At what age did you start smoking ? - Quit Support
Please select all that apply:
I started to smoke at 15
I first tried at age 16 but hated it, so gave up. Gave it another go three years later and never looked back. Hooked. Only took another forty years to have a rethink!
It would also be interesting to know the ages now of those in the poll to see if education is having an effect on the younger generation and stopping them from starting in the first place or if it actually makes it worse
Hi Lily May,
Good question - my 18 year old thinks it is down to the person to make that decision (he knew I smoked, secretly) My 7 year old is very aware that smoking is bad and will make you go to heaven (his words, not mine). If he sees someone smoking he says that it is disgusting.
I was like that when I was little. But you wait until you think everything is shit and you think you aren't worth anything. Then's when you want to smoke because you would take anything to stop you from thinking even if it's for 5 minutes. Usually between 14 - 17 is years old. I didn't really have a house though so..
I started at the age of thirteen 
what I can remember of it, I didnt like it, but just got on with it cos it was the '' in thing '' to do, to be cool
If only I knew then, what I know now !!!!!!!
Me too
I tried smoking at age 14 and quite liked it !!! But didn't start buying them until age 15 as that's when I started work, and so had money to buy them.
It's taken 45 years to come to my senses !!! MADNESS eh. 
I think I may have smoked very rarely at age 15, but it's so long ago I've forgotten.
After a very traumatic time I know that I smoked regularly when I was 16 and I remember my parents reaction was to give me cigarettes. They were both heavy smokers. My mother died from undiagnosed kidney failure after surgery for a hop fracture in 1986 and I don't remember smoking affecting her health at all. When she was dying, with pneumonia, I had to wheel her hospital bed outside the wars so she could have a cigarette. My father remarried to a non-smoker who forced him to stop after he was paralysed by a bleed to the brain. He died of lung cancer that was diagnosed 3 weeks before his death 5 years after quitting unwillingly, age 76. All of my family in my parent's age group were heavy smokers.
I had no intention of quitting but, after 4 years of breathing tungsten carbide dust I developed bronchitis. After losing my non-smoker husband I found I was getting through nearly 3 packs a day. I'd been made redundant at 59, getting another job was impossible and I have no family so without work I spent almost all my time home alone and smoking that much was something to do. I'd tried to quit many times to please my husband, cold turkey for 5 days (put on pounds in that short time and knitted two sweaters - I can't knot) plus just about every combination of NRT and counselling, hypnosis, the lot. My next best was 3 days but I craved smoking even when asleep and dreaming of it, in spite of so much NRT I experienced a permanent slight overdose. I tried electronic cigarettes, the kind that copy cigs, in order to cut down a bit and save money. They didn't work but 2nd gen ecigs let me cut to 20 a day. 3rd generation ecigs made me quit smoking by accident, then along came the EU TPD Article 20. Maybe luckily I'd not stopped smoking completely for long so cigarettes didn't taste disgusting so I started smoking two a day so that I'd be able to go back to smoking when ecigs that work and bottles of eliquid plus everything else that has improved ecigs so much were banned.
My problem is, I keep forgetting to smoke. When I do light a cigarette I hold it in one hand without smoking it and carry on vaping. I found that I needed 36 mg/ml e-liquid and a variable voltage device with a clearomiser. Now I use a variable wattage device and an atomiser that is much more efficient and I* find 12 mg/ml too string. Maybe, if the governments don't ban everything that works I'll not have any nicotine in my liquid. But the TPD has to be made law by May 2016, most of those who use ecigs either know nothing about what that means or think it won't happen, so I am one of the few advocates of switching from smoking. The TPD will stop others doing so. It seems that 60% of vapers stop vaping as well as smoking within 3 years of switching.
I choose to vape, not smoke or give up all the things I enjoy about smoking, but without the harm. I have a scientific background and researched the subject well. Now the majority of real experts agree with the conclusion I reached, that if you either can't or don't want to quit ecigs stop the harm providing you use the correct charger for batteries. There is now a lot of evidence that vaping is a gateway out of smoking. Education has worked on all it is likely to, so smoking rates have remained at 20 to 25% since 2006. Last year we were seeing a drop in smoking, smoking initiation, sale of stop smoking products and counselling. This tear we have seen the media full of ecig scaremongering headlines and I am seeing people decide that smoking is better and safer than vaping.
Some young people will smoke because it is taboo. Before graphic pictures on packs there was a brand called 'Death' aimed at teenagers. Children and young people collect the 'scare' pictures from cigarette packs, and the horror factor goes if one is constantly exposed.
I think that we are in the process of throwing away a new, disruptive commercial product that could end smoking in the lifetime of the young. We could have seen vaping making smoking a thing of the past, as the devices improve, but laws will stop them improving.
I know parents who see their teenage children start smoking at the age when teenagers rebel, push the boundaries, and desperately try to persuade them to use ecigs instead. But about 20% of the population smokes and the only countries where it is much lower are those where snu7s use has become popular. In Sweden the smoking rate is the lowest in the world and so are smoking-related diseases. So Snus was banned 'in case of proved harmful' and is still banned 30 years later.
Tobacco and pharmaceutical companies want a percentage of smokers. What would governments do without tobacco taxes?
I think young people, who have been educated against smoking for years, will start smoking in the future as they do now, and demonising social engineering to persuade the majority that smokers are 'dirty junkies and less than human' plus more nasty pictures will not change things unless ecigs are encouraged. We've had plenty of time educating the young, and in the 50s I remember cigarettes being called 'coffin nails' and 'cancer sticks' before mass education. Recently I've seen young children lecturing their parents against smoking, then starting themselves in their teens.
I think you need to check out allan carr stop smoking the easy way audio book.. I have stopped for the first time in 5 years and I am not even stressed by it. I don't envy smokers. I don't even want to smoke but I still know I am addicted and I can still feel that I have a craving but the way it convinces your mind is fabulous. I honestly think it may be the best way to stop smoking.
it's a 6 hour audio book on youtube, I am really grateful for it. I have been trying to quit for a year now and then i found the audio book. Now I just listen to the book repeatedly so that I don'yt have brainwashed arguments in my head trying to make me think it's ok to smoke when it's just a drug addiction that needs to go and it will go.
I think I might be the happiest I have been in a really long time having finally made a solid decision to quit smoking for good. I ain't got to think about all the smoker related problems.. And there's a lot of problems when you are a smoker. WHne you are a non smoker. You don't have any of those problems. It's an awesome decision.
How Sad!!!!
Started smoking at 12 when they were 56 cents per pack. Could find enough pennies back then to buy a pack. Disgusting!
15 when I started , mainly because my parent s were smokers and it was an in thing to do. That was it up to 32 months ago when i quit. Didnt stop me getting cancer but I am still alive, where if I had carried on smoking I dont think I would be here.
I started smoking at 23 and after 2 years of indulging into that habit, I decided to quit and switch to electronic cigarette. I just feel that my body is suffering from the negative effects of the traditional cigarette smoking so I need to make a decision and that's how my planned turned out. So far, e-cig is helping me to never go back with my old habit.
i started at 15, which was also the same yeari lost my dad to cirrhosis of the liver. Both parent smoked and out of 8 kids in the family 4 of us smoked. I am the last of them to quit 
Looking back i think it was cos everyone else was smoking so i did too
How Dumb was I
I started at 15 coz I thought it was sooooo cool and grown up
Now I know how stupid I was 
I started to smoke at 16. I did it as my friends where all doing it in collage. And I thought at the time it was cool thing to do. Now I know it is not. It as took me this long to know it is not good thing at all. I had be smoking for 17 years that is long time to be smoking really. So glad I have gave up the cigs best thing I have done for my self. And I will stay quit for life never going back. As I do not see the point of doing that
I started to smoke at 15 and started to quit on my 65th birthday - cold turkey. Many relapses, but finally succeeded on my 67th birthday. I was determined to beat this senseless, expensive tyrant and am so proud of myself. In May this year I had been smoke free for 6 months but had a relapse. My doctor had tears in his eyes when I told him and I was determined to win. 50 yrs of smoking is hard to get over mentally because after breathing, it is the next thing you do the most! After my diagnosis of renal cell carcinoma and subsequent nephrectomy I have not been remotely interested. I just don't know what I was thinking for so many years.
Hi ya NgaireM and a big warm welcome to this lovely quit support site 
Yes I know what you mean NgaireM, firstly we didnt know anything about it when we started smoking secondly, we found out what smoking does to us, but just swept it under the carpet for a few Years eh You are not alone on that one.
I do hope your well now and recovering nicely cos it sounds as if you'v been through it
If you would please let Jillygirl or myself know your quit date, then we can add you to the Wall of Winners and keep your winners badges upto date
Pete
Hi Pete, I am ashamed to say that I had been lying to myself about my quit date. (I would steal a cigarette or a butt even and sneak some puffs and say I was quit still!) SO real quit date 20th Nov 2014 - day I saw my specialist and I even lied to him that I didn't smoke any more. I got a date for surgery and that scared me into REALLY stopping for ever. My problem has been I don't see myself as a non smoker, but a smoker who is not smoking at the moment.
In the last 2 years I have quit more times than the usual idiot BUT I never stopped quitting - I would smoke for a few weeks, hating myself, and then quit again!!! I have more excuses than you can imagine but I intend to stay clean for ever.
Not one puff since 20th Nov 2014
Rite N, if you dont mind me calling you N, cos its easier on my 1 typo finger see
Your problem is, that you just dont believe in yourself You have got to keep reminding yourself that you are no longer a smoker, you are FREEEEEE from it Believe in yourself, have confidence in yourself cos you KNOW you can do this
What you have done in the past, is the PAST ! just set your eye's on the future now just look forwards look to a new YOU, a non smoker YOU
Just sit yourself down a minute please, now, write down on your pc or a piece of paper, the WHY'S you want to quit
WHAT benefits you will have
and underneath that in big letters
I AM A NON SMOKER
and make it colourful, so it stands out cos your going to print some of these off, or duplicate them and stick um around your house everywhere you used to smoke, or think about smoking, in the kitchen, in your bedroom, perhaps on your makeup mirror, in the bathroom, in the dinning room, so when you have had something to eat, its there to remind you
N, you have to try and build your confidence up, keep telling yourself, you CAN do it, you WILL do it and you ARE a non smoker
Like I say, just you keep looking forwards, cos all those other quits have been practices to get you ready for the big one, which is now cos this is it gal, you've started, sooooo your gona finish it smoke freeeeeeeee
Come on N, we can be non smokers together
Pete
Gee whizz Pete - it's great to get some support so thank you. I haven't been able to find a supportive forum in Australia, so many thanks to all you yummy Poms as well. I will try all of the above suggestions.
N (N is fine - too complicated for me too, but it IS my name and I'm stuck with it.)
Hiya nagaire and welcome to quit support
This site will really help you stay quit so you won't need any more excuses
Just remember NOT ONE PUFF EVER............N.O.P.E x
Thank you Briarwood. I NEED the support as my hubby still smokes and also my best friend. I am now the outsider
Yep I know how hard that is coz my hubby smokes but with the help of this site I have managed to stay quit
You can do this as well, I won't lie and say it's easy but it is worth it and if I didn't have the support from these guys on here, I know I couldn't have made it without them
Now it's 2.30 a.m. and most normal people are fast asleep except I don't sleep too well
Remember you are never an outsider on this site x
N, just a quicky gal, but if you look to the green bit at the top of your screen, you will see HealthUnlocked, click on that and it will send you to the latest posts like the Daily Chat, were other members chat Have a read, or please have a chat
This could help you Plus we have a few other members from Australia too, there is Glolin, Alana101, Catherine63, Katycan and NgaireM toooooo hmmmm
So you see, your not alone
Thanks Pete - will do :0
9 - so cannot vote
haha... screen size issue on phone. Now voted other.
I was 15/16 first attempt. Didn't like it. Friends smoked round me, we hung out at lunch after slinking out of school (rebels we were). I didn't stick to it then.
Forward a few years and life testing me at age 18, slippery slope. Stopped after a couple of months.
Again at 19, started "social smoking", turned into regular. I quit age 20 and remember mood swings etc...
I was quit for 6 months, then things got busy and i started again. I was lucky and met a girl who was my inspiration to quit (she didn't smoke and it was easier for me to quit for her than myself).
Going forward every 2 - 3 months there would be an evening of "social smoking" with particular friends (now mostly outside of my circle). I was not a regular user and always made sure if the next morning I had a pack, I'd give whatever was in it to a smoker at work so I wouldn't be able to smoke.
At the age of 24/25, life got busy (I was emotionally in a bad place). I started smoking for 2 months before breaking my cycle (I moved away from the job and place I was living in where I was so unhappy).
I went back to the once every 2 - 3 months social thing. But these were getting less and less. thanks to the smoking ban in pubs.
At 27 I started smoking for a couple of months when life got busy, stopped, returned to very odd occasions.
At 28, I discovered e-cigs and started using disposables to replace those occasions when I knew I'd be social smoking.
At around this point life got buys and I started wanting to smoke more. I made a conscious decision nearly 3 years ago (about June time) to not smoke regular cigarettes. And to use the e-cig. The Christmas that year I tried a regular cigarette because my battery was flat and spat it out, it was disgusting!
At 31 I'm now planing my exit strategy of e-cigs.
Seeing it in writing, something I've never done before, I can see how many relapses I have had. I know I can beat the nicotine addiction (as in not be a regular user), the smoking ban in pubs was the best way to stop most of my "social smoking" I didn't want to stand outside in the cold.
I don't remember how old I was when I tried my first cigarette, but I do remember that we got it from a carny at the fair. I didn't start smoking full time until I was 13. I only started smoking because everyone I knew was doing it and it was "cool". The problem now is I fell in love with it. I actually enjoy smoking. I looked forward to the next cigarette. Not just to get away, but to experience it again. I am 25 and I just quit a few weeks ago, but the coughing almost makes me want to smoke again. I just hope nothing serious comes out of me quitting. So many horror stories...
As hard as it may seem you just need willpower. I started smoking 16-17 (mostly 17) and moved onto smoking everyday for 6 years! I smoked for many reasons but at the end of the day need to think do I want this horrible poison in my body. The answer is no. Your body tricks you into thinking that you want it but you need to reasure yourself that it is just a trick and you dont want it/need it. I bought some nicotine gum which was good for 2 days then i went cold turkey after (which isnt to bad) Good luck all, and remember your brain is tricking you
I was 13
19 i think
Was just doing the same as my family, Stupid really but there was no other reason
I was probably a smoker before birth due to my mum smoking 60 woodbine or parkdrive everyday, she stopped in her 30's. I hated everything about smoking then.
Then I went and joined the armed forces. 13 hour night shifts with loads of others smoking did for me. I was 19.
Then came the many attempts to stop.
At least I managed to be almost smoke free when pregnant. Almost because until I knew I was expecting I carried on as normal.
I never smoked when feeding them or when they were small. Always a social thing away from home.
It's probably only in last 15 years that it crept more I to my life and my home.
Aup Dans its lovely to see you gal
If you need some help, or going through a rough time, then please feel free ask for support
That is what this lovely community is all about, HELPING each other
I started smoking at the age of 8 years old and was smoking 20 a week at 10.
I was 8 years old, and bought 5 loose Park Drive, Batchelors or Cadets in a paper bag every saturday.
