If you've tried smoking, what was your experience?

As a kid in DARE and health class, I saw the same scenario again and again when it came to smoking. Some older, meaner, bullying kids peer pressure a good kid into smoking, and the kid tries it- then they throw up or practically cough up a lung. My first time smoking was nothing like that. I was a freshman in art school and another freshman offered me a clove. I lit up and really, really liked it. I liked the crinkly black paper, the sugar on the tip, the taste of tobacco and cloves, the way it crackles and pops when you take a drag, and most of all, the sensation of drawing smoke into my lungs. Smoking pleased all my senses. (It’s four or five years later, and I smoke two or three cigarettes a week. Cloves other flavored cigarettes are illegal now.) Even though I know how unhealthy it is, sometimes I smoke just because I enjoy it.

I’m very interested in everyone’s thoughts on smoking. What did you physically experience? Does smoking affect your self-image? (We’ve had images in advertising and pop culture of smokers as fashionable and sexy, as tough badasses, unhealthy slobs, gross and smelly, and everything in between.) Smoking isn’t the only unhealthy behavior that’s widespread- drinking and overeating are also very big problems. Do you try to justify making an unhealthy decision, and if so, how do you justify it?