Sweet, sweet tobacco

What draws me back to cigarettes isn't necessarily addiction, but more a kind of deep nostalgia. Especially now that the weather's picking up, I might look outside and think:

"Fuck this is good weather for watching the sun go down while smoking a tab."

There's just something so very chilled out and almost natural about that prospect. That you can sit around and do nothing but enjoy your beautiful environment for a couple of minutes without looking like a lost idiot, but in fact looking rather cool.

Maybe

It has something to do with all my memories involving cigarettes, I still see tobacco in a rather romantic light - it reminds me of holidays in continental Europe, and house parties; I'd only smoked for a year and a half so I can't begin to imagine what it's like for a smoker of 10, 20 or even 40 years. But when you have a nice memory involving a cigarette, subconsciously you kind of link the memory to it.

When you smell tobacco smoke, sometimes you think about great people you've met who smoke. Maybe you even met them in the smokers area.

Maybe

It has something to do with the years and years of subliminal advertisements and product placements in movies.
The culture passed down from an age when smoking was encouraged, probably has something to do with it too.

I remember having a dream about smoking when I was just 8, I'd never touched a cigarette before, but in that dream I had one and I loved it...

The vaper

^{Yep, so I decided to quit anyway. Why?}
Because everyone always complains.
Granted, that's the reason I started smoking - but hear me out!

Smoking doesn't damage your health straight away, we know this much, right? But I was forgetting that while you don't see the damage taking place, your lungs and blood are being slowly clogged and eroded.

But my health wasn't the real reason I stopped, the real reason is because to non-smokers, smokers smell bad. And I suppose if you smell bad, you're offending other people's senses. I used to not give a shit. But over the winter it got cold outside and I started to smoke inside the flat, which eventually pissed my flatmates off, when I went home my parents would say cringeworthy things like "Mmm, smokey Joe!" _{I think you see where I'm going with this.}

So obviously, the vape was the best choice; you still get to inhale stuff, you still get nicotine, it's probably cheaper, you smell like an air freshener and can do it inside without anyone noticing. ^Yay!

So I bought one

Costing me £80 (I know it sounds like a lot, but I'm sure it'll pay off over time), I got myself a high end digital vape (woo, technology).

Sound, so that's it then?

^No!

When you stop smoking and start vaping, something strange starts to happen. I know this isn't just me or just a coincidence because this has happened both times I've stopped smoking and started vaping.

^{What strange thing starts to happen Chris?}

Well, you start coughing, really badly. Eventually it feels like you just can't breathe at all.
But thank your lucky fucks because soon after that, you'll realise why you had difficulty breathing as you cough up 12 litres of tar* over the next three weeks.
^{* Quantities may vary depending on the individual}
I was only a smoker for a year...