Lots of cigarettes

[Stevenloan]

Hi everybody! Is there an idiomatic way or a common term to describe a woman or a man who smokes lots of cigarettes a day?

Your answers will be greatly appreciated.

StevenLoan

[tony h]

He is a human chimney.
A chain smoker. ie he starts the next cigarette from the one he is just finishing.
A twenty a day man. (Or insert a suitable number).

[Phil White]

"He smokes like a chimney", although I don't hear this so much nowadays. Either because fewer people smoke or because fewer people have dirty coal fires.

[Bobinwales]

With cigarette prices being what they are in the UK, I would have thought a good a good description would be, "Skint"!

[Stevenloan]

tony h, Phil White and Bob : Thank you guys so much for your answers.

StevenLoan

[Shelley]

A twenty a day man.

We usually called ourselves, "pack-a-day" smokers, or (horrors!) "two- or three-packs-a-day." Cigarettes came twenty to a pack, so the result is the same. I was a pack-a-day smoker, off and on, until, thankfully, I quit for good -- almost twenty-five years ago.

Stevenloan, I know your question has been answered sufficiently, but I wanted to add my two cents. (I remember when that's how much a cigarette cost!)

[Phil White]

... but I wanted to add my two cents. (I remember when that's how much a cigarette cost!)

And I remember the days in the UK when a tobacconist would split a pack and sell single cigarettes ... and when you could buy a pack of five Park Drive.

I gave up my twenty-a-day habit last year and have become entirely civilized, if eccentric, and now smoke a pipe, to the great amusement of most who see me.

[tony h]

I gave up my twenty-a-day habit last year and have become entirely civilized, if eccentric, and now smoke a pipe, to the great amusement of most who see me.

I miss the opportunity to smoke a pipe, it ws a great aid to managing the rate of conversation to the leisurely pace of my thinking. Conversation is all too nippy these days.

So what type of pipe does Phil keep I wonder? Or does he have a collection?

[Phil White]

So what type of pipe does Phil keep I wonder? Or does he have a collection?

I had naively assumed that if one started smoking a pipe, one became a pipe-smoker. In fact, one becomes a pipe-collector. One has morning pipes, afternoon pipes, evening pipes, walking-the-dog pipes, just-in-case-I-have-a-few-minutes-after-the-meeting pipes, Virginia tobacco pipes, English blend pipes, Latakia pipes, Lakeland blend pipes, bent, thoughtful pipes, straight, stern pipes, churchwarden pipes and any combination thereof.

[tony h]

So what type of pipe does Phil keep I wonder? Or does he have a collection?

I had naively assumed that if one started smoking a pipe, one became a pipe-smoker. In fact, one becomes a pipe-collector. One has morning pipes, afternoon pipes, evening pipes, walking-the-dog pipes, just-in-case-I-have-a-few-minutes-after-the-meeting pipes, Virginia tobacco pipes, English blend pipes, Latakia pipes, Lakeland blend pipes, bent, thoughtful pipes, straight, stern pipes, churchwarden pipes and any combination thereof.

and then there are the pipe cupboards, spill holders, cleaners, reamers, pipe lighters (the Nimrod is a favourite).

[Stevenloan]

Shelley : Thanks so much for the terms. They are wonderful.

StevenLoan

[BonnieL]

A twenty a day man.

We usually called ourselves, "pack-a-day" smokers, or (horrors!) "two- or three-packs-a-day." Cigarettes came twenty to a pack, so the result is the same. I was a pack-a-day smoker, off and on, until, thankfully, I quit for good -- almost twenty-five years ago.

Congratulations! I was a 2-pack-a-day smoker for 20 years, and quit about 26 or 27 years ago. I should have written it down, but I was afraid of jinxing my effort. I'm glad I quit. Not just because I'm in better health, but because I'd never be able to afford them now.

[Bobinwales]

I smoked 20 a day for most of my life but then I met Margaret in 2002. She is an ex-smoker, and that was then end of me as a smoker.