smokers/ex-smokers?

Non-Phish General
#1

sorry for the bombardment of new threads from me, but i’m hoping this one will be of some value.

anyone here cig smokers? or ex cig smokers?

i’m wanting to quit the cigs. i’m starting to feel their effects. but i keep putting it off, putting it off, waiting for a ‘better’ time to do it, blah blah blah.

anyone here been in my shoes? and if so, did you successfully quit? and if you did…how? any tricks or tips to give me? pills? patches? gum? just being a grown up and going cold turkey?

i’ve given up lots of bad habits over my life, none of them too difficult to do. but the old hacks, they’ve got a good grip on me and i’d like to be free of being a human ashtray.

#2

I have been smoking more or less since about 2001. In college it was usually about 1/2 pack a day, whereas now it is down to about 1/4 pack a day.

If I’m drinking, playing cards, or playing golf that number increases exponentially.

I have never “quit” but I’ve never really attempted to, either.

#3

Gave up the nicotine about 5 years ago and never looked back.

It actually came down to the point where I was smoking too much, and needed to give up one habit.

Cigarettes left. It wasn’t a difficult choice at all.

#4

This NYE will be three years for me.
It really wasn’t that hard.
I just think about how much damage one cigarette does and how it will effect things like riding ny bike, running, playing handball, etc…
a

#5

I have a lot of bad habits but for some reason cigarettes have never gotten a hold of me, but I do smoke. Its usually partially to keep my car and self from smelling like the other smoke, but I do like it somewhat I guess.

I’d say I average close to one cigarette a day…American Spirits…the yellow box…any more than one a day and I’d start to smell like an ash tray.

I also don’t really have a problem with smokers being around me. The girl I hang with is pretty much a chain smoker, especially when drinking, and as long as I don’t get it blown in my face I’m OK with it.

#6

Your girlfriend is CA-RAZZZY!
a

#7

hm. okay, well i’m going to now set a date. that date is tomorrow or whenever my current pack is empty. which will be no later than tomorrow. this is gonna SUCK.

#8

^ It won’t suck. Just don’t do it. Don’t think about it. Be strong. And don’t blow it in PHG’s face, unless he asks for it. And then make him say, “my, what a lovely tea party.”

#9

::deletes account::

#10

I quit about 50 times, the final time being about 11 years ago, almost to the day.

However … I’ve probably bought two or three packs since, but not consecutive packs. And I’ve bummed a big number of them too.

But it’s all different since Nov. 1996. Before that, it was a quagmire of self-disappointment and ego bruising. I was pack-a-day on Camel Lights. Even typing that feels kinda … tempty.

Now I’m never tempted to go back to the cigs full-time … or even part-time. It’s strictly the type of thing where I’m out w/folks and they’re smoking, and I go ahead and stupidly have one or two. But then I’m grossed out and want it out of my system!

There are a few key factors in my success … my favorite being the substitute factor. Got a double fat bag and just puffed twice in a row each time, and that was silly enough to help.

Then my Dad quit within a few days of me (30 yr smoker, never looked back after that!) and I didn’t wanna cause HIM to cave …

Then I’ve got kids. No need for their Dad to resume an old useless smelly boring foolish habit.

Anyway yeah, put 'em down. Don’t miss 'em. Forget about 'em. Urges pass; wait 'em out.

#11

I went 5 days this week without smoking, but I was incredibly sick. Just get somekind of tonsil or throat infection and it makes quitting not only easy, but also necessary.

Having said that, once I start drinking again (ie tonight) it’s all over.

#12

well, i think with the help of my best friend Hampea, i can do it. thank god for Hampea, y’know?

#13

I smoke every so often, but it’s never gotten to become a habit/addiction. The most I got up to was a pack a week during college because I liked to smoke one or two after lunch while walking around campus. The only time I smoke now is when my friend Mark is around because he usually has some.

I’ve gotten in arguments on other forums before about smoking, but does anyone else think that it’s possible to smoke without forming a habit?? I argue vehemently that it is possible because I don’t have a habit and yet I still smoke sometimes, but other people say I’m addicted because I’ll probably never go more than a year without at least one cigarette.

#14

me = pack a day, minimum. <-- that = addicted. at least i smoke ultra lights, which is sort of like smoking air. but still, i can feel it. i’ve been smoking in earnest for the last five years. stupid.

i do think (in my case anyway, not including nicotine) it’s possible to do anything w/out forming a habit. but everybodies different. my brother is not nice to be around if he dosen’t have a readily available stash of weed. i don’t get it. i like to smoke the cheeba now and again, but if it dissappeared off the face of the earth right now, i wouldn’t care. same with alcohol (not entirely true), same with just about anything. but if they stopped making cigs, i would not be a happy person.

i wonder what it’s like to be entirely crutch-free? like, no smokes, no caffiene etc. that would be crazy boring.

#15

me dad went cold turkey once my older sister was born… mom, still pack a day (newport lights, wtf?)

anyways… i have never been ‘addicted’ to cigs even tho i would occasionally smoke one a day back beginning high school… but i last cig was about thanksgiving time and before that maybe a couple weeks…

i do puff otha sutff tho mon

and yea… charliejack, you can def cold turkey that shit if you put your mind to it.

#16

Temperatures rising
Fever is high
Cant see no future
Cant see no sky

My feet are so heavy
So is my head
I wish I was a baby
I wish I was dead

Cold turkey has got me on the run

My body is aching
Goose-pimple bone
Cant see no body
Leave me alone

My eyes are wide open
Cant get to sleep
One thing Im sure of
Im in at the deep freeze

Cold turkey has got me on the run

Cold turkey has got me on the run

Thirty-six hours
Rolling in pain
Praying to someone
Free me again

Oh Ill be a good boy
Please make me well
I promise you anything
Get me out of this hell

Cold turkey has got me on the run
Oh, oh, oh, oh

#17

ive smoked every day since i was 14 or so.

im now 28.

what in the hell is “quitting”…? is this a thread for pussies?

#18

not to seem high and mighty because I do smoke now and then, but I came across this article a few days ago regarding ultra lights. :-/

http://www.newsweek.com/id/71494

#19

goes to rehab for nicotine addiction

#20

I’ve been smoking since I was 14 or 15. Got up to a pack a day when I was 18-20. Now it’s more like a pack every 5 days to a week. If I go to a bar or to a show, I have to take 2 packs because at least one of them will be gone before I go home. However, I’m one of the lucky ones because I’ve never become addicted to nicotine. I smoke because I like to, always have. I can put them down for weeks at a time with no trouble. In fact, I haven’t smoked more than 6 ciggarettes in the past month/half and none of those have been in the past 2 weeks. I’ve always said I wanted to quit by the time I was 30, and that’s only a couple of years away. Once I started going to the gym again a month or two ago, I noticed a dramatic change in my heart rate on days I smoked. My resting heart rate was almost 30 beats per minute higher than on days I didn’t smoke. That right there was enough to encourage me to put them down and leave them there. I never said I quit. Everytime I’ve said that I quit, my mind craves them. I just haven’t made any effort to continue. If I don’t buy any and then occupy my mind with something else, it’s a cake walk. I don’t get the shakes or anything like that. It’s not the nicotine that gets me. It’s the habit…lighting it, taking that first marvelous drag, exhaling it in triumph, then repeating until the filter burns your fingers. I often hold pens and things like a ciggarette just to satisfy the physical void in my hands. I’m not naive enough to say I’ll never smoke again, but it’s not something I will return to on a daily basis. I may have one at a show or during a rare night out, but for now I’m smoke free and I really do feel much better.