Welcome to Gaia! ::

@bogie: Genetic do play a HUGE part but are you going by lack of cough or have you both had MRIs?
The biggest problem with tobacco use is the additive sh*t they stick inside it and American cigs (excepting American Spirit) are the worst about it. There's also the radioactive isotopes that are used to stimulate growth of the plants. It makes for radioactive cigarettes. Try runnning a Geiger counter over a pack of Malboros. If you have good genes and smoke good tobacco it's not that harmfull. Of other domestic brands I think Winston is the least toxic

My mom was a heavy smoker and got emphysema. She smoked Benson & Hedges most of her life, then Virginia Slims then just whatever was cheap. Not surprising what happenned especially since her body was f*cked from bad pneumonia in childhood and a life of anorexia. I don't think smoking killed her, it was a long drawn-out suicide.



@ winkle:
Try giving up something you live with, like refined sugar, coffee, soda, or masturbation or even something like internet or meat. Chances are you have some addictions you aren't even aware of because you chronically 'use'.

There's psychologial and phsysiologial addictions and the sticky wicket is a psych addiction will develop physiologial resposes and addiction and a physiological addiction is a source of comfort and that becomes a psych addiction.
So you're part right about the self-medicating, but that can be both the cause or the effect of addiction.



@ Missy Eevee:
You're probably allergic and smoking around people who don't like it is just rude




Incidently, anti-psychotics and ant-depressants ahve shown to be more effective in quitting smoking than nicotine replacement.
Plus if you're using patches an gum, you only quit smoking but you're still a nicotine addict