Funny story, it was last Saturday night, around midnight, and we ran out of cigarettes → so, we live in Urdorf and either way we were on our way out into Zurich… but guess what : all gas station are either closed / unmanned … into some of them you can enter with some code, but the vices booth is closed shut, could not find anything open (small boutique wise)… in the end we went to Nelson pub where they actually have an ATM for tobacco / limited variety (beggars can’t be choosers)… but I would be curious, what other solutions would there be, if this would happen to you ? (yes, considering you are a smoker and you can’t hold it until morning)
Frankly, I was taken aback by your post suggesting someone smoke dog * * * *. I have always thought of you as a polite and decent person, and seeing you resort to such crude remarks, even if sarcastic, is disheartening.
It seems you are attempting to imitate the vulgar language often used by the other Tom. If so, you have failed because imitation is rarely appreciated, especially when it deviates so far from your usual character.
While I don’t condone smoking and personally believe that stricter measures should be taken, such as doubling cigarette prices and increasing KVG/LAMal premiums for smokers, this does not justify insulting someone struggling with addiction.
In the past (on EF), I got groaned at several times by the other Tom for these views, but even he, from time to time, aimed to maintain a respectful discourse. I hope you can understand the value of doing the same.
I had a similar situation after a few heavy drinking and smoking sessions in London many years back. I was craving cigarettes, but I wanted one specific brand that was not common in the UK - I walked around at night looking for somewhere that sold it. I was not successful - that failure stopped me from becoming a regular smoker (I got my supplies from someone who left London).
A ‘dog end’ is a colloquial term for a cigarette butt, the part of the cigarette that people usually discard on the floor after smoking it.
Desperate people may find themselves resorting to searching through discarded cigarettes just to get their fix although admittedly I’ve only seen homeless people doing it.
First measure - easy to implement and more effective; second one - really difficult to implement and counterproductive, you put people in a box and keep them there. There’s no-one to say that if you smoke now you’ll smoke in say 10 years too. And there are smokers and…smokers.
Most people (that I know) who smoked in their twenties or even thirties don’t smoke anymore.
It’s actually pretty atypical that so many older Swiss people still smoke, as they seem rather fit otherwise.
Discarded, half smoked cigarettes not whatever your stars meant. (dog food)
The OP did ask what other solutions there would be. I’m not saying mine was a good one but as others have said, people do it.
It wouldn’t be a solution if smokers threw away their cigarette ends.
I don’t think the OP is struggling with an addiction - he seems quite happy with it. If he were struggling then I’d suggest a packet of nicotine gum in his car which he probably wouldn’t use at other times but would be good in an emergency.
I’m sure the OP can appreciate that despite his predilection for smoking meaning that there may be, at times, a dearth of sources for cigarettes, the reason that tobacco vending machines were removed from streets and railway stations was to stop younger people from smoking.
Many years ago I came home late from the office and realised there was nothing to eat. Although I was a little peckish I decided to go without. Then I realised I was out of cigarettes too, so I hopped into the car and headed out for some smokes.
It was then I realised I was truly addicted. The beginning of the end and I stopped completely by the end of the year.
OP you should quit, but you probably already know that. Get some nicotine patches from the pharmacy or a vape to deal with cravings.
I think that’s why a lot of people give up.
It’s when it eventually dawns on them that they are a total addict.
Everyone else I know who gives up seems to do it when their doctor tells them they will die if they don’t.
25% of adults smoke in Switzerland.
(compared with, for example, 12.9% in the UK).
My GP here (who used to be a GP in the UK) says that he deals with a lot more smoking related illness here than in the UK. (In the UK it’s obesity-related illness)
Great solutions you are offering here. It is the equivalent of telling Tommy who is interested in the best route to Calais that he should stay home instead.
He found his own solution - a vending machine in a pub. But they didn’t have the brand he wanted.
It’s like someone crawling across the desert, being found and being offered a drink of potentially life-saving water only to ask, “Do you have any Evian water instead?”
A couple of years ago my oldest went with her class to Neuchâtel “to learn French”; she told me some of the boys in her class found a half-full pack of cigarettes in a park and they “smoked” all those cigarettes. The next days they (naively) looked again but could find only those things you Tom mentioned and they smoked those too!!! Yuck. I told her what a silly and unhygienic thing to do and how I hoped she was smarter than that and didn’t participate in this stupid thing; she told me “of course not, this is what the boys do but we didn’t tell on them!!”.
(like “not telling” on the boys was a badge of honour in this case lol)
It made me wonder…the teachers they went with to this summer camp (2 of 3 actually) were also smokers and apparently smoked all the time, not in front of the kids though but still…I mean no wonder kids were tempted if they thought it’s so cool and adults do it… Luckily they can’t buy cigarettes…
that people usually discard on the floor after smoking it.
