Self-Extinguishing Cigarettes

We know how hard it is to quit smoking, so lets make it more dangerous to their health!

In addition, smokers usually own up to their fuck-ups. If some dumbass burns down his house while knowing he shouldnt smoke in bed- it isnt like he has a case against anyone but his own dumbass self. You dont hear of smokers trying to sue cigarette companies when they get lung cancer, because MOST people understand the risk (even if it is exaggerated).

What will they do next? Make cars that dont run so they can avoid car accidents? What fucking moron came up with the self extinguishing shit anyway? Shoot that person please!?

I am pissed off that every time I try to get a drag off my cig, I have to light it again! I am sick of the unreasonable regulation being placed on smokers by this asshole government and the bunch of liberal twats that believe every piece of garbage that the liberal organizations put out there- for instance, THE REAL TEST RESULTS REGARDING SECOND HAND SMOKE, instead of the scare tactic propaganda that their beloved crooks tend to issue.

Every flame retardant substance that I have known of in my life is toxic. As if we dont already take a risk by smoking period, and some of us just CANNOT quit smoking even if we wanted to. The self extinguishing paper is just one more bullshit regulation they have put on us to satisfy their power trip. Non-smokers, you wouldnt understand so fuck off! Why do you waste your time conversing with us nasty evil smokers anyway?

As for outlawing smoking in bars, they might as well outlaw drinking too then. Both are sold legally, so how are drinkers more privileged than smokers? Probably because the govt makes millions off drunks annually. Not that they dont make the same from smokers when 90% of the cost of smoking is tax.

I already wish this country would have a revolution, take away my smokes and see what happens! Liberals are some fucking major hypocrites! They wanna legalize pot and other drugs, while telling smokers they arent welcome. Fuck off!

Look people!! If the government was really interested in your health, they would force the auto companies to put into production all the non polluting cars they have plans for already, (such as the bio fuel cars GM has been producing for Brazil since the 80's) they would force the coal burning power plants to install the filters that have been in existence since the early 90's that eliminate 95% of all toxic deadly emissions including mercury, they would halt all imports of products especially food, from China until their rivers (which are mostly brown in color, and not from mud), which are used for irrigation of crops and manufactering, are free of leads and other toxic chemicals.

I smoke, I like to smoke, I am VERY healthy. Non-smokers get off my back unless you are ready to pick up the tab for all the taxes we smokers are paying. If you want us to quit, then let YOUR taxes increase and the taxes of all smokers that quit stay the same.

SEC's are here because of people just out there looking for another reason to get on the band wagon to force us to quit. 800 people die from cigarette fires? DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE SMOKE IN THE US? Do you know how many people die from the pollutants from the vinyl siding on your house? The exhaust from your car? The mercury in our river fish?

If my cigarette smoking bothers you DON'T sit next to me. Go to a different restaurant. Eat your meals and drink your beers outside or at home. But don't preach to me about how bad it is then force ME to pay for your kids schools or your road repair help you keep YOUR property taxes down.

We in NH lost our ability to smoke at the bar, and now our ability to smoke a cigarette without having to light it every 20 seconds. It's been a bad couple of weeks for us up here.

I get it, I really do. I "get" that people don't wanna smell my crappy cigarette. I'm not thrilled with having to go outside everyfrickenwhere to have a smoke - but I DO understand. I do NOT understand why my cigarette keeps going out. Why am I being punished because my neighbor can't stay awake while smoking? He's an idiot! Cigarette + bed = flaming death.

It's only been 2 days into this SE cig., adventure - but I think it's been about 2 weeks now, since they've replaced the other smokes in the stores. We're all sucking marbles through a straw, all of our chests feel like they're gonna cave in, and no one's experienced these feelings before.

Someone a few posts back said they quit on the count of the SE cigarette - and that was the discussion around the house today. We're all going to quit. Not because we don't want to smoke - I personally wasn't ready to quit. I've been smokin' for 25 years and know its TIME to - but I wasn't ready. Now, I feel that if I continue smoking, something is really going to hit the fan in a few years. I feel like crap now, imagine what next month or the month after will be like?

Ok governmental beings, we get your point. You want everyone to conform. It's working.

Quick, everyone buy stock in nicotine patches - sales are going to skyrocket!

The new SE-cigarettes sold in NY State are terrible. They burn erratically and cause more ash and embers to blow off of the cigarette than the older, non-SE smokes did. Never mind the fact that they taste bad, burn hotter and smell worse.

I guess it's okay to further endanger the health of millions of smokers so that 300 or so people that die each year in cigarette-related fires can continue to smoke in bed. Makes perfect sense to me. Yeah, right. This is just a bald-faced ploy on the part of state and local governments to exercise even more control over our rights to use a legal product.

As long as tobacco is a legal product in this country the government does not have the right to tax me excessively regarding if, where, how and when I purchase it. They also do not have the right to force manufacturers to modify their legal products to make them inferior and more harmful directly to me.

I really do not need the government to police my personal behavior, either by excessive taxation or by policy.

What I need them to do is tackle the big issues - like why it is that we do not have a National Health Care System? We are the largest and wealthiest nation in the world. How is it possible that 50 million Americans that work do not have health coverage and our elected officials are doing nothing about this? How is it possible that they have time to pass legislation like SE-cigarettes yet they ignore the larger, more important issues?

I am definitely adjusting my voting preferences in all future elections accordingly.

Once again the government has stepped into our lives and tried to make things better. I have had nothing but a sore throat since those damn s.e.cigs. hit the stores in NY. I had a pack of non-s.e. and a pack of s.e. at the same time.....so I was able to really say that s.e was the clupret of the sore throat. They also leave a chemical taste on your tongue. Well....I have quit smoking. Not because I want to...really. But...I'm sick of NY laws. Sure...I'll be better off not being a smoker. That is if I don't go insane from quiting!!!! I quess I'm also afraid that 10 years from now they will be saying....Whooops....all of you people that have been smoking the S.E. cigs....sorry but we didn't do enough testing. I hate not smoking because of other peoples decisions! Has anyone been able to find info on just what kind of chemicals have they added to the paper? I really dont think it's just the thickness that extinguishes them.

Okay, here we go. To all the anti-smoking comments. I am an addict. I was as some of you said "sucked in" before all the risks were known. I have tried quite a few different things-to quit such as the classes by the American Heart Association, The American Lung Association, The American Cancer Society ( 3 times)- not one person quit. I have tried the gum, hypnosis, acupuncture, sunflower seeds and cold turkey. If I had the time and the money sometimes I think the Betty Ford Clinic would do it (help me quit). So to all the people with the anti-smoking comments-good for you! Congratulations-you escaped! I didn't and now I am appalled at these new "self-extinguishing cigarettes". As Marie says -my lungs hurt- and they never did before like they do now. Is it because I have to puff more and harder to keeo them going and get my little hit of nicotine? Or, is it because there is something more in the paper then these little ridges? I am concerned-very concerned! Also, as Mr. Walsh and roadwarrior write there are more burning embers flying around-it happened to me in my car driving to work ( one of the last places I'm "allowed" to smoke ). What do I say- Well, officer I was trying to put out all the flying embers in my car when I hit that other vehicle.? No, there was no accident- but I can see it happening. I would really like to know the new make-up of this paper. Granted cigarettes are already toxic but I have a bad feeling about this. This was not well thought out or tested legislation and Mew York smokers are the guinea pigs.

Lets outlaw self extinguishing cigarettes.

Not only do they give me a sore throat, I never got one before they changed them, but they are dangerous.

When they start to die out little bits of burning tobacco drop out of the paper. I have a burn on my chest and many of my clothes have holes in them.

I would like to know what chemicals I am inhaling when it burns past the strip that puts them out?

Any one for a class action suit????

First of all, I quickly became tired reading all of the anti-smoking comments. So I'm sure I missed some good comments on the subject and I apologize if mine is repetitive....but nicely and succintly put M. Marien (and to all of you "non-smoking, anti-carbohydrate, wheatgrass eating, kapaweta-learning, pleasure-Nazi's", I couldn't care less what additives they put in your eighteen dollar an ounce protein shake mixes so please don't presume you can comment when someone screws with the things that give me pleasure)

As miserable as I find these new cigarettes (i've been to every store in three towns and cleaned them out of every last untouched pack...yes, they did it to Parliament too IWTT), I'm having a tremendous laugh at the usual stupidity and ignorance demonstrated by the NYS legislators. Did anyone actually test these things or was this just another "knee-jerk-let-me-get-back-to-screwing-my-intern" decisions? The mechanics of these cigarettes are such that when you try to re-ignite the thing (when awake like a reasonably intelligent person) the ember is so deep behind the paper that a good eighth to a quarter inch of the paper wrapping goes completely fiery and any draft at all sends burning paper all over the place. I'm thinking of sueing the state for all the brand new burn-holes in my upholestery. I never had these problems before.

Once again...brilliant job

Anybody else is getting real sick from those stupid *!?**?!! self-extinguishing cigarettes? I get sick from smoking every now and then (yearly bronchitis in the winter) but right now I have razor blades in my lungs - IN JULY?

I have read most of your comments and am left with a generally upset stomach. This is not and issue pertaining to the health factor of smoking...."should we smoke?..or..shouldn't we?"....If I decide to smoke that's my description, not yours or anyone else's...if I decide to walk backward down the sidewalks, or whistle while I walk that's not your business either!....I'm more or less tiered and appalled when I continue to hear of people signing away their freedoms for what they consider nobility or "In the best interest of the community". Ever hear the saying?..."good fences make good neighbors"???...this insinuates that staying in your own yard is a respectful thing. When I have to live under an umbrella of laws that restrict my ability to live life AS I SEE FIT...so that others can pat themselves on the back with the illusion of doing something noble for their neighbors...I say "Stay in your own damn yard!". This law in NY is just another freedom given back to the local and state governments due to the fact that these winning and patsy people are too irresponsible to manage thier freedoms themselves.....do you have to be a rocket scientist to not fall asleep with a lit cigarette in your paws...or god forbid I go to the bar to drink my liver away (still considered acceptable in NY) and wile doing so, not being able to rot my lungs away simultaneously.....but I have to be an eyesore the community by hanging around on the sidewalks like a vagrant and litter the streets with my fiberglass butts.....this seems to be a idiotic approach to an activity that some feel is "Bad for my health". Please!..Stay in your own yard!.....and now!..to compound my aggravated state as a free willing, non-brainwashed...non-fashion victim or peer pressured, arm twisted, cheered on, or over advertised...but again...free willing smoker, but now I have to literally smoke the Sh!# out of my cigarettes, outside like a vagrant, without being able to quench my summer thirst, and within an acceptable distance to churches, schools, and grandmas house...to simply enjoy what I in my own yard feel is a pleasing, and relaxing smoke. What the hell is going on people....lets stop surrendering our rights, because there are a few people out there that cant mange them....I an one of the few that can....save me for a fully controlled society...oh!...and please, respectfully.....STAY IN YOUR OWN DAMN YARD!

Once again the governmement is tring to micromanage my life S.E. cigarettes stink

Has anyone else noticed that these new failsafe cigs are harder to take a drag from?! Effing state law. It's like trying to suck a triplethick shake through a straw.

Asking why someone starts smoking is like asking why someone would have unprotected sex. Who cares why? The point is it happens. I started smoking because everyone I new at college was a smoker and it seemed like a cool thing to do, despite my mother's 30+ year habit and all the things I knew about the dangers of smoking. It was a very social activity for me (and still is; I can't tell you how many people I have met and talked to do based solely on the fact that were were corralled on a sidewalk, fire escape, balcony, etc. freezing our asses off for a cig.) and it makes me feel good about as often as it makes me feel like shit. As a poster upthread said, you have NO IDEA what it is like to be addicted to something until you start smoking and I think my nicotine habit is one of the reasons I have not tried really hardcore drugs.

I think that the anti-smoking folks would be smart to use our how (not why) we started smoking stories to impress upon non-smoking young people not to start, not because it will eventually kill you or because you should give in to peer pressure, but because is really, really hard to stop even if you really, really want to, which you won't want to do all the time because it is also really, really enjoyable. Especially when you're drinking or after unprotected sex.

23, smoked for 10+ years now. I think this is a great idea. is Parliament doing this yet?

"Since people get annoyed when their cigarettes go out...."

Then don't light 'em if your not going to smoke 'em.

All the folks out walking with one or talking/gesturing with one in their hand, ready to singe an innocent bystander...I feel like telling them, "Stick it in your mouth and smoke it already".

i'll give you the point that alcohol impairs judgement, but all those smoke-breaks impare productivity, no?

Namedropper, the reason that smokers are not considered in the same realm as alcoholics is that smoking does not impair your mental capacity...sure addicts may "get that tingly feeling" but they aren't stumbling down the hall of the office, unable to hold a conversation. To compare the two is like saying that people shouldn't smoke when they drive as people shouldn't drink when they drive because they both mess up your innards. Not quite the same argument.

I got hooked after doing the "social smoking" thing when I was out drinking. Then I would smoke when I was stressed out. Then I was smoking all the time.

Yeah, it's stupid. And gross. And unhealthy. But people are stupid, so there ya go.

I thought smokers were already considered "addicts". Most people treat me like a leper once they learn I'm a smoker. I really don't like being looked down upon because of it- sure, I'm weak, but so is everyone who downs martini after martini every weekend. We all have our vices. And I try to be conscientious about smoking in public.

I started smoking out of curiosity. When you're young you don't really take into consideration all the pros and cons of a decision (ex: if I try this cigarette, will I become addicted? How will it affect my health now and later in life? What will it be like for me to really be dependant on something? What will high school be like?). I tried it, didn't hate it, so I continued to "try it" until, lo and behold, tingling skin and an uncontrollable desire for nicotine.

jeremiah - have you read the tipping point? there's an interesting bit in there about who becomes an adict versus who can stay a "social smoker" -- according to that book it's genetic, so don't beat yourself up too much!

jeremiah - good luck and congratulations on the first step!

Sorry for posting again, but I just wanted to give insight to notreallyinyourbusiness into why this SAP started smoking.

A GIRL -- yes I started smoking for a girl, being a smoker herself she only tended to hang around smokers and I being the DUMB@$$ that I was decided hey I will start smoking "it's not like I can become addicted, I am far too strong-willed for that" So I started smoking and drifting towards that group, at first I only smoked when I was around them and for the first few weeks I didn't feel any different, I was pretty much to the opinion that smokers were full of it. Cravings what cravings, then it turned into a few months and now I was smoking not just with my new friends but now I was smoking other places and upto a pack a day. I was addicted :(

wow - i leave work a little early and get in a little late and i've missed everything.

notreallyinyourbusiness seems to have hit the nail on the head as far as i'm concerned.

i never understood why people who would brave sub-zero weather to smoke a cancerstick are considered "smokers" while somone who would leave the office in the middle of the day to grab a drink is an "alcoholic." why aren't those "smokers" called "addicts."

there seems to be a huge difference in our attitudes towards people who smoke on a regular basis versus those who drink on a regular basis.

i guess what i am saying is society's acceptance of a pack a day habit contributes to people smoking -- so does "social smoking." if people didn't smoke socially it wouldn't be so "cool" and tehn people too young to understand what it means to be an "addict" might not pick up the habit.

i defend your right to smoke if that's what you want - i will only crusade to get you to stop if you are someone i love and care about, but i still don't understand the "why."

I am from the midwest where we consider $3.00 a pack high-priced. I am currently working on quiting smoking. To explain a little about what it's like to be addicted. For me after about an hour of not smoking my skin starts to tingle and I start losing focus, then the only thing entering my mind is "need cigarette" I try to fight it, but then my skin starts crawling and then --- well to explain it better have you ever taken in too much water at a swimming pool or felt like you couldn't breath. Now you can kind of see what being addicted to cancer stick is like.

Right now I am in the process of switching from red to light I will smoke lights for a week then I am switching to ultra-lights for a week then I switching to a combination of the gum and ultralights for the following week then I am going straight nic gum for a week then plain old gum. I am going to make this work.

and now, though i'm not replying to the same person, i feel i need to use the same name i did before. i'm hearing all these arguments that people don't understand when they start smoking that they will become so addicted. but, going back to what i said about growing up in an age where i KNOW the detriments of smoking, that's one of those negatives that we have been inundated with: cigarettes will kill you and you will become addicted and won't be able to stop. i hold to my statement above that, hearing that all my life, there's no way i would start smoking. so everyone's expaining why they became addicted, but my question is still: why did you pick up a cigarette in the first place? what is the draw of the cigarette itself that, even if you grow to love and depend on that icky taste and smell, is not a pleasant experience to begin with? is the "it makes me look cool" thing still valid, even with such an obvious stigma attached?

i also understand that smoking is an addiction and very hard to shake, but i would think that if you have an addiction that is going to kill you, it would be worth it to go through that period of hell to quit and avoid the longer and worse period of hell that is lung cancer/emphysema/etc. but maybe that thinking is the same reason i've never started - i may be more concerned with the "long run" than the average person.

in response to dropnamer: i have the same feeling about people who are addicted to alcohol, but not social drinkers. and wouldn't you agree that the percentage of smokers who are addicted/heavy smokers is higher than the percentage of drinkers who are addicted/heavy drinkers? in my scope of experience, at least, social drinking is much, much more common. the woman hacking up a lung on the bus is most likely not just a "social smoker," just as your grandfather who died of liver disease was most likely not just a "social drinker."

I think that when a lot of people start smoking they really don't understand what it means to be physically addicted to something. You can intellectually grasp what the words mean, but unless you have really experienced what it means to NEED a cigarette, or to be truly addicted to something, it just sounds like another empty warning. When I started smoking, I thought it was just a "mind over matter" kind of thing (granted, I was pretty young). HA. Little did I know that from then on, when I was irrationally mad, the ONLY thing that could help me calm down would be a sweet delicious ($7.50 per pack) cigarette.....

Brian - I think that the term "Civil Liberties" should connote the more precious individual choices inviting scrutiny by members of the public or government (actions noone cares about hardly need protection or circumscription). This is anything but a cut and dried menu - I think that a majority can and should sometimes protect behavior it disapproves of.

However, a majority can also agree that we should not allow drivers to zoom down Bway at 100 miles an hour whenever it's possible, and that their happiness is thus not significantly lessened. If they can do that in their apartment though, well... how big is the bar there?

ok, here i go, why is it exactly that people still drink? everytime i hear an old man complaining about his liver on a bus i think "oh, you remind me of my grandpa (nice memory). . .hope you don't die of liver disease (no so nice memory). . ." and while i'm sure drinkers can come up with a million reasons why they do it, i can't help but say "wouldn't you be healthier if you didn't?"

Corie - it's always nice to see someone with your kind of considerate thinking. And, lately, a lot of people are following similar habits, so I think life is happier overall.

In terms of civil liberties, the ban is nearly undefendable. It's a clear case of the government deciding what's good for the people - and that's not good for the people. Still, I'm torn. I'm loving the better atmosphere in bars. It's one of the few things where my principles are bent for the sake of personal benefit.

I feel that if I dismiss the "public health concern" rhetoric as phooey and begin to rally against the law, it's almost like I'm inviting a monster back. So, I continue to cling onto a little thread of sanity in the health argument, and hope that everything works out for the best.

One more thing--

Brian, I would hope that smokers would be considerate. While I ethically opposed the smoking ban b/c it stank of overregulation to me, I certainly enjoy NOT stinking of smoke when I return home from bars. Even as a smoker I can't stand when smoke invades my personal space-- and I feel for people who are bothered by my habit, which is why I rarely smoke in crowds, certainly not near children, and will extinguish one if it looks like it's bothering someone. I think that respect should be mutual, in that sense. Plus, being respectful helps me not smoke as much, which is a good thing :)

I don't think that the quesiton was rude, either.

Addiction is addiction, and sometimes they transcend common sense. I started smoking when I was 13 and was working on nearly a pack and a half a day in college. I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, but smoking was something that I just didn't care to stop (at the time). Years later, my habit is not nearly as grotesque. In fact, I'm a runner now...but I still fall into the smoking trap from time to time (like 3 a day as opposed to 30).

And honestly, I don't really get it, either.

I'm not a smoker myself, so I can't personally answer the rationale as to why one would start. However, from speaking with others, people just get sucked into it. It seems like it starts innocently, develops into a regular habit, and then becomes something that many people have no will to cease doing.

The nature of the habit is that it kills you (prematurely) after years of usage, one way or another. Each individual cigarette does not have a statistically significant risk of mortality attached to it... it's having a long term habit that threatens your health. However, once many people start, they really cannot stop. They fail to understand this before they start, so some people are willing to try it out regardless of warnings; they know it all too well once they've been puffing away for 20 years.

That said, a lot of people are now in the "social smoker" category - they are not addicted, they do not have a steady habit, and they do not face the severity of the health risks that accompanies a constant daily habit. It's not just a rationalization to say this type of habit isn't so bad for the smoker... it's very much a true fact.

The unfortunate thing is that the term "social smoker" is an oxymoron - the products of a burning cigarette are very much obnoxious, and therefore antisocial. That's something even more perplexing about smoking... if you're going to do it only once in a while and you're not addicted, isn't it a bit selfish to want to do it mostly around other people, where it's still bothersome?

I'm trying not to judge here... I simply don't get it.

I think it's addictive in both senses. Few people conduct their habit in a manner that's low impact to both their own health and the environment of others. It induces irrational behavior even in those who don't do it frequently, and it's enough to notice.

However, I don't want to be a complete ass about it; I've noticed in the past few years that smokers are increasingly considerate. Some of it is forced by laws, but I think people are starting to realize that, as it gets phased out of many places, many people just don't like it in their environment at all. So smokers now frequently offer to be considerate. Considering how rare that was a decade ago, that's impressive.

namedropper was asking a question that i have, too. i don't think that was a rude comment at all; it's not like he/she is telling the woman on the bus not to smoke (or at least, we can't gather that from the comment). i may not care so much about strangers on buses, but it "concerns" me because, after watching my aunt die of an illnes _directly caused_ by smoking, i don't want any more of my loved ones to go through that.

i have some sympathy for older smokers who were "sucked in" before the dangers were fully revealed. but as someone in my mid-twenties who has grown up being told all of the negatives of smoking, i can't think of a single postive that would make me want to start. and i really am interested in the opposite viewpoint.

To Namedropper: this concerns you why?

ok, here i go, why is it exactly that people still smoke? everytime i hear an old lady weezing on a bus i think "oh, you remind me of my grandma (nice memory). . .hope you don't die of emphysema (no so nice memory). . ." and while i'm sure smokers can come up with a million reasons why they do it, i can't help but say "wouldn't you be healthier if you didn't?"

Interesting about the additives; that's why Winstons and American Spirits (non-additive smokes) tend to go out before they're finished.

Yes, cigarettes are supposed to burn, but the point is to eliminate the danger of fire in homes where, for example, someone might fall asleep on a couch or in bed with a lit cigarette. It's not a fail safe option - um, not smoking in bed would seem to be better - but it can reduce the risk of these types of fires. They are very common.

Natural tobacco is self extinguishing. The tobacco companies started adding chemicals to the processing in order to make them burn more consistently, so they would burn out faster, so that people would have to buy more of them. These are the same additives that increase the carcinogenic effects of the smoke. Its ironic that they are now using some special fire retardant paper to make them burn out, when they could just be using regular cured unprocessed tobacco, which would cost less and be less dangerous. What a bunch of a$$holes. They ruined smoking for everyone.