[ Post a Response | The Sublime Desire of Cigarette Smoking ]
Posted by vesperae Please understand that I’m certainly not encouraging you to start. I’m just saying that I’ve been in a situation somewhat similar to yours, so I think that I have at least some sense of your perspective. In my case, the very thing that prevented me from seriously entertaining the thought of smoking myself turned out to ultimately be the same thing that I find so compelling and attractive about smoking – the idea that to smoke is to deliberately embrace something that is Dangerous and Risky, and to violate the Taboo of not doing anything that jeopardizes health. The thought of doing this both deeply frightened and deeply excited me. And with smoking there is also what amounts to a largely hidden picture of cumulative damage. What lies beneath a relatively reassuring superficial picture of health can be rich fodder for the imagination, allowing for a great deal of room in our thoughts to either greatly minimize or maximize what the internal impacts of smoking on the body are. And given that so many different variables of genetics and smoking history are involved, the reality can vary so much from individual to individual that we can never really know the actual extent of the damage until an outward problem arises, which often only happens after many, many years of smoking. By the way, chocolate *is* a drug! It influences our endorphin levels, and if eaten in sufficient quantities, can produce feelings of euphoria similar to falling in love and even orgasm. (Take it from a chocoholic… Do you think that there is also a certain excitement in recognizing that a new smoker’s Identity has changed? Perhaps a certain excitement in the thought that she has now become someone different than she used to be? It’s all so exciting and provocative and satisfying in such a personal and wonderfully complex way, isn’t it? * * * * *v
on April 22, 2007, 5:54 pm, in reply to "Re: Addiction Aspect"
Hi Jason, 
”I believe not smoking enhances my fascination because it keeps it a mystery to me. Smoking has no 'been there done that' matter-of-factness to me. This might romanticize the subject in my mind, possibly making it into a bigger deal than it is in reality.”
I’ve always been interested in non-smokers (some of whom are even anti-smokers!) that are attracted to smoking. I guess that this really strikes a chord with me, because even though I smoke and take a great deal of pleasure in my own smoking, I didn’t start until I was 21, and prior to that I never imagined that I would ever be a smoker, even though I found it to be very erotic.
”On the other hand, I know that many fetishists do smoke and some say it enhances their fetish.”
I think that the experience of smoking is singular and unlike anything else, and experiencing the unique sensations and psychological pleasures of smoking firsthand can give us a sense of identifying with the smoking of others (especially those that we find attractive) that can be very erotic. This has certainly been my experience, and relating to the smoking of others through my own smoking has become so deeply sexual for me at this point that I don’t think I’d ever be able to quit smoking, because I’d never be able to give up this particular psychological pleasure.
”That's a very interesting question about addiction. A woman with a coffee addiction would only be exciting to me if it's coffee and cigarettes. A chocolate addiction is not stimulating, perhaps because it is not a drug of any kind. But then again I am turned off by hard drug addiction, for example a woman shooting up heroin or meth would be an extreme turn off for me.”
The interesting thing about smoking is that it has this unique level of Danger – the Risks involved with smoking are substantial, but aren’t so high that they are immediately devastating. The elements of time and uncertainty allow for a genuine sense of “taking a gamble”, but the stakes only gradually rise over time, which allows us to comfortably indulge our Darker motivations in little symbolic ways over and over and over again.
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”So cigarettes are the only context in which addiction is attractive to me. Perhaps it's simply because it looks good to me when a woman smokes...when she puts out her cigarette it's just a matter of time before she smokes another and another...I like that it's not an isolated incident, but that she will keep indulging in it.”
Smoking is certainly very visually dramatic, and certainly anticipating your next smoking encounter with someone who you know is going to smoke eventually can be very exciting.
Is the danger aspect exciting? Yes, in a sense it is. I love the whole bad girl symbolism of smoking. A woman who smokes and continues to smoke is saying to herself and anybody that sees her that the pleasure she get's from smoking outweighs the health risks to her. This means to me that a woman who smokes places a high value on pleasure, sensation seeking, the here and now vs. an unknown future.etc. I find those type of qualities to be sexy.”
I think that you have hit the nail on the head in terms of explaining the “Darker” appeal of smoking. “Badness” is a social quality that we attribute to smoking, because we all recognize on a very fundamental and universal level that there is a knowing acceptance of Risks and Dangers involved with smoking. The sheer outrageousness of it – trading safety and security for immediate gratification of the Ego and “forbidden” pleasures of the flesh.
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