First of all I want to thank the founder of Quitspeed.com for giving me the opportunity to immortalise my views on smoking in this blog. I am a non-smoker who is dating a recovering smoker. I was brought up in a family of non-smokers, my mother being especially adverse to the habit. Throughout our growing years, she would periodically tell us that she would disown us if we ever picked up the habit. Suffice to say, we’ve always kept our distance…from cigarettes I mean.

When I was younger, I vowed to date a non-smoker, but reality soon dawned on me. There are too many men who smoke! One ex-boyfriend is a chain smoker and my current partner is a recovering smoker. Personally, I have experimented with smoking. My first puff led to a choke inducing cough. That already put me off, however I finished that stick and a few more (ah, the perils of peer pressure). My throat felt drier and my voice seemed coarser. It took me about a week to feel normal. Thank you very much, no more ciggies for me.

Before my partner decided to quit smoking, it was truly testing to date him. There were so many unpleasantries that came with his smoking habit. Among them were:

1. Stench from cigarette smoke. The smoke permeated our clothes, hair, car, curtains, carpets. No matter how I hard I tried to disguise the cigarette smell with perfume and anti-odour spray, the smell stubbornly stayed.

2. Foul tasting mouth. Yes, it’s an acquired taste, and I’d never successfully acquired the taste. Kissing a smoker does feel like kissing an ashtray, as cliche as it sounds. Now that he has quit smoking, kissing has become such a wonderful and fulfilling activity.

3. Social clutch. Smoking put a dent on our social lives. Most of our friends are and are becoming health concious. When we meet up, it’s usually at non-smoking areas. It’s quite annoying that my partner had to leave for outdoors in the midst of conversations to light up. And it’s worse during family gatherings, especially since none of my family members smoke.

4. Passive smoking. Naturally, I became a passive smoker. I hated the fact that my lungs were constantly breathing toxic fume. It didn’t help matter that since dating my partner, I was constantly plagued with skin rashes. To be honest, if he hadn’t quit smoking, I would have began to resent him for putting my health on the line.

There are many more that I’d like to talk about, but I’ll leave them till next time. I’m beyond glad that my partner has quit smoking. The smoking habit was like a burden crushing on our relationship, especially when it was still fresh and fragile. Our relationship has definitely better eversince he stopped smoking.