Smoke to Death

Kid smoking

I remembered when I was still a kid of  I think 5 or 6, my uncles used to let me buy them their nicotine sticks (we do retail here in the Philippines even cigarettes) along with it is the cardinal rule that  one stick had to be lightened. To make the embers at the end  alive one had to make to  suck the cigarette in small itsy bitsy fashion just enough to make it look like it wasn't sucked otherwise scolding from the uncles or the elder would ensue. For a child such incident was confusing  nevertheless,  it was a common practice during my childhood.   Eventually me and cousins experimented on smoking. Fearing retribution from adults, we would roll newspaper as big as a cigarette and lit the end and we sucked and puffed away like crazy despite the crazy coughing and choking  from the strong old newspaper smoke. Despite our crime, it was a rule that one shouldn't caught  smoking for it could be used as a blackmail during times of  war with my cousins. Children indeed can be viciously appalling.

It wasn't until I was 17 years old that I really started smoking professionally. Professionally, I mean seen smoking in public. At that time, my friends couldn't help commenting that I shouldn't be smoking for itdoesn't suit because according to them I look like an angel....awww..so sweet of them.  I guess, peer pressure and wanting to be "in" a group where  some of the members smoke got me started smoking. Yes, when I was 17, when I saw people in the campus smoking, it seemed to be a coolest thing in the world and I felt an envy. It was, in my thinking that smoking is a rite of passage to manhood. I started out with one stick, I never crave but when friends would offer me a stick I never refused.  I became a serious smoker when I joined an organization in college that involves writing and overnights in college.  Smoking were one of the things that kept me alive aside form coffee during overnights and intense writing. After college, I worked in an big supermarket where the pressure was so great that the only refuge I had was smoking during my break time. My average was 5 sticks a day. May quite tame compared to one-pack smoker a day but in my case quite a sum already. I guess, I was just following in the footsteps of my mother and father who were a couple of  habitual smokers. Common scenario I surmise , nonetheless  it is my own rule that I shouldn't be smoking. Being the eldest I still have to project  a certain  sense of decorum towards my younger siblings.

It was when I was involved in a serious December love affair that I decided to quit smoking as my new year's resolution. Quite a resolve I had. I did quit smoking right then and there. Just like any withdrawal against addiction-I was irritable and started eating  to my gusto. I admit, I didn't totally quit, there are times when I was so full after binging that I smoke just to get rid of that puking moments or when I was depress I smoke a stick or two. Eventually, I stopped thinking about smoking and for the last 4 years I smoke only 1 stick a year, only during circumstances that is gravely depressing and when my stomach is overstuffed with food. I remembered December last year when I puffed a stick  that after enjoying it, I got sick. My back  was hurting and develop runny nose and cough. I was so sick that I finally decided that smoking was no longer my cup of tea.


I could not stress enough the boon of smoking cigarette. In the Philippines alone 250 people die everyday  of smoking related illnesses, roughly about 90,000 deaths a year. What is alarming is that smokers are getting younger and younger each day. Just like the other day, I saw a 5 year-old street child smoking like an adult. It was a sight that shocked me but then what is there to be surprised when smoking does not discriminate between poor and rich, children and adults alike.

Smoking does have its share of benefits. It is a stimulant. Once one smokes, the nicotine will pass into the bloodstream and then goes to the brain where it stimulate "feel good" chemicals. As a result,  our body  naturally will constantly crave for that kind of "zone"  despite the surgeons warning about the effects of smoking. Still people are addicted to it despite the high possibility of having emphysema, cancer and other illnesses associated with smoking. Smoking is one addiction that is transparently permitted in the society. It is quite common to see people smoking on the streets, restaurants, house, bars name all the venues you can think of smoking is always the main act.

Good thing that government in the US has increased tobacco tax making smoking expensive. I just hope that Philippines will follow suit. Probably, in my opinion, one of the most effective way to eliminate smoking is to make a law that prohibits smoking. I know it is an wishful thinking- big tobacco company can subvert the law and government but if its the health of the population is at stake, why not make cigarette smoking along with drugs a crime that warrants  jail time. Come to think of it, the government is being feed and kept alive by the taxpayers money not the tobacco companies, so why not amend a law against smoking.

I guess, I just lucky to have escaped the deadly snares of smoking. Will I puff a smoke again? I don't think so, the sickness i feel afterward is more than enough make me puke thinking about smoking. How to quit smoking? well it is all about discipline and will power.