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DAY 12 Perry – Barcelona to Bermondsey

Listening to: Amaury Perez -- Andes Lo Que Andes

Emotion: Excited

I’m heading back to Barcelona airport, a fifteen Km drive from my hotel. I open a pack of Consulate Menthol cigarettes and my colleague riding shotgun beside me tells me that these are really bad for me. Mind you, it doesn’t stop her from smoking one of mine though.

Last night or should I say the early hours of the morning, while returning to our hotel she confided to me she was quitting smoking as she had developed a bad cough and smoked too many cigarettes that night. But that’s what I found with a lot of smokers, they are always just about to quit. As the Spanish say ‘manana, manana, manana’. That or they’ve quit many times before. As Mark Twain once quipped ‘It’s easy to quit smoking. I’ve done it dozens of times before’.

I don’t want to sound pious but where is their back bone, the will power or the strength of character in these people? Are there that many people so insecure and weak who can’t stand by their own convictions?

Reading that back now, I that it sounds harsh but really the easy option is just to carry on and blame everyone and everything around them for their problems. If change is going to come it has to come from within. That can be a scary place to look for some people. It’s easier to loose yourself in drugs, shopping and celebrity bullshit than start a journey of the self. But I believe the journey is worth starting. You owe it to yourself. You owe it to your self to stop smoking! Not your kids, not your partner or your boss. You owe it to yourself to stop smoking. You are a beautiful person.

Rant over -- The menthol cigarettes taste minty fresh, like toothpaste and are more pleasant than the other brands I’ve been smoking. The mint flavour comes from an application of menthol essence in the form of a spray to the silver foil in the pack of cigarettes not buy adding sprigs of mint leaf to the tobacco as many people believe. This odour seeps into the cigarette, adding a few more chemicals to the already heady mix.

I know of people who started smoking menthol cigarettes when they were children because firstly they are very smooth to smoke and secondly they thought their breaths would smell of Polos. Of course their breath didn’t smell of Polos and their parents busted them for smoking. The truth is because they are easier to take the smoke down, they are more harmful than ‘normal’ cigarettes.

I remember being told at Philip Morris that sales of Marlboro Menthol would rise during the winter months as some people were under the illusion these cigarettes were healthy cigarettes! Hello -- there is No such thing as a healthy cigarette!

I’m sure many children start smoking Menthol, the alcho-pop of cigarettes as their first cigarettes. Perhaps the tobacco companies could also manufacture chocolate, strawberry, vanilla or even Mc.Chicken Nugget flavoured cigarettes to get the kids hooked early. Sounds far fetched? I wish it was as this has already been done.

Now I’m really finding it easy to smoke ten cigarettes a day. It’s quite frightening how easy it is in from my first experiences to twelve days down the line.

I’ve got two days left now in this experiment and it would be easy to carry on smoking as the worst of the side effects are over but I know this would lead me down the road to addiction and I don’t won’t to be dependent on these little things that kill. I could even smoke more than ten a day now, I’ve hit the groove, I’m thinking like a smoker. But ten is more than enough for me, thank you very much.

I must admit, I like the social aspect of this anti-social action. Hanging about, having a chat, a cup of tea and a cigarette is fun but the reality is I can do all that without cigarettes in my life.

SMOKES TODAY – 10 out of 10

One Thousand Americans Stop Smoking every Day -- By Dying!

Read more here…

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DAY 11 Perry -- Barcelona

Listening to: U2 – Crumbs from your Table

Emotion: Exhaulted

I’m now into day 11 of smoke Swap or as I now like to think of it as 3 days to go until I stop smoking. Just three days from now, (not that I’m counting down the days… but I am) and I’ll be a non-smoker or an ex-smoker.

I’m in with the in crowd. The whole team have now excepted me as a smoker and models and crew alike offer me cigarettes as they would anyone else they know who smokes.

I refuse to offer anyone a cigarette, not because I’m tight but because of my own moral justification and code. I simply don’t want to encourage anyone to smoke. If anyone asks for a smoke however, I do oblige.

One of the models today informs me she has just finished six years studying to be a doctor and is now about to start her first year as a general practitioner in Barcelona Hospital. She says she should be setting a good example as we share a cigarette but… The thing is, when we are young we think we are invincible. We blank out or refuse to acknowledge the consequences of our actions. Even doctors, with all their knowledge and first hand experience of the pain and suffering cigarettes cause to smokers and their families aren’t amune. The cigarette marketing propaganda that has been going on for decades warps our logical though processes.

The Editors -- Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors

>>> Get back your life -- Stop Smoking <<<

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Day 10. Katie

Recently, every time I’m socialising or meeting new people I am intensely pestering them on their smoking habits , how they feel about the ban and frankly as an ex/non smoker (Oh that has a ring to it!) I am shocked by peoples’ answers on how they feel about giving up their beloved fags on the 1^st July. I was hit with replies like “smoking is part of my life”, I mean even myself being partial to a fag, found this reply quite sad and depressing. Others simply refuse to acknowledge the ban, stating it wont make a difference to them, they will smoke were they want. l look forward to witnessing their resolve when on the spot fines are being issued!

Is this how bad our country is? Cigarettes -- a plague like problem? I’ve never thought this deep about smokers and their addictions. From just a week into this experiment and observing people from the all sides of the spectrum, I have made a prediction about July 1st, I honestly don’t think people are going to be able to quit, can you imagine the carnage when doorman are trying to tell Dave and his mates who are totally rat arsed they cant smoke their fags inside, the same beloved fags they have smoked routinely in their beloved local for the last 12 years. It’s going to be a complete chaos with disgruntled, moody and edgy drug free people. Oh god, a whole new reason to stay in!

>>> Break the Habit and Stop Smoking <<<

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DAY 10 Perry -- Barcelona

Listening to: The Clash – Lost in the Supermarket

Emotion: Dizzy

I have my first cigarette of the day while driving to the Circuit de Catalunia. It’s the first time I’ve smoked at the wheel of a moving car and it’s a left hand drive model, the car not the cigarette. No point in doing things by half.

>>> Get Support to Stop Smoking <<<

My lefts hand slides into the cargo pocket of my shorts and I’m rummaging around until I locate the new pack of ten Dunhill Reds. I pull them out and glance at the truck coming up on my left.

I steady the wheel and remove the cellophane wrapper from the pack and take out a cigarette. Once I’ve stuck the cigarette in my face I can navigate the pack back into my shorts pocket which is easier than taking it out. I shift up a gear and push the cars lighter in. After approximately thirty seconds it notifies me with a reassuring clicking sound that it is hot and ready for action. I feel for the lighter, locate it and present it to the end of my cigarette. I suck deeply but almost instantly notice I’ve got the cigarette in my mouth the wrong way round. I check my mirrors, more out of embarrassment that I may have been seen lighting the wrong end of a cigarette than locating the next passing vehicle. I spin it around and inhale. I return the lighter to it’s home in the centre console, take the cigarette from my mouth and return both hands to the wheel.

A couple more drags on and I’m feeling light headed. Not a good way to feel when I’m driving on the wrong side of the road for an Englishman at 120 KMH.

The whole process only took a minute or so but I definitely wasn’t concentrating on the road one hundred percent with both hands on the wheel.

My first cigarette behind the wheel is on a motorway. I wouldn’t like to guess what it would have been like if I was driving through a city centre, passed a school or urban conurbation.

There are no statistics for accidents caused by smoking while driving but I can testify that while going through the process of finding the pack, lighting up and then smoking the cigarette I wasn’t focused on driving with due care and attention. Far from it.

SMOKES TODAY – 10 out of 10

For more information about smoking and Driving click on the links below:

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DAY 8 Perry – Bermondsey to Barcelona

Listening to: Rolling Stones -- Satisfaction

Emotion: Sleepy

Today I’m up at the crack of dawn as I’m flying out to Barcelona.

While waiting for a connecting train at East Croydon Station, I make use of the time to have my first cigarette of the day. I’m wearing my iPod and Mick Jagger sings in my ear ‘He can’t be a man ‘cos he doesn’t smoke the same cigarettes as me’. Ironic or a coincidence?

Today I’ll be mostly smoking Lambert & Butler. There is a card inside the packet explaining the pack has enhanced pack design for the UK’s #1 cigarette. What am I supposed to do? Write a letter to my MP? Run naked down the platform singing a chorus of hallajuhas or masturbate like a monkey?

I decide to light up (only after considering the masturbation option for a minute or so) and it tastes like shit! (No change there then)

I was in a club in Barcelona about a year ago and the whole night was sponsored by an unfamiliar brand to me called NY Blue. Four beautiful models greeted the customers at the door and offered them a pack of cigarettes. The venue was decked out in the brands colours, blue and white. Podium dancers, again in sexy outfits of the brands colours danced on podiums as only podium dancers can. An area was set aside to dress up in brand colours, silly hats, glasses and feather bowers to pose with a model in front of a backdrop and there were also scratch card giveaways. It will certainly be interesting to see what twelve months has made to the world of marketing cigarettes in Spain.

I meet the crew in central Barcelona and hit a number of bars. Some bars are smoke free but most allow smoking and display a sign at the entrance that depicts a cigarette in a green circle.

Later in the night I’m outside a bar somewhere in the Gothic quarter and I’m somewhat worse for wear. The fact that I didn’t remember any of this story until I saw it on video is by the by. I’m outside and I’m sharing a cigarette with a friendly girl. The media have coined a term for this kind of behaviour ‘Smirting’. It sounds inoffensive enough to me but in my day it was called something completely different and I didn’t need a cigarette as a prop to back me up. And as I remember I was some what successful at it too, but I digress. So there we are outside a bar and I’m being instructed into the art of blowing smoke rings. This is not a good look for me and taking the instructions literally from my teacher I end up making a noise like a seal performing for fish. I never manage to blow a smoke ring and I head back to my hotel alone. I’m not a cool smoker. It’s not cool to smoke . I’m a fool to smoke.

Perry at Circuit de Catalunya – Spain 2007

SMOKES TODAY – 10 out of 10

Technorati Tags: Barcelona, cigarettes, quit, smoke swap, stop smoking

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Day 6 – Perry

Florence to London

Listening to: Heaven’s in Here – Tin Machine

Help to Stop Smoking

Last night we went in to the cemtre of the renaissance city of Florence and had a couple of drinks to unwind after finishing our job out here in Italy. The city is very beautiful and picturesque, the locals were friendly (don’t these Italians like to smoke) and the night balmy.

I left the bar near Duomo we were in a couple of times to smoke outside and met some cool people from Canada and the USA. We bonded over a cigarette and then went our separate ways.

If there is one good thing about smoking it’s the opportunity it allows you to talk to strangers without any pressure. There seems to be an unmentioned bond amongst smokers, a little club even.

Saying that, a non smoker could start a conversation with a stranger just as easily but there is no common link to get the conversation, however transient of fleeting started so easily. I guess a lot of young people start to smoke because of their lack of confidence and need a prop to help them engage with others. I’ve seen other who don’t smoke carry lighters to meet girls easier too.

My interpreter tries to teach me to blow smoke rings but I end up doing some bizarre impression of a seal!

Today I drove from Florence to Bologne airport along the major roads instead of the scenic route because of the time constraints we are under. After checking in I shared a couple of cigarettes with the interpreter and flew back to the Stanstead. She is intrigued by the Smoke Swap experiment and says she wished she never started smoking. I tell her it’s never too early to stop smoking. From the airport we caught a train back to Liverpool Street Station and finally a taxi back home.

As with the outbound journey, there are very few opportunities to smoke but by the end of the day I’ve got my 10 in. In the space of a few days I’ve learned how to smoke at every opportunity. I’ve come a long way in a short space of time. The scariest thing is just how fast the body adapts. If you asked me after the first day if I would be smoking ten cigarettes a day within a week and would have said ‘no way’, but here I am.

Smokes today 10 -10

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Day 5 – Kate

To stop smoking is harder than I ever imagined. I’m doing it without any aids so I’m going totally cold turkey! Apparently patches and NRT don’t work very well either but after Smoke Swap is finished in exactly eleven days time Perry said he would get me a hypnotherapist if I wanted or need one. I’ve heard about Allen Carr’s book ‘The Easy way to Stop Smoking’ , who hasn’t? I think I need to buy myself a copy pretty damn quick. So I am trying to stop smoking, I really am.Trying to Stop

It doesn’t help that my boyfriend constantly smokes around me and even taunts me with cigarettes. The only way I can see myself getting through the two weeks experiment successfully is to avoid my smoking friends and all smoky situations, so it’s no China Whites and clubbing for me this week.

I think anybody trying to stop smoking after the smoking ban comes in will find it easy as it wont be in your face so much anymore. When I’m not thinking about cigarettes I’m okay but as soon as I see a cigarette, I want so much to smoke one or at least have a quick puff.

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Today started of well. I’ve come up with a strategy to ensure I get my ten a day in. After every meal and every break I’ll have a cigarette. That should  take me above half way. The other three or four cigarettes I can smoke at the end of the day to reward myself. If I’m going to complete this experiment successfully I will have to start thinking like a smoker and plan my waking hours around smoking. Of course if I was a smoker I would do this without thinking as it would be habitual.

I had breakfast early and had a cigarette immediately afterwards. I head back to my room and brush my teeth, pick up my bag and head to the garage to take the car out. On the short walk from the hotel to the garage I spark up my second cigarette of the day. I love the smell of four thousand burning carcinogenic substances in the morning. Not!

I get on site and some of the crew notice I’ve started smoking. I explain what and why I’m doing it. Some of them look at me with the look of ‘You stupid southern fuckin’ idiot’ on their faces (I inform them that I was actually born in the Midlands) while others are more than happy to offer me a cigarette, coach me on cool ways to smoke, teach me tricks with a lighter or tell me anecdotes about the three strike rule.

The Three Strike Rule

The three strike rule first appeared during the war. I’m not sure which war but I would assume it was World War I. Soldiers would congregate together and share tall tales about girls, nylons and chocolate. It’s blackout and a nazi sniper could be almost anywhere. A soldier pulls out a pack of ‘Luckies’ he won of an American GI in a game of cards and offers them around his comrades in arms. Soldier #1 strikes a light and because he’s British a polite offers soldier #2 a light first. The sniper sees the flicker of a flame and takes aim. Soldier #1 offers soldier #3 a light. The sniper steadies the shot and slowly sqeezes the trigger. Soldier #1 then lights his own cigarette and promptly hits the dirt as the sniper offloads a round in to his forehead. Back then no-one knew cigarettes could kill, but they were learning fast, hence the three strike rule.

Cigarettes kill more people than all the world wars combined. One person every five minutes dies from a smoking related disease.

A collegue came up to me backstage ‘I noticed you’re smoking, so can I blag a cigarette of you?’ ‘Yeah no problem’ I say offering him a B&H. ‘Oh, you’re alright, I’ll ask someone else for one’ he said‘ They taste like shit!’ Now I’m no connesier but they all taste like shit to me! A smokers’ sense of taste is seriously eroded because of their habit but it is comical how they debate the taste of one cigarette over another. Of course they are fooling themselves. And so started a debate about the various merits of one cigarette brand over another. It amazes me how passionate people can be about their cigarettes. How emotionally connected they are to their cigarettes. They identify themselves and others by the brand they smoke. An attack on their brand of cigarette is a personal attack on themselves or their Mothers such is the close relationship fostered between man and cigarette. Marlboro is the second biggest brand in the world (Pampers is the biggest apparently, not Coca-Cola as everyone presumes). So with over seventy years of advertising, brand positioning and marketing behind it most of the messages you take from that little box of twenty have been conveyed to you so many times you don’t even question them.

The Nazis had a very effective propaganda campaign in the 1930 and 40’s – take a simple message and repeat it many times. Eventually you don’t question it, you take it as gospel. This is exactly the same when it comes to building a brand such Marlboro Lights. I always say question everything. Nothing happens by accident and if there is money to be made prepare to ask many questions.

Cigarettes are broken down into two categories:

1)      Virginia tobacco cigarettes

2)      Blended tobacco cigarettes

If most cigarettes fall in to the two categories, why do smokers champion one brand over another? Well that’s down to marketing. I remember when I was at Philip Morris being told that Marlboro Lights sold more at the weekends than in the week. The reason behind this statement? People who would normally smoke a brand at of cheaper cost price and perception and would buy a packet of Marlboro Lights on a Friday night before heading out on the town. Along with their designer clothes, their mobile phone, lighter and their last fashion accessory a packet of cigarettes.

Of course we at Philip Morris spent a great deal of time and money positioning our brand in all the best and most aspirational bars, club, and parties in every city. The kind of clubs ordinary people can’t get passed the red rope. We sponsored exclusive and glamorous sports such as F1 were the average man in the street can’t afford a ticket. And sold the product exclusively at all the music festivals were all the great and the good of the rock n roll world would be. The people living the life we could only dream about.

So by buying a packet of Marlboro Lights at the weekend and putting them on the table with my bottle of over priced Czeck beer I’m saying to my friends and peers ‘Hey look at me! I belong to this elite club, I’m sophisticated, I’m cultured, I’m a modern man of the world. I’m in Monte Carlo and rubbing shoulders with Kate Moss and I can afford to buy this brand so look out ladies here I come!

The reality is I’m in a chain bar in Lincoln, my shirt is a fake designer label knock-off from the market, no-one has called me on my mobile all night and I’m topping my trendy bottle of beer up from a hip flask because I can’t afford to spend £6.00 on a pint of lager. I know this but the perception to others is different. Well until I get pissed and drop a kebab down the front of my shirt while walking home zig-zag style down the street it is.

SMOKES TODAY – 10 out of 10

Are you a victim of propaganda? Get Help to Stop Smoking.

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Allen Carr was a life long smoker and now famous ex-smoking author of Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking. Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking has been translated into over 25 languages and sold well over 6 million copies. This makes it the authority book on quitting smoking.

The common theme throughout Allen Carr’s book is the removal of fear. The Easyway is so successful because Allen understands the psychological dependence smokers have with cigarettes, the book will set you free to become a happy non-smoker.

Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking has celebrity endorsements by Sir Richard Branson, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Carole Caplin, Emma Freud, Gianlucca Vialli and Ellen DeGeneres.

Click her for more information about Allen Carr’s Clinics

Click her to get your Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking book or DVD

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Monday 14^th May Perry

Listening to: Portishead – Humming

Emotion – relaxed

Days until smoke down – 7

Wow, what a day and I’m not referring to the bloody weather. But Barh! The bloody weather. It feels like I’ve called or wrote to every doctor, professor, hospital or medical agency in the book today after finding out the doctor I thought was on board is no longer on board. But good news came my way by way of a phone call during a meeting with my editor. Fingers crossed but we could be back on track. Oh sunny days!

Prior to that, I met up with Neil Boorman to discuss producing a short retrospective documentary about The Bonfire of the Brands www.bonfireofthebrands.com . We first met when I was marketing Marlboro cigarettes. Today we met in Soho in a non-branded tea and patisserie shop for afternoon tea and patisseries and discussed his fascinating project and how since the burning he has lived a no brand existence.

His book is out in September and will make essential reading. I think a copy should be given away to every reader of Heat magazine!

He’s been burning one brand for years – Marlboro Lights, but not any more!

Technorati Tags: cigarettes, fire, lights, Marlboro, smoking

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