[Pops]

I'm good at quiting but not so good at not smoking.

Don't start and you won't need to quit.

[Jenab6]

I smoked from age 18 to age 30. Quit in 1990. I'm 48 now. I quit cold-turkey with a hate-assist against the rich evil tobacco industry tycoons who were laughing while I inhaled their poison. Here's how the discomfort went. The day after the last cig was bad. The next one was worse. The urge to smoke and the irritation and bad attitude peaked at Last Cig + 2 weeks. Thereafter, the discomfort slowly trailed away. At one month I was 50% of peak discomfort. At three months, I could stare at someone else who was smoking without wishing (too much) that I had a cigarette too. The integrated discomfort, the area under the curve, is probably one of the biggest psychological obstacles that I've ever beaten.

[hubbertspeak7777777]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RonMN', 'I')'ve smoked ciggies since I was 14 (now 42) and nope...I have no plans to quit.

But I may start punching anti-tobacco nazzis in the face sometime soon...threatened a few so far, but never actually punched them yet. It should prove a most enjoyable experience!

[jasonraymondson]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hubbertspeak7777777', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('RonMN', 'I')'ve smoked ciggies since I was 14 (now 42) and nope...I have no plans to quit.

But I may start punching anti-tobacco nazzis in the face sometime soon...threatened a few so far, but never actually punched them yet. It should prove a most enjoyable experience!

[Tyler_JC]

Jasonraymondson, where do you live?

You sound like the kind of person I want to have a beer with one of these days.

Or perhaps a cigar. (which would fit in well with the current topic)

[Fiddlerdave]

I've smoked from 15, and smoke fairly heavily. I did alot to quit, and came to the realization my future didn't matter to me enough to do it all the way. It still doesn't.

However, I heard a show in the late 90's about Reynolds' new smokeless cigrette, and ordered some. It is more like a nicotine delivery system by heating tobacco wih a charcoal plug in the end, evaporating the nicotoine with heat rather than burning the tabocco. They add some glycerine to the tabacco to make the humidity visible so you have a pretty much tasteless but visixble smoke to complete the illusion. The lack of the burning weeds is very significant to the lung condition impact for me, and my health improved immediately (bronchitis etc, did pretty much go away).

While it was very difficult even to switch to the Eclipse (I like smoke), I did tell myself I have something to play with, look cool, and plenty of nicotine, so there were no excuses to go back to regular cigarettes. It worked. A regular cigarette tastes terrible now, the smoke is overwhelming and the ashes are a pain in the ass, and I can feel my lungs get irritated those few times I've been stuck with regular cigarettes. If I meet someone, I have to tell them I smoke, the smell is not there.

I am not trying to sound like a commercial, but it was helpful to discover them, I would not have quit smoking even if I hadn't.

What is most amusing, though, is those times I "smoke" outside and someone walks by and displays the signs of actually being irritated by the nonexistant smoke from my cigarette (even in high winds), wrinkling their nose or making expressions of "That stinks". Some even cough or sneeze in a pronounced way. It really does demonstrate the kind of mental inculturation we get to block out or be irritated by behavior and conditions around us. When I see an old movie where a job interviewee lights up in the interview, its amazing to think what passed by such conditioning (much of it deliberate by powerful interests). Try being by even a well-tuned 1960's car exhaust, its amazing that exhaust was everywhere. We do the same with so many conditions, human and physical.

[jasonraymondson]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Tyler_JC', 'J')asonraymondson, where do you live?

You sound like the kind of person I want to have a beer with one of these days.

Or perhaps a cigar. (which would fit in well with the current topic)

[careinke]

Some ex smokers are very annoying, sort of like a reformed whore. Trying to get other people to quit validates their own decision that quitting was the right move.

I try not to nag people about smoking for several reasons:

1. You can never quit unless you really want too.
2. No amount of nagging will do any good.
3. It is none of my business

I really, really, really, enjoyed smoking. If they ever find a cure for cancer, emphysema, lower the price to what I can afford, and make it so the smoke does not make my clothes stink....I'll be back smoking in a New York Minute!!

Cliff (Smober for Five years, eight months, three weeks, 18 hours, 20 minutes and 56 seconds. 83670 cigarettes not smoked, saving $12,550.58. Life saved: 41 weeks, 3 days, 12 hours, 30 minutes.)

[Kaj]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('careinke', '
')I really, really, really, enjoyed smoking. If they ever find a cure for cancer, emphysema, lower the price to what I can afford, and make it so the smoke does not make my clothes stink....I'll be back smoking in a New York Minute!!

[Keith_McClary]

Do you still have the brown fingers and disgusting cough?

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Keith_McClary', 'D')o you still have the brown fingers and disgusting cough?

[worrier]

It's quite interesting the passion many smokers have for smoking, despite a lot of drawbacks. It's like smoking is the perfect access system for the reward centres of the brain. Scientists should do more research into the effects of smoking on brain processes, it would teach us more about how the brain works.

It's hard for non smokers to really understand this passion for smoking. To me, cigarettes, pipes, cigars are a thing that simply smells bad and is messy.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('worrier', 'I')t's quite interesting the passion many smokers have for smoking, despite a lot of drawbacks. It's like smoking is the perfect access system for the reward centres of the brain. Scientists should do more research into the effects of smoking on brain processes, it would teach us more about how the brain works.

It's hard for non smokers to really understand this passion for smoking. To me, cigarettes, pipes, cigars are a thing that simply smells bad and is messy.

[worrier]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hy are pipes messy, besides they smell good.

[hubbertspeak7777777]

I never found cigarette smoke to be foul smelling, to me it has more of a pleasantly dark, yet relaxing aroma like black coffee or beer. Smells pretty fucking good to me. Besides, a lot of these anti-smoking nazis who claim that cigarette smoke stinks usually smell like ass themselves... a lot of them have shit breath (like they licked an unhygenic old woman's ass) and they have terrible body odor. There was this anti-smoking guy who handed me a pamplet one time, I nearly passed out when he lifted up his arm... his smell was so bad that I ran to the nearest convenience store and bought stick of deodorant and gave it to him.

Remember, just because you don't smoke, doesn't mean that you smell good.

Also, I don't think most of those Truth people care about saving anyone's life... they just want to be right. Some people will argue with a stop sign... it's pathetic. Look, everyone knows that smoking is unhealthy, but some people enjoy it. Beer rots your liver, cigarettes damage your lungs, soda rots your teeth and leads to diabetes, red meat clogs your arteries, sex can lead to stds,etc... but what's the point in living if you can't do anything fun? I'd rather die young doing the things I enjoy than live to be an old neurotic health nut who nags anyone who ever tries to have fun. I hope no one tells these neurotic, fun-hating nutcases that stressing out over every little thing someone else does is unhealthy... they'd probably have a stroke. They should have a cigarette and a beer and just relax for at least one time in their miserable fucking lives.

[vision-master]

This smoking is bad for ya is overblown.

I had me a nice bowl of tobbacy last night with a side of some good hard liquor. Now, that's liven. Nothen better than a room full of smoke. I just love watching the stuff dance in the air.......

FYI: I did a extreme offroad 2 1/2 hr hike today.

[Hagakure_Leofman]

I quit in January last year. After about 15 years smoking.

It's doable. I succeed cold turkey. If you want to quit you will. It helps to have support. Especially a partner who will give you a good six months to for you to vent pent up anger, emotion and to develop coping skills that smoking is sometimes a substitute for.

If you want to quit, don't use patches, gum etc. They are a joke, and keep you addicted. It is one corporation trying to buy your credit (addiction) from the other. Half the time they are probably both owned by the same company.

For interested parties, I found this website useful while i was quitting.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('careinke', 'S')ome ex smokers are very annoying, sort of like a reformed whore.

[ClassicSpiderman]

I have been more or less smoke free since 2003... but I will occasionally buy a pack of cigarettes once in a while (say 1 pack every 3-4 months). But I think the last pack I bought was probably 10 months ago--I will occasionally bum a smoke off someone if it's offered to me in a social situation.

It was never hard for me to quit because I have never found tobacco addictive. When I was a regular smoker, I would consume about 4-5 packs a month.

[snowshoegal]

I quit about 5 years ago. But I still crave them, and I smoke cigarettes in my dreams at night!

[Ludi]

Some folks can smoke and remain relatively healthy. Others can't. My mom died at a relatively young age from smoking (age fifty-eight), so I have a very negative attitude toward smoking (not smokers, just smoking).

I think I also have health problems from being born to a smoker and growing up in a smoke-filled environment. But there's no way to be sure.