Nicotin get's you hooked easily and people start smoking mainly because their friends and people around them do and they have no idea what this little thing could do with them, I had no idea how addictive and frustrating it could be when I was having my first cigarette and I think that's the case for everyone.
The reason people probably smoke has to do with social pressure. Every where you look someone is smoking even on TV. You would think with the warnings people would be scared to do it. Then it will get to the point you get a nicotine addiction. But most of all the reason people start smoking is because of social pressure.
There are a lot of factors that could definitely contribute to the beginning of smoking: stress, curiosity, or even influence from a certain object or our own friends/relatives. In the end, however, it's the drug that forces the user to become addictive and pressure them to keep smoking, rather than the factors that started this activity in the first place.
I used to smoke principally when I was angry or sad, it gave me a certain type of pain and relief at the same time, it was an unhealthy way to escape of all my troubles instead of facing them. And I don’t know if it’s just me, but in gay bars is pretty common to see other guys smoking so its a social pressure somehow, and so you can see it as a “normal” or “inoffensive” thing, so I think those were my main reasons to smoke.
I don't even know why I started smoking. My story is that I grew up with addicted parents but I didn't start any drugs, alcohol, smoking or drinking until I was an adult and out of their house. I no longer knew who I was outside of codependency! I remember being at a friends house drinking and doing lines of cocaine when she offered me a cigarette with all the typical peer pressure I'd denied plenty of times before. Maybe it was the intimacy and trust of the situation with my girlfriend, but that time I said yes. I realized it was relaxing to me, just as she'd said, and I chose to keep it up because I didn't care about myself at that time. Fortunately, my partying phase didn't last long and I quickly made my way onto the road to recovery and freedom from codependency.
People are aware of the long-run consequences they expose themselves at, but they've got to such an ignorant point in their life that they just don't care anymore. Well, at least momentarily, because when the problems start to appear, they will surely start doubting the cigarettes and ultimately stop smoking. Though this happens rarely and I've seen people smore for over 50 years and not develop any kind of disease whatsoever. It really varies from person to person I'd say.
Out of different reasons, usually it's because of the society pressure, then they smoke more and more.
It's called peer pressure. I thing you heard of it before. You sit around with a bunch of friends and they start smoking. Then you want to look cool to and you end up choking on your first puff. That's how I got started.
Most of the people I know smoke just because they relieve stress that way and others do just because it's an addiction and they can't control it. At the end of the day it's very sad to see how cigarettes are taking their toll on my friends but I can't help it.
It happens out of influence. Children can start smoking if they see their elder ones smoking. Friends can also influence one to start smoking by talking about the 'positive' side of smoking. Availability of cigarettes can also influence one to start smoking. I have heard about people working on tea plantations attributing their smoking to cold weather conditions. Other start smoking by thinking they can avoid their stressful situations.
People can start smoking for a variety of reasons, peer pressure being just one of them. Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances in the world and so once you have started, you'll often find that giving up isn't going to be easy. While there's a lot of aids out there to help you, nicotine patches and electronic cigarettes, not to mention a lot of others, determination and willpower to give up are needed more than anything.
Either they like the effects of nicotine (I fell in love right away), or they're trying to be cool. It's usually the latter.