On: On Smoking

[qq4]

I've always had a hard time with this because I would think we would see people horribly addicted to nicotine patches and lozenges if this were true. What makes a cigarette so different?

[refulgentis → qq4]

There's a ritual, an experience. There's something _to do_: I don't understand how you live your day, you just sit at the same desk in the same small apartment all day? No pause? It's like hearing someone prefers an 8 hour movie

Edit: this isn't...an attack...it's a humorous attempt to gat at genuinely how I feel, as a smoker, about people who don't smoke

[maccard → refulgentis]

I totally get the ritual. The process of grinding coffee and preparing the cups, milk, filter and machine takes ~ 5 minutes or so every morning, and it's one of my favorite parts of the day.

I've got a dog and live next to a park. Taking 45 minutes out of my morning and afternoon to walk her gives me more "headspace" than anything else ive tried.

I guess I get my kicks elsewhere?

[qq4 → refulgentis]

I would argue that sucking on a lozenge is about as much of a ritual as sucking on a cigarette.

[refulgentis → qq4]

In my head, the lozenge is background noise whereas the cigarette means I'm outside, gotta get a jacket, mask on, bring a coffee, etc

[kuschku → refulgentis]

So why not do the coffee break outside, without the cigarette?

[joeberon → kuschku]

Well, coffee doesn't contain nicotine

[kuschku → joeberon]

And that's where it immediately becomes obvious it's not just about going outside, or having small breaks, it's about the addiction that's so destructive that it's easier to deny it than to accept it.

[refulgentis → kuschku]

exactly, they're so deeply intertwined. when I read "oh but you could just go outside with the coffee?"...I would say out loud "why, yes...", and its genuinely a novel thought to me. Then, I silently think "but what about the cigarette?", and in that moment, I am enlightened.