Has anyone struggled with giving up smoking cigarettes?

[lwien]

In fact, it is often recommended to ween yourself off nicotine, just as one might do with opiates...

peace

Ummmm, I don't know. I quit cigs cold turkey. Trying to ween myself off would have just increased the torture time. With opiates, however, it's a health issue because the sudden attack of withdrawals from trying to quit cold turkey could kill you.

 

[Ansel]

hey snus isn't just a bit safer than smoking it is a lot safer than smoking so yeah it makes sense to change to something a lot safer than smoking... in fact it could be argued it's as safe as drinking coffee.

 

[IHaveTheVapors]

One day, while I was laying out lines and tootin' up a gram of coke, I saw my twin boys crawling around with holes in their pajamas, because I couldn't afford to buy them new ones, but yet, there I was, snorting up a 100 dollars worth of coke in a few hours. The picture, all of a sudden, became crystal clear to me and I simply..........................quit. No withdrawals. No white knuckling................nothing, except when it came to the tobacco. THAT was tough, and here's how I got through it.

That's quite a story, but I suppose there's nothing like one's own offspring to give you perspective. Glad you kicked all the destructive habits.

 

[RUDE BOY]

hey snus isn't just a bit safer than smoking it is a lot safer than smoking so yeah it makes sense to change to something a lot safer than smoking... in fact it could be argued it's as safe as drinking coffee.

You can argue that point but snus users still get tongue and throat cancer at a much much higher rate then Coffee drinkers . There is no safe way to use tobacco . snus is not A lot safer .

Its kind of like whiskey and beer , a little different , a lot the same .

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

Nasal snuff is about as safe as you can get with tobacco. I'm not including ecigs as they are not really TOBACCO products.

 

[lwien]

If one really takes an honest look at the risk/reward ratio of using any kind of product that delivers nicotine to your system, can anyone say that the reward is really worth the risk?

 

[RUDE BOY]

I honestly can't . Even though I still smoke . I did quit for a few years and started again after I received a medical prognosis of "you'll be dead within six months" . started going to support groups and would be the only one out of 6-10 people not chain smoking . After a few weeks I was smoking again . That was 20 plus years ago .
I do often have extended family around , kids and "born Again" parents so I often go out light a cigg take a drag or two then vape , smoking the cigg keeps the kids away from me . only real benefit I can see .

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

If one really takes an honest look at the risk/reward ratio of using any kind of product that delivers nicotine to your system, can anyone say that the reward is really worth the risk?

Yes. I enjoy the effects that nicotine give me, mainly stimulation/focus of attention (ADD but not on medications for it), clearing up the "mental fog" from the pharms I have to take, the feeling of satisfaction. Using an electronic cigarette minimizes the possible harms of it the best right now IMO.

I am, however, a hedonist...

 

[lwien]

Yes. I enjoy the effects that nicotine give me, mainly stimulation/focus of attention (ADD but not on medications for it), clearing up the "mental fog" from the pharms I have to take, the feeling of satisfaction. Using an electronic cigarette minimizes the possible harms of it the best right now IMO.

I am, however, a hedonist...

I'm a hedonist as well, but believe me, Quetz, I could use the same rationales that you mentioned above for just about every recreational drug that I have ever used, from coke to bud to acid to Quaaludes, to shrooms, to meth, etc etc. for they all gave me pleasure, while some increased my focus and cleared up the mental fog while others decreased my focus when I wanted to decrease my focus. They all served a purpose. I'm just sayin that one should be aware of the price of the ticket for whatever ride they're on rather than being under the delusion that the ticket is free.

 

[ironlungs]

I've tried many times to quit and this time I realize I want to quit. One of the first things I noticed was my Sex drive, increased so much more (gigantic loads) after I quit cigarettes that I wouldn't even wanna go back to smoking tobacco. I'll puff on the e-cig once in awhile and smoke when there's alcohol however I'll quit smoking cigarettes on a daily basis. Now that my first vaporizer is coming in, I can't wait to drop the joint habit.

 

[lwien]

I'll puff on the e-cig once in awhile and smoke when there's alcohol however I'll quit smoking cigarettes on a daily basis.

There's no way in hell I could that. For me to give up cigs, I had to totally give it up. I know, without a shadow of a doubt that if I had one cig today, I'd be back up to 3 packs a day in a matter of weeks.

 

[FrogBoy138]

It's was always like that for me too if I would smoke one it was over. Now after some time away from smoking and being an e-cig vapor addict. I can smoke and not worry about getting addicted it taste like shit. I get no nicotine buzz from smoking because I vape like 4ml a day that's like 100mg. Seems like most seem to think a cigarette has about 1.3mg full flavor.

I laugh at nicotine is harmless I feel it doing harm to my body but I'm in the best health of my life.

 

[Ansel]

You can argue that point but snus users still get tongue and throat cancer at a much much higher rate then Coffee drinkers . There is no safe way to use tobacco . snus is not A lot safer .

Its kind of like whiskey and beer , a little different , a lot the same .

Check out the official WHO figures which show Sweden as having the lowest tobacco-related cancer rates in Europe.

 

[lwien]

Cancer is not the only concern with nicotine. Heart disease is a big one.

 

[Ansel]

Cancer is not the only concern with nicotine. Heart disease is a big one.

No more so than using caffeine.

http://rodutobaccotruth.blogspot.com/2012/07/snus-use-no-heart-attack-risk.html

 

[RUDE BOY]

2.3 million years ? Damn that's a long time to follow less then 150,000 people . They must live a lot longer then we do over here .

 

[RUDE BOY]

Yeah I know just yanking your chain a little . I do agree with you that snus is safer then smoking and other chewing Tobaccos . Like I have said I do still smoke cigarettes . I did know a long term snuff user "a little pinch between your cheek and gum" who died from tongue cancer and it wasn't pretty .
We don't always do whats best for our health , at least I don't .


OMG post 714 . you all know that # means a lot more to me then like 420 or 666 . speaking of things that aren't good for you . I do miss gorilla biscuits !

 

[Tweek]

I love snuff, but I always feared getting a nose tumour or something, so I rarely touch it. What a rush though...

 

[FrogBoy138]

What makes snus less harmful then other smokeless tobacco products?
Smokeless tobacco is linked to cancer caffeine is not. Tobacco products kill some faster then others.
Even if nicotine was as harmless as caffeine who trust Chinese plastic, silicone, metal at high temps. Just like all drugs it's the binders, cuts, and lifestyle that will kill you faster then the drug itself.

 

[RUDE BOY]

What makes snus less harmful then other smokeless tobacco products?

I think it only has to do with the Quantity you use , most snus here comes in little pouches as compared to chaw where you use a huge wet plug of tobacco . other then that IDK .

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

Yeah I know just yanking your chain a little . I do agree with you that snus is safer then smoking and other chewing Tobaccos . Like I have said I do still smoke cigarettes . I did know a long term snuff user "a little pinch between your cheek and gum" who died from tongue cancer and it wasn't pretty .
We don't always do whats best for our health , at least I don't .


OMG post 714 . you all know that # means a lot more to me then like 420 or 666 . speaking of things that aren't good for you . I do miss gorilla biscuits !

I think we need to distinguish "snuff" from actual "snuff." What you call snuff, I know as dipping tobacco (wet/moist snuff), but when I read snuff, I think nasal snuff, like the powdered tobacco that you put in your nose.

What makes snus less harmful then other smokeless tobacco products?
Smokeless tobacco is linked to cancer caffeine is not. Tobacco products kill some faster then others.
Even if nicotine was as harmless as caffeine who trust Chinese plastic, silicone, metal at high temps. Just like all drugs it's the binders, cuts, and lifestyle that will kill you faster then the drug itself.

I think it only has to do with the Quantity you use , most snus here comes in little pouches as compared to chaw where you use a huge wet plug of tobacco . other then that IDK .

It's the curing process that the tobacco undergoes, snus undergoes lower temperatures for curing compared to American chewing tobaccos.

Here's an interesting piece relating to dip/snuff.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2892835/

 

[RUDE BOY]

Your right it was Dip they call it snuff on the cans here but a lot harder on the nose . I haven't touched it since I was around 13 . Camel started selling snus this last decade or so only tried it once . Not my thing at all .

 

[vapirtoo]

A vietam vet shared with me how he became addicted to ciggs during the war (police action).
He stopped smoking when he got back to the "world", but told me that 30 yrs later, every
morning that he wakes up , the first thing that occurs to him is his need for a cig.
That shit, after 30 yrs. of abstinence, scared the fuck out of me. Thank god I never
started.
I do believe, like Lwien, if you can see the addiction clearly than you can begin to be free.

 

[IHaveTheVapors]

Smoking is dirty, smoking is less economical and smoking gets you less stoned.

I must also mention that I have found that burning gets me more stoned. It's just not worth the trade-off in health, though.

 

[Smknbud]

Hardest thing I ever did was quit cigs...

Smoked for 17 yrs. The stupidest part was I started when I was 25. Long story short....out drinking and just wanted to try one. I was warned, but I figured if I hadn't already taken up the habit I had nothing to worry about. Oh, how wrong I was.

What motivated me to quit was buying a carton before heading out to an annual 3 day fishin' trip in the Adirondacks and three days later realizing I was already out. 200 fucking cigs in a little over three days, yes all day drinkin' an partying, but still. Quit cold turkey. Life changing moment.

That was 9 years ago.

Now I'm an anti smoking asshole. Quite proud of it actually....sorry smokers.