The way it started. Autobiography When does one start smoking? At the age of 15, during the last year of school, because it is so cool! In my case my mother was a smoker - and my friend and I stole two cigarettes from my mother because we wanted to give smoking a try. Then we went to the cellar of our house, hid under the staircase and we both lit a cigarette. Of course we did not like the taste, we coughed, but we finished the cigarettes anyways. How did I manage to quit smoking? How did I manage to stay a non-smoker? With a non-smoker's diary for the first month.