Will Self and Gregor Hens on nicotine, smoking, vaping and more.

[@KhelderB]

I've smoked because I was full, and I've smoked because I was hungry. I've smoked because I was glad, and I've smoked because I was depressed. I've smoked out of loneliness and out of friendship. Out of fear and out of exuberance. Every cigarette that I've ever smoked served a purpose. They were a signal, medication, a stimulant or a sedative. They were a plaything, an accessory, a fetish object. Something to help pass the time. A memory aid, communication tool or an object of meditation. Sometimes they were all of those things at once. I no longer smoke but there are still moments when I can think of nothing but cigarettes, this is one of those moments.

[@hettascott-baker1639]

I’m a long term chronic smoker. The reason why I still love a smoke is it evokes lovely memories when I was a nurse in the wonderful mental asylums.

[@lifeshorts1928]

I could listen to Will for another hour.

[@lifeshorts1928]

Azureecosse Haha, fair enough. He MUST know that many of the words he says mean nothing to his audience, but despite this, I still enjoy hearing the things he has to say.

[@gutterdandy9173]

He's a junkie as well -- back on the skag

[@marijnvanbeers-ev7sc]

I could listen to Will for another cigarette!

[@rsb8380]

I don’t think has aged particularly well for Self. He wrote this year about how he’s been diagnosed with cancer likely smoking-related. Quite a lethal cancer. His views on his own smoking in a recent article are that he’s made a huge stupid mistake.

[@chriscl100]

When Will says at 1:10:09 'you need to hold it near the region of your mouth' you can hear someone in the background shout out 'like a cigarette!'

[@Zaranathax]

It's a pity that this descended into a discussion of health issues and how to quit. The modern narrative of smoking is centred around this and not much more. The woman at the back seemed to want to explore other aspects of smoking, which from the first half is where I thought this was going. Gregor has a very refreshing attitude towards smoking which by the end was rather drowned out by the Will and Doc show. It would have been nice to hear some views from the audience about their relationships with nicotine - not just the struggle to quit but the whole breadth of experiences and stories.

[@industrialharbour]

Self creates a delicious undead mystique in the cigarette, its deathly cancer giving becomes quality and artistic, his joy in the whole format enlivens and animates him like nothing else.

[@HkFinn83]

For anyone interested, that feeling of smoking strong pipe tobacco is a lot like smoking pot the way it’s smoked in the UK/Europe. Mixing it (pot) with tobacco (the ‘spliff’) kills the psychoactive effect and gives this powerful headrush/nausea. It’s also kinda like smoking a cigarette when you haven’t for years.

[@princejasbo]

For me the reason to not wanting to top smoking was that it allowed a 'time out' from life/reality to have a smoke. Like every cig was a pause button, very addictive...

[@TheYking90]

how did I get from the deadpool trailer to here??

[@loydwebber5456]

My cigarette smoking habit from 1995 to 2015. Started out at 2 to 3 per day, progressed to 4 to 7 per day after a couple of years, and finally was 7 to 10 per day in the last couple of years. So I would (slightly over) estimate an average of 7 per day over 20 years. Calculating: 7X365 = 2555 per year, 2555X20 = 51100 cigarettes approximately over about 20 years. My brand was More Menthol which has the highest nicotine of any brand in Canada; so I smoked 4 to 7 per day most of those years.

[@loydwebber5456]

If the doctors think any amount of smoke is harmful then why do they endorse smoked medical cannabis which produces smoke that is much more irritating than cigarettes? As for vaping, I did it for a while, and found the vapor non-irritating. And what is all this medical petty tyranny about smoking being something we do to children? It can't all be about pregnant smokers, which is over blown - except for heavy smokers. But that can't be as bad as what doctors do to inter sex children.

[@zetetick395]

( 58:00 ) is that Nick Papadimitriou : Londons "Deep Topology" doyen I hear waxing lyrical about the 'All New' Nicorette 6mg dose? XD - Niiceone! kzbin.info/www/bejne/in-qpJ55g9d1frs ("The London Perambulator" - *Always* worth a watch if you haven't seen it!)

[@silverapples75]

Who else.

[@aliofly]

good shout

[@simonperry8569]

Gregor looks mighty peed off when it became the doctor and Will show towards the end. Ah well, that's show business Hens - get some better jokes.

[@tomclark15]

51:04 55:46

[@christopherbrookfield4785]

To be fair, Will did say that he was completely monged out with a pipe full of tobacco, not stoned, but this event does get slightly tedious towards the end of the questions, when it seems to turn into a contest between the lung doctor and Will. Gregor begins to look quite disgruntled. Hitler was a vegetarian. Isn't that a bit weird. ❤

[@nektekket852]

Hitler wasn't vegetarian.

[@bankruptbritain6103]

I really like Will Self but an hour and a half.....i'm 45 next month, life's too short.....

[@zetetick395]

You really should start looking after yourself better, you're looking a little beat up, mr happy face.... (especially now you're 'getting ommm' in life - hur hur!)

[@frankwalton1628]

Of course we don't have to resort to shaming there are other incentives like financial penalties and flogging.

[@zetetick395]

I much rather listen to this conversational Will over the speechifying Will

[@phelimheming8593]

We live in a society where Benedict Cumberbatch is handsome, Dan Brown is a great author, Alan Carr is witty,Donal McIntyre is an incisive journalist, Miranda Hart is funny, Kiera Knightley is pretty, Lena Dunham is a comic writer, invesment bankers know what they are doing, politicians are honest, heart logos are culturally innovative and creative, DLT twanging somebody's bra strap in 1983 (or not) is a news item, Jeremy Kyle is moral, everything tastes better between masses of coriander and sourdough, Sue Perkins is talented, beards are cool in all weathers, the Clash are "the only band that matters", Iain Duncan Smith is a worthy and productive member of society, and Phil Mitchell from Eastenders is "really, really sexy". TALENTLESS IS THE NEW TALENTED, and I am glad that Will Self Abuser serves well as a critic of the awful hipster culture of the contrived posh kids and yobboes that dominate us now.

[@1thousandways]

+Phelim Heming May I suggest "Richard Dawkins is an intellectual" as an addition to your list?

[@phelimheming8593]

1thousandways Also Noel Gallagher is a music expert. Ha ha

[@phelimheming8593]

ANPHKI What do you mean by a bad sense of grammar? Was I supposed to say Noel Gallagher was a music expert, instead of musical expert? A moot point, as he is neither. The YTS Britpop band Oasis Quo sounded like the Beattles might have sounded like if Ringo Starr had written their material.

[@phelimheming8593]

ANPHKI Fuck off you talentless Scally.

[@empfrench]

Yes.

[@gutterdandy9173]

Self likes chasing the dragon when it comes to smoking.

[@celestialteapot3310]

Car exhaust... where's the shame?

[@andrewspyrou9856]

Will and 'the Doc'. Get a room why don't you?

[@jakobsikes4491]

Will Self. outing pipe smokers as closet dope fiends haha