Karaoke Forums

Good luck to you Larry.

Thanks Fiery...I've been smoking long enough and I'm of that "certain age" where now is probably a fine time to beat the habit for good.  As far as the voice, I'm flattered by your remarks--I guess I'm very lucky so far!

I started smoking at the ripe old age of 12...  My sis and two stepbrothers were trying it in the garage and dad walked in.   He told us we weren't old enough to make that decision and to quit; he did this while chainsmoking.  My sis and two bros quit; me?  I figured he was a hypocrite and wasn't going to tell me what to do...  There were other things that set this attitude up that I won't go into but for the next 10 years or so I had a thing about ANYONE telling me what to do.....  I still get flashes of the poster with the mouse standing on a rock holding up his middle finger to the hawk as it swoops down on him...  I was the mouse!  :)

Anyway, I quit 3/3/2002; it was a Sunday and my son's 25th bday.  A few hours after I quit I was jonesing for a cig but after 3 puffs I realized it wasn't what I was craving.  BTW, I used the patch and one of those fake cigs that you can set the drag to simulate the type of cig you smoked....  During this time when we'd go to do a show I would get behind a friend and inhale from their cloud of smoke, after awhile that ceased to have any pleasure for me and actually stank!

After I quit I realized that my smell did precede me into a room.  I also noticed the smell of flowers and cut grass...  I also gained ALOT of weight (that's okay, I'll die fat and breathing fine) and had many of the associated problems that come with quitting...  My voice also changed.   Oddly enough I lost some high and sweet but gained some power.

I can understand the addiciton of smoking and feel lucky that I was able to quit.  I know I'm just one hit away from 2 packs a day...

Richard has tried almost everything to quit.  The way I see it, each time he tries to quit he gives his body and break and maybe something will work one day...

Susie

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wow thanks guys for the props! one of the best things of overcoming something so overcomable, is the respect you get that makes you realize just how strong you were..ive got to give a special thanks to my bestest friend sheree for always being there as i fight this last temptation..her confidence in me has made me the best person i have ever been..and if i quit this habit, i will have done it as much for her happiness as my own..so many nice people out here...god bless all of ya !!

I quit smoking 12 years ago after smoking for 18 years...I was 3 packs a day when I quit. I also was right in the middle of a nasty sinus infection and bronchitis at the time. I had been thinking about quitting before this hit, because I was getting sick a lot...I realized that it took me all day to smoke a cigarette because it hurt too much to inhale....then it dawned on me "just quit dumba$$" since it hurt anyway. I quit cold turkey - in fact I crushed my last 6 packs before throwing them away. I do have an addictive type personality so I have to be careful...luckily karaoke is my addiction right now, but even that can be dangerous because of the money involved . Best of luck to those trying to quit - with me it wasn't so much the nicotine as getting through everything I associated with smoking.

Confession time - I'm a pack a day smoker. I subbed the song "My Immortal" a few days ago in the singers showcase  LMAO . I don't notice anything, but
maybe a tickle in my throat on the first song. I don't have the cough or anything.
I almost wish I did it would encourage me to quit more. I don't like smelling like smoke or my clothes and house smelling like it. At my age it is time to quit!

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Good luck to you when you do try to quit Babs.

I smoke....and I fersure have a gravely but strong singing voice....It serves me well when I do Josh Turner or Joe Nichols, but I can also do Willie just fine.

Not sure if the smoking is the reason, but I have bad sinus problems where I get post nasal drip and it gets in my vocal chords and when that happens, the singing is over for the night.....I had the sinus problems even on submarines when the whole crew had ran out of cigs for weeks and the air was purified 24/7.


I plan to quit when I die.

Can you smoke on a sub?

also, I heard that to even become Chief you must smoke and drink coffee.

We could smoke on subs up until I retired in '93.....I heard the whole Navy has gone no Smoking now a days, tho.....bunch of wussys!

Yep, it's true, you had to drink with both hands and do coffee all day to make Chief.....I made Chief in just 7 years, so I guess I had it down.

I will have to be realistic about giving up cigarettes.

It won't help my singing much in the ways that I wish it would.

well I am always annoyed at how my voice doesn't have any gravel in it... maybe I should take up smoking?  JK

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Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure. (I can't hear you. I have a banana in my ear.)

I've been smoking for 22 years (YIKES)...pretty solidly for the last 19.  I have pretty decent range, and can definitely do gravel.  I dunno if smoking has antything to do with that though...I haven't been able to quit long enough for it to make a difference.l

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... I find that if I have a slight cold I get the gravel but my control in higher range flies out the window. I actually only get frustrated with my voice not having that grrr when I try to do anything heavy. Although I usually bend songs to my will and MAKE them work for me. I went from singing things like Kiss me and Foolish Games to Aerials and Nothihg Else Matters. It's funny how you can rework things to fit your voice sometimes. I think I will skip the smoking experiment though  I like my lungs as they are .

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Te audire no possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure. (I can't hear you. I have a banana in my ear.)

i started smoking again about six months ago. it was a rough time for me and i figured cigarettes were better than booze or illegal substances.

i lost a lot of power and my high notes. i have a pretty decent range--or used to. let's just say heart's magic man ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

the wrost part about quitting smoking, aside from the phsycial withdrawal, was the feeling that i needed to be doing something with my hands. i shredded a lot of cocktail napkins when we were out singing. and i gained a lot of weight, too. yuck!

i promised chuck i would quit again when he did. it was weirdly easy when i quit before (8 years ago with an occasional backslide of a day or two). i figure not only will it be it good for me, but will make it easier for him too. we will wake up one morning and be in a smoke-free house (after i dry clean the draperies). it will happen. i think i am ready. i think chuck is very nearly ready, too.

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I wish sometimes I could recreate the submarine world whenever I want to stop smoking......imagine getting extended on patrol for a month or more and the whole crew runs out of smokes!....and no one has had a smoke in 3-4 weeks by the time you tie up!....and you are clammed up inside a big steel pipe with no way out and 1000 miles from a store!......Then imagine a bunch of smoke free sailors layin on a beautiful tropical beach and one guy shows up with a fresh pack of cigs and lights one up......AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!...In two minutes we were all hooked again!

That is very thoughtful baby.

It's more a matter of physical shape than smoking.  I've smoked for many a year.  Ran 3-5 miles a day (in the military) never lost breath or anything like that.  I do not have a gravelly voice or anything like that, have an athletic blood pressure and so on.  Now that I'm old and retired and fat, that's a different ball game but its from being out of shape and having bad knees.

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I'm a veteran smoker and have been singing in some fashion (band, karaoke, shower, etc.) for almost as long.

When it's my turn in the rotation, you'll rarely see my at the mic without a cigarette in hand. Although, it mostly just burns there and I take a puff in between songs.

It's kind of a trademark "look" for me. I use a mic stand and wrap my hands around the mic. I've been told that there's just something about the smoke rising around me while I sing that works....

So many people in the bar scene smoke.  I hate to admit this, but I do also.  I have to say it probably gives me the voice I need to sing the songs I enjoy singing.  I have a raspy voice to begin with.  I love Stevie Nicks, and will always sing songs that need that raspi-ness.  
It is funny though - You watch these people night after night, and they can't sing unless they have that last puff before getting up.  
Some need alcohol, and some need cigarettes.  
I just have to wonder, if they aren't allowed to smoke in the bars, what will happen then?  We probably will lose the good singers.  Because as you said, Big Dog, a lot of them are really good singers.
BUT------Don't take up smoking!