[aldbeir]

ice breakers gum. used it for a while . now i don't even have an urge. it's been over 10 yrs.. when i first quit i would buy a pack at the bar but leave it when i left. now i prefer smoke free bars but my drink limit is one . trying to lose weight now only one bad habit left .

[stevep]

Originally Posted by Cliff R

Deb and I went up to NY to the Fingerlakes last summer, right at $10 per pack at Walmart, and folks were buying them like they were going to run out tomorrow!.....Cliff

I'd rather save my money and buy more cars!!

[67drake]

Hey BVR421.... X2!
I quit smoking about 6-7 years ago. I actually got in trouble at work because of my temper when I had just quit. I was one miserable SOB to be around.
I STILL love the smell of cigarettes and the smoke. I can be around them now (not that I know many people that smoke anymore),if I see an open pack I'll pick it up and smell it. Smells as good as fresh ground coffee beans...yum. I had to wait to quit smoking till I quit drinking. I don't touch either anymore. Every time I would try to quit cigarettes way back when,the first beer I popped open,I'd end up buying a pack. A beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other just went together well for me. It was both or none.
Mike S,you made it this far,don't blow it. I would think your physical dependence is over,if not close. Just gotta deal with the demons in your head. If you drink,try not to,or at least around people that smoke,too easy to bum "just one" off of them. Chew gum,yell at the kids,go shoot your guns. It does get easier,but it took me awhile.
Now if I could quit chewing.

[Simple Man]

One of the best smells in the world to me, is when someone lights a Marlboro, with a Zippo type lighter, and pulls that first drag. The combination of the smoke, the lighter fluid, the flame burning the paper.....
After that it stinks!

[GT182]

Both my parents quit but mom always had the urge.... even after 20 years. She said it only lasted a few minutes and then it was gone. Dad had quit for 30 years and never had the urge to light one up. Tho he did bitch about the smell whenever he was near someone smoking. There's nothing worse to be around than a reformed smoker. LOL

Tho I've quit off an on for the past 25 years, I still smoke. But not like I used to... down from 2 packs a day when I was driving truck to half a pack a day. At least that's a start. I found that not smoking in the house helped a lot..... especially in the winter up North, cause it was too freeking cold to go out and light one up. At 20 below zero that alone will help.

[Region Warrior]

How do you keep from punching ahole coworkers and clients?
And not ram idiot drivers...

[Mike S]

Thanks everyone. This is the tuffest thing I have ever did in my life. I give other addicts all the credit in the world. I am on Chantx and it seems to help. I also have a fake cigerette to puff on. It is like a long filter and it helps a little when I pretend to inhale smoke.
I was smokeing 2 packs a day. I would buy coffee and 2 packs in the morning, it would come in at just shy of $18. I am saving $405 a month just from cigerettes. I am going to use that money to buy a nice 3/4 ton 4x4 in March. Or mabey get the race car in the 8's.

[Region Warrior]

Best advise i can give from experience.
No matter what, never ever smoke even one.
Quit in my 20's, didnt want one or miss it for 20 yrs.
5 yrs ago while staying overnight at tracks thought a good cigar with beer would help relax me.
It does, but what a big mistake...

Good luck, stay strong.

[Dick Boneske]

My mother quit at age 50 and said she never lost the urge---even just before she died at age 75. She also said she didn't feel better due to not smoking. The one thing she did like is the lack of stale smoke odor.

My ex-wife smokes and it never bothered me when we were married for 26 years, but when I see her now, the odor is very obnoxious. Maybe that's just part of what makes me grateful we're no longer together every time I see here.

[70 bird]

I quit 12 years ago when smokes were almost $2 a pack, who would of ever thought they would be up to $7 a pack now! For me the first 6 months were very hard, I quit cold turkey. I warned my boss and co-workers and they were cool about it I did have a short fuse for about 3 weeks. My advice is dont drink! at least for a while. and remember if you have one smoke you have to start all over again! it sucks but its true.

Its not all bad think of the good things, you will save a ton of cash, food will taste better, and your lungs will improve. I smoked for about 15 years and now I run 3mi. 3 times a week on a treadmill and lift weights I feel better now than when I was 20. You can do the same, hang in there and dont worry about the weight gain some of it will drop off after about a year.

[68lemansman]

I've known people to smoke and ive done it in my 20's but it wasnt something that stuck with me. I seen friends go cold turkey without even using any drugs or fake cigaretts. Im sure they help but mentally I think you would have to want to quit and endure what cravings and transitions that happen without smoking. I know some people have done it and Im sure everyone can. Just have to stick with a plan and stay with it. Good luck!!!!! stay strong!

[PLAY400]

I was smoking 2-3 packs a day when I quit in 89. First started smoking in 63 and in the beginning smoked everything from filter, cork and plain end and always the stronger brand too. It was my second attempt at quitting but since I wanted to quit it wasn't that bad and I knew I could never have 1 again for the rest of my life or I would start again like my friends. Still smoke pot

[Bjorn]

I quit 1975 , no problem , even had a few over the years after, no problem...my wife quit 25 yrs ago, she STILL wants one....the reason she had to quit was our then newborn son was allergic to smoke...so, as mentioned abv its different for every person...good luck to you....get a little wooden stick to suck on , as most of it is habit.

[PLAY400]

Originally Posted by Bjorn

get a little wooden stick to suck on , as most of it is habit.

Do not replace 1 habit with another. Guy I worked with has been chewing nicorette gum ever since he quit in the 90s

[77GP]

I quit last year while I was laid off, made it 75 days and like a dumba**, when I went back to work with everyone smoking I did too. Ruined my self confidence for a while. Sunday I am quitting again. Those 75 days did make a difference for me though. I do not smoke near as much as before and can still smell the nastiness. Good luck. I did not like the Chantix. Then tried patches for 3 days and said screw that too. I didn't like the red marks from them. Did it cold after 3 days.

[Bjorn]

Originally Posted by PLAY400

Do not replace 1 habit with another. Guy I worked with has been chewing nicorette gum ever since he quit in the 90s

the gum is easy to get used to...but you dont chew on a wooden stick too much in company....LOL

[Coach]

I did the predecessor to Chantix and the patch at the same time. This was almost 17 years ago. After 5 years the desire went away, after 10 years it didn't bother me to be around other smokers, after 15 years the only time I even think of a ciggy is at a bar. Last year I started smoking cigars when I would go out on the Harley. Then one morning I went out to the garage and my leather jacket reeked of cigar smoke. That was the end of that, lol.

Two things:

1) the drugs made me a not very nice person. Several long time employees almost quit as I would go from Mr Nice Guy to Raging Lunitic at the drop of a hat. One of the things that got me through the first 5 years was remembering how nasty I was when I quit.

2) My Dr told me to take the money I would have spent on smokes each day and put it into a jar. Then after the first week spend it on myself, then after the first month, etc. I put together a killer Hasselblad camera outfit in less then two years. My wife "let me" have that money for the first five years. It was a constant reminder of how much was going up in smoke before I quit.

Best of luck to you, -Harry

[Cliff R]

The cold hard truth here is that most people can't quit.

Just about every single one of our friends smoke. Every year they claim they are going to quit, and every year they continue to smoke. They set unrealistic goals, and dates/times to quit. Either a birthday, or a New Years resolution, then those days come and go and they still have a Marlboro in their face every 20 minutes or so. Out of all of our friends who tried quitting, to date only one has been successful.

Just over a year ago, he was at work and started feeling poorly. He called his doctor who couldn't see him that day anyhow, and recomended that he go directly to the ER, which he did.

When he got to the ER, he had a heart attack. They worked on him for quite a while, loosing him several times. As a coincidence, one of the leading heart surgeons was in the building that day visiting patients. Any other day he would have been at Riverside in Columbus Ohio.

He was able to cath him within 30 minutes and saved his life. He never touched another cigarette. Carol is 55 years old. Not a single other one of my friends can quit, some make it a few days or weeks, but ALWAYS right back to it. Whatever Phillip Morris is putting into those things, it's working!......Cliff

[PLAY400]

I can't believe Cliff's statement that most of his crowd smokes today. Didn't think there was that much of a culture difference between us. I remember that from the 80s & 90s when I quit everyone smoked but today smoking is mostly a "chick" or welfare thing now-a-days from what I see. At 1 time I was the only person at the table who didn't smoke and today only the odd person goes out for a smoke. Mind you our tough laws on second hand smoke, no smoking in buildings, clubs, bars etc also gives 1 incentive to quit especially if you are going outside in -30C winter for a puff.

[Cliff R]

Yes, more smokers than non-smokers in the group that we run with.

Remarkably, most are pretty smart folks and have very good careers, average age apprx 45 years old. They just enjoy riding motorcylces, drinking, and smoking.

On a good note, most have quit smoking inside their homes, for one reason or another.

Just about every single one wants to quit, but are never successful in these efforts.

Kind of interesting that last year for the "Great American Smokeout", they all vowed to quit, then by the holidays they were all still smoking for one reason or another. One claiming he was going to wait till after football season, another till their birthday, one wouldn't try till her sister did, and one till New Years. The one who was going to wait till New Years was slipping outside last night at a party we were at, the more he drank the more trips he made outside. Didn't appear he had any real intentions of quitting anytime soon. One close friend in particular, who is dying a slow death to COPD, uses an inhaler, and makes frequent trips to the ER to be put in a tent for oxygen, said "f*&k it, you gotta die of somethin"!!

All of the others are still smoking from what I've seen, so we've entered another year and no one by Carol has been successful, and that took a near death experience. This cycle goes on year after year, trying to quit with zero success for the rest of them.

I'm scared to even touch a Marlboro, not really wanting to find myself wanting one in my face every 20 minutes for the rest of my life!

Phillip Morris is on to something here. I wished I could event something that near half of the adult population would spend $200 or more dollars a month on, no matter what the economy was doing! Cigarette addiction still ranks second to cell phones/texting, they've got close to 100 percent of the entire population hooked on that crap!......Cliff