Take Your Freedom Back?

E-cigarette manufacturers will do anything to make their products seem more attractive. They'll even hire celebrity douches to say ridiculous things like "It's time we take our freedom back."

But keep in mind that smoking an e-cigarette doesn't make you look cool, it just keeps you addicted to nicotine, which keeps you buying their products. And perhaps the production of toxic secondhand cigarette smoke may not have been the only reason behind your "freedom".

Nicotine Addiction: It's Not A Lifestyle Choice

For nine months, James Capps didn’t have a bite of food. He had to pour nutritional supplements into a feeding tube for nourishment while he underwent and recovered from treatment for oral cancer.

Capps was hooked to nicotine by the time he was 15, and he began "dipping" because that’s what every good Oklahoma cowboy did. "You don’t need that crutch to be someone you want to be,” he says. “You should do it without tobacco.”


Source: The Missoulan and Chew On This

Are You Just Blowin' Smoke?

If you're one of the frequent visitors of Smoking Blows, then you'll know that I like to convey my views and opinions about smoking and nicotine addiction through the use of video.

Thanks to a recent Tweet from SmokeFreeDonna @SmokeFreeLife I discovered this "button-pushing" Kacey Musgraves video while reading the very insightful commentary by Julia Cartwright found at The Partnership at DrugFree.org.

According to Julia -

This song is a smart but sad anthem for most of the 44 million Americans who still smoke. What a four-minute song can’t put into context is just how powerful an addiction to smoking is. For those not informed of how difficult it is to quit nicotine, smoking is framed as a lifestyle choice instead of an addiction that can plague people for years – no matter how hard they try to stop. [my emphasis]

As a leader in the battle against nicotine addiction, Julia's assessment is right on the mark about the problems facing many Americans that come from the sinister forces enabling the tobacco industry to market the use of tobacco subconsciously through print advertisements, the internet, on film, and even in music videos, in order to normalize nicotine addiction.

But, like I usually do, I'm presenting this country music video with a slightly different interpretation, to serve as an educational resource with commentary that enlightens smokers about the subconscious behaviors, and the unfortunate consequences that a nicotine addiction will bring into their lives.

It's a sad fact, that as a smoker, you most-likely fell victim to your nicotine addiction because of the omnipresent and sinister marketing efforts of Big Tobacco directed towards you as a child.

Like Julia points-out, many young smokers are unfortunately tricked into believing that tobacco use is a lifestyle choice instead of an addiction. There's nothing you can do to change the past, but now that you realize that you were "played", you must make the conscious decision to do something about it.

So, like Kacey says, "Don’t wait for a quarterlife crisis to cross things off your bucket list." Don't just blow smoke about your current situation. Start on that journey and change your life now. Quit!

Being stuck in a rut, working a crappy job, and barely scraping by is the perfect time to quit spending money you don't have to buy cigarettes, other tobacco products, or e-cigarettes. It doesn't make any sense waiting until you become successful before you decide to quit smoking. The time is now.

Because if you take a closer look at your life, you'll see that your nicotine addiction is one of the main culprits contributing to the so-called "un-success" that you're experiencing. For example -

Cigarettes are EXPENSIVE, not only to continually purchase, but to treat the illnesses they cause.

You limit your options of finding a life-partner if you're a smoker. Understandably, many non-smokers refuse to date smokers. No one likes being around smokers, except other smokers.

Imagine the difficulties you'll experience going back to school as a smoker to earn a degree when just about all of the colleges and universities are now becoming tobacco-free.

A nicotine addiction will also limit your options of finding a good-paying job. The increasing number of companies that institute tobacco-free employee programs (pdf) refuse to hire smokers.

AND, as described by this video, if you're seeking to become a wildly-popular and successful country singer, not only will smoking harm your beautiful voice, but it will also taint your beautiful face.



Stop blowin' smoke. Use your anger as motivation to "quit smoking" before your quarterlife ends, so that you don't have to begin worrying about an end-of-life crisis, way before reaching your midlife one.

Decades of Lies and Deception

From the first day in 1964 when the Surgeon General of the United States publicly announced that cigarette smoking can be harmful to one's health, the tobacco industry has spend untold amounts time, resources, and money to deceivingly convince the American public into believing otherwise.

If the past 50 years have taught us anything, it's that the tobacco industry cannot be trusted to place the public's interest above their own profits no matter what they say. And what's almost unimaginable to me, is that after all those years of discovering evidence proving the contrary, they're still able to lie to us without any criminal accountability.

So if you're anything like me, you'd have to wonder why, after so many decades of proven lies, deceit, and fraud, that Big Tobacco representatives (pdf) should be allowed to provide any type of scientific advice or information to the organization that's empowered by the Government to regulate tobacco?


Source: The Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society

Fight The Enemy - Tobacco

The war on tobacco remains a back-and-forth conflict, and DoD needs your help to fight the enemy.

They've found this sinister enemy to be all around us, infiltrating our forces, preying on our family, our friends, and fellow DoD service members. Their weapons in this battle are many, but DoD is reaching out to you today to enlist your help in a tactical mission they believe can help turn the tide.

Using the audio/visual equipment found in your arsenal, create a short video that illustrates the threat tobacco poses to individual’s health and social status. The Fight the Enemy video campaign aims to change the social norms surrounding tobacco use by declaring that tobacco use is the "enemy" that degrades health, fitness, mission readiness and work productivity.

The mission of creating videos "by Service members for Service members" is to frame tobacco use as socially unacceptable. This video competition is open to all DoD Service members, DoD Civilians and family members of DoD Service members. You can do it, get out there and kick some butts!

Video submissions will be accepted from August 15 -- October 15, 2013.

Quitting Smoking Is A Journey

When you eventually make the decision to quit smoking, it's ALWAYS going to be in your own best interest to enlist some help. Take advantage of the many free services offered by your local quit team (1-800-QUIT-NOW) and your neighborhood pharmacist.

Make sure to also discuss it with your personal physician before you attempt to quit. Your ability to successfully quit smoking improves when evidence-based anti-smoking medications are incorporated.

Become familiar with what's involved in a quit attempt and what's to be expected when you've decided to beat your nicotine addiction. Learn as much as you can about the process beforehand.

And remember the ancient Chinese proverb, a journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step.

Here's an excellent video created by Mike Evans, MD explaining the mechanics of a quit attempt -


HT: Manchester Stop Smoking Service

Fighting For Smokefree Air | Cynthia's Story

Cynthia Falls has been dealing at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas for decades. She loves her job, but hates the cigarette smoke. Cynthia, a nonsmoker, used to be much more physically active, but the daily exposure to secondhand smoke has made it difficult to breathe and she can no longer do the things she once loved.

To become involved and support the effort to make casinos 100% smokefree for workers like Cynthia and her colleagues, please visit Smokefree Casinos.


Source: Americans for Non-Smokers' Rights

Those Things Will Kill You

Like I've said one-hundred times before, nothing good ever comes from a nicotine addiction.