It would be interesting to poll FReepers on their smoking. I say about 75% smoke, but I have nothing but instinct to back that up.......
Closer to 25%, I would say -- not counting those that like a good cigar every now and then. If you add the latter, your number is probably right.
I smoked 2-3+ packs per day for over 35 years. I quit 2 years, 3, months, 1 day, 7 hours and 32 minutes ago.
I don't miss it a bit.
< /sarc>
No smoking for me. I have asthma and other respiratory problems so my ability to breathe is significantly below normal. Unfortunately, I love to ski this time of year, so it is always a major medical event for me to go up into the cold thin air and not trigger an attack. I take along my usual drugs, plus an extra inhaler and a steroid burst pack on each trip.
....Hmmmm....must be the Poster's Cough that gives us away...;)
Non-smoker here, and my husband another freeper is not a smoker.
Sort of like that Kinsey report. You know, 10 percent are gay ...
Looks like it is running 10:1 for those NOT smoking.
I quit on August 26, 1968 at 0600. We had a Captain's inspection that day, and I knew I'd have a four hour start. About fifteen years later (seriously!) I stopped dreaming I was a smoker again.
I don't think most Freepers are that dumb (shields up, phasers on "stun")
I don't smoke, except the occasional cigar (like 2 times a year).
According to the American Lung Association, about 22.5% of US adults are current smokers. And we know that there is a strong inverse relationship between education level and smoking, and a strong inverse relationship between income level and smoking. As FReepers are certainly well above the median in terms of education level achieved and in terms of income, it seems to me most likely that fewer than 20% of FReepers are smokers. I agree it would be an interesting poll.
You have to remember that there's much self-selection involved: a thread on smoking will naturally draw a disproportionate number of smokers. If I started a thread on single malt Scotch whisky, a large majority of respondents would surely be single malt drinkers; but that doesn't necessarily reflect the overall percentage of FReepers with that preference.
I'd guess you were at least 40% points off....
What you might be seeing is...Freepers supporting smokers right to smoke, and concluding that they must be smokers.
FWIW, I don't smoke...although I did smoke for a few years, off and on when I was in my late teens, early twenties. I also happen to be in the health care business....and I see the results of long term smoking every day I work.
FWIW-