Different brands of smokes?

Hi there, this is your lovely Marcus once again. I am now going talk about something i had consult my smoker friends about. He told me one of the main problem of smoking is different brand of cigarette. It is a bit weird on why he commented that. Then i ask him again, isnt every smoke look the same and taste the same?
The answer i gotten was rather harsh i say. He went up in rage and say different brand has different taste. It differs between the tobacco level. Take for example, Camel. Camel is a strong cigarette and if any first time smoker smokes it, the person will experience giddiness and slight nausea as the body is not adapted to tobacco.
Another example, Marlboro. Marlboro has many different flavor by itself. Marlboro Menthol has a smoothing and cooling taste compared to the original one. Marlboro Reds is harsh and may cause sore throats in new smoker.
Thats something new to know to us as non-smoker.
Signing off,
Marcus

History of smoking

Hi there, this is Marcus again. I think Aliff has done a great job in posting many several good details and now i have absolutely no idea what i can contribute to this blog now. I think as for this post we will side track a bit by telling how smoking even started.
I came across this website and it is very detail : http://healthliteracy.worlded.org/docs/tobacco/Unit1/2history_of.html

This explain briefly how people started smoking. You can click on the link to see more. Or... if you are feeling lazy i can summaries it for you.

It seems that the Mayan Indians of Mexico carved drawings in stone showing tobacco use somewhere between 600 to 900 A.D. Tobacco was grown by American Indians before the Europeans. Native Americans smoked tobacco through a pipe for special religious and medical purposes and they did not smoke everyday. 

To say it briefing, smoking was never used for recreation and leisure purpose as it was now. Some thinking thoughts?

Signing off, 
Marcus

How many (male) people smoke in the world?

Currently in Singapore, around 35%-55% of males are smoking........
Knowing the goverment, they are making efforts to reduce that percentage.

That is all~ Aliff Hasbi

How much smoking could harm yourself?

So how many parts of your body can be harmed bgn smoking?, this is how much........

So, stay safe and don't smoke!

That is all ~ Aliff Hasbi

(Source) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking#Health_effects_and_regulation

Cold turkey or gradual?

Many people would ask if it was better to just go cold turkey (abruptly just quit smoking) or just gradually decrease the amount of smoking of cigarettes, they both have their advantages and their disadvantages and whatever the method depends on the person.........

Going cold turkey means that you abruptly and totally give up the habit. On Friday you were smoking, but on Saturday you are not. The benefits of this method include the immediate success of stopping, getting a quick and dramatic start, and avoiding thinking about the nasty habit and its temptation. The downsides are the lack of preparation when not smoking (Now what do I do instead of smoke?) and the withdrawal symptoms from nicotine absence. Sudden withdrawal from extensive smoking (several packs a day) can prove dangerous, especially among those with pre-existing medical conditions. 

Gradual withdrawal, by contrast, means that you gradually reduce the amount of smoking over time or by using a nicotine replacement system, such as a patch, nasal spray, or gum. Smokers either change their cigarette brands each week to ones containing progressively less nicotine and tar or reduce the number of cigarettes gradually each day or two. The benefits of this method include easing into quitting, giving yourself time and practice to quit, and allowing your body to grow accustomed to lower doses of nicotine, thereby reducing unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. The downsides are that it takes a little longer to quit and that some folks may find it difficult to stop altogether using fading. 

So, if you were to decide not to smoke, which method would you choose?

That is all ~ Aliff Hasbi

(source) http://www.sharecare.com/health/smoking-treatment/quit-smoking-gradually-cold-turkey

What's inside a roll of cigarette?

Have you ever wondered what's inside a roll of cigarettes?, simply put, there are many (potentially) harmful ingredients that are out to get your body.......

Are you really smoking a simple cigarette or a death stick that takes many years to kill you?...........

That is all ~ Aliff Hasbi

Goofy says "No Smoking!!!"

Now this is interesting, This 1951 Disney cartoon titled "No Smoking" stars Goofy (who is playing as George Geef) and his attempts to kick his habit of smoking, shame that didn't go so well......

This also shows bait of how nicotine came into the Americas, so that's a bit of history there.........

           That is all ~ Aliff Hasbi

Smoking while pregnant.

Now, this post is not really for men, but this is directed to women, more specially, pregnant women.........

Why is smoking harmful while pregnant?, it's not about you but it's also your child which is still developing in the womb.

Cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals, including truly nasty things like cyanide, lead, and at least 60 cancer-causing compounds. When you smoke during pregnancy, that toxic brew gets into your bloodstream, your baby's only source of oxygen and nutrients.

While none of those 4,000-plus chemicals is good for your baby (you would never add a dollop of lead and cyanide to his strained peaches), two compounds are especially harmful: nicotine and carbon monoxide. These two toxins account for almost every smoking-related complication in pregnancy.

The most serious complications — including stillbirth, premature pregnancy, and low birth weight — can be chalked up to the fact that nicotine and carbon monoxide work together to reduce your baby's supply of oxygen. Nicotine chokes off oxygen by narrowing blood vessels throughout your body, including the ones in the umbilical cord. It's a little like forcing your baby to breathe through a narrow straw. To make matters worse, the red blood cells that carry oxygen start to pick up molecules of carbon monoxide instead. Suddenly, that narrow straw doesn't even hold as much oxygen as it should.

Besides that, it can also affect your baby's body (can be underdeveloped), size (may be smaller then usual), heart (can have defects) and metal health (low IQ, learning problems, etc).

So what can you do?

The easiest way is to simply stop smoking and while you are at it, think about other worthwhile stuff 

like eating well and exercising while preparing for childbirth.

That is all ~ Aliff Hasbi

Poster

Just to let you guys know, we made a new poster. It may not be Da Vinci work but this is our work.
Enjoy :D

Signing off

Marcus

Confession

Actually it is hard to make people or even someone who is close to you to stop smoking. My family is used to smoking and i cannot stop them by any means. Even it goes done to even my friends, it is not a simple job to make them quit smoking.
I recently got to know of a friend who had successfully quit smoking. He told me that it is really really tough to quit smoking, his hands were shaking and he is very tempted to take a puff to relieve his addiction.

What i really believe, in order to stop smoking, what is needed the most is sheer determination. Only with your mind set to quit, then you can quit. There are many ways and many tips on quitting online and most of them are useful. If you really want to quit, i believe it is possible.

Signing off,
Marcus

Updates from Denmark

Hi there, lovely readers who will want to read this piece of blog which we put in lots of effort to keep it from dying. This is yours truly, Marcus.
I think i had judged a bit too much when I said Denmark is smoke free. I realised the only place is smoke free in Denmark is the country side. I went to Thy which is a country side far up north and I never seen anyone smoking for that past 1 week of stay. The air is very fresh.
However the moment i went to Arhus, the second biggest city of Denmark, i saw lots of people smoking just anywhere. Bins are located near and cigarette butts were properly disposed off. This is probably one of the good part. The air is still rather fresh but it cannot be compared with Thy.
The worst I encountered is Copenhagen. I can feel that the air is filled with smoke the moment I step out from the train. My cough got bad to worst. Probably readers will have other opinion? Give us a reply or anything.
 Signing off. This is one of the train i took.

Posting from Denmark

Hi there, this is your lovely Marcus posting a blog post all the way from Denmark which is a few thousand kilo meters a way from where i live, which is Singapore. Be honored. Anyway I was on a global exchange program for 2 weeks and this is currently my second week. I being through both the country side and the city now which is Thy and Aarhus. Ok lets get back to this whole purpose of this blog. Smoking.

The price of a normal packet of cigarette is around 10 usd in Singapore. i notice that the price of cigarette in Denmark is fixed and it cost 8-9 usd. Slightly cheaper than what is in Singapore. I notice that i hardly see smokers smoking in Denmark, not sure the reason why but i am fine with that.

Let me side track a bit. I ask him about prices of cigarette in USA since he is from USA. He told me that prices varies quite a lot in different states. In Delaware, the price is around 5 usd where there are no taxes involved in it. However in New York, prices can be 14-15 usd. The states impose high taxes to try to stop people from smoking and it seems to work in New York.

The best idea is to bring the price up for smoker to stop smoking?



Just a image from Copenhagen in Denmark. This is their train station. Did you see any cigarette butt on the floor?

What happens if you quit smoking?

So this is what might happen if you quit smoking.........

Sure it takes a long time to reverse the effects of smoking but in the end, it's worth it......

Videos

 

       Most people always says that smoking kills but they hardly know what really kills them. Below is a video on what is in cigarette that really kills them

 

 This is something to really ponder about.

Hello there.......

Hello readers, this is Aliff Hasbi and i am the blogmaster of this blog, this blog has been set up by a group of 5 people who are doing it for our Lifeskills project at ITE (College West, Simgapore).

My co-partner Marcus Lim and i will post here each week to tell you about ways or why to quit smoking, occasionally we would also post a video here and there but it mostly just text.

Our theme of this blog is "What are the main ways to successfully quit smoking.". We will be posting relevant topic corresponding to our theme.

Stay tuned for future posts!

By: Aliff Hasbi
(Your eternal overlord)