Fat AND smoking cigarettes???

[Bonuss]

I don't want to dive with any "insta-buddy" whether I can see unhealthy behavior or not. They could be unsafe regardless of size and shape. Had a bad experience with a buddy and simply have not put myself in that position again.

I don’t smoke, am somewhat impartial to it IF it’s not my family; I opposed legislation in our city and then state prohibiting smoking in public places. However the change was somewhat anti-climatic. Ironically my friends that smoke don’t mind the change and some even prefer it as well; restaurants smell better, and those “smoky bars" are not. (I think possibly the dry cleaning business was hit hardest.)

The smokers run out for a smoke, and are part of a “club” outside. In some social situations I envy them, everywhere they go they have friends.

I compare the change to smoking on airplanes; it’s hard to remember/imagine when whole sections of the plane were lighting up.

Bob in CO

 

[texdiveguy]

No one should butcher the spelling and grammer of their native tongue either, but this isn't a perfect world, is it?


If we're talking about just going down 60 or 70 feet, having some fun, and looking at the fish and then heading back to the beach for some margaritas then I honestly don't care who my buddy is as long as they are at least a halfway capable diver and know how to have a good time rather than worrying about the physical appearance and/or bad habits of others.

I am one of the worst spellers around!!!!!

I think divers posting on this thread that say its basically ok for divers to be smokers really need to do some serious research into the effects of smoking and diving ....it is a very compromising act to your health and diving safety in so many ways!

Smoking is a rude/dirty habit that will cut your life short and when combined with scuba diving is a dangerous mix...just like being very over weight and out of good physical condition!!

PS--I 'never' have smoked thank god!....and well to weight, probably are carrying 5lbs. extra around to get me through the cold winter months of winter diving.

 

[jeckyll]

Well, my order of priority for dive buddies is:

1) Right Attitude
2) Decent skills for their level of experience
3) Right Attitude
4) Everything else.

I don't currently dive with anyone who smokes. But I do dive with some folks that carry extra pounds.

Thought I remember seeing a van pull up and the instructor gets out, cigarette dangling and I thought to myself: That is certainly not a role model for diving.

YMMV

 

[porsc]

Who cares if he smokes. I'm not fat & I quit smoking 16 mos. ago, but when I did smoke (1 to 2 pks. a day)there was very few people who could outrun me. That's distance & speed. In a 2 mile run when I was in the academy only 1 person (non smoker) finished in front of me.

first of all, that is very hard for me to believe, after spending more than 8 years working in the cancer center for treatment and research. second, if it is true, then you have some really out of shape people around you!
third, and most importantly, what the hell does that have to do with scuba diving? you might want to read about "surfactant", and the effects of smoking on divers at depth. the risk factors go up considerably! and if there is a shred of truth in any of what you wrote, then you are one in a billion! most smokers, especially those who are obese, represent a real threat to themselves and all of those who dive with them. and i avoid them at all cost's.

plclark196,
there is actually quite a bit of information in the medical journals about this very subject. do some research, don't just take people's words for it. people are bias, and usually misinformed. the research is there if you care enough to go get it, and educate yourself.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Originally Posted by eriediver2002
Who cares if he smokes. I'm not fat & I quit smoking 16 mos. ago, but when I did smoke (1 to 2 pks. a day)there was very few people who could outrun me. That's distance & speed. In a 2 mile run when I was in the academy only 1 person (non smoker) finished in front of me.

first of all, that is very hard for me to believe, after spending more than 8 years working in the cancer center for treatment and research. second, if it is true, then you have some really out of shape people around you!

If that's hard for you to believe, I'll suggest a place where you can look for data. My son is a US Marine and lots of the guys he serves with smoke. The distances, they run and the conditions they run in, (heavy clothes, heavy packs and heat) are hard for me to imagine, period. How many non-smokers here want to go for a run with my son and his buddies? I can arrange it.

third, and most importantly, what the hell does that have to do with scuba diving? you might want to read about "surfactant", and the effects of smoking on divers at depth. the risk factors go up considerably! and if there is a shred of truth in any of what you wrote, then you are one in a billion! most smokers, especially those who are obese, represent a real threat to themselves and all of those who dive with them. and i avoid them at all cost's.

Demonstrably NOT one in a billion. The number of US marines who smoke alone is probably enough to blow that estimate out of the water.

What does it have to do with diving? Nothing but the risk if DCS does and it's been mentioned. While we're on that topic lets discuss what most of you know or don't know about the decompression model you're diving. Do you dive a computer? How do you think that model compares with say, a buhlmann model with gradient factors of 30/85 applied. I'll bet that I generally surface with a lower inert gas load than the average recreational diver on vacation and diving a computer, even after very long deep dives. How well can the average recreational diver control their ascent?...we know the answer to that don't we? All else being equal, smoking probably does increase risk but all else is demonstrably NOT equal. For a smoker who doesn't yet show signs of the long term damage that smoking can cause, any added risk is probably theoretical and any statistical evidence disappears in the noise.

Smoking definately presents risk and niether I or anyone else could do much of a job trying to present a case that it doesn't. But again, I don't think concerns over risk are what drives conversations like this. What drives it is one group of people wanting to look down their noses at another group.

Look down your noses all you want but I look forward to running into you all in the water where I can see what your diving ability says for you...or maybe we'll see some of you health concious super people out there running alongside my son and his Marine buddies to show us all what impressive shape you're in.

Until then, I think I'll just hang onto the opinion that some of you are blowing some smoke of your own.

 

[jeckyll]

...
Look down your noses all you want but I look forward to running into you all in the water where I can see what your diving ability says for you...or maybe we'll see some of you health concious super people out there running alongside my son and his Marine buddies to show us all what impressive shape you're in.

Until then, I think I'll just hang onto the opinion that some of you are blowing some smoke of your own.

Mike: I'd love to run into you in the water sometime, if you're you make it up this way shoot me a PM. I promise it will be a slow, controlled ascent

Not to open another can of worms, but I'll even buy the first round of beers after (or softdrinks really... doesn't matter)

Bjorn

 

[amitsi]

"Healthy" is good for diving though it isn't so easy to quantify. "Bravado" and "brains" are even more subjective. For instance, there are many people who don't smoke, which seems smart to me...but then they turn around and try to mess with the constitution to take away certain select rights of others while insisting on having the right to "choice" and trying to change the meaning of simple words that many of us have known for many many years, like "marriage".

I say we give smokers protection under the current crop of hate crimes lgislation and make speaking against smokers "hate speach" and therefor a "hate crime" LOL put that in a liberal pipe and smoke it.

Littering is bad form no matter who does it. Although, I suppose the outragious taxes on tabaco products could pay for someone to follow along and clean up...an ash trey cady or something. LOL

Duude this is not political and don't make it so!!! Secondly "marriage" n "constitution" ? you are all over the place which obviously means you don't have anything relevant to say...just blabber from an addict...Secondly I am not asking you to not smoke or not be fat.....

Please feel free to smoke and eat your fried cheese to death...but don't expect me to enjoy your smoke...if smoking is your freedom...so is me not liking it when you are standing next to me!

And to your statement

"LOL put that in a liberal pipe and smoke it."

pls don't associate non-liberals like myself with you!

 

[MikeFerrara]

I am one of the worst spellers around!!!!!

I think divers posting on this thread that say its basically ok for divers to be smokers really need to do some serious research into the effects of smoking and diving ....it is a very compromising act to your health and diving safety in so many ways!

I don't think anyone is saying that smoking is good and lots of things present a risk to safety.

Smoking is a rude/

Really? At the moment I'm alone in a home that I own that sits on a piece of property that I own. How would it be rude to light up a smoke?

dirty habit

Not taking you shoes off at the door is a dirty habit too. LOL

that will cut your life short

Well, it might cut your life short and it might not. You could get run over by a truck on the highway tomarrow and in that case, it will not matter if you smoked. It's ok to state probabilities but when doing so, we shouldn't use words like "will" or won't".

and when combined with scuba diving is a dangerous mix

People keep saying this but I haven't seen where any of them presented any data. Why the need for the "straw-man" arguments?

PS--I 'never' have smoked thank god!....and well to weight, probably are carrying 5lbs. extra around to get me through the cold winter months of winter diving. [/QUOTE]

I can understand why some people don't like smoking and I hope they can understand why I don't like to see God spelled with a little 'g'.

 

[Bobbin-along]

Truth is, mental fitness trumps all. It's not PC to say that stupid people shouldn't dive, but considering how many people dive beyond their skills and knowledge or profess knowledge based on anecdotal evidence, maybe we SHOULD limit diving to people with a minimum set of standards of mental fitness. Let's put an IQ minimum on people, let's have mental evaulations. But of course that's not a popular position to stand on.

Fat and smoke have anecdotal evidence. Stupidity and panic have more documented incidents.

Smoking and obesity have NOTHING on diving with people who have a tendency to panic, have poor decision making skills, are emotionally troubled, or are just plain morons. I'd take a fat diver who dives in their limits over an moron any day.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Duude this is not political and don't make it so!!! Secondly "marriage" n "constitution" ? you are all over the place which obviously means you don't have anything relevant to say...just blabber from an addict...Secondly I am not asking you to not smoke or not be fat.....

On the contrary, this a very political subject. Please note that the referenced "Dive Training" article starts it's discussion on smoking and diving with a clearly political statement.

The expressed legislative desires of at least one person in this thread certainly seems political.

Beyond the politics of the subject, note your personal attack

which obviously means you don't have anything relevant to say...just blabber from an addict

Blabber from an addict...good one and very relevant.

Please feel free to smoke and eat your fried cheese to death...but don't expect me to enjoy your smoke...if smoking is your freedom...so is me not liking it when you are standing next to me!

Where have I suggested that you should enjoy smoke? Who here has suggested that anyone should smoke when standing next to somone who is bothered by it? I, for one, will eagerly defend your right to move anytime that you find yourself standing in a place that you don't like.