Smoking Between Stages

[glock17w]

How does smoking cigarettes or cigars in between stages effect your shooting? It seems like it calms you down but that is just the mental tricks nicotine play on you.

glock17w

[short_round]

... if you're addicted it's not only mental. It's physiological as well.

If this applied to you, try the gum. It's awesome!

[Calamity Jane]

try the gum. It's awesome!

I'm a nurse and I took care of this guy yesterday who quit smoking many years ago...but has been chewing nicorette gum every since! His doc seems to think that chewing nicotene is better than smoking it.

I've heard it said that if you hold your breath during a stage if will affect your vision. I would think that if you could oxygenate better (no smoking) you should be able to see better.

[tightloop]

smoking cannot be good for you, either between stages or at all..however, as adults, we are free to make that decision if we want to..

I enjoy a good cigar sometimes, but not during the matches...it distracted me..

[Vlad]

When I used to smoke, I smoked AFTER running a stage. Do by honest I can not tell if it made much of a difference either way. I think the reality of it is that a LOT of shooters don't even breathe during a stage. I know that on short and medium stages I dont. Heck .. even 10-15 seconds while moving at full speed and shooting at things, its like 5 to 6 breaths at a normal pace which is not a length of time during which you will notice holding your breath nevermind actually changing the oxygenation of your blood stream. May or may not be the right thing to do.

I'm however glad quit (using the patch) which I've done partially because breathing does make a LARGE difference in rifle shooting and I wanted to get better and partially because I got to the point where smoking was no longer fun. Also, I think it is more polite towards your squad mates.

Vlad

Edited March 4, 2006 by Vlad

[Ron Ankeny]

I enjoy a good cigar sometimes, but not during the matches...it distracted me..

Did you try putting it down while you shoot?

[Chriss Grube]

Sometimes when you burn down the stage you are still smoking for a while after maybe 2-3 stages, unless the MD uses the fire suppression plan.

[short_round]

I enjoy a good cigar sometimes, but not during the matches...it distracted me..

Did you try putting it down while you shoot?

[TBF]

When I used to use nicotine ( Cope Longcut ) and shoot pins, my fastest runs were always when the nicotine craving was greatest.

Travis F.

[JFD]

I smoke before, during, and after stages. I've seen no difference whatsoever regardless of what I do.

For a while there I was treating the smoke as a talisman, requiring a certain brand that was smoked down to a certain length before LAMR. Now I smoke during a stage if I happen to have one lit, but otherwise I don't.

I have gotten so wired up on Mountain Dew playing golf that I could barely swing right. I've avoided the same thing while shooting so far.

[Harmon]

i like the guy who finishes the field course gasping for air while lighting the cigarette.

I dont smoke...I dont care if you do smoke...but its the same with any semi athletic sport...the better shape your in, the better.

[LPatterson]

Put it in prespective, a carton of cigrettes cost almost as much as a 1000 bullets. Could you shoot better if the smoke were coming out of your gun instead of out of your face?

[Bigbadaboom]

I don't smoke and never have. I dipped Copenhagen for several years and found it easier to relax after I quit. I do know of a local top 20 GM who does extremely well that smokes. It doesn't seem to slow him down.

[BSeevers]

You can investigate the physical effects of smoking and probably come up with either effect that it produces. I don't like to tell people what to do but probably what smoking does to your shooting(maybe stop it altogether) 10 years from now that is more serious. I don' think any of the Super squad smokes and even if 1 does, 20 don't, and they investigate all forms of advantage.

I know the better shape I get in, the better I personally shoot. Yea I do like a cigar on occasion also.

[tightloop]

I enjoy a good cigar sometimes, but not during the matches...it distracted me..

Did you try putting it down while you shoot?

That is a good one...and yes, I did but then smoking a good cigar is about the uninterrupted enjoyment it gives you for the entire duration ...being the simple man I am, I can only concentrate on one thing at a time...shooting first then smoking...

[JakeMartens]

"Put it in prespective, a carton of cigrettes cost almost as much as a 1000 bullets. Could you shoot better if the smoke were coming out of your gun instead of out of your face?"

That is a great point, never thought of it that way. I have used smoking after a stage to help calm down or relax or if I blew a stage I would take it out on the smokes!!!!

[Shooter Grrl]

Sheeet boy, there are times i've run the stage with the cigarette!

Put it in prespective, a carton of cigrettes cost almost as much as a 1000 bullets. Could you shoot better if the smoke were coming out of your gun instead of out of your face?

Tell me where the f*&^ do you buy .38 jhp bullets for $25/1000???? I'll give up my carton for that!

[kylehb]

It makes me happy. Im already jacked up on caffeine half the time anyway so I don't think too much of it.

[DW 10mm]

Smoking during a match can be detrimental due to the nicotine causes increased blood pressure and constriction of blood vessels in the eyes and other muscles. Check your BP before and after smoking a cigarette, you will be amazed.

[Tom C]

Physiologically, the carbon monoxide in smoke (specifically tobacco smoke), bonds 200x more readily to the bloods hemoglobin than does Oxygen. This strongly suggests that smoking actually moves a person toward oxygen starvation. That said, the human body has incredible abilities to adapt to what we do to it. If you smoke and smoking has the effect of calming you as opposed to not smoking making you more tense then it would seem to follow that smokeing, when needed to calm nerves, is not immediately detrimental. Obviously for long term health, people are best served to not smoke.....EVER.

[BillD]

Sheeet boy, there are times i've run the stage with the cigarette!

Put it in prespective, a carton of cigrettes cost almost as much as a 1000 bullets. Could you shoot better if the smoke were coming out of your gun instead of out of your face?

Tell me where the f*&^ do you buy .38 jhp bullets for $25/1000???? I'll give up my carton for that!

Where do you get a carton of cigarettes for $25?

[ChuckS]

Sheeet boy, there are times i've run the stage with the cigarette!

Put it in prespective, a carton of cigrettes cost almost as much as a 1000 bullets. Could you shoot better if the smoke were coming out of your gun instead of out of your face?

Tell me where the f*&^ do you buy .38 jhp bullets for $25/1000???? I'll give up my carton for that!

Where do you get a carton of cigarettes for $25?

He was quoting 2006 prices

[daves_not_here]

I'd like to add something about e-cigarettes which are really delivery devices for nicotine without the combustion byproducts.

It is obvious carbon monoxide that affects the vision through lack of oxygen in the blood, e-cigs don't have carbon monoxide. Not to mention all the tar, additives and other byproducts in tobacco that e-cigs don't have.

So, what does nicotine by itself do???

After doing a little research I found out you get dopamine (relax nerves) and adrenaline (ready for action) both at the same time. Smooth and fast is what I'm thinking you get...

Nicotine might be a performance enhancing drug for action shooting. Having nicotine in your blood is banned while competing in Olympic sports. Why? Does the Olympic Committee think nicotine enhances performance?

A reference on this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine

"By binding to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, nicotine increases the levels of several neurotransmitters – acting as a sort of "volume control". It is thought that increased levels of dopamine in the reward circuits of the brain are a major contributor to the apparent euphoria and relaxation,..."

"By binding to ganglion type nicotinic receptors in the adrenal medulla, nicotine increases flow of adrenaline (epinephrine), a stimulating hormone and neurotransmitter."

Edited September 5, 2014 by daves_not_here

[EngineerEli]

I have found that if I am overly exited anxious before a big stage or after completely screwing one up, that puffing on a cigar while pasting helps me calm down and be more composed at the buzzer for the next stage, who knows if it is mental physical or both, but I have experienced it before. Granted, I do not necessarily smoke cigars every match, and very rarely smoke cigars while not on the range.

I do replace that cigar with a sweet Sherlock Holmes pipe at times! You don't see many of those out on the range, lol.

BTW: I do not smoke cigarettes so my nicotine tolerance is very low. Doesn't take much for me to feel the effects.

Edited September 5, 2014 by EngineerEli

[yellowfin]

I used to drip and chew but quit totally eleven years ago. Didn't shoot much at the time, but I did play golf and fish, and what it did do for me was minimize nasal allergies, counteract the downing effects of antihistamines, and regulate digestion and sleep cycles. I didn't notice it steadying my hands at all or feeling jittery if I didn't have it. Also remained remarkably free of female involvement in my life--though I couldn't say if it was that or if I was just too nerdy and insecure at the time, and having chronically running nasal allergies making me a snot factory.

Edited September 10, 2014 by yellowfin