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10 reasons why smoking is not cool at all

Last updated on: May 21, 2014 13:19 IST

Before you light up the next cigarette, we say you read this!

Now apart from that teeny and obvious side effect, you know, cancer, smoking also manages to make you look rather uncool.

So before you flip that next cigarette, here's something for you to chew on -- 10 reasons why smoking isn't cool at all

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1. Smoking makes your teeth yellow

Last updated on: May 21, 2014 13:19 IST

I'm not the type to ask kya aapke toothpaste mein namak hai, but seriously, yellow teeth?

Unless you want to be a perpetual winner at the Halloween pageant, I suggest you give up the butt immediately.

Yellow teeth are a clear indicator of a long-time smoker.

Not only are they going to embarrass you socially but you might also not be considered for the job of your dreams if your smoking habit becomes obvious.

Why would an employer want to pay a higher premium for your mediclaim?

Yellow teeth only look good on Vikram Bhatt's witches. The rest of us just have to get through life, guarding our enamel.

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2. Smoking is unattractive

Last updated on: May 21, 2014 13:19 IST
Dear smoker, it's a lot less disgusting to kiss a frog.

Yellow teeth, as discussed previously are unattractive, and so are wheezing lungs.

However, if love truly is blind and deaf, I sincerely hope that it has non - functional olfactory nerves as well because a smoker's mouth STINKS!

And trust me I, of all people, should know that.

You see, a friend of mine met a very handsome fellow who stood well over six feet tall.

Now it was one thing to look at him but every time he started talking to you, that stale stench just came rolling down, out of his mouth and no amount of mint chewing gum could drown the smell completely.

No one likes to be on the receiving end of that.

Men, no matter what advertisements and films tell you, most women don't find smokers attractive and quite a few of them have a no-smokers policy when it comes to dating.

Women, I don't care how many boys tell you that you look sexy when you smoke -- they're lying.

If someone thinks you're attractive, they won't need a cigarette to help their feelings.

It is extremely difficult to date a smoker because they're always 'stepping outside'.

Using the above gentleman as an example, smokers will find romance and intimacy to be an uphill battle.

You might look like a prince, but if you smoke, it's a lot less disgusting to kiss a frog.

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3. Smoking is for wannabes

Last updated on: May 21, 2014 13:19 IST
Remember, cool is not a thing. It cannot be purchased. So really just stop smoking.

Cool is not a thing. It cannot be purchased. It cannot be borrowed and it certainly cannot be drawn from an inanimate object.

Cool is just a vibe you release when you're comfortable with who you are.

Look at the people around you who smoke. Are they cool? And if they are, does it depend on how many cigarettes they smoke? Or is it the confidence they exude?

Cigarettes don't give you confidence. That's just about as logical as sanitary napkins giving you stomach cramps.

You can't try to be cool with the help of cigarettes.

You can't try to be cool. Period.

Either you are or you aren't; and it depends entirely on you.

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4. No one can have just one

Last updated on: May 21, 2014 13:19 IST
However hard you try, truth is you can never stop at just one.

Cigarettes are like fried food -- you cannot stop at one.

Smoking often starts of as an experiment.

You're young, you're curious and everyone else is doing it, so you tell yourself that it's just a one time thing and you light up.

But soon enough it becomes an addiction, and often it is a first of many other 'experiments'.

You might want to stop but you feel like you can't, like you're trapped and eventually you just give in.

If you're a smoker who uses cigarettes to 'relax' you should know that your friends will sympathise with you and help you to the best of their abilities.

But at the same time, your lack of self control and inability to address real life issues will cost you their respect, and perhaps, yours too.

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5. Smoking messes up your lungs

Last updated on: May 21, 2014 13:19 IST
The best way to lose weight? Erm..?

Pretty obvious eh? Especially when it's plastered over every cigarette packet?

But here's the thing while smoking may seem pretty cool right now -- who doesn't think they look like Marlon Brando when they're holding a neatly rolled smoke between their fingers -- the unfortunate part is that life isn't a movie and smoking doesn't get you the girl of your dreams.

Smoking gets you the disease of your nightmares.

It is going to mess up your lungs so bad that you'll be able to pave your own road with the tar that they'll ooze.

That's not all.

You'll be wheezing your way down the road to lung cancer and all the painful medication and therapy that follows.

You probably won't even last till 40 to know what your parents and grandparents really meant when they said, 'wait till you're forty'.

But you know that already...

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6. Smoking doesn't make you look macho. Really. It doesn't!

Last updated on: May 21, 2014 13:19 IST
Cigarettes don't make you look macho... but they do make you... well... the picture says it all, doesn't it?

Cigarettes are expensive and people often use them as a status symbol.

Not quite as 'classy' as a cigar, it is believed that a top-of-the-line cigarette can still lend you an air of sophistication.

However, if you believe in judging a person by the quality of their smoke, then one can only truly feel sorry for you.

If you feel like people only love you based on the economic class you project then maybe you need to find new friends.

If you believe that your worth depends on a small roll of paper with tobacco stuffed into it, then you really need to get in touch with yourself and out of touch with smoking.

Cigarettes don't make you suave or macho. Cigarettes only make you very, very ill.

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7. Smokers are a bad influence

Last updated on: May 21, 2014 13:19 IST
Would you like to be remembered by someone as being the one to introduce them to smoking?

You don't have to be a parent to be able to influence someone.

Smoking among young people can be contagious.

It won't be long before someone else in your group feels the pressure to follow.

Even if you believe that your friends are smart enough to know better, what about your younger siblings or cousins or the kids in the neighbourhood who look up to you?

You might do it discreetly but eventually someone is going to figure out. Someone always does.

Do you want to be the reason they pick up their first cigarette?

Is that what you want them to remember you by?

Everybody loves their friends and feels responsible for the kids around them -- biologically related or not -- and having to be the reason for someone else's blackened lungs isn't the best feeling in the world.

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8. Smoking pollutes

Last updated on: May 21, 2014 13:19 IST
Pollution caused by cigarettes is 10 times more than that caused by diesel car exhaust.

If you think that smoking makes you hot, you're right -- it's called global warming.

Reports suggest that pollution caused by cigarettes is 10 times more than that caused by diesel car exhaust.

The ozone layer is already rapidly depleting and smoking (albeit along with a host of other things) is not helping.

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9. Smoking will cost you

Last updated on: May 21, 2014 13:19 IST
Besides burning a hole in your pocket, literally, cigarette smoking also has a teensy-weensy side effect.

It's not just about the money.

Sure, a cigarette here and a cigarette there can be taxing on your wallet but in the long run, smokers pay more than monetary expenses.

Smoking takes a toll on your physical, mental and emotional health.

Not only do cigarettes add up medical bills over the years but the illnesses that they cause can cause stress to the whole family.

The inability to kick the butt also causes a lot of frustration both for the smoker and the people around them.

According to reports, people with depression are twice as likely to smoke and those with schizophrenia are three times a likely to smoke, compared to other people.

Smoking has also been closely linked to stress and anxiety.

Would you want to put yourself and your loved ones through that just to look cool for a while?

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10. Smoking is a self harm

Last updated on: May 21, 2014 13:19 IST
Smoking only indicates low self-esteem

Most people know what they're doing when they smoke.

They know the risks and they consciously choose to take them because a cigarette can give them the temporary social benefit of (in their own perception) looking cool.

If you really needed cigarettes to be cool then people like AR Rahman and Mary Kom would be lighting up all the time.

If you choose to harm yourself knowingly in order for people to have a certain opinion about you then nothing could make you more uncool.

It doesn't indicate that you have charisma.

It only indicates that you have low self esteem.

Having respect for yourself is the first step to earning the respect of others.

You don't need cigarettes to impress others.

You only need to impress yourself -- and anyone who truly cares about you will understand that.