it up from friends.

RaymondI was about 11 years old. I will never tell you my age.

CJ I’m 20 years old and a junior here at Temple and I actually started smoking three months ago and it was just something I picked up. I actually really hated smoking because both my parents smoke but I was dealing with a lot of hard stuff a couple of months ago, so I started smoking rather than going to the harder stuff and I just haven’t seen a reason to quit.

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James Since I was 16. Probably 30-something years, or probably 20-something. Uh, what do you call that? Peer pressure.

Evan I’m 20, and I’ve been smoking for, like, since I was like 16 I guess? And, not really, like, every once in a while when I was like 16, and I guess in senior year of high school I started smoking every day. I’ve been smoking every day. I tried to quit twice, for two months and started smoking again. I don’t know why I do it even, it’s just like nice, I guess? Puts you in the zone, I dunno. It’s like, drinking a coffee or something. Same idea I guess. I don’t know.

Khanh I started smoking, I guess, like 12 years old, young age. I started smoking because I wanted to become a rebel.

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Griffin I’ve been smoking since I was 13. My first cigarette was a Kool. I took it out of my uncle’s pack and I sat there and I smoked it. I had a headache like hell, but I smoked another one.

Ed Since I was about 16. I don’t know, I just thought it was fun at the time and then, I don’t know, it just became a habit.

Andrew I was 22 or 23 which is kind of late for most people. A lot of people I know started smoking in high school, I didn’t. I don’t know if there was any reason I could think of other than I was in school at the time, I remember being stressed out and I started smoking. I wanted to try it again, see if I liked it. My parents smoked so I was around it. I thought it was gross and never thought I’d become a smoker but it sort of happened. I’ve tried to quit a bunch of times but at this point I feel like it’s really ingrained into daily habits.

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Jeff Ten years. Probably about five years so probably about 30. Someone told me on the internet that I would look sexy if I was smoking into the camera. So I started smoking on there for them and I’ve been smoking ever since.

Bridget I am 19 years old, I’ve been smoking for two years, and I smoke because I’m an English major, and it looks kind of cool sometimes. No, just kidding. I don’t know, I just, I guess I just smoke, it’s kind of a social thing, honestly. You meet a lot of people by smoking cigs. I call them bones sometimes.

Ashley Ten years. 17. Actually my first cigarette was way before that and I thought it was gross. Years after that I picked it up, it was a job thing I guess.

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Rich I’m 21. I started smoking three years ago. I just tried it and liked it, it was relaxing so I kept doing it. I try and limit it till the weekend but every once in a while I’ll do it during the week because it really hits my wallet.

Matt I started smoking when I was 19 so, about four years ago. I just started casually smoking because all my friends smoked and they would just give me one every so often.

Daniel I’m 20 years old, started smok-ing about three, maybe four years ago now. I worked at a coffee shop and it was, like, something to do. People who don’t smoke cigarettes, don’t get cigarette breaks, you know?

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Richard Between 11 and 12. 42 years. It was just that everybody was smoking at one time or another so I tried it out.

Lorenzo I have ben smoking for ten years now, I’m a long-term smoker. I’ve done a research project on smoking before because I study ID, there’s a lot of interesting behavior going on there. A kid named Nate, a park bench, my younger brother was there and we both had a puff.

Anna I started smoking originally when I first turned 18 and then I stopped and then started again when I got to college. I just do it because, I don’t know, I like it. I’m not really addicted I just every once in a while have a cigarette.

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Modi I started smoking when I was 18, I’m smoking for 40 years now. I started smoking because of peer pressure, especially in the army when I joined the Israeli Army everybody was smoking and I started smoking and have not quit since then.

Kurt I’m 21 years old. I’ve been smoking since I was, I’d say, about a senior in high school, so when I was 18. I started because I like smoking cigarettes, I don’t know. I tried it a couple times and it was nice so I started buying packs. It’s gone up in recent years, but not enough to deter me from doing anything about it. They kinda got us all by the balls. I never really see it, unless it goes up like twice as much like it is in New York, I don’t really see it effecting my smoking.

Kenneth I started smoking a little over two years ago. As far as the cost goes, it doesn’t really affect me because I’m more of a social smoker and I usually smoke when there is nothing else to do.

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Bernadette I live in Philadelphia. I’ve been smoking on and off since I was around 15 years old, which is 25 years. I was so sick as a dog and I got carbon monoxide poisoning. I was with my sister, we were smoking my mother’s cigarettes. She told me to breathe through a towel.

Diane I think I started smoking when I was about 21 and there really is no reason, I just picked it up and I’m 46 now.

Samantha I am 20 years old. I started smoking when I was 16 or 17. I wasn’t really a big smoker in high school, a pack would last me a month or so, and when I turned 18 I started smoking more regularly. It’s just because I have an addictive personality. The price of cigarettes is terrible, especially in the city, like when I go home and visit my parents I’ll buy a carton there because it’s like a dollar cheaper per pack. But it’s terrible, I’d save—I know I would save so much if I didn’t smoke. I’m planning to quit eventually, like, after school.

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Ben I’m 24, been smoking since I was 17, so seven years. I guess the rise in cost has not affected my smoking as much as making me stop but I think about it all the time. As it goes up I keep telling myself this is getting ridiculous. I calculated it, I smoke a pack a day now that’s like 200 bucks a month. Ya know that’s a friggin’ car payment so I need to quit.

Joe I’ve been smoking since 17. I guess I got caught up with it in parties and such and one day I had a cigarette in my hand, took a puff, got on the bus then had to get out because I was about ready to throw up. Ever since then I was a habitual smoker up until now, I’m 44 now. Right now I’m trying to ween myself off, I take two, three puffs off a cigarette and it’s out. People say, hey, you’re wasting your money. I say, no, I’m not.

Vyacheslav I’m from Moscow, Russia and I’ve been here since 2003. Started more than ten years ago. It was interesting the way it was challenging the authority.

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Will I’ve been smoking for four years, and I started when I was, like, 18. I’m not really sure why I started, I just kinda did one and then more and then packs and stuff like that.

Abid I’m 21 years old. I started smoking probably in high school just because I was curious, after school or whatever. Probably been smoking four years occasionally and then in college just started smoking all the time. Tried to stop so many times because I know it’s not good for my health, but it’s harder than you think it is, just psychological.

Luke I started smoking my freshman year of college so I’ve been smoking for about four years now. I roll my own cigarettes so the rise in cost hasn’t really affected me. It’s been like five bucks for a bag of tobacco, a buck for papers so it’s six bucks and that maybe gets me the equivalent of like two packs of cigarettes.

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Patricia I started smoking around 15 because my parents both smoked and I was curious to why they smoked. So I decided to take some cigarettes from my mom’s pack and I snuck down to my garage and I smoked a couple and ever since then I’ve been smoking with my friends. I’ve picked up a lot of friends that were smokers also so I kept doing it. I recently quit and I only sporadically smoke every once in a while now.

Derwyn I started smoking when I was 42, I’m 45 now and I started smoking because I just thought I’d try it out.

Luke I’ve been smoking for four or five years now. Seems, I guess it’s pretty cool. I’ve been going on and off lately, but when school’s around, I smoke all the time. It really does depend on how much is in my bank account. I can’t smoke a pack a day. That’s way too much. You gotta span it out, you know? Maybe on my birthday week I’ll get an American Spirit pack, but, usually I just go, I don’t know, Marlbor’s, or, USA Golds sometimes. Never Newports, though, Newports are bad. I hate Newports. That’s it.

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Josh I am 20 years old. I started smoking my junior year of high school. I’d say it is probably from peer pressure. I like it. I try to quit, but I keep coming back to it.

Corey I’ve been smoking for three years. The cost hasn’t affected me because I go down to Virginia and get a carton.

Corey I started smoking about a year ago. I started smoking because, well, I got kicked out of my house when I was 18 over silly little things and I went and I started culinary and I kinda picked up a cigarette and someone was like, just smoke it, and I was like, okay. I started smoking it and I noticed it relieves a lot of stress. Not proud of it, I don’t do it all the time, but that’s why I started.

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Jesse I’ve been smoking for, I don’t know, almost two years now. I like to smoke before I go to bed, it puts me to sleep. I like to smoke out of routine. I like to smoke out of boredom. I like the taste of Marlboro Reds. The cost of cigarettes, no, no, actually it doesn’t, because it doesn’t matter how poor you are, you still find money. And if you don’t have money for cigs, you always have a friend who will bum you one. Its cig Karma. Cig Karma goes around. You bum, you get bummed back.

Solomon I’m from Kuwait, I’m 18 years old and I started smoking, like, it’s been seven months. I started smoking because all my friends were smoking in Spain. We went to Spain on this trip and we were like having fun and I started smoking socially and now it’s been an addiction. I feel bad because I’m not really addicted to the nicotine, but I smoke like a whole pack a day. I just like the way I take out a cigarette and light it up and just flick my cigarette, and it’s not the nicotine I think, it’s just the way it feels.

Mo I’m 22 years old, I started when I was 20. I smoke because it helps me deal with my stress on a daily basis, sometimes I’m just bored, that’s about it.

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Jeremiah I started smoking at the age of 14 I guess mostly because my whole family smokes and I was always around it and my group of friends at the time all started smoking and I hung out with older kids so it was easy to get cigarettes whenever I wanted. I could steal them from my parents or ask my friends to buy me a pack. I have tried quitting several times but mostly I come back to it because when you drink you want to smoke even more than you do regularly.

Chris I started smoking at the age of 13, just was curious. My mom smoked so I wanted to see how it was and how it tasted. When I was little I only smoked about one cigarette a week and now that I’m 25 years old I guess that I got through a pack and a half a day.

Kerry I started smoking when I was 15. I started in high school and I’m not exactly sure why I started. I just buy the cheaper cigarettes, anything that’s a dollar off, it’s like that’s what I do because I don’t like to spend more than five dollars.

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Nick I’m 20 and I started smoking when I was 16, basically because I thought it looked really cool. I guess it doesn’t really look cool anymore but it’s addictive. I’ve tried to quit and it hasn’t really worked. I come from New Jersey where cigarettes are a lot more expensive than here so it’s not really helpful to me quitting, going to school here.

Frank I started smoking probably late high school, I’m a senior now in college. What really got me started smoking was at work and classes, nobody can say, can I step out for five minutes and stare at the sky, and be allowed to do that, so I like the little escape and it creates social situations sometimes and overall, helps.

Jesse I started smoking just because I smoked a lot of weed and cigarettes were cheaper than weed. I’ve only been smoking for about a year and a half so not that long. I never really smoked that much till I got to college and I really could at my leisure. It’s just a pleasurable activity and I can do it with a lot of friends so it’s just nice.

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Blake I’m 21 and I started smoking four years ago I believe. I’ll probably end up quitting in the next two just because it’s starting to affect my lungs. I normally do it just because it’s a nice leisurely activity, get a little time to yourself. For sure, the last four years that I’ve been smoking I think it started at $4.50 a pack, now it’s at $6.95 a pack, so yeah, the cost has definitely affected me.

Khalil The age that I started smoking was roughly about 25, why I started smoking, a friend actually got me into smoking.

Sarah I started smoking when I was about 15 and I don’t know, I dropped it for a while then when I started working, I started getting stressed out and a lot of people would go out and smoke so I would just join them.

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Priscilla My age is 54, I started smoking at 14. The reason for me smoking is that I was hanging out with my girlfriends and they started doing it so I started doing it.

Rodney I am 44 years old and have been smoking for like 25 years. The reason I started smoking was because I thought it was the cool thing to do but now I regret every minute of it because it ain’t good for you and you die at an early age. I want to encourage everybody to not smoke cigarettes.

Emily I started smoking when I was 20, mostly from peer pressure, I had a boyfriend who chain smoked so I started and I’ve been smoking for about seven years now off and on.

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Ryan I’m 21 years old, I’ve been smoking since I was about 13 years old. I started smoking because my parents did and it was easy to take cigarettes from them.

Theo I’m 27. My first cigarette was probably when I was like, in seventh grade right around probably, 12 years old.

Rob I’m 20. How long I’ve been smoking? Ah, like five years, I guess. And I do remember my first cigarette! I was at a mall, hanging out with my friends being a little kid and I had my first cigarette. It was funny because it was a Newport 100 menthol, because I hate non-menthol. I got really dizzy and it was funny.

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Dave I’m 20 years old, and my first cigarette was when I was 17 when my father passed away.

Kevin I’m 20 years old and I started smoking when I was 18. My first cigarette was probably out in front of the dorms freshman year, trying to make friends.

Donovan I’m 20. I smoke. First time I smoked, I was 17 and I was with my cousins and they were like, here, smoke this, and I was like, all right! That’s what happened.

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RyanI’m 21 years old. I’ve been smoking since I was 16 years old, on and off. My first cigarette I got horribly nauseous from and I don’t know why I kept smoking.

Christ I’m 24 years old. I started smoking when I was 18, and I had my first cigarette during a show I did in high school.

Conor I’m 24 years old. My first cigarette was probably when I was like, ten. I didn’t start smoking until I was 18.

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Mark I’m 27. I started smoking when I was like 16. I don’t remember my first cigarette, but I’m pretty sure it was wonderful.

Ron I’m 34 years old and I think my first cigarette was a Marlboro Red because I just wanted to see what it looked like when you blew out the smoke on a napkin.

Carl I first started smoking, I guess when I was about 18 or 19. I didn’t have my first cigarette until I don’t know, until I was about 12 or 13. My first experience? It was awful but, ugh, now you can’t stop.

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Brandon I’m 23. I started smoking when I was 17. I had my first cigarette in the parking lot of a Dunkin’ Donuts and my buddy rolled it for me.

Laura I’m 25. I started smoking I guess when I was around 18, but my first cigarette was in junior year of high school. My boyfriend smoked, and I didn’t like the taste of his breath so I smoked a cigarette so his breath didn’t taste so bad. I had half of one and I barely inhaled. Then I picked it up when I got out of high school and got to college and started drinking all the time.

Kristin I’m 19 years old and I had my first cigarette when I was 14 and it felt like somebody punched me in the lungs. It was awful.

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Jay I’m 18. I started smoking cigarettes probably when I was like, maybe, 15? I started with those little cigar things that everybody tries first and then like, my brother was driving me home from somewhere and he offered me a drag of a cigarette. I took a drag and coughed my brains out because it was a Marlboro Red, and I hate those. And then when I was 18 I started buying packs. I don’t usually buy them regularly because if I buy ‘em I’ll smoke them all. But, ya know.

Ariel I started smoking when I was 13. My first cigarette was, I remember, was my dad threw away his pack of cigarettes because he decided to quit smoking and I was curious about it so I stole one of his cigarettes and I smoked it and really enjoyed it. I didn’t start buying packs after that but I started, probably like a couple months after, I started buying packs and regularly smoking.

James I’ve been smoking since I was like, um, early teenage years. I’m trying to stop but it’s hard. And also, I’m drug free. I’ve got six months clean. I put down the drugs and now I need to put down the cigarettes. One day at a time, though.

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Chapter 12

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The smoking habit is easy enough to pick up, but notoriously difficult to quit. The

process of quitting is different for everyone. Some people use toothpicks or gum to replace the oral fixation, while others turn to therapists or support groups for assistance.

There are endless reasons to quit smoking cigarettes; it’s expensive, it

smells terrible, it causes health problems. There are also limitless methods to aid the smoker in his quest to quit; nicotine replacement therapy, behavioral therapy, even acupuncture. But what works best, and why?

A study done in 2010 by the American Psychological Association showed that cognitive-behavioral techniques improve a smoker’s chances of quitting. Compared with general health education, involvement in cognitive-behavioral therapy sessions more than doubled the rate of quitting at a six-month follow-up, from 14 percent to 31 percent.

The study also showed that the degree of difficulty for a smoker to stop

smoking depends greatly on their psychiatric health.

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For example, when comparing smokers who had no psychiatric disorders to those who had

anxiety disorders, the ones with anxiety issues were less likely to stop smoking six months after treatment.

According to a four-country survey done by the Department of Health Studies and Gerontology at the University of Waterloo, Canada, one-sixth of smokers reported using

nicotine replacement therapy, or NRT, in the past year. Nicotine replacement therapy makes use of devices such as nicotine patches, lozenges, and gum.

A study published in The American Journal of Cardiology in 2010 used digital

photographs to create a dramatic video personalized to each of the thirteen people in the study. The video included the subject’s family suffering as a result of the subject’s smoking, a doctor explaining the possible consequences of death or illness the subject was going to undergo, as well as animations of the subject suffering as a result of their smoking. The subjects screened these 8-minute enactments of their impending illness, and received

motivational therapy. Seven of the thirteen quit.

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Sarah I have been smoking since I was 14 and I don’t know why I started. I was at an art class thing and all the girls smoked and I tried it and I liked it and I kept going.

McKenzie I think I have been smoking three or four months, I started smoking when I got to college. I just enjoy smoking there is no, I am not addicted to nicotine, every time I stop smoking for a significant period of time I don’t crave nothing, I just like to smoke.

Emily I guess I started when I was 14 or 15. My friends smoked, I took a drag and then all of a sudden you are just smoking.

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Alton I have been smoking for ten years, I started smoking because it was a social thing, all my friends smoked so you know it was like a cigarette here, a cigarette there, and the next thing you know you go to the store and buy a pack of cigarettes and you’re hooked to that. It is hard to let it go, it becomes like a friend, it stays with you, when your friends are not around you have a cigarette to smoke, you know.

Dan I started smoking when I was like ten, all the cool kids were doing it, seventh graders were doing it and I wanted to get down and that shit was poppin’. The first time I started smoking I smoked it to the filter and then I realized you don’t smoke it to the filter, then I kept smoking, mostly Newports, I liked it. Too cool for school, I dropped out of school. I got locked up, I just came home, when I was locked up I couldn’t smoke that often, I was chewing tobacco to get the nicotine buzz. Came back out, started smoking heavy.

Arian I started smoking since I was 16. I got my hands on a free carton, so there you go. It was for free, that is why and you know, I got over the sickness of it and I really enjoy it.

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Brian Brian, I started smoking when I was 15. I started smoking ‘cause my friends were smoking and it was a social thing.

Alex I started smoking five years ago because I didn’t want to smell like pot.

Jameer I started smoking a few years ago. I don’t buy packs because I don’t smoke too much, but I do smoke. It is a bad habit but I am trying to quit, it is hard, it is addictive. I buy loose cigarettes, usually Chinese stores have them in like urban neighborhoods, neighborhood where I come from, North Philly. It is bad, it is bad business, it is a legal drug, it doesn’t make any sense.

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Lance I started smoking when I was 18 because of peer pressure. My friend was sitting next to me and I wasn’t a smoker at the time and she was like, dude, all of your friends smoke, you might as well smoke. I was like okay, you are right and then I started smoking. Next thing you know I am 22, that was like when I was 17, I am 22 now, it was a long time ago.

Maurice I have been smoking for like 25 years. I started smoking, I guess, following behind everybody else at the time. I started in my late teens, just before I got into my 20s is when I started. That was only because my other buddies were smoking, it wasn’t nothing like I craved it or nothing or anything like that but I just started smoking and then it turned into a habit.

Aaron I am 24, I started smoking when I was 14, so ten years. I started smoking because of my dad, he smokes a shitload of cigarettes. When I was, like, 12 he flicked one down and, like a noodle, I picked it up and started smoking it and like puked everywhere but it was some good puke ‘cause like I couldn’t stop after that.

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Jennifer I have been smoking for five years. Started when I was 16, I guess it was just from partying and being around people that smoked.

Bruce I have been smoking 35 years, just because it was the thing to do at the time.

Nicole I am 19 and I started smoking when I was about 14 years old. It just happened naturally, I guess friends, you know, where you like take a puff and it just happens and I’ve been smoking ever since, it wasn’t anything serious, it’s just a habit now.

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Jocelyn I started smoking maybe about a year ago. I don’t do it often, I actually prefer to wait a few months before I do it. I only do it when I drink or when I’m chilling. I’m not like a consistent smoker.

Fred I have been smoking since fall of 2007. I started smoking because I went to the Philippines because everybody smokes there and cigarettes are 50 cents a pack and I couldn’t stop.

Robert I started smoking, I think, senior year in the car with my one friend Kristen who smoked for like two years. I always thought it was so gross, would have to roll the windows down whenever she smoked. It is lame because remember when Camel started their “pink” campaign, they had like the green and the pink cigarettes, girl cigarettes basically. She always smoked them and I said, I guess I’ll try one. They were just really sweet and delicious, for some reason, and I think that is what got me hooked.

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Peter I started smoking 15 years ago and it was because my mom and dad both died in a terrible train accident and I needed to, like, kill the stress because that was their number one love, smoking cigarettes and doing prescription drugs.

Avalon I started smoking, I guess, like, six or seven years ago and I don’t know why I started, I just started.

T.J. I started smoking when I was 12, I don’t know, I was just curious but I am only a social smoker.

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Tony I started smoking, wow, like 32 years ago, and to be honest with you, it may sound corny, peer pressure, like everybody else was smoking and I didn’t really want to smoke and then I started smoking and it became a habit and I smoke like a chimney now.

Margaret I started smoking when I was 12 years old, which was like five years ago. I started smoking because I thought it looked cool and now it just relieves my stress.

Patricia I started smoking two years ago. I don’t really remember why I started smoking.

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Spencer I started smoking two and a half years ago and I started smoking because I turned 18 and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Jordan I have been smoking since I was like 15 years old. Honestly, it was out of boredom, to be totally honest. I worked in this store where I could pretty much take as many cigarettes as I wanted, I was 15, I was by myself and so I just started smoking and I still smoke to this day.

Grace I started smoking when I was 13 and I don’t really smoke that much but I guess I do it because it is fun. I know right, I only inhale with my girlfriend, that sounds dirty. My mom has been saying that when I am 21 she will give me $1,000 if I had ever not smoked a cigarette, because she’s led a lot of anti-smoking campaigns. My stepmom led a lot of studies on smoking and the brain, like chemistry, because she is a chemist. Then one day I was like, this looks fun. I am not getting my $1,000, but I am getting the happiness of rebellion.

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Jesse I was a bad child and started smoking when I was 16. Real reason can involve mysterious substances of sorts. Well, okay, I usually roll my own cigarettes and I was 16 and I wanted to learn how to roll a joint so I bought a pack of rolling tobacco and just started rolling my own cigarettes and I have been smoking them ever since.

Camille I started smoking my freshman year of high school, so about six years ago, oh my God. I started smoking because I thought it was cool and I still smoke because I still think it is cool and I am addicted.

Samantha I started smoking when I was 15, about three and a half years ago. I started because my friends did it and I still do it because it is cool, and I am addicted.

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Jalal I am 27 so I started smoking, just about, I would say, after high school and that was about 2002, so you know that was some years ago. Alright let’s see, 2002, it is 2011, so that’s about nine years, yeah, good mathematician. The reason why I started smoking it wasn’t so much peer pressure it was just kind of instinctual inclination.

Mike I started smoking 16 years ago for no particular reason that I can remember.

Chris I started smoking when I was 16 years old, now I am 25. I started smoking because I lived in Romania, cigarettes there cost 20 cents a new pack. I figured if I ever started smoking in the future I would regret it, yeah I know, stupid reason to start, now I am a smoker.

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Callie I started smoking probably two years ago and I just picked it up with friends.

Sonny About seven years.

Tony

I started smoking right before my 16th birthday. I don’t know why I started smoking, I don’t think anyone knows why they started smoking, it’s just, you know, I just had a cigarette, my friend smoked and I was like, I like this, and then I just got hooked. It’s not like you’re cool with it, I just started and now I can’t stop.

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Steve I started smoking, probably, when I was about 12 or so. I am 25 so it’s been about 13 years. I don’t know, I started smoking because older kids I thought were cool did it when I was 12, then I got a little hooked I guess.

Michelle I started smoking about two years ago because I was drinking and I thought it was a good idea to smoke while I drank and it ended up becoming an everyday thing.

Bill I’ve been smoking since I was 12, I am 27 now. I started smoking because I thought it looked cool, I don’t know why I really started smoking. I started smoking because I’m an idiot, that’s why, and now I have to fucking pay money all the time and it sucks. But I can’t quit, so I keep doing it.

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Anthony I started smoking at 15, my whole family smoked and I was curious and then I got addicted. I have been smoking ever since. I am 29 now.

Leron I started smoking at 17. I started smoking because I was influenced by negative people. Smoking is bad, by the way. Just my lifestyle that I live, I found myself being attracted to smoking and I am pretty much stuck now at this point.

Alec I started smoking I guess nine years ago and shit, everyone else was doing it so…peer pressure baby.

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Reggie I started smoking about three years ago and I started because all of my friends in high school were doing it. I tried it, I liked it, it kind of calms me down because I was a hyper child, kind of relaxes me, gets me ready for class.

Dan I probably started smoking when I was 15, about ten years, and I will probably go with boredom.

Courtney I have been smoking since I was 18 on and off. I have quit three times for three-month periods, unsuccessfully. I started smoking because I felt like it, and now I smoke because it’s habitual.

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Moses I started smoking about six months ago to look cool. No, I’m just kidding, not to look cool, I don’t know, it stopped me from smoking something else.

Larissa I have been smoking for eight years and that was because I was 15 and angsty. Now I just do it when I am drunk.

Dave I started smoking about 30 years ago and I started smoking because all of my friends were smoking.

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Bob I started smoking probably ten years ago and I started ‘cause, I really don’t have a reason why but I know it was, I guess, cool, I don’t know, that’s it, that’s all I got.

Steve I have been smoking for ten years. I started with menthol and now I smoke regular cigarettes to keep my lungs clearer. I just started smoking because it was something to do for recreation.

Keith I have been smoking for 19 years, I wanted to be cool like the fellas and stuff, you know what I mean.

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Hannah I started smoking when I was 15 so I have been smoking for four and a half years. I started smoking because I thought it was cool and all my friends were smoking so I wanted to, like, you know, fit in.

Jason I first had a cigarette when I was 18, but I didn’t really start smoking until I was about 20 to 21. Honest to God, I did it because I wanted to have something to do while everybody else was drinking and I couldn’t drink as much as everybody else, it was kind of like that.

Laurie I started smoking when I was 17 because my boyfriend smoked at the time and I didn’t, but I picked up the habit, unfortunately. Believe me, I can’t quit, I would like to but it’s not happening, so when I am ready I will do it, maybe someday, but not now. I like to smoke, it’s a stress reliever.

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Becca I started smoking when I was 17 and, I guess, I don’t know, it’s what people did. I just quit, but I’m having one cigarette, which is, I guess, what people do but I quit because my boyfriend hates it.

Vanesha I’m 28, I have been smoking cigarettes, I think, since I was about 14. The actual reason I started was kind of peer pressure, and I just got hooked.

Olivia I started smoking when I was 15, this is my first cigarette in about a year and I started because my friends asked me to… why not…b ad day.

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Chris I’ve been smoking since I was 13. Why? Peer pressure, that’s how it started and became a habit.

Omar I started smoking when I was 15. I think I just started smoking because there is nothing better to do at the bus stop.

Taylor I started smoking about two or three years ago. It started as casual smoking and then, I don’t know, it kind of got a little addictive after freshman year of college. I don’t know I really like it, it’s probably not a good thing but…

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Ziggy Well, I don’t smoke a lot on, like, a regular basis – maybe just, like, at social gatherings, but I started, I would say, last spring. I just broke up with my girlfriend, it kinda sucked, I was like, I don’t care about my health! It was one of those. It was real bad. It was bad.

Dante

I’m Dante. I started smoking – well, I smoked, like, my friends’ cigarettes since, like, junior year, but like, I never really smoked. Then senior week I bought a few packs and then, I mean, I didn’t smoke that much over the summer, but coming to college, like, I just haven’t stopped since I got here. Why do I smoke? That’s a really tough question. I think now it’s because I’m addicted – something to do, I guess. Let’s just say that. Something to do.

Lisa I’m 22 and I started smoking when I was 17. My friend smoked and I was really against it, and I tried to prove them wrong, that it was just a mental thing, that you can quit on the top of your head, and I was like, ok, I’ll start smoking and then eventually I’ll be able to stop. And that’s how I started smoking.

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Adam

I’ve been smoking since, yeah, junior year of my high school career. I started smoking because my friends did.

Ben My name’s Ben. I started smoking regularly, like, when I was 18. So, like, every day since I was 18, I’m 21 now. I just, I enjoy it. I don’t know! I enjoy it. People tell me all the time that I need to quit and stuff, but I know it’ll kill me eventually and stuff, but I don’t wanna live to be that old anyway. So, I enjoy it and for the time being I’m ok with it fucking up my health.

LJ I started smoking in summer of 2004, so it’s like, six and a half years. I don’t really know why I started smoking. I don’t know, I was stupid, I was young.

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Rebecca I’m 18 and I started smoking, like, I guess, like, maybe, like, six months ago. I don’t know, I started smoking because it would just relax me, so when I was nervous, I would smoke.

Eric I started smoking senior year of high school, maybe, on and off, and started smoking just pretty much ‘cause all my friends were doing it, and that was pretty much it. Just around it all the time.

Robbie I started smoking freshman year of college, and everybody else was doing it. It’s really sociable. Which, I don’t know, doesn’t help with the nicotine, but it’s very sociable. It’s why I enjoy it.

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Jen I’ve been smoking since I was 14 and I started smoking ‘cause I thought it was cool.

Jun I started smoking from 17, because, like, my friends smoked.

Ananuske I started to smoke at 16, so six years. I think I started to smoke ‘cause it’s so cool. Yeah, that’s it.

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Brad I started senior year of high school. Just friends did it, I eventually started.

Conor I started smoking three years ago. I think I just started smoking when I was at orientation, ‘cause there was nothing to do. So I just passed the time by smoking cigs. Can’t stop.

Tim I started smoking freshman year, so that was 2008, and I pretty much started just hanging out at the dorms, just to talk to people. Nothing to do.

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Jorgen I started smoking the summer after high school, probably. I think I just bought a pack of cigarettes, just doin’ it, ‘cause I was 18. But I really didn’t start smoking until I came to school, just ‘cause a bunch of people were smoking. My cousin smoked, and I would always bum cigarettes off him, and he was always like, why don’t you just buy your own packs? So, I guess that’s pretty much why I started smoking.

David I’ve probably been smoking for, like, four months now. I don’t really know why. I mean, I smoked, like, cigars and stuff before, then I just kinda started smoking cigarettes ‘cause you can’t really smoke a cigar outside, ‘cause it takes like three hours to smoke, so that’s probably really the only reason why.

Shayna I started smoking when I was about 15, which was, like, ten years ago. And why? I don’t really remember. It just – everybody smoked.

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Pat I started smoking freshman year, as an undergrad, so I was 18, I guess. I’m 31 now, so that’s 13 years or so. And I started smoking ‘cause it seemed like a good thing to do while I was drinking in the dorm.

Michael I started smoking probably… I don’t know. I had my first cigarette in, like, ninth grade. I didn’t start smoking heavily until, maybe, 11th grade. I don’t know why, I just wanted to try it, and I’ve been smoking on and off since.

Rico I started smoking when I was 11, and my dad thought it would be a bonding thing, so I started smoking in his truck with him. He would give me cigarettes.

385

Thomas I’ve been smoking for seven years and I started smoking to hang out with a girl.

Katie I started smoking probably, like, four years ago. Like, the end of high school. And it was, like, a de-stresser, or if I would be at a party or something, you know, I would smoke, you know, and then it just kinda gradually increases as you keep doing it. And I’m trying to quit, just putting that out there. I wanna quit!

Louis I started smoking in 2010 and I started smoking for reasons I can’t say.

386

Josh I’ve been smoking for like, probably six years so I started when I was like 14 and… ‘cause everyone else is doing it, I guess. I don’t really know. Probably because my friends just were and they were older. That’s it.

Louise I‘ve been smoking since my junior year of high school, and I started smoking because I started smoking other things too.

Lauren I started smoking at the end of the summer when I was in Europe and all my friends were chain smoking.

387

Albert I started smoking when I was like about 15 probably because everyone else in my clique was. At like keg parties and stuff like that. Everyone smoked so… I guess it kind of stayed with me.

Alyssa I’ve been smoking since I was 15 so that’s three and a half years. And I guess I started smoking because of my friends and, I don’t know, I thought it was cool, and now I smoke.

Caroline I started smoking like when I came to Temple because my friends were smoking and my boyfriend smokes too. And he started, you know, like, I started sharing cigarettes with people and then I started smoking, but I don’t smoke regularly I just smoke if it’s around, so. Yeah.

388

Virginia I started smoking when I was 15 on and off and I started smoking because I worked in a diner and I was a waitress.

Brittany I started smoking when I was 16 because my friend gave me a cigarette and that’s what happened.

Jenna I started smoking my junior year of high school and I started smoking because my twin sister brought Milds back from camp and just got me hooked on them.

389