My 1st nicotine fix

[Doreensfree]

I remember it well...

I was a scruffy kid ..with a strict dad....I was a rebel....

I'll show him...I can do what I want...

I hung around with the bigger kids in the back streets of Liverpool...

I took my turn when the cigs were passed around....

I was 11 and hooked ...

How old we're you....and do remember it....

[Evelyn]

I was 12 maybe 13 and my 'friend' occasionally smoked. I wanted to tough and cool and so I smoked 2 and coughed myself almost outta it but I wanted to me cool, I stole my dads rests of fags and light them... on my way to get hooked but I got a surgery for my hip on age 13 so a long pause set in until my 18 I believe and here comes the ironic; we flew to Greece and my mom knew my friend smoked so she offered one and I said 'well then pass me one too' and SHE bloody did. The whole holiday I smoked 1 - 3 during the day and in the evening more caz my friend and I went off. So my 'hooked' cigarette I got from my mom. Ironic.... She died of lungcancer in 2007 but had quit smoking a year earlier when she was diagnosed with throatcancer... My father died in 2005 from lungcancer. Not going to follow their examples.

[DCCXXVII]

I was young maybe about 8 or 9... I also use to take them from my parents when they weren't watching... I wanted to be just like the grown ups

 

I remember coughing and tearing up on the first ones until I learnt how to smoke them properly... that was a very long time ago 

[action]

Thanks for the reminder mammy.

 

My story is in my blog - http://www.quittrain.com/blog/23/entry-165-my-first-cigarette/#commentsStart

[Doreensfree]

I betting most of us had a BARRY.....

[Tink]

12 years old I stole parents herbal cigarettes, they tasted like bonfire and made me sick, 14 when I started as a rebel teenager stealing parents smokes

 

Wish I could go back in time and talk to that dumb ass kid now!

[Chrysalis]

First time was when I was 11 or 12. A friend stole a pack of her parents' cigarettes and 3 of us kids went to a nearby park and smoked them. I did it because I was curious about what made cigarettes so attractive (my parents smoked, too) and because I wanted to be "one of the gang". We each smoked several. I remember feeling sick and dizzy.

 

I didn't smoke again until I was 18 and a freshman in college. I bought cigarettes from a vending machine because I wanted to feel grown up. After that, I never looked back.  

 

Note that when I was 11 and when I was 18 I hid my smoking from my parents because I knew that they would object. They told me over and over again not to smoke. They said that it was a dangerous and expensive addiction and it's best to never start. But they both smoked so what message were they REALLY sending? That the pleasure was worth the danger and the expense. As a result, all three of their children smoked.

 

If you have kids and you smoke, STOP!! Your example is much, much influential than your words.

[Evelyn]

So true Chrysalis

[ChRiSpY]

15 stealing butts out of my friend's dad's ashtrays...nasty.

 

My first cigarette was a nonfiltered Lucky Strike... made me sick... like throw up sick.  Why in the world would I continue to do that?

 

I was such a dumbass kid.

[Devil Doll]

Mine is the same reason as most. I was being a rebellious kid. Both of my parents were smokers as well. 

 

I was hanging out with the "cool kids". My first cigarette was a Marlboro red and I remember getting really sick. Like pass out sick I was swearing and promising that I would never try to smoke again if the sick feeling would end (praying to the porcelain god). Well the next time I smoked it was Marlboro light and that is where I got hooked. Eventually I moved up to Marlboro reds and then over to Newports. I wish that I would have kept that promise and never tried again. So stupid. 

[Dentalfloss]

Rebellious kid here. My neighbors stole cigs from their mom and I wanted to fit in plus I liked one of the boys and we would smoke. I was around 12 or 13 and it was a salem menthol light. I would also smoke Marlboros and Winstons or camels when we could get them. I, like most, didn't inhale at first. I'd hold the smoke in my mouth and blow it out but then one of the boys taught me to inhale and I coughed and coughed.  

[El Bandito]

Same old same old..

 

Stole 'singles' from my smoking Dad or smoking Mum

 

Ironically - I used to whine incessantly about yucky cigarettes in the car....

[ChRiSpY]

Same old same old..

 

Stole 'singles' from my smoking Dad or smoking Mum

 

Ironically - I used to whine incessantly about yucky cigarettes in the car....

 

Me too... I hated it when my parents smoke.  Insert another "Alanis" quote  here.

[sharonsiff]

I was 13, school bus and was allowed to sit on the back seat with the older kids.

 

Took one to fit in... what a very silly Billy!

 

So I tolerated the coughing and dizzy feeling for a week or two then was hooked, all to fit in.

[beacon]

I used to steal my father's Pall Malls when I was 13 and smoke them in front of the mirror so I could be with the cool kids.

[DCCXXVII]

It is scary how much we follow in our parents footsteps but even more scary is that our children do pretty much the same thing

 

Lead by example... was instilled into me as a child... yep I sure did :(

[REZ]

Lets see, junior high steeling smokes from my grandmothers purse! 

 

Bad boy - Bad boy - What ya going to do when the nicotine monster comes for you!

[Nippythedog]

 I was 12 and I stole them from the house I babysat at.  They were "KOOLS" and they were pretty gross.  As a teenager, I smoked Marlboro reds.  Then at 21, I just stopped completely.  I couldn't even stand to be around smokers.  Fast forward to 2007, at the age of 31, Stressful time for us and I picked it up again.  Ugh, I wish I never would have done that!   :(

[laura]

i was 12 rebellious didnt have a care in the world.

both of my parents smoked so pretty much got them when I wanted them. I remember the first time I took a lug properly, we had a fire which had mirrors either side I can remember practicing looking at my self in the mirror, the first time I took a real lug down I was excited, I didn't need to pretend I could smoke properly I had mastered it.

how sad and silly was I, if only I could rewind them years hey. :-(

[Oneistoo]

I was 14 and a girlfriend had bought some and shared. We hid somewhere and smoked together. I got hooked right away, but of course only smoked little and sporadically compared to later. I think it is my primary addition, and I think the urge to "do something" is an attempt to fill a loss and a void inside of me that goes way back to infancy. I think the loss and void comes from a feeling of not belonging where I am (a new baby emerging in the 3D world), and not feeling loved as an infant (my mom was and still is not affectionate). It's a past experience that cannot be undone, but certain substances and activities -- for a few moments when I first tried them --  made me feel whole again and my addictions started when I tried, and tried, and tried to recapture that feeling. 

 

I still don't have the answer to how to solve this.