July 1991for me. Went to a gastroenterologist for "stomach burning."
He told me to quit smoking and drinking caffiene. Worst night & couple of days in my life till that point. Headaches like you wouldn't belive. After a couple of rounds of medication trial & error, he suggested I should have a stress test.
Had the stress test at 8:00 am August 30, 1991 in my cardiologist's office, my first day as his patient.. I was admitted to Delaware Medical Center at 7:00 pm that night. (Friday of Labor Day weekend). I had quintuple bypass surgery @ 9:00 in the morning Sept. 3, 1991.

Mom & Dad both were lifelong Camel non filtered smokers. Dad died with severe emphysema, a couple of years after he quit smoking in 1992. Mom switched to Carleton for the last few years of her life. She died of lung cancer in 1998.

My ex-wife told me after my operation that if I could have seen how bad I looked after the surgery, I'd never smoke again.

I tell my family if they could have seen mom in the hospital her last night, they would never smoke either.

I don't smoke and never have, but I do consume a cigar now and then if I have to.

At one point in my life I had to attend some pretty swanky affairs in case someone needed a technical question answered. It was considered an insult to the host if you refused what they offered.

So I quickly informed them I only smoked Cuban cigars and that normally shut them down. Then they started getting their hands on some, so I would smoke them if they had them. I must admit the ones I smoked were not all that bad, but it was not something I chose to spend any money on.

Which I guess makes me a Moocher, but then I have been called worse.

I never got hooked so I never had any trouble quitting.

Tough times.

All in all I think it is best not to be smoking anymore. When I first came to Holland about ten years ago smoking was rife. Everyone smoked - you could still smoke in the trains and restaurants. It was pretty grim. It was a bit like the 1980s. New EU laws came in and it is much nicer in a way but you can smell more piss and sweat than you used to!

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I'm glad to hear this. I spent a LOT of my time in Europe in the early 2000's and people smoked everywhere. It was like the US in the fifties and sixties. I don't like the idea of those kind of laws, but I expect that it makes it much more pleasant to be in public.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

Well you know how selfish people can get. When I first moved here people would be upset if I said they couldn't smoke in my house or my car! Times have changed.

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1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!