Anti-smoking poster boy still puffing away

[Bob Juch]

The one-legged man whose anti-smoking commercial is running on New York TV station still smokes!

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?secti ... id=5884942

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Barack Obama smokes too.

[VAdame]

Barack Obama smokes too.

I know Laura Bush did -- don't know if she still does.

On April 17 it will be 19 years (one day at a time!) since I've smoked. And y'now, if I could smoke *one or two* cigarettes, without the rest of the pack-&-a-half-to-2-packs-per-day -- I'd smoke! Lets say there are plenty of times when I wish I could -- but I am eternally grateful that I don't have to. I could not smoke in today's world.

I have 3 kids -- the oldest smokes, the middle one hates smoking, & the youngest used to sneak 'em in middle school but has since quit. Megan (who smokes) had babies in the 6 to 6-1/2 lb. range (plus the 2 preemies who were 4 pounders), while Karen (who quit) just had a 9-1/2 pounder! My first 2 (when I smoked) were 6 & 6-1/2 lb., while the last (after I quit) was 7-1/2.

Apparently it really does make a difference.

ETA: I once asked Megan why she smoked, being the daughter of smokers. I mean, I knew why I smoked -- because my boring old parents didn't! So, since you have to rebel against something, why do smokers' children smoke? Logic says they should hate it. She told me, "Well, Mom -- even smokers don't want their kids to smoke!"

Eye-opening, eh?

[wintergreen48]

I have 3 kids -- the oldest smokes, the middle one hates smoking, & the youngest used to sneak 'em in middle school but has since quit. Megan (who smokes) had babies in the 6 to 6-1/2 lb. range (plus the 2 preemies who were 4 pounders), while Karen (who quit) just had a 9-1/2 pounder! My first 2 (when I smoked) were 6 & 6-1/2 lb., while the last (after I quit) was 7-1/2.

Apparently it really does make a difference.

My mother smoked when she was preggers, and I blame my stunted growth on that (I only weighed 10 lbs 1 oz when I was born, less than any of my own kids). I also blame everything that has ever gone wrong in my life on my mother's smoking. That's why she didn't give the answer to the PAF question when I was on WWTBAM. And why I never seem to get that call when there is a Supreme Court opening.

[VAdame]

Yep -- that explains it! LOL

My Grandpa smoked all his life, & my Mom hates smoking (following the logical pattern of rebellion.) She said she used to get a lot of ear infections when she was little, & her Dad would blow warm smoke in her ears to make her feel better (Hey, back in the 1920's/30's, everybody smoked.)

Dad grew up in a house of smokers -- his Mom had 11 brothers, most of whom never married*, who lived with their sister a lot of the time! Dad & his brother Jimmy were sneaking ciggies in an uncle's car, and managed to set it on fire. So their parents decided if they wanted to be big men, they should just smoke in front of the family, and all the neighbors too. And gave them exploding cigarettes!

Dad tried taking up a pipe in the Army (something to kill time between missions across the Channel during WWII), but never really got into it. Then after he was out of the military & working in the Philly Navy Yards he tried chewing tobacco! Now, it was very hot work, and the guys got dry-mouth. So his first day, his buddies said "Oh, yeah -- do what we do for that! Chew tobacco!" So he chewed tobacco the next day, and it worked fine. He chewed tobacco the next day -- and puked all over himself! No more tobacco

Good thing, since he met Mom soon thereafter, & she hates tobacco!

*Except for Uncle Art. He had to -- Grandma made him make an honest woman out of Susie! (direct quote from a letter in the family collection!)

(Aunt Susie was the person I swiped my first cigarette from -- age around 8 IIRC. Tasted like old shoes!)

[marrymeflyfree]

I wondered about that guy! He still looked like a smoker to me in those commercials.

Funny I should come home to this post. I just pulled up to my house and saw two school girls in uniforms walking home. One was smoking, taunting her friend with, "Look...now I'll take a reeeeally long drag!" as the other was berating her for it. They'd stopped right in front of my steps for this exchange just as I was walking up with my groceries. I didn't speak to them, but wish I had. I wish I'd told her how much easier it will be for her to quit now. I smoked for years and mostly quit about 2 years ago except for the occasional one when out drinking. And now, well obviously I'm not smoking at all and I do fine with it, but it would be so much nicer to not have those occasional cravings pop up. There is always that fear of giving in during a moment of weakness. Life would be so much easier without that.

[MarleysGh0st]

The one-legged man whose anti-smoking commercial is running on New York TV station still smokes!

Now could they please stop airing those ads?

[ladysoleil]

The one-legged man whose anti-smoking commercial is running on New York TV station still smokes!

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?secti ... id=5884942

Ew. I hate that ad. It's gross and they always show it a billion times in the morning.

FWIW, he never said in the commercial that he had quit. He just said smoking caused the damage.

[VAdame]

I've never seen it. But I work with enough folks with lung or head/neck cancers who still smoke to understand. Plus 2 smoking nurses, chief tech, one of the other techs, one of the physicists -- and even the doc we had till about a year ago used to go out to his car & puff his pipe on breaks.

[SportsFan68]

I hate it that Holly Hunter smokes and that Grace smokes. The country's made great strides toward denormalization of the worst health behavior there is -- OK, the worst illness behavior there is -- and Grace sets us way back.

I work with one smoker. The poor guy was snowed in for two days with no heat except for a wood stove he used to heat canned soup, which was all he had to eat. He must have had plenty of cigarettes, though. When he finally made it to work, you could smell him eight feet away.

[ontellen]

We usually see this add on Judge Judy from the Buffalo station while we're eating dinner. Very appetizing and now that I hear he STILL hasn't quit - he deserves to be yanked off the air.

I grew up in a family of smokers - Dad smoked smelly cigars but did quit at about 62 but Mom never did and the coroner said she likely would have had another 5 years if she had - and I started when I was about 16. I got up to about 35-40 a day and quit cold turkey in 1986. It was the hardest thing I've ever done - gained about 50 pounds but have since taken off at least 20 of them. I know I'm still healthier though.

My daughter started smoking in high school but since Mom went absolutely balistic over this, she quit. I even suggested she go on the pill but the smoking was my one thing I couldn't handle. I just knew how hard it was to quit.

My son never smoked all through high school and university but the idiot started at about 30. Compared to all the other grief he's caused us, smoking is nothing so we ignore it.

[Bob78164]

My daughter started smoking in high school but since Mom went absolutely balistic over this, she quit. I even suggested she go on the pill but the smoking was my one thing I couldn't handle. I just knew how hard it was to quit.

My son never smoked all through high school and university but the idiot started at about 30. Compared to all the other grief he's caused us, smoking is nothing so we ignore it.

My father quit about 17 years ago, at the age of 53. It was his second heart attack that did the trick. The one that killed him. --Bob