Smoking and Diving?

[vicdiver656]

In the IANTD OW manual, one of the bold print items was "DO NOT SMOKE OR DRINK ALCOHOL UNDER 24 HOURS BEFORE DIVING." We all know that smoking kills, and it does also makes gas exchange in your lungs harder. I would give it up. Derek is right, for the price of a year's smoking, you can buy a lot of air fills, or new gear.

 

[paradicio]

Even though I quit I am still putting away the $5 a day I used to spend on cigs, I was able to buy myself a new strobe (ok, it didn't pay for the whole strobe, I wasn't patient enough to to wait, but it helped!).

Next will be my HP Steel 100.

 

[burna]

I've tried quitting in the past, I guess I should try again.

When you quit, you need to change the way you think about a craving. That's the secret.

 

[Digger54]

When I was certified at 15 I remember the instructor saying again and again that you shouldn't smoke. Now at 32 I've been smoking for over 10 years and I'm starting to get back into diving.

Are the risks of being a Scuba smoker too much? Or should I go for it anyway.

I've tried quitting in the past, I guess I should try again.

An additional smoking risk is that if you are on a dive boat with me and I am feeling a little seasick queasy and the smell of your ciggies pushes me to the point of vomiting you may be my target. "Mind if I smoke?" "Why no. Mind if I hurl?"

Seriously... I am ASTONISHED at the number of divers I see smoking. I mean it's your LUNGS for cryin' out loud! An organ proven to be quite useful for divers.

 

[BTravlin]

I quit two and a half years ago and I find it easier to breathe both above and below the waterline. As an added bonus, I find I have enhanced stamina for longer and better sex.

 

[Thalassamania]

Attitudes toward, and knowledge about, smoking has changed a great deal. I can remember sharing a butt with a NOAA mucy-muck in the bad old days in one of the underwater telephone booths away from the habitat, but that's the way it was back then ... there's no excuse today and no one would find it "bad-boy cute" like they did back then.

Did any of us die immediately? No. But it sure didn't do anything to lengthen our lives, and it clearly decreased our immediate capabilities. But we were all young and stupid enough to still be invulnerable.

 

[Gambitt]

Is it more dangerous to dive if you smoke? About the same as going to 41 ft. instead of 40...

 

[Thalassamania]

All I can suggest is that you do not smoke for 24 hours, take a pulmonary function test, have a cigarette and then retest. I've done that. 40% decrease. You're bright enough to figure it out from there.

 

[ucfdiver]

Is it more dangerous to dive if you smoke? About the same as going to 41 ft. instead of 40...

Do you have any idea of how decompression works before saying that? You're coating your lungs with tar, and then expecting them to excrete nitrogen with no more danger than going 41ft instead of 40ft?

No offense, but it would take a lot of convincing for me to believe your analogy.

 

[vicdiver656]

Is it more dangerous to dive if you smoke? About the same as going to 41 ft. instead of 40...

Yes, much more dangerous

Didn't you read your textbook??? Just kidding