Quite a saga about smoking! I grew up with parents who smoked. My Mum was a social and stress smoker, and gave up quite easily when the evidence about the health effects started to circulate. She started smoking because it looked glamorous in the movies. My Dad was a chain smoker who lit his next cigarette while still finishing the last one. He started smoking in Egypt in the Second World War. Although he made several attempts to stop, the big change for him came when he required gall bladder surgery in his seventies, which required three weeks in hospital, during which time he was not allowed to smoke. That broke the pattern, and he never smoked again. My brothers and I never smoked, after trying it as teenagers in the sand hills at St Clair, and feeling very sick!
Happy New Year to you all. My resolution is the same as it has been for years - be generous, have fun, and do some good in the world.
My parents both smoked, and it must have been enough to put us kids off. None of us 5 have ever smoked, and we're in our 60s and 70s now. I'm glad I didn't start - my inability to cut back on sweet foods indicates that I wouldn't have done well at stopping!
Mum died at 58 of lung cancer. She missed out on such a lot. Sad. My late husband smoked. He gave up the day his brain tumour was diagnosed, and although that particular cancer isn't considered to be connected to smoking, who knows? I was amazed at how easily he stopped, and wondered... Could he have done that 30 years earlier?
I lived in France for a year a few years ago, and struggled with the social acceptance of smoking. At the high school I was teaching at, during breaks the kids and teachers would smoke together on the footpath!
Anyway, enough grumbling about smoking from me. You can tell I don't like it! But I understand how hard it must be for people to give up.
Happy New Year! As I’ve aged I’ve realised there are a whole lot of things it’s better not to even start. My Dad smoked for 40 years, maybe secretly even longer. A dose of Legionnaires finally put him off it. But he died of lung cancer four years ago now. Mum also smoked and has just finished radiation for a small lung tumour discovered incidentally by a routine chest X-ray after she fell and broke her femur.
For some reason I’ve never liked the taste or smell, no matter what plant the burning leaves came from ;) I’m very grateful as I think I would have had tremendous trouble giving up and have the greatest admiration for those who have.
I gave up 40 years ago - yes, getting pregnant is a great incentive - but I remember smoking everywhere. Planes, restaurants, at the movies ('cinema' back then) ... ye gods!
My second job was as a receptionist for a medical and dental supply company. There were two of us on reception. Whoever didn’t have a lit ciggie would go greet the dentist or doctor (who, more often than not would also be smoking) in our showroom. I often think back to that time in astonishment. Hard to believe nowadays.
I quit in '98 hardest bloody thing I have ever done , I have only had 1 cigarette in all this time, I was in China for work for 10 days and the Chinese cop on duty at the bottom of the gang plank for our vessel in Dalian demanded in chinglish that I have a chinese cigarette - it was the foulest thing I ever inhaled , I then found these hole in the wall shops that sold only cigarettes dozens of different brands all for bugger all $$
Golly - you took the smoke down? That was brave. I think I might have tried the "Betty Davis" type smoking, but perhaps that might not have done the trick for a guy.
He was watching me very closely to ensure that I inhaled it, quite a bizarre experince , if you are a life long smoker in China then Covid is going to seriously screw with your lungs...
Dec 31, 2022·edited Jan 1, 2023Liked by Nick Rockel
HNY Mr Rockel! No Smo King eh? Hypocrite that I am as well as a skite but hell its it's day one of the next Gregorian Calendar year. Ever thought of what the next calendar might be - given time-warps around the corner and deep space closer than 1492 when the Santa Maria's crew displaced indigene? Anyway as I controversially took the chair on a split vote in the once mighty Heathcote County Council I made news for the Chch Press and Star by proposing, totally unplanned, that "there be no more smoking during meetings." It was carried unanimously. My opponent's bitter "Hitler" insult was published too but missed getting the headline. I remain an occasional blower of smoke. Smoke rings at NYE partys :)
The people who run dairies have a lot to answer for (perhaps the 21st century crime is karma for the children's lives they ruined by peddling cigarettes).
I recall sharing a 10pack of capstan plain at the age about 11 with a friend who'd bought them at the local dairy. We vomited after following up with icecream.
I didn't eat icecream for years, and never smoked cigarettes again.
I used to smoke with the kids next door from the age of about 8. In an effort to curry favour with them I stole a 1lb pack of 'Imperial Alliance' pipe tobacco from my families grocery store. The fact that it was a compressed block of tarry leaf intended to be chopped and rubbed to achieve a pipe usable consistency did not deter them from rolling up fags from it. I remember having a few puffs and becoming very woozy and lay down to recover. I never smoked tobacco again. A timely intervention by fate which probably saved my health or even my life.
Happy New Year to you and your family Nick. I am staying with my sister in rural Canterbury for Christmas and New Year. I'm having to stay longer than intended because of car trouble-I have to wait until Wednesday for the local garage to get the final part they need so I can drive it again. That is 850 dollars I'll never see again.!! My sister used to smoke heavily- she has been smoke free for twenty years now. She also went through a period of drinking heavily, but has been alcohol free for thirty years. Her neighbours and I had some wine when they came to dinner friday night. That was my alcohol for the Christmas period. I do have a nice Pinot Gris in my room but I think I'll take it home for myself to have an occasional drink while watching The Chase at 5pm-a couple of crackers, cheese, and a glass of wine .1 My sister and I spent last night at home- couldn't be bothered going out. In the end we spent the evening talking by phone (set so we both could speak and listen) to a woman who through Ancestry Dot.Com said she was our half sister. She flicked a couple of photos through and there is a family resemblance. A bit surreal really, our conversation. LOL even more surreal was the realisation she was born in the same year as me, but in June when I was born in October. So while my lovely mum was pregnant with me my father was shagging a twenty year old and got her pregnant. When the baby was born she was adopted out. We lived in a small community at the time so I guess my mother must have found out. Some men huh! Our mother used to say to us , be careful who you marry -they might be your half sibling. Eventually she left our father - when I was 17yr old- made a new life for herself in Auckland with my sister, and myself. Our brothers were working by that stage. Mum got a job- went to night school-passed school cert and UE. Became a public servant . Remarried. When she retired went to AUCKLAND Uni-studied politics, and Asian Geography- graduated with distinction. Women can do, and do ,do anything!! It was a bizarre New Year's Eve but my sister and I did in the end have a good laugh. We decided with people doing DNA testing these days there were likely to be other half siblings coming out of the woodwork.lol
I have never really smoked. Used to try to be cool and hold a ciggy when I was a teenager- didn't inhale. The one time I did inhale I fainte. I am very allergic to cigarette smoke as an asthmatic. one of my sons is currently inhabiting my downstairs rooms as he and his partner have split up.H e is smoking again- usually does so outside but the cold winter in Dunedin, and being downstairs mean he thought he could smoke inside. The smoke filters upstairs and I immediately start coughing. I really want him to give up for his health and mine. He has now started vaping instead. His health will be impacted but it is better for me. The vape seems to stay downstairs and deosn't really smell of nicotine.d
Happy New Year Nick. That was a wander down memory lane. It reminded me of my Dad he started smoking when he was over in Egypt in the 2nd World War. He worked on the railway and he would ride his bike to and from work. We had a steepish but not that long of a hill to come up get to our drive. So from getting 3/4 of the way up to getting off at the bottom of the hill and having a cough we could hear from the bottom to let us know he was nearly home. Anyway he stopped smoking and for the first year he put that money in a separate account and brought himself a second hand set of golf clubs because at the bottom of the hill was also a 9 hole golf course, and our first TV a black and white one. I was so impressed he stopped smoking first because of the TV and much later on when I discovered golf. I did try smoking only because I thought those long B&H's made you look cool. Gave it up when I realised you had to inhale the smoke and it was gross LOL
Yep started as a high school boy to be one of the lads. Thankfully able to quit 50 years ago and have welcomed being able to go to cafes, etc and not have to endure the smell of smoke. Can get another fix now by sitting outside cafes in Orewa and breathing the diesel and petrol fumes of endless traffic instead. Hopefully one day this will change as well.
Quite a saga about smoking! I grew up with parents who smoked. My Mum was a social and stress smoker, and gave up quite easily when the evidence about the health effects started to circulate. She started smoking because it looked glamorous in the movies. My Dad was a chain smoker who lit his next cigarette while still finishing the last one. He started smoking in Egypt in the Second World War. Although he made several attempts to stop, the big change for him came when he required gall bladder surgery in his seventies, which required three weeks in hospital, during which time he was not allowed to smoke. That broke the pattern, and he never smoked again. My brothers and I never smoked, after trying it as teenagers in the sand hills at St Clair, and feeling very sick!
Happy New Year to you all. My resolution is the same as it has been for years - be generous, have fun, and do some good in the world.
My parents both smoked, and it must have been enough to put us kids off. None of us 5 have ever smoked, and we're in our 60s and 70s now. I'm glad I didn't start - my inability to cut back on sweet foods indicates that I wouldn't have done well at stopping!
Mum died at 58 of lung cancer. She missed out on such a lot. Sad. My late husband smoked. He gave up the day his brain tumour was diagnosed, and although that particular cancer isn't considered to be connected to smoking, who knows? I was amazed at how easily he stopped, and wondered... Could he have done that 30 years earlier?
I lived in France for a year a few years ago, and struggled with the social acceptance of smoking. At the high school I was teaching at, during breaks the kids and teachers would smoke together on the footpath!
Anyway, enough grumbling about smoking from me. You can tell I don't like it! But I understand how hard it must be for people to give up.
Happy New Year! As I’ve aged I’ve realised there are a whole lot of things it’s better not to even start. My Dad smoked for 40 years, maybe secretly even longer. A dose of Legionnaires finally put him off it. But he died of lung cancer four years ago now. Mum also smoked and has just finished radiation for a small lung tumour discovered incidentally by a routine chest X-ray after she fell and broke her femur.
For some reason I’ve never liked the taste or smell, no matter what plant the burning leaves came from ;) I’m very grateful as I think I would have had tremendous trouble giving up and have the greatest admiration for those who have.
I gave up 40 years ago - yes, getting pregnant is a great incentive - but I remember smoking everywhere. Planes, restaurants, at the movies ('cinema' back then) ... ye gods!
Have a happy and healthy '23
My second job was as a receptionist for a medical and dental supply company. There were two of us on reception. Whoever didn’t have a lit ciggie would go greet the dentist or doctor (who, more often than not would also be smoking) in our showroom. I often think back to that time in astonishment. Hard to believe nowadays.
I quit in '98 hardest bloody thing I have ever done , I have only had 1 cigarette in all this time, I was in China for work for 10 days and the Chinese cop on duty at the bottom of the gang plank for our vessel in Dalian demanded in chinglish that I have a chinese cigarette - it was the foulest thing I ever inhaled , I then found these hole in the wall shops that sold only cigarettes dozens of different brands all for bugger all $$
Golly - you took the smoke down? That was brave. I think I might have tried the "Betty Davis" type smoking, but perhaps that might not have done the trick for a guy.
He was watching me very closely to ensure that I inhaled it, quite a bizarre experince , if you are a life long smoker in China then Covid is going to seriously screw with your lungs...
HNY Mr Rockel! No Smo King eh? Hypocrite that I am as well as a skite but hell its it's day one of the next Gregorian Calendar year. Ever thought of what the next calendar might be - given time-warps around the corner and deep space closer than 1492 when the Santa Maria's crew displaced indigene? Anyway as I controversially took the chair on a split vote in the once mighty Heathcote County Council I made news for the Chch Press and Star by proposing, totally unplanned, that "there be no more smoking during meetings." It was carried unanimously. My opponent's bitter "Hitler" insult was published too but missed getting the headline. I remain an occasional blower of smoke. Smoke rings at NYE partys :)
The people who run dairies have a lot to answer for (perhaps the 21st century crime is karma for the children's lives they ruined by peddling cigarettes).
I recall sharing a 10pack of capstan plain at the age about 11 with a friend who'd bought them at the local dairy. We vomited after following up with icecream.
I didn't eat icecream for years, and never smoked cigarettes again.
I used to smoke with the kids next door from the age of about 8. In an effort to curry favour with them I stole a 1lb pack of 'Imperial Alliance' pipe tobacco from my families grocery store. The fact that it was a compressed block of tarry leaf intended to be chopped and rubbed to achieve a pipe usable consistency did not deter them from rolling up fags from it. I remember having a few puffs and becoming very woozy and lay down to recover. I never smoked tobacco again. A timely intervention by fate which probably saved my health or even my life.
Happy New Year to you!
Happy New Year to you and your family Nick. I am staying with my sister in rural Canterbury for Christmas and New Year. I'm having to stay longer than intended because of car trouble-I have to wait until Wednesday for the local garage to get the final part they need so I can drive it again. That is 850 dollars I'll never see again.!! My sister used to smoke heavily- she has been smoke free for twenty years now. She also went through a period of drinking heavily, but has been alcohol free for thirty years. Her neighbours and I had some wine when they came to dinner friday night. That was my alcohol for the Christmas period. I do have a nice Pinot Gris in my room but I think I'll take it home for myself to have an occasional drink while watching The Chase at 5pm-a couple of crackers, cheese, and a glass of wine .1 My sister and I spent last night at home- couldn't be bothered going out. In the end we spent the evening talking by phone (set so we both could speak and listen) to a woman who through Ancestry Dot.Com said she was our half sister. She flicked a couple of photos through and there is a family resemblance. A bit surreal really, our conversation. LOL even more surreal was the realisation she was born in the same year as me, but in June when I was born in October. So while my lovely mum was pregnant with me my father was shagging a twenty year old and got her pregnant. When the baby was born she was adopted out. We lived in a small community at the time so I guess my mother must have found out. Some men huh! Our mother used to say to us , be careful who you marry -they might be your half sibling. Eventually she left our father - when I was 17yr old- made a new life for herself in Auckland with my sister, and myself. Our brothers were working by that stage. Mum got a job- went to night school-passed school cert and UE. Became a public servant . Remarried. When she retired went to AUCKLAND Uni-studied politics, and Asian Geography- graduated with distinction. Women can do, and do ,do anything!! It was a bizarre New Year's Eve but my sister and I did in the end have a good laugh. We decided with people doing DNA testing these days there were likely to be other half siblings coming out of the woodwork.lol
I have never really smoked. Used to try to be cool and hold a ciggy when I was a teenager- didn't inhale. The one time I did inhale I fainte. I am very allergic to cigarette smoke as an asthmatic. one of my sons is currently inhabiting my downstairs rooms as he and his partner have split up.H e is smoking again- usually does so outside but the cold winter in Dunedin, and being downstairs mean he thought he could smoke inside. The smoke filters upstairs and I immediately start coughing. I really want him to give up for his health and mine. He has now started vaping instead. His health will be impacted but it is better for me. The vape seems to stay downstairs and deosn't really smell of nicotine.d
Happy New Year Nick. That was a wander down memory lane. It reminded me of my Dad he started smoking when he was over in Egypt in the 2nd World War. He worked on the railway and he would ride his bike to and from work. We had a steepish but not that long of a hill to come up get to our drive. So from getting 3/4 of the way up to getting off at the bottom of the hill and having a cough we could hear from the bottom to let us know he was nearly home. Anyway he stopped smoking and for the first year he put that money in a separate account and brought himself a second hand set of golf clubs because at the bottom of the hill was also a 9 hole golf course, and our first TV a black and white one. I was so impressed he stopped smoking first because of the TV and much later on when I discovered golf. I did try smoking only because I thought those long B&H's made you look cool. Gave it up when I realised you had to inhale the smoke and it was gross LOL
Yep started as a high school boy to be one of the lads. Thankfully able to quit 50 years ago and have welcomed being able to go to cafes, etc and not have to endure the smell of smoke. Can get another fix now by sitting outside cafes in Orewa and breathing the diesel and petrol fumes of endless traffic instead. Hopefully one day this will change as well.
I really appreciate you all sharing your memories, some very moving ones, and interesting to hear the history. Really enjoyed reading them.
Ironic writing given the recent step back from SmokeFree moves, maybe Winston secretly reads your back catalogue too?