/lit/ - Literature

>>20723535
Try the Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams.

>>20723535
Smoking cigarettes

>When I was barely adolescent, the prospect of death flung me into trances; to escape them, I rushed to the brothel, where I invoked the angels. But with age, you become used to your own terrors, you undertake nothing more in order to be disengaged from them, you become quite bourgeois in the Abyss. — And although there was a time when I envied those Egyptian monks who dug their own graves in order to shed tears within them, if I were to dig mine now, all I would drop in there would be cigarette butts.

>In the days when I smoked all the time, a cigarette, after a sleepless night, had a funereal taste which consoled me for everything.

>quitting cigarettes

JW I read that. "Years now without coffee, without alcohol, without tobacco," you wrote. Was it because of your health?
EMC Yes, health. I had to choose. I was drinking coffee all the time, I'd drink seven cups of coffee in the morning. It was one or the other. But tobacco was the most difficult. I was a big smoker. It took me five years to quit smoking. And I was absolutely desperate each time I tried, I'd cry, I'd say, "I'm the vilest of men." It was an extraordinary struggle. In the middle of the night I'd throw the cigarettes out the window, first thing in the morning I'd go buy some more. It was a comedy that lasted five years.
When I stopped smoking, I felt like I'd lost my soul. I made the decision, it was a question of honor, "Even if I don't write another line, I'm going to stop." Tobacco was absolutely tied up with my life. I couldn't make a phone call without a cigarette, I couldn't answer a letter, I couldn't look at a landscape without it.
JW You felt better afterward, I hope.
EMC Yes. When I'm depressed, I tell myself, "You did succeed in con- quering tobacco." It was a struggle to the death. And that's always made me think of a story Dostoyevsky speaks about. In Siberia there was an anarchist at the time who was sentenced to eighteen years in prison. And one day they cut off his tobacco. Right away he gave a declaration that he was renouncing all his ideas and everything at the feet of the tsar. When I read that in my youth, I hadn't understood it. And I remember where I smoked my last cigarette, about fourteen years ago. It was near Barce- lona. It was seven in the morning, it was cold, the end of September, and there was a foolish German who dove into the water and started swim- ming. I said, "If this German can do that at his age, I'm going to show that I can too.'' So I went in like that and I had the flu that night!

-Everything is by Emil Cioran

>>20723535
https://libgen.is/book/index.php?md5=25C2E2013B4E0C0EEA412308546513F7

>>20723581
Based Slav doomer

Zeno's Conscience has an extensive section that stuck with me as a smoker. Equally I enjoyed an article in the economist covering smoking as like punctuation in life that, to me, is the real addiction of cigarettes - the pause to reflect or to bask after completing some task.

If you want to quit though then Allen Carr is essential reading. There's a passage that hit me about how if a store ever runs out of my favourite brand I'll still buy anything no matter how disgusting it tastes, really ruins the mock prestige smoking has.

>>20723535
Brochier, Je fume, et alors ?

>>20723758
How does smoking get that bad? I'm not claiming it's nonsense, but I dont quite understand how a person can get to a pack a day. Ive been smoking for a year, every now and then I wont be able to for a few days to a week. Certainly I get cravings when im reminded of them, but never anything that was distracting or dominating. I guess we'll see what happens in another year.

>>20723870
> How does smoking get that bad? I'm not claiming it's nonsense, but I dont quite understand how a person can get to a pack a day.
Chainsmoking

>>20723870
I remember being in the stage you're in. For me, the trigger to escalate was probably a mix of being in a really shitty place in terms of physical and mental health, which made the further harm smoking would cause seem less significant, and starting to regularly go out to bars/clubs with a lot of smokers for the first time in my life.

>>20723535

>>20723899
>chainsmoking
Sounds right
>>20723949
A priest buddy of mine is a huge smoker, and says that tobacco usage is something a lot of people use to fill a hole.

For me smoking is something I do when im really bored, I outta read more.

>>20723870
I can go without for six or so hours or more if I need to, but it's more like maintaining a steady drip into my bloodstream at this point to keep me sane.

I remember what I was like as a teenager before smoking, and my head was all over the place; could be just regular teenage dumb-dumbery but... if I don't smoke for a while I'm short-tempered and my zen fades away, not unlike when I was into boxing.

That excess attention span really needs a curb I think, and cigarettes are probably the only non-psychoactive way to achieve it - marijuana, I suppose, works too but that stuff's terrible.

>>20723899
>Chainsmoking
Coffee and Cigarettes are worth it. Nothing better together. Especially for social ends. Not that the modern person would know anything about having friends and talking about stuff.

>>20724263
Why dont you chew nicotine gum?

>>20724279
>nicotene gum
I hear it makes you sick in the stomach. Plus it's the 1000 other chemicals that I'm probably into anyway, since I can't get the same feeling from regular nicotene low brand cigarettes.

>>20724279
Actually, you know what, if I smoke cheap cigarettes I get no kick whatsoever; I start to sweat a little after a while of having smoked one, then my eyes go all itchy.

>>20723870
>a pack a day
ok that's about me,
so here:
wake up, one or two in bed, perhaps, depending on if i have somewhere to be that morning /2
morning coffee; easily 4 over two or three hours or morning-time (peak writing time) /4 (to) 6

oh shit it's daytime and i'm going somewhere, gotta presume i'm lighting up while i'm walking or waiting for a car /1

oh shit it's indoor time, i cant smoke,oh well /0
or
oh shit it's outdoor time, i'm outside playing golf or fucking off somewhere with others /4

aw i'm sleepy now, but i'm home again, winding down from the day /4 (same manner as morning, but less so)

yawn it's bedtime now, guess i'll have one or two more watching this movie after i brushed my teeth, /2

i dont want to add those numbers up.

>>20724279
>>20724292
Nicotine gum is a horrible idea unless you're a pack a day smoker, cause there's a lot more nicotine in one piece than is in one cigarette.

>>20724328
Do you want to quit?

>>20724374
I'm at a pack a day, to be honest since i can go without smoking through the entire day, only to chainsmoke in the evening and morning, i don't think i'd get anything out of nicotene gum.. except maybe as an experiment to see if i can stave off in the evenings, maybe. hmm..

Still I have pretty head-needing work so my brain has lots to do when I'm not smoking, to keep me distracted.

>>20724380
>Do you want to quit?
nope, i'd try it in the evening as an experiment ^^^ but I genuinely enjoy smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee.

I see smoking as a noble thing for a number of reasons; practiced by the best and brightest for over 500 yrs at this point, since it came into english custom since the Tudor times. It does make a person less reactive and more disposed to approach the world and other people in a more good-natured way. The FRENZZZZY and dehmanization you see in the world at the moment is not coming from smokers but quitters whose brains have been wired for input stimuli then taken away, rendering them short-tempered, dim-witted and insane.

also, you're welcome that I'm taking efforts not to be a burden on society by cutting my life expectancy down.

>>20723535

the Bible and the fundamental theme of delayed gratification and the underlying message of how we must train our cortical systems to override our hypothalamic systems

smoking is healthy

>>20723535
thank you for smoking by christopher buckley

ran out of tobacco today. it will be probably a week and a half before i can get more. im already feeling the consequences

>>20723535
I recall writing a shitty essay called (Cig)nification about cigs and cigars as one of many "signifiers" used by weaker men achieve an outward appearance of masculinity. Drew a comparison to how tattoos are also used by normies to appear tougher. Nothing new at all, I just thought the title was funny.

>>20726760
Cope.

There's a significant correlation between amount of cigarettes smoked and testosterone. Furthermore, actual high test men intuitively tend toward dangerous activities instead of writing smug self-serving essays based on conceit.

>>20726807
Seethe, I was a dealer who saw friends od or get shot. I was the "High school in the poor part of town, but smart enough to make something out of it" type guy. Normies definitely larp to appear tougher and more experienced. I think cigs are pretty based, for the record.

Cigarettes are gay, but cigars, pipes, nasal snuff, chew, dip, snus, and hookah are approved and based.

>>20723535
I prefer ancient smoking blends myself

>>20726807
It’s absurd to not think it’s true at least to some extent don’t be dumb
>>20726760
Do you know why kids wanna do it? What’s the deeper reason on why they think it looks cool? It’s not like it’s an act with any inherent meaning other then it being the working/commons man’s break

>>20726820
Chew is so fucking disgusting kill yourself. You are a gross person and your teeth are rotten off

>>20724422
Isn’t weed just this but times 100? Why not just smoke weed? But I’ll be honest I’ll never smoked cigs so idk how they compare

>>20726850
>Do you know why kids wanna do it
Death drive, l'appel du vide, unxonscious desired to be freed from the often dysphoric material reality. Just about every smoker I knew was aware and usually welcome the negative health effects. Same goes for all the other "poisonous" drug users, hastening death was often a welcome side effects. Weeders and psychbros were more so a paradoxical form of Buddhism.

Nicotine is medicine.

>>20723535
What’s everyone’s thoughts on herbal cigs? They seem nice. Do they taste good?

>>20726864
Nah, weed gets you high; psychoactive properties, and that's way worse to get addicted through. Cigarettes give you a slight head rush the first few times you smoke in your life, but that's as far as they compare. It's more the drip of nicotine and other chemicals which smooths over the edges.

>>20727247
>Nicotine is medicine.
Muchly this.

>>20726820
You just listed all the overly elaborate ways to introduce nicotine into the blood. Just buy a pack of reds, what's wrong with you that you need to go to elaborate lengths..!

>>20727293
>herbal cigs?
If you can find them (i can't find them over here anyway), clove cigarettes are really nice; they're big in Malaysia - it's sort of like a bitter but less sweet menthol.

My problem is that i literally have nothing else to do
I gotta do something else ill lose my mind
So i smoke
Ive been on pack a day for 2 years
Lately i cut it for like 30%

I don't understand how people get addicted either. I do it quite randomly, sometimes smoking an entire pack over a weekend, other times smoking a pack over like two entire months. I do get that feeling of "ah, I could go for a smoke" but it has never been something which was like an instinctual or irresistible craving.

And even when I feel like I could go for one I think I'm more drawn in by the ritual itself and the meditative calm that accompanies it than the nicotine itself.

I'm going to take up pipe smoking once I get back to the states. Smoked cigs for a while here in Japan, they have great stuff but I layed off it after a while.
I have great memories of practicing with my band at a friend's house while one of the guys dad's smoked a pipe. Heavenly smell on summer nights, plus I think it makes for a long and relaxing smoke

>>20727445
what did Jesus/Aesculapius/Severus smoke?

>>20724422
the mind of a smoker
>smokers are the best and brightest
>Needs cigs for social interaction cause retardations
>not a burden on society

Go smoke but stop spouting this garbage

>>20727310
>weed gets you high; psychoactive properties, and that's way worse to get addicted through.
>Nicotine is medicine

People don't to get as much dementia cause they tend to die. Please smoke if you want but you sir are one of those creatures so moronic you will never be able to fathom the depths of your own stupidity.

>>20726857
I don't think chew is disgusting. I think it looks cleaner than dip, a form of tobacco I have yet to try. You're probably confusing the two. I have only chewing tobacco 3 times. I bought my first two packs 6 months ago because of a recent change to Red Man, now known as America's Best. I think I could get more into chew than snus, but either way, I'm not much of an oral tobacco-taker. I am perfectly satisfied with snuff, cigars, and pipes. By snuff, I do mean the nasal variety, not the other name by which dip is known.

>>20727310
Snuff is far less elaborate than cigar. Grab a pinch and sniff. For a cigarette, you need to go to an approved area after paying a fuckton of money for your overly taxed tobacco. Then, you have to light it up. Often times, you're enduring bad weather. You have to ash. Then, you really ought to dispose of your cigarette in a clean and safe way. With snuff, you can do it anywhere, and you blow your nose sometimes.

>>20728512
Snuff is also really cheap compared to other tobacco products. But the biggest plus of snuff is that the only person who smells it is you, it doesn't stink up your whole house. A pipe or cigar is alright on occasion, but I'm pinching snuff all day long and the only thing anyone has to complain about is if they see the brown snot after I blow my nose.

>>20728476
Where do you get snuff? I've wanted to try it but have yet to find a retailer.

>>20728660
If you're in North America I recommend Toque Snuff. Ships from the UK

>>20723758
I saw this book posted on /lit/ last December. I downloaded it, read it in a few hours, and as soon as I finished I had one more cigarette, said my farewells, and quit. Life changer.

>>20724263
You might have ADHD. Smoking and addiction in general is one way of coping when undiagnosed. You've also mentioned scattered thinking, anger/mood problems and an activity that it sounds like you were hyper focused on for a short period. Smoking is one easy way for the undiagnosed to gain some low level stimulation for their brains.

>>20728476
Isnt dip and chew the same

>>20729620
No. Not quite. Chew is closer to literally chomping on tobacco leaves. Dip is far wetter, is milled with flavorings and you sit it against your gums, you don't literally chew it.