I smoked a pack a day for as long as I can remember. (10 yrs)
I quit when my son was born Two years ago.
I recently started up, again.
I can stop when I am with my kids and I don't even want to smoke.

But as soon as I know I will be away from them for more than a couple hours, I just have to buy a pack and light up.

lately it has been getting worse. I now smoke at work.  I wash my hands, face, and chew gum so the wife and kids won't smell it on me.

I throw away good cigarettes all the time, telling myself " NO MORE"  but....well you know.

I guess I am weak willed or weak minded or something.  This shaZam! is hard to lick.

Quote from: 3imo on January 22, 2007, 12:39:07 PMso the wife and kids won't smell it on me.

HA HA HA...  Unless you're taking a shower, changing your clothes, and brushing your teeth, they'll smell it...


I'm working on 12 years of a pack a day...  But...  I smoked on and off before then...  For a short while I was 2 packs a day. 

I was bored at work, happily browsing the net, and you had to go and bring up smoking, now i have to go have one. brb

it is hard to lick.  In my experience from attempting to cut back the thing that helps me the most are straws or coffee stirs.  I will chew on one and it keeps my hands and mouth busy.  Gum doesn't help all that much for me.  I never smoked that much though, the most for me is a pack every two days. 

I quit smoking and chewing cold turkey a week before Thanksgiving.

I'm just over it.  I didn't think it was hard at all.  But I decided I was more concerned about my health and my teeth. 

The other night I had a dream that I bummed a dip off somebody.  I woke up and felt really disappointed in myself until I remembered it was a dream.   Then I was stoked again.  Stoked to be me and a non-tobacco user.   I'm like Sick Boy in Train Spotting.  I quit just to show people how easy it was from me.  And I chewed for 5 years. 

I hear ya... I've been on again and off again for almost 15 years now.  Never leaving college is the worst thing.  I really started there and since I've never left well I've just never quit.  I should know better too for god's sake, I'm an Anatomist and tear apart people who smoked all the time.  Aside from the couple times that I just up and quit for no real reasons, the only thing that really worked for any period of time was to take 300mg of Welbutrin per day.  It's the same thing as Zyban, but my insurance company won't cover it, so my doc diagnosed me as depressed and walah.  It takes awhile, you have to do a month or so on 150mg and then step up to 300. About a month after I hit 300 I just didn't feel like smoking anymore, and I was pretty pleasant to be around.

Jake

I've never smoked, and I never plan to (this thread is a key example of why I won't start) but I've always thought of this as a good way to quit smoking. Buy a couple of those cheap individually wrapped nasty flavoured cigars you get at gas stations and keep a few around. Every time you want a cigarette, go light one up and take a couple puffs. You'll be disgusted of anything that smokes. Might work?

Quote from: OctaneMotorsports on January 22, 2007, 09:44:35 PM
I've never smoked, and I never plan to (this thread is a key example of why I won't start) but I've always thought of this as a good way to quit smoking. Buy a couple of those cheap individually wrapped nasty flavoured cigars you get at gas stations and keep a few around. Every time you want a cigarette, go light one up and take a couple puffs. You'll be disgusted of anything that smokes. Might work?

if only it were that easy.  What happens is then you start smoking and inhaling those nasty things.

I agree with Jake42. You will just end up smoking nasty cigars.

been there.  now I get a hankerin for conaq flavored cigars.

Quote from: 3imo on January 23, 2007, 07:31:46 AM
I agree with Jake42. You will just end up smoking nasty cigars.

been there.  now I get a hankerin for conaq flavored cigars.

which taste like 19 1/2 different kinds of ass

its that 1/2 kind of ass taste that I relish anyway. Having to go through 19 different kinds of ass to get to it, just isn't so bad. 

Quote from: Jake D on January 22, 2007, 01:18:03 PM
I quit smoking and chewing cold turkey a week before Thanksgiving.

I'm just over it.  I didn't think it was hard at all.  But I decided I was more concerned about my health and my teeth. 

The other night I had a dream that I bummed a dip off somebody.  I woke up and felt really disappointed in myself until I remembered it was a dream.   Then I was stoked again.  Stoked to be me and a non-tobacco user.   I'm like Sick Boy in Train Spotting.  I quit just to show people how easy it was from me.  And I chewed for 5 years. 

Same here.  I quit both about a week before Christmas.  The first day was easy.  The second day was tough.  The 3rd-7th days were a true test of my will power.  After 7 days, my cravings went away.  I was eating a bag of sunflower seeds a day, but I've quit that.  They make BM's work rather than pleasure.  Now I'm running alot more.  I have more of an appetite, so I run more to compensate.  I feel great. 

3Imo
Don't give up on trying to quit or get down on yourself for having trouble.  Everyone does.  You can't quit the habits, you just have to find a way to replace them with something else.  A guy at work will drop and do 20 pushups at random times through out the day.  I asked him why he did it, and he said he does push ups every time he has a craving for a cigarette.  He's been smoke free for close to 5 years now.  Remember smoking and dipping are NASTY habits that can KILL you.  You have to associate them as NASTY, or quiting just doesn't work.  The brain is a complex thing.

I smoked for about 6 years, at the height I smoked about half a pack a day.

Took me awhile to quit, and I have to say there are days that I still combat the addiction, especially night out at bars.  Thank god they finally passed the smoking ban in bars here in Philly.

Anyway, what worked for me was to identify the times when I smoked, after a meal, morning, with drinks, when i was studying, watching tv etc.  I then ranked each on how "necessary" it was to smoke at those times, and I tried to eliminate smoking in each instance one at a time.  So at first I stopped smoking while studying, that took about a month, then tv, then morning, etc and finally to after meals and with drinks.  Whole process took about a good year.

Hope that helps for others who wish to quit, remember, just cuz u been clean for 2 years and then picked up a cigarette once doesn't mean you failed...keep trying!

Supposedly it takes about 10 years for you to totally and absolutely kick the habit. I quit cold turkey about a year ago and didn't start to get serious cravings until just a month or so ago. My dad quit when I was born 21 years ago and says that up until about 5 years ago he still had cravings.

My father in law has a way that seems to work for him. He acts as though his mind is a separate entity from his body when he gets cravings. Like it's some dude on the street saying "hey man, want one?". He just thinks of it as his mind trying to trick him into chewing; and gets angry about it.

I guess the hardest part is finding what works for you. Maybe take up tai chi chuan or something relaxing like that.

i didnt smoke fior very long but it was hard to quit i would smoke a pack of djarum blacks in about a week but i felt the pain in my chest quick, even knowing weak hearts run in my family i still did it.  one day my throat started to hurt bad and i would get sick very often and would last a long time, still did it. I met the girl im with now she said she didnt like people who smoke bamm i quit, threw the pack out my window thats that. I still will have a b&m every once in a while but thats it. and buying crapy cigars kinda work i went front smooth b&m to stong and crappy backwoods made me stop for awhile. so hang in their brotha like everyone else said find something to replace the habit and you'll get over it.

I used to smoke a lot!! atleast 2 packs a day and I used to also smoke the clove cigs. djarum blacks.  I used to wake up hacking and coughing and smelling all stinky. well I quit cigarettes cold. although I would have one at a bar once and a while. and too this day I will have one if I am a little inebriated but I think its nasty it stinks and doesnt taste good at all. it took me a lot of years to get that into my brain.  but I had started chewing tobacco and using dip and I did that for the past  4 years. I quit smoking 4 years ago. even though it was hard I quit chewing or dipping cold 3 weeks ago. I think about it somtimes but I stop myself because its nasty makes me tires and stinks.

I wish you the best of luck man I know its not easy. its more of a habit and somthing to do kinda an escape IMO.

good luck !

hey 3imo u can do it man it just a mental thing.  I started smoking when i was 13 years old in south america, and continued until last summer when my girlfriend made me quit. I wont lie it wasnt easy and i do get cravings and sometimes i end up smoking one after im drunk. but if you destract does cravings with something else its easier. I just have to think of my uncle who has long cancer.

I've been smoking since I was 18 years old.  I'll be 39 this year and with all those horrible commercials, it gave me a little push.  I've quit before but always got back into it.  But I'm happy to say that I had my last cigarette on Sunday, Jan. 21, 10:30 pm.  It only been 2 days and some hours but I can't believe how easy it is for me.  Maybe the Nicoderm patch is helping but I really have no strong cravings or urges.  I break my smoking habits during work by keeping myself very busy at work.  At home, I started to do other things than sit around the couch all night and smoke and then go to bed...i.e. go for long walks with the dog, work out, etc.  But there are soo many things you can do to keep your mind off of smoking.  So I bought a bag of twizzlers so when I'm watching tv and getting bored.  I grab a few twizzlers - it helps.  For some reason, gum, straws and coffee stirrers make me gag.  I like the sunflower seed thing so I was thinking of getting a bag of lollipops, a bag of sunflower and pumpkin seeds.

I am going out with my friends on Sat night for dinner and drinks but I think I'll do fine.  There's also a smoking ban in NJ (thank god) and it's going to be a cold weekend so I don't plan to be outside at 12 midnight having a smoke. 

My brother in law quit 4 yrs ago, cold turkey.  He said that the first week was very tough for him.  But he believes in me and importantly, I believe in myself.  I know that I'll just have more energy and stamina.  I don't want to smell or taste like an ashtray and I want to be healthy. 

For those thinking of quitting, do it and give yourself more credit in accomplishing this certain goal.  It really is for your own good.

something else that may help

I'm in the healthcare field and I've heard great things about Chantix.  Its proven to be the most effective when combined with counseling in clinical trials.  I hear from a few doctors that if you are prescribed Chantix, you are also provided a phone number to a quit smoking counseling center which you can call whenever you get cravings, and someone will try to talk you out of it.  Sounds interesting to me.....

and no I don't work for the company that makes Chantix....I'm on the other side of the healthcare industry 

Smoke some "real" cigars, you know the "real" expensive ones. Soon you'll learn to hate cigarettes the same way I hate McD's

Then you'll realize, "Holy shaZam! these are 10 bucks a pop!"

Which I've found is even more effective.