Smoking and singing

I've seen various bits about this on the internet...

Here is my experience of it, I have been suffering with anxiety so I started smoking again.. A very silly thing to do, but I will stop again shortly.

I have notice in the four weeks I started, I have lost half of my power, hitting notes have become inconsistent, I struggle with highs and lows and I have a really annoying grainy sound and my voice has become thin..

Any of you guys smoke and sing?

Some people think smoking helps them get "that sound". Others say things like they lose their highs, but gain better lows.

The way I see it is I wouldn't take my guitar, throw it in mud daily, and hope the soundboard inside of it will have a better tone after.

To each their own though.

I smoke. It's no benefit that I can see. But I'm a slave to it so I make it work. I've not lost any power from it but yes I've lost minute control features and stamina.

My dad smokes, and his voice is terrible for singing. Breathy and raspy.

I smoke, and I'm also a slave to it...so I make it work too, lol. I wouldn't say I've lost any power or stamina, but some days notes at the very top of my range aren't as spot on. Then again, I have smoked as long as I've been singing, so I have no idea what I would sound like if I quit?! I like my rasp...and fear change, haha. I have cut back from a pack a day to maybe 5-10 smokes a day...I guess that's some sort of progress?

Uh, yeah…I don’t notice a difference except I can’t get as clear a tone as I used to be able to before I started again.

It certainly doesn't help me. It's to the point where my lung capacity is severely limited (and it wasn't great to begin with), I have no head voice (it just comes out as vocal fry) and most recently I couldn't even speak let alone sing without throat irritation making me cough.

So now I use snus, and have cut my smoking down from about 5 or 6 packs a week to one. Still don't really have a head voice, although it seems to be improving slightly with some effort, but I can actually breathe now, and don't choke every time I try to make a sound.

It certainly doesn't help me. It's to the point where my lung capacity is severely limited (and it wasn't great to begin with), I have no head voice (it just comes out as vocal fry) and most recently I couldn't even speak let alone sing without throat irritation making me cough. So now I use snus, and have cut my smoking down from about 5 or 6 packs a week to one. Still don't really have a head voice, although it seems to be improving slightly with some effort, but I can actually breathe now, and don't choke every time I try to make a sound.

I know what you feel like, to me it's inconsistency.. If you smoke you get excess phlegm that clogs you up some days I'm not too bad other's I can't sing for toffee.. Not to mention parts of your lungs don't work right to remove the excess... Smoke causes swelling an irritation to your throat so it does damage sooner or later..

Yes, definitely inconsistency. That’s my issue. It just gets in the way and the voice can be a bit unpredictable.

Deadnight, you’ve cut down to only 1 pack a day, eh?? That’s damn good! I used to smoke a pack a day…would buy 7 packs per week all at once and then keep ‘em in the pantry.

Yeah, I've mostly changed to snus now. I still smoke occasionally, but even then a lot of the time it's just out of habit, and occasionally I even find myself not enjoying it in the slightest. But usually it'll hit whatever time where at work I'd usually go out for a smoke, and I just don't even feel like I want one. Snus!

What is snus?!

"Swedish snus is a moist to semi-moist, oral tobacco product that is used behind the upper lip. There are two formats for Swedish snus, loose and portion packed. Both formats are available in different flavour varieties. Swedish snus is made from selected tobaccos, water, salt and flavourings, following recipes dating back to the 19th century. Swedish snus is pasteurized in a proprietary heat treatment process that meets the Swedish food standards. With Swedish snus there’s no chewing or spitting."

http://www.northerner.com/articles/Snus%20Articles-294/What%20Is%20Swedish%20Snus-17560/SHOP-333/

snus is everywhere now. my boy from sweden used it all the time.

camel and marlboro make that snusy {censored} now

I for one, am 100% sober for this week though. nicotine included.

The inconsitency goes after a while, it's just I get anxiety when I don't smoke that causes issues when I sing... Stuck between a rock and rather large hard place..

Everyone who saw this coming, put your hands up!

Hahahaha!

I love the internet. I can be as evil as I like, and my RL friends won't know a thing!

Smoking for most people ==> shorter lifespan.

Considering that some estimations today predict that relatively young people today might be the first ones to achieve biological immortality, smoking is thus very, very bad.

Apparently the stuff they make in the US isn't made the same way as the proper Swedish stuff. Apparently. Then again, maybe that's just the Swedes trying to get you to buy their stuff instead.

Glad it's illegal to sell here though. I can buy close to a month's worth of snus shipped from Sweden for less than what it costs me to buy two packs of cigarettes here. I hope no one here starts up on the "legalise snus!" thing, coz if it actually went through it'd just mean they'd tax the living {censored} out of it.

MASKLIN, you naughty thing! I never said that! In THIS thread anyway.

A great example of the effects of smoking can be winessed in the career of Jerry Garcia. If you listen to a recording of Jerry Garcia singing in the 1960's, and compare it to him from the 1990's, you would hardle believe it was the same man. A lot of deadheads thought he sounded cool because the rough gruffy voice kind of complimented the premature grey hair and his reputation as the "Grandfather" of psychedelic rock and roll. One thing about the Dead is that every (almost) show they did has been captured on a live recording and is available to anyone who knows how to find them, and you can literally hear Garci's voice deteriorate right before your very ears from show to show. Granted, much of it may be compounded by playing some shows with a cold virus or other complications, but the long term damage was done by smoking cigarettes (and weed).

Some people don't see the bad effects and think they are OK, but the damge is cumulative and will manifest itself a little here and a little there over a period of time.

Many smokers run out of breath after climbing a flight of stairs, so just imagine what the impact will be on your ability to sing.

But then, for many rock and rollers, it's all about image. Live fast, die, young, yada yada yada. Nobody cares about dying tomorrow, until tomorrow becomes today, and then it's too late.

http://freeonlinesinginglessons4u.com/Vocal-Health.html

Grace dear... look at post #6.

No no. I meant “before I started again” like a YEAR ago. I meant since I quit over 5 years ago and then started again last year, you see? I didn’t mean that I’d quit recently and then started again. It’s even worse though cause even though I posted that thread a while back saying I’d stop, I never did!

Yeah, probably should just stop digging that hole you're in.

HAHAHA!! I intend to quit in mid April. I have specific reasons for this. I WANT to quit now, but I know it isn't gonna happen cause my mother in-law arrives at the end of next week and I will be wandering around the town, biding my time so I don't have to go home and spend time with her...blah, blah...she's nice but ugh. I will be stressed out and "need" teh cigs, so...yeah. But AFTER that, I am quitting, and soon after THAT, my parents are coming here for a 2 week holiday and I am not gonna be smoking by then, AND then a month after THAT, we're going away to Sydney for 2 weeks so...no smoking there anyway...

happy people suck.

that is all.

'fixed'

Grace, have you seen trainspotting? If not I suggest you do. It might make you realize how pathetic addicts look from the outside.

I think comparing someone who smokes, to a heroin addict is a tad extreme...

Although people are addicted to cigs (myself included), it's not like we're pawning everything we own and givin out blowies for a pack of smokes, lol

Good movie though