I Quit Smoking

[Rhetorik]

I smoked about 10-15 cigs a day from about 20 to 28. Add to that lots of marijuana. I have completely quit smoking pot (which I miss dearly), and I had effectively quit smoking cigs entirely for about 8 months, minus a few weeks of awesomeness on vacation. I now smoke about 4-5 cigs a week, normally one while walking to work. I don't feel bad about that, really. I love 'em. I really do. If it weren't for the detrimental health effects, I'd chain smoke incessantly. They're delicious.

I've also switched from smoking Camel king size to Players Blue (light) reg size, which is good.

I would love to start smoking pot a bit again mind you. It's wonderful. SWMBO is hugely against it, though.

 

[popgunandy]

I quit 12 years ago after smoking from age 16 to 39...gained 30 pounds since but I don't regret the decision and I've never looked back.

 

[BarleyStanding]

I started smoking when I was 12 or 13. Smoked heavily until I was 36, the year my son was born. I vowed that my son(s) would never see me smoking cigarettes. I quit when my first son was 6 months old, nine years ago. I chewed the gum when I was climbing the walls for the first two weeks, but only used it when I was really freaking out for a cigarette.

Most of the time now, they smell like crap to me, but every now and then, in the morning, I'll be around some guys who are smoking and they smell pretty good; I don't think that ever goes away.

 

[passedpawn]

My dad died from smoking, as I've said here before. My brother and his daughter tossed his ashes into the Pacific, with a note. It said: "I hope you're eating chocolate shakes in heaven, I miss you and love you. Alice". Yep, he liked those shakes. It was the last thing he ate in his life, I know that.

 

[Ogri]

I think I puffed my first cigarette at about 9 years old. Then the next summer, '76, my mum caught me with a packet of cigs and went to town on my arse with a leather belt. '78 to '79 and my first year in junior high was when the habit became a daily thing and, although attempting to quit many times, until about four years ago I never managed to quit for longer than a week. Four years ago at the end of summer I decided I wanted to really try and quit so I did a little research and came across

http://whyquit.com/

and some other info by a guy named Joel Spitzer (?)

and the next day I started my own personal fight against my addiction. The first few days were absolute hell but as each day passed the satisfaction, that I wasn't allowing myself to be a slave to nicotine anymore, was increasing. The cravings gradually subsided and three weeks in I was getting more confident that I could achieve my goals. Various psychological obstacles/triggers presented themselves and I managed to get past them without succumbing to a relapse. For example: I started playing guitar when I was 14 so I'd never practiced or played without, at some point, smoking a cig. Driving a car was also another thing that I habitually sparked up whilst doing? So, things were going nicely and I made it to three months and change, absolutely nicotine free.
One day I came across a couple of packets of smokes in a drawer that had been bought at duty free about four years prior. I had been rolling my own, using Colts vanilla tobacco for the last year or so up to my quitting. The reason I had started on the rollies was that in March 2011 the huge earthquake in northeast Japan, which caused the tsunami that hit Fukushima and the nuclear power plants, basically wiped out tobacco production as Japan Tobacco had all of their growing and production facilities in Fukushima prefecture. Eventually supplies of Japanese tobacco brands ran out and the brand I smoked, a sweeter, slightly chocolate-y aroma, high nicotine content brand named "Peace" also. During this time I found the Vanilla flavoured Colts rolling tobacco. Anyway, by the time JT got production up and running and I tried a pack of Peace I felt like the flavour had changed, not in a good way, and I noticed the nicotine content had been significantly reduced.
So, after finding the two packs of duty frees from a few years before the earthquake I foolishly thought I could try one just to see if I could get away with having "just one" and, also, to verify my suspicions on the changes made to the brand post Fukushima.

As soon as I sparked up that cigarette the flavour was everything I remembered, the aroma heavenly and the nicotine rush was so intense that I had tingling at my fingertips and temples. I realised straight way my mistake. I had just undone three months of recovering from addiction. I had already given the nicotine the chance to start the process of up regulating dopamine receptors. Within a few weeks I was back to my usual habit of 5 to 7 rollies a day. This carried on until February 17th 2016.

Long story short, I broke my collarbone in a bicycle accident. Basically hit a tree with my shoulder, narrowly missing a faceplant. Needed an operation to ensure the two separated parts would knit. The pain in my chest from impact was so intense and I couldn't even inflate my lungs to any more than about 20 to 25% of their capacity so the thought of smoking was out of the question. I decided there and then that this was my chance to try and quit smoking again, but this time FOR GOOD. I knew that one little relapse was all it would take to be dragged back into the addiction, letting nicotine rule my life and enslave me, so I vowed to never take another puff,,,,,,,,,,of nicotine:fro:

Closing in on 10 months completely nicotine free as I write this.

Still get the odd craving or situation that makes me think about the prospect of smoking a cig. Just need to recall how much I felt disappointed in myself every day I woke up saying I would quit but then gave in to the nicotine addiction and had a cig or two. Have no problem drinking and getting quite sozzled without folding and having a smoke. Had the dreams about smoking but seem to recall they were only in the beginning weeks of quitting, most likely from tar being transported from the lungs by the healthier baccilus bringing mucus up and tasting it in my mouth.

Always been pretty athletic and healthy. I cycle to and from work nearly every day, 26 kilometres round trip, 30 minutes one way and I never thought of myself as being a heavy smoker but was aware, for a good few decades, that I was a total nicotine addict. Now I' m happy to be a recovering nicotine addict who realises how easy it would be to fall back into the habit but has the desire to stay free.

Good luck to any and all who try to quit smoking.

And thanks, PP, for starting this thread. Writing my piece here has been therapeutic and helped strengthen my resolve that little bit more.

 

[passedpawn]

I think I puffed my first cigarette at about 9 years old. Then the next summer, '76, my mum caught me with a packet of cigs and went to town on my arse with a leather belt. '78 to '79 and my first year in junior high was when the habit became a daily thing and, although attempting to quit many times, until about four years ago I never managed to quit for longer than a week. Four years ago at the end of summer I decided I wanted to really try and quit so I did a little research and came across

http://whyquit.com/

and some other info by a guy named Joel Spitzer (?)

and the next day I started my own personal fight against my addiction. The first few days were absolute hell but as each day passed the satisfaction, that I wasn't allowing myself to be a slave to nicotine anymore, was increasing. The cravings gradually subsided and three weeks in I was getting more confident that I could achieve my goals. Various psychological obstacles/triggers presented themselves and I managed to get past them without succumbing to a relapse. For example: I started playing guitar when I was 14 so I'd never practiced or played without, at some point, smoking a cig. Driving a car was also another thing that I habitually sparked up whilst doing? So, things were going nicely and I made it to three months and change, absolutely nicotine free.
One day I came across a couple of packets of smokes in a drawer that had been bought at duty free about four years prior. I had been rolling my own, using Colts vanilla tobacco for the last year or so up to my quitting. The reason I had started on the rollies was that in March 2011 the huge earthquake in northeast Japan, which caused the tsunami that hit Fukushima and the nuclear power plants, basically wiped out tobacco production as Japan Tobacco had all of their growing and production facilities in Fukushima prefecture. Eventually supplies of Japanese tobacco brands ran out and the brand I smoked, a sweeter, slightly chocolate-y aroma, high nicotine content brand named "Peace" also. During this time I found the Vanilla flavoured Colts rolling tobacco. Anyway, by the time JT got production up and running and I tried a pack of Peace I felt like the flavour had changed, not in a good way, and I noticed the nicotine content had been significantly reduced.
So, after finding the two packs of duty frees from a few years before the earthquake I foolishly thought I could try one just to see if I could get away with having "just one" and, also, to verify my suspicions on the changes made to the brand post Fukushima.

As soon as I sparked up that cigarette the flavour was everything I remembered, the aroma heavenly and the nicotine rush was so intense that I had tingling at my fingertips and temples. I realised straight way my mistake. I had just undone three months of recovering from addiction. I had already given the nicotine the chance to start the process of up regulating dopamine receptors. Within a few weeks I was back to my usual habit of 5 to 7 rollies a day. This carried on until February 17th 2016.

Long story short, I broke my collarbone in a bicycle accident. Basically hit a tree with my shoulder, narrowly missing a faceplant. Needed an operation to ensure the two separated parts would knit. The pain in my chest from impact was so intense and I couldn't even inflate my lungs to any more than about 20 to 25% of their capacity so the thought of smoking was out of the question. I decided there and then that this was my chance to try and quit smoking again, but this time FOR GOOD. I knew that one little relapse was all it would take to be dragged back into the addiction, letting nicotine rule my life and enslave me, so I vowed to never take another puff,,,,,,,,,,of nicotine:fro:

Closing in on 10 months completely nicotine free as I write this.

Still get the odd craving or situation that makes me think about the prospect of smoking a cig. Just need to recall how much I felt disappointed in myself every day I woke up saying I would quit but then gave in to the nicotine addiction and had a cig or two. Have no problem drinking and getting quite sozzled without folding and having a smoke. Had the dreams about smoking but seem to recall they were only in the beginning weeks of quitting, most likely from tar being transported from the lungs by the healthier baccilus bringing mucus up and tasting it in my mouth.

Always been pretty athletic and healthy. I cycle to and from work nearly every day, 26 kilometres round trip, 30 minutes one way and I never thought of myself as being a heavy smoker but was aware, for a good few decades, that I was a total nicotine addict. Now I' m happy to be a recovering nicotine addict who realises how easy it would be to fall back into the habit but has the desire to stay free.

Good luck to any and all who try to quit smoking.

And thanks, PP, for starting this thread. Writing my piece here has been therapeutic and helped strengthen my resolve that little bit more.

Thanks for your comments.

My favorite was Dunhill. English I think. Man those were great. I long for them still to this day. But I'll never touch another. At least until my wife's dead. If she precedes me, then it's game on. Then I won't care anymore.

 

[ChefRex]

Thanks for your comments.

My favorite was Dunhill. English I think. Man those were great. I long for them still to this day. But I'll never touch another. At least until my wife's dead. If she precedes me, then it's game on. Then I won't care anymore.

What you don't want to hang around for the grand kids?
Maybe a younger squeeze

 

[Geerom]

A year ago I went to gym and began running. It was the reason to stop smoking. Now I am happy and healthy.

 

[Radboud]

I smoked from 15, 16 to 26. Got up one morning with a bad tobacco hangover (was at a party where I must have smoked about 2 packs), saw the disgusting ash tray and decided then and there to quit. Haven't touched it since. The gods have rewarded me for my effort with giving me asthma and allergies which makes me one of those ex smoker hypocrites that can't stand cigarette smoke anymore.

 

[kaffeenjunkie]

I am smoke free over 25 years now.
Started by stealing puffs from my moms cig when she wasn't looking, then stealing them from her pack and really started when I was 15 or so. I was was smoking 2-3 packs a day when I quit cold turkey at 30. Many of my friends at the time said they couldn't imagine me without a cig in my hand. I did the hypnosis route, but I think really wanting the monkey off my back was truly the motivator.
Like many who used to smoke, I can't tolerate the smell now. I don't miss it and never want to smoke another cig again.
Probably one of the hardest things I have ever done.
Mom never quit and died at the same age I am now from lung cancer.

 

[Radboud]

My mom was a lifelong smoker too, passed away at 63 from lung cancer. Young people that smoke can't imagine the degrading and horrendous way you die from that, it took my mom 5 years to slowly suffocate and the last year was absolute absolute horror.

 

[Steveruch]

I smoked from 17 to 34, about a pack a day. I quit back in '84. It was July in Arizona and I had such a bad cold (flu?) that I could barely breathe much less smoke for about a week. Once I felt better I went to the cig machine to buy a pack and just stood there for a minute contemplating the cost and decided to hell with it. The withdrawal pains were masked by how sick I'd been and I've never felt the urge to start up again.
A couple of weeks later I was having my Little Debbie snack cake for lunch and couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. I finally realized that the cigs were numbing my taste buds and I was now able to taste how bad those things were. I used some of the money I saved to upgrade to Hostess.

 

[passedpawn]

Dream last night. I bought a pack, fired up one, then put it out and lectured the young lady I was with about the dangers of even having one after quitting.

I won't go into details on the lady, that's not fit for this thread.

Anyway, apparently I'll always have this recurring dream of smoking. It's a permanent dent in my psyche.

 

[applescrap]

Read the entire thread and I am grateful for it as I need some help stopping. I am touched by the personal stories and things people have shared here. I feel compelled to add my story. I am a smoker. I grew up in loveland, co and the kids I thought were cool smoked and chewed. Started age 12 or 13. Chaw to of course, copenhagen. Smoked heavily i guess you could say. Reds, lights, pall mall, camels, you name it. Bugler tins, lol awesome. I bought filters too! Prerolled them. Buddy turned me onto good tobacco too. Dunhills, davidoffs, players, nat shermans. Met wife and have smoked menthol for long time, mostly native american spirits. I smoke cigars, inhale them, and smoke them when I golf three, four in a day. Have been only chugging cigars when I golf (note that used to be 3 to 5 times a week) and play softball on tuesday nights. I have been pulling the filter off cigs for years now and smoke them filter less. Now only golfing one or two times a week and softball I need to make a move. Having a hurt back and not being able to golf is huge as I cant imagine golf without smoking. I dont want to die young and have my kids miss me. I am glad I found this thread as I need help. I feel like I was meant to find this forum to find this thread. I dont want to pledge ill quit and fail.

 

[treacheroustexan]

Read the entire thread and I am grateful for it as I need some help stopping. I am touched by the personal stories and things people have shared here. I feel compelled to add my story. I am a smoker. I grew up in loveland, co and the kids I thought were cool smoked and chewed. Started age 12 or 13. Chaw to of course, copenhagen. Smoked heavily i guess you could say. Reds, lights, pall mall, camels, you name it. Bugler tins, lol awesome. I bought filters too! Prerolled them. Buddy turned me onto good tobacco too. Dunhills, davidoffs, players, nat shermans. Met wife and have smoked menthol for long time, mostly native american spirits. I smoke cigars, inhale them, and smoke them when I golf three, four in a day. Have been only chugging cigars when I golf (note that used to be 3 to 5 times a week) and play softball on tuesday nights. I have been pulling the filter off cigs for years now and smoke them filter less. Now only golfing one or two times a week and softball I need to make a move. Having a hurt back and not being able to golf is huge as I cant imagine golf without smoking. I dont want to die young and have my kids miss me. I am glad I found this thread as I need help. I feel like I was meant to find this forum to find this thread. I dont want to pledge ill quit and fail.

I posted on this thread in January of 2015, but I actually "quit" late December of 2014. Proud to say I am still smoke free and at the very beginning I was reading this thread a lot. Now, I honestly can't even picture myself smoking again. You got this!

 

[passedpawn]

Just had this odd memory of me working in France. They gave me a large empty room in a building to work in, and I wrote code and smoked my arse off every day in there for weeks. My laptop had only a few included songs with the OS, so I put Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King on repeat and literally played it all day long while I debugged the firmware on the system I was working on. Very vivid memories of the smokey room and that song playing, it was nuts. Dunhills, always had them in France.

 

[passedpawn]

^^ actually, the music was used in a commercial that came on and of course put me right back into that room in Paris. Funny the way sound and smell and taste associations work in my brain.

 

[bpgreen]

I haven't smoked since 1988, but I know that if I smoked a cigarette today, I'd be smoking more than a pack a day within a week.

 

[glenn514]

I haven't smoked since 1988, but I know that if I smoked a cigarette today, I'd be smoking more than a pack a day within a week.

I've been smoke-free for almost 17 years. I absolutely agree with bpgreen...one cigarette, and I'd be back at it. That day I quit in 2001 was the LAST time I'm quitting smoking!

glenn514

 

[kh54s10]

See post #4. 3 or 4 years later in college I tried one. I almost passed out. During my college years I might have totaled a pack, all when drunk. And I saved myself thousands of $$$ to spend on better things.

 

[user 125772]

I think I started about 16, and eventually quit at 45. I was tired of being a slave to them. I used the nicorette gum and never looked back . I always enjoyed smoking ( Winston’s and Marlboro ),but I can’t imagine starting again, it’s rediculously expensive, and a lot of the money goes to no-smoking advertising.

 

[Ogri]

Wow, I was only 10 months into my escape from the addiction when I wrote my previous post. Very happy to say that I am still completely nicotine free and haven't smoked a single cigarette for two years and two months now. Like somebody else mentioned above, but with a different date obviously, Wednesday February 16th 2016 is the last time I will ever quit smoking.

best of luck to all who try to quit this horrible habit.

 

[Ogri]

3 years and 9 months. Successfully Nicotine-free.

Just thought I'd revive this thread on the off-chance it might help or encourage anyone else to break the shackles.

 

[passedpawn]

3 years and 9 months. Successfully Nicotine-free.

Just thought I'd revive this thread on the off-chance it might help or encourage anyone else to break the shackles.

Congrats! Do you smoke in your dreams? I don't have those too much anymore.

 

[kh54s10]

I gave up smoking when it got too expensive. That was when the price of a pack of cigarettes was 35 cents, a tax was added and it went to 40 or 45 cents. I decided I had better things to spend my high school allowance on. That was only 2-3 months after I started.

Tried to smoke in college... Almost passed out once.

edit: I see now that I made this reply twice already.

 

[kh54s10]

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the average cost of a pack of cigarettes is $6.28, which means a pack-a-day habit sets you back $188 per month or $2,292 per year. Ten years of smoking comes with a $22,920 price tag. But depending on where you live, you could be paying much more.

That is a pretty fancy brew rig in a year and in 3-4 you could have a top of the line rig.

 

[lump42]

I've been clear for over 10 years now. I had an internship at large botanical garden (250 acre) that was entirely tobacco free. I went cold turkey then, because I figured the weeding and mulching would keep my mind off of it.

 

[Grateful Dan]

I'm just over 3 months smoke free. Went cold turkey. Feels great. Man do people that smoke smell horrible.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

I'm 3 years, 3 months and 4 days of being smoke free. I missed it for a few weeks, then got over it pretty quickly. Its amazing how much better I feel, how much better I can taste things, and I quickly realized how nose-blind I had been. Boy does cig smoke stink! I'm never going back.

 

[BalloonGuy]

I quite over 20 years ago on a bet. It would have been harder at the 2 week point if I didn't know that I would win my bet in just 2 more weeks. I did an extra month to double prove my point. I tried one after 2 months and hated it. The only time I am really tempted now is after dreaming about smoking. It is so weird. The dreams really have nothing to do with smoking but I will have one lit somewhere in the dream and I wake up with the urge. It goes away in day though.