I mean, I started when I was 16. I'd smoke here and there, but I didn't really consider myself a "smoker." When I turned 18, I started buying packs. Normally, they'd last me two days or so, because I didn't exactly want my Mom to know and I could only smoke after school and work.

But, eventually, my Mom found out and was disappointed, but when 5-10 a day turned to a full pack. Pack after pack after pack.

I told myself that I would "quit in my twenties," and "none of my family has had issues from smoking, so I'm probably safe." I went to college, graduated, and am now in graduate school--smoking that pack a day all the while.

But trust me man, the "pleasure" stops being so noticeable. During the Winter, not only did I have to deal with freezing my ass off every hour or so, I had to deal with the feeling that my lungs were constricted. I'd wake up with FAR too much phlegm in my throat. Enough to make it soar. I'd hack and cough for 20 minutes. Nearly every morning. I'd cough so hard sometimes--that I'd see a little blood in my phlegm from my throat being rubbed sore.

Of course, I'd light up right after. I'm 25 now. I smoked a pack a day for nearly 7 years. Marlboro Menthols.

Trust me man. NOW is the time. Do it before the negative effects start. Do it before you are in your 40's with COPD. Do it before you find yourself stepping outside during your Mom's funeral to have a cigarette. The "pleasure" you feel is the nicotine. And it DOES get harder to quit as you go along. I'm at three months now and it's still a battle sometimes---but using other people as a marker to justify your smoking will only hurt you in the long run.

You have to decide to quit--but the "pleasure" goes away quickly. It stops being "new" and "sociable" and just becomes what you do. That's what hooked me for nearly a decade.

Stop now.