"Hey buddy. Can I bum a smoke?"

[JimHannoonen]

Funny, the whole time I've been quit, I've not once thought about how I used to occasionally have to bum a smoke due to running out or being ill-prepared. What a downer it always was and it always made me feel like a loser.

 

Or how about the random stranger coming up "Hey, can I bum a smoke? I"ll give you a quarter"? Which would almost always be followed up with a "Sorry, Broham, this is my last one" (because I'm a cheap bastard.)

 

It's really nice to have that whole uncomfortable bum/barter/buy/sell weirdness behind me.

 

ok, back to my Polish dog.

 

 

 

 

[babs609]

LOL...I remember that!!!!!

 

Feeling like....I have every cigarette accounted for and there is not an extra for YOU...buy your own!  Of course..I didn't say that...

 

and on the flip side...when I knew they were lying for the same reasons i did....I would think "jerk"

 

haha...funny how we are such hypocrites!

[babs609]

I also remember early in my quit...I was almost apologetic..."no...sorry, I quit smoking"

[JimHannoonen]

I also remember early in my quit...I was almost apologetic..."no...sorry, I quit smoking"

 

But now it's

 

"IQUITSMOKINGANDYOUCANTOOBECAUSEIT'SSOAWESOMEANDDON'TYOUTHINKISMELLGOODI'MWEARINGCOCONUTLOTION!"

[NADA]

My cigarettes cost  slightly over $0.46 each.  Eeeeeks!  So the answer was, "A quarter ain't gonna cut it buddy".  

 

The thought of giving up my Precious really brought out the nasty in me.

[babs609]

Me too BKP...there was no charity going down when it came to my Marlboro Reds

[GraceLove]

I never really bummed any or had anyone bum from me (probably because I never smoked in public) but I would have to have an exact inventory of my cigarettes at all time. Then I would have to constantly figure up how many I had and how long until I'd have to go to buy some...because God forbid that I might be without for a few hours. Ridiculous. 

 

**omg I just remembered a time where I asked my husband to get me some (he is a nonsmoker) and he brought home Marlboro Gold ("Lights") instead of Marlboro Gold 100s. I about lost my sh!t. Like wtf are these?! They are tiny and practically useless! Poor guy. Living with an addict must be hell.

[Reciprocity]

I once came out of a store with 2 packs still in my hand and a guy wanted to bum a smoke. Just out of habit I told him "I don't have any on me!" Then felt like a real jerk afterward (while I smoked them myself).

[Stevo]

Whenever someone asked me to bum a cigarette I always gave them two.  I think they're all dead now.
 

[johnny5]

I guess I'm like Stevo.

I always thought of myself as a nice person so if someone asked to bum a smoke, I'd gladly give them one or two  (I always had an extra pack somewhere if I ran out).  

I thought of giving someone a cigarette who desperately needed one as a good deed, especially in my teens and early twenties.

Now I realize I was contributing to the delinquency and possible disease of that person.  Yikes.  What kind of f'ed up good deed is that?  :huh:

[Edna_Clouds]

Omg! I remember miscalculating my baccy on holiday in north Spain one year! I had to cycle round the whole town trying to ask non English speaking Spaniards where to buy tobacco!

 

When I eventually found one I was in heaven as not only did they sell my rather non mainstream choice, but it was SO cheap!

 

Stressful happy days which I never gave to go through again!

 

How many times did I walk around camp sites (our choice of holiday!) braving myself to ask to 'bum' a fag! Sorry to any Americans but in the U.K. A fag is a cigarette!

[DCCXXVII]

Can I "bum" a "smoke"?

A walking talking smoking sphincter?

[Still winning]

I was so scared of running out I rarely did, always had smokes. I used to get annoyed that others weren't prepared if they asked lol. So much easier not having to plan that now!

[Feely]

I quit giving them out when they hit $12.00 a pack. Sorry. No. Mine. All mine.

[johnny5]

I quit giving them out when they hit $12.00 a pack. Sorry. No. Mine. All mine.

 

Being from North Carolina (home of RJ Reynolds), I think the cost of smokes here is lower than most other places.  Last time I looked, my brand of cigarettes was around the $5 mark.  It amazes me the cost some people post that they pay for cigarettes.

 

If I had to pay $12 for a pack of cigarettes, there's no way I'd give any of them to anybody.

 

Still, it is much better to stay quit and not pay any money for those nasty, deadly things.

[Feely]

I'm in Chicago where they tax the %%$#$%^& out of EVERYTHING.

[Reciprocity]

I think I started saying I would quit if the cost ever went over $5.00. That was decades ago. They were around $12.50/pack when I quit in Jan. 2017. The govt. just put even more tax on cigs here a month or so ago. That's where the Govt. goes now for $$ - sin taxes. Cigs & Booze plus lotteries are also huge revenue streams.

[onthemark]

I was also a Marl. Red smoker. They were $14.50 CAN when I quit. Now I can get massages and physio and a gym membership for that money to help recover from all the damage from smoking.

 

Best part is not waking up in the middle of the night or early morning because of nicotine withdrawal and going outside into the garage for my feeding, or worse realizing I had run out of smokes and driving up to the corner store at 3 am to buy 2 packs.

 

It looks so pathetic in retrospect.

 

I'd give my smokes away if someone asked. Now when I see a smoker sometimes I feel this tug (not acted upon) to go up and talk to them and tell them that it is possible for anyone to quit... 

[johnny5]

I was also a Marl. Red smoker. 

 

Marlboro Reds got me hooked on smoking and then I switched (most of the time) to Camel Lights (thinking the Lights part made them less unhealthy).  How silly was that - all cigarettes kill.

 

The cost of smoking, financially and health wise, is insane.  We're all better off without them in our lives.

[onthemark]

Marlboro Reds got me hooked on smoking and then I switched (most of the time) to Camel Lights (thinking the Lights part made them less unhealthy).  How silly was that - all cigarettes kill.

 

The cost of smoking, financially and health wise, is insane.  We're all better off without them in our lives.

I also often switched to Lights, Marl. Lights, thinking they were safer. You weren't silly, johnny5.

 

We were both conned like a lot of other people by the cigarette makers into this lie.  It turns out people just mostly inhaled deeper to get their fix. There was nothing safe about those cigarettes even though they measured lower on tar and nicotine when connected to a smoking machine...

 

Apparently it is now illegal to use terms like "light", "low tar" and "mild" on packaging in many countries. 

 

Insane costs to the addicts, the users. Yep... Insane profits for many other people who profited. 

 

I remember that testimony before Congress when all the CEOs of the major tobacco companies each testified under oath that they didn't believe cigarettes were addictive.

[Nina the Quitter]

Edna_Clouds I used "rooted out" in a post the other day and learned I needed to excuse my language to Australians. Funny how we all have our slang, and what it translates to.

[ExTex]

I don't know how much time and effort went in to making sure I always had a supplies. 

I might forget my lunch.  I might forget my badge for work.

I might forget pants - but I never, not once, "forgot" smokes.

 

My priorities were very clear. 

Outta that bog.

[Dee]

I would give up a cig if someone asked it is ironic how you think you are doing them a favor by sharing. Now when I think on it, it's like here lets try to get cancer :-)together......Crazy