Smoking

I smoke.  I am not proud of it but I do.  I have never heard someone say “boy I wish I smoked.”  It just does not happen.  Smoking cigarettes is addictive but I enjoy it.  I would prefer not to smoke though.  I am “vaping” more these days.
Some people really hate smoking.  I mean really hate it.  I totally agree that my habit should not have a negative impact on another person.  I do however believe the choice should be mine.  It is the whole “nanny state” thing which is a different story really.
I laugh when I think of it, but I remember one poor girl visiting from South Africa who saw me smoking and joined me.  She said she did not know where she could smoke, and felt that if she lit up, police would appear with guns drawn.
I know someone who had been smoking for years, and I thought would never give up.  They got a bad flu and did not feel like a cigarette for a week and then just stopped smoking.  I asked myself “how did they do it?”  Turns out they were smoking “tailer made’s” of 1 mg (good for them I reckon).  That is very different to 8 mg.  They would smoke at every chance.  Now they follow the same routine without the cigarettes.  When I got a cigarette off them, it was like sucking on air!
I have found it is former smokers that give a person the hardest time.  Folk who have never smoked tend to be laissez-faire while former smokers want to take it upon themselves to convert you.  If I am ready to give up - great.  Otherwise it does not help.
I had a mate who only ever smoked OP’s.  That is Other People’s cigarettes.  To be sociable, and because he enjoyed it, he always joined me in a smoke.  I have since found out he was the same with alcohol.  Good on him for not having his own, but long term that practice to me is fraught.
I started smoking at about 25 (considered late in life).  At first I smoked “tailer mades” but went to “rollies” as they seemed better value (looking back it is ridiculous, as one really needs to “practice” smoking ie take little bits at a time or else a person coughs and splutters.)   I have always smoked “gold” which was 8 mg. I can go hours without thinking of a cigarette, but if they are there and the opportunity is right, I will have them.
Anyway I say the above because of an observation.  I could be wrong but this is my perception.  I visit the doctor more than I did (it seems when one gets older it is par for the course). I am often asked a question that does not seem to go far enough. No matter who I have spoken to they just write down the answer and move on. 
The question is “how many cigarettes do you have a day?”
Now why I don’t think the answer is relevant is, a person could say what they like, and there are differences in cigarettes, and apples need to be compared with apples.
Things may have changed, but when I started smoking there were 2 types of cigarettes – “tailer made” (which burn out to the end) and “rollies” (which go out unless smoked).  Where a packet was involved the answer could be clear.  “I smoke 20 a day.”   
When it comes to rollies things get more complicated.  Rollies come in a number of different sized packets.  The strength is determined by colour.  I was told I roll “race hoses.”  This meant I rolled thin rollies.  The implication is, I could roll many in a 50 gram packet.
The following example is extreme just to make a point.  Person one may smoke the 50 gram packet in one hit.  Meaning they roll one cigarette with a filter (filters are seen as bad because of the chemicals) – it is 50 grams in one go.  So when they are asked “how many cigarettes do you smoke a day?” They say one and it is seen as good (well as good as it can be).  Person two may roll 30 cigarettes without a filter but have still only smoked 50 grams.  When they are asked the same question and they say 30, it is seen as bad – yet both have smoked the same amount.  Add to this, one may be smoking 50 grams of 16mg tailer made cigarettes while the other is smoking 8 mg rolly cigarettes.  To me the results are skewed.
Some doctors will not perform anything until a person gives up smoking. I have been “lucky” (or unlucky depending on a persons’ perspective).
Anyway it seems to me the question should be “Do you smoke?”  No is a good answer, and yes is a bad answer.
Again I am not justifying smoking but it seems it can be buried or brought out.  I have heard that burying something alive is not a good idea.