...smoking, after 18 years! 

Been smoke-free for two weeks now. At one point during my smoking "career", I was up to two or three packs a day. Damn, it was looking like I wasn't going to do it there for a while, but I did. I still want to smoke (I enjoyed it) but now I don't feel like I have to smoke. Anyone else here been on that thrill ride? If not, lemme tell ya...it's no fun. If you're young, take it from me NEVER START SMOKING!!! Biggest (and costliest) mistake of my life.

scalper_new wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2012 at 2:54pm:

Heard that. Lost my uncle to lung cancer a few years ago. I'll tell ya...I tried so many different ways of quitting short of perscription drugs (never liked that idea). The gum sucked and tasted like peppery crap, patches might have worked, but they were to expensive, "cold turkey" was just too damn hard. What worked for me was a combination of both of those ideas. I convinced myself that I was going to quit, but it was still ok to smoke if I wanted or needed too.

So I tried to concerned myself with smoking only when I needed too, which made me painfully aware that I smoked alot more than I had too. It's amazing how often I found myself smoking for other reasons. Just woke up, time to smoke...having coffee, a smoke would be nice... just finish eating? Why not have a smoke? All day long. But by forcing myself to wait until I "needed" to smoke, I was able to stretch out the times between smoking to a greater and greater extent. Once I was able to get myself down to four times a day, it became a LOT easier. That was the "home stretch", so to speak. And I'll grant you, 18 years may not have been the lifetime that others have smoked, but it's long enough.

And if I can quit...ANYBODY can!

Congrats on your decision to quit........filthy habit

My wife and I quit "cold turkey" five years ago. We about killed eachother in the process, but it was worth it in the end

scalper_new wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2012 at 3:22pm:


Hard as it was, looking back on it, it still wasn't as hard as I convinced myself it was going to be. The first few days were the worst. What I tried to do was put off that first cigarette of the day as long as I could. Somedays I could go a few hours, somedays not that long at all. The idea being trying to break myself of the physical habbit first. (just as hard as the chemical addiction)

If you can get yourself out of the "first thing in the morning" routine, you got a shot.

CHUCK79 wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2012 at 3:30pm:


Yep, I wasn't very freindly for a while, but the gradual quit made the mood shifts a little less severe.

ozzy72 wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2012 at 3:32pm:


Wow, you know, let me do a little math here...

Let's say one pack a day, at a rough average of $2.50 per (a low estimate given the tax hikes in recent years) for 18 years comes to ...(HOLY CRAP!)

$16,425!!!

SMH...

ozzy72 wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2012 at 3:32pm:

Indeed I did. That was 6 years ago last January. I purchased my first digital SLR camera with the money I expected to save that year.  Everyone tells me that I look at least 10 years younger than I did then.

The only problem being that I've put on a few inches round my middle. I will need more willpower to lose that.

scalper_new wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2012 at 2:54pm:

I don't know how old you are but it's never too late. I quit just like that after being a heavy smoker for over 50 years. If I can do it anyone can - but you must really want to do it. This filthy, disgusting habit affects everyone in different ways but it's no use even trying to quit if you don't really want to.

scalper_new wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2012 at 3:22pm:


Mike.. wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2012 at 3:41pm:















And Paul,
Not really sure how to respond to all that, so I'll just, smile and nod! 

This April 2nd will be four years for me and I'm SO glad I did. 

My wife quit two months before me. Between the two of us we were spending $70.00 per week back then for two cartons. That's $280.00 per month; $3,360 per year and a total of $13,440 in just four years; going by the prices on 2008. 

It's so nice to be able to breath clean air. We were both surprised just how darn bad cigarettes smell. We never realized it before.


Congrats! 

Good for you, and lots o' luck.  We're all rootin' for ya. 

When I was 14, long ago, Dad said one day, "If you want to start smoking, I won't stop you, but don't hide it from us."  I never started.  He wasn't a smoker, neither was Mom, but they knew they couldn't stop me even if they wanted to. 

Some of my friends started about then, one died of lung cancer at 45, the others I don't know, lost touch.  A couple of other friends smoke a cigarette every now and then, but somehow don't make a habit of it.

As a non smoker, it is difficult for me to understand the nature of not being able to stop, but I do know it's tough.  So keep up the willpower, and let us know how you're doing.

To those who don't smoke: BEWARE!! STAY AWAY!!!

I salute anyone who's beat those things... I've done it before, for four years, and I will do it again (when, I'm not sure).


Thinking about the money definitely helps (let's face it, any smoker is in denial about the larger health issues). I'm getting to the point where I almost make the leap just as I'm about to lay down my money (and the price is going up around here!). I realize "Hell, I'm about to buy these things that do nothing for me except take away the craving left by the previous one... how stupid is that?"   

  But it ain't easy. They are addictive, and the little rituals of smoking become deeply ingrained.
Like hawking up phlegm in the morning, and having yellow teeth and fingers... gosh, I'll really miss that. 

Actually, kicking the nicotine really is the easy part... although I do recall two weeks of being dizzy from the sudden doubling of free oxygen in my blood, having a metallic taste in my mouth, and oh yeah, feeling like my skeleton was about to claw its way out of my body and go rattling down to the gas station to buy some smokes. 

The really hard part is years- yes, years- of sitting there with that first cup of coffee in the morning, or a fine alcoholic beverage, or pushing back from the table after a fine meal, and wanting to smoke so badly you'd kill a kitten with your bare hands so you could just have one little puff. 

It takes a long time to adjust; it's like losing a limb, I think.

  But of course, it's all in your head. Nicotine casts its spell quickly and very effectively, but it gets flushed out of your body quickly. It's not like heroin, which requires some serious effort to get addicted to, but actually alters your cell chemistry. I know people who've kicked heroin, and they laugh at nicotine "withdrawal" stories.

Best advice I've ever heard regarding quitting cigarettes is in the video linked below... the key is to confront the big myths about quitting, using simple logic.
The thing he says that resonates most with me is "no smoker ever decided to become a smoker", even though most of us can recall our first cigarette quite vividly.  It's not a conscious choice, and kicking the habit requires you to remember that. Willpower really isn't the key, even though it begins with a willful choice (like heeding this advice instead of promoting it while still smoking, LOL).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgvkSoYGeS4

The wife decide I wanted to quit smoking about 18 years ago.  After about two years, I picked it up again for a year, quit again and haven't touched one yet...