Where there’s smoke…

It was good to read in my newspaper today that some 300,000 people in Britain have given up smoking during the Covid-19 epidemic, with over half a million others trying to quit. Emerging evidence confirms that smokers have suffered some of the worst outcomes. Fair play to everyone who is trying to give up.

We quit in 1993 and it was one of the best decisions we ever made. I have since developed mild asthma and I can only imagine the likely consequences if I was still smoking and then developed Covid-19. I know what it’s like to have a ‘smoker’s cough’ and bronchitis that is much, much worse when you are forcing tobacco into your lungs.

Whilst it is undoubtedly true that I am the worst type of ex smoker, a whingeing, sanctimonious twat at my worst, I do understand the addiction. There were cigarettes I really enjoyed, especially the first one of the day and the far with the coffee and beer. It turned out it was only part of a habit and once the habit was broken I soon got over it.

I am so glad vaping was not an option when we were about to give up because I am sure we would have taken the easier option. We went cold turkey and it paid off. Vaping, it seems to me, simply maintains the addiction to nicotine.

And anyway, we don’t know if vaping is safe, yet. It’s less unsafe that smoking cigarettes, but the science is not clear how less unsafe it is. After all, you are still inhaling something you wouldn’t be inhaling and far more deeply than the simple act of breathing.

I used to believe, by closing my mind, that I would be the one who would escape the dark and dangerous effects of tobacco, that the dangers only applied to everyone else, like my mum, my uncle and both my maternal grandparents who died as a direct result of smoking. Opening my mind was one of my better decisions.