Has anyone struggled with giving up smoking cigarettes?

I've been nicotine free for ~5 years now. I was a pack a day smoker back then. I was actually able to successfully drop them cold turkey. I have good self control, but it seems to be in more of an all-or-nothing type of way. I'm amazing at justifying with myself. I knew that if I tried non-cold turkey that I would always be able to justify one more. I also had only been smoking for about 3 years IIRC.

I had tried the methods such as sugarless gum and playing with a rubber band, but I didn't really get any noticeable aid. The ultimate way I overcame the addiction was applying everything I had learned about the negative effects of cigarettes and I poisoned my brain against them. I didn't see cigarettes anymore. I don't even know how to describe it because it wasn't anything specific, but I basically saw all the negative effects instead of the physical cigarette. At least that's what I thought about instead of the urge to smoke one.

I'm sure these aren't groundbreaking things I'm writing here, but it is just my experience and I thought I'd share it.

misanthrope said:

Tobacco is such a sly and insidious substance, and I am convinced that tobacco growers work to maximize the addictiveness of the plant in the same way herbsmen work to maximize THC content.

Just one turns into two so easily, and just at weekends can slip into every day seemingly without me noticing.

Sadly the fact remains that I really enjoy to consume herbs in a joint with some tobacco, because that is the method I grew up with. Even though vaporizing has been a far more effective and economical method, when I'm passed a joint - that's it.

Really hope I can knock this on the head, but it seems pretty tough. The success stories I've read on this thread do give me hope though. Well done guys!

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PM me your address and i will send you some snus :-)

ONE YEAR FREE OF TOBACCO, AS OF RIGHT NOW





I posted in this thread at 14 days free.


You can do anything you set your mind to.

460 days free.. smooth sailing from here on out.

If you want to know how to stop smoking ask a smoker...they've done it a thousand times.

Been cig free for many years now. I was smoking over a pack a day. Got fed up with the smell, the cost, yadda, yadda....but more importantly the lack of control I felt made me nuts.

My method was to smoke less every day and make that a simple goal. Took awhile but when I got to the point where I could make one cigarette last all day by taking one hit and putting it out I switched over to the lowest nicotine patch and used them for about 2 weeks. At this point the patch was delivering a steady and higher dose of nicotine then what I was using since I was down to one cig a day. When I started with the patch I also took up running. My approach was to remove the monkey on my back one finger at a time. First the chemical addiction by lowering the amount of nicotine ingested by smoking less each day. Then the mental habit...using the lowest level patch so after eating I couldn't grab a cig kind of thing. The running was a big help because I didn't blow up from eating as a replacement like so many others and the runners high was a mood upper.

great thread and congrats to those who've knocked it! wondering how everyone else is fairing?

28 years on cigs...then moved to flavored cigars thinking it would be a step down and i wouldn't inhale! ha! still 6 or 7 years on...and the number of years are freaking me out..... must do something..but like others said..i really enjoy smoking. for me it's not at all the nicotine but rather the physical aspects...6 years or so ago i was forced into very early retirement due to serious neck problems. so these last years have been very easy to just keep doing it as i get bored so easily with little to do.

today i received an e liquid vape and hope that does the trick to keeping my hands busy and starting me down the right path anyway.....for me i do know it's a mind over matter thing...one has to be at the point mentally that they're just fed up and done. after about 15/20 yrs i quit cold turkey and it was very easy. six months later gave in to the devil on my shoulder and right back at it. tried again another time and was sooooo much more difficult...didn't quit. and now mentally i am not prepared to quit but know i must....

Havelock Vetenari said:

I bought my usual 2 packs a day(for 30 years) on a thursday in sept. 2009

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Quit cigarettes the sunday after(two more days of nicotinepatch and that was it completely for the nicotine),so i'm now tobacco free for over 5 years.
Still probably the best thing i did in getting a healthier lifestyle and i would absolutely recommend to anyone to give up the filthy habit sooner rather than later!

To all of those that have had success in quitting...
To all of those that are in the process of quitting...
To all of those that have failed to quit but desire to try again...
I say....

BIG GRATZ TO ALL OF YOU!!!!

If you want to know how to give up cigarettes ask a smoker...they've done it a thousand times

lalaloopsie said:

great thread and congrats to those who've knocked it! wondering how everyone else is fairing?

28 years on cigs...then moved to flavored cigars thinking it would be a step down and i wouldn't inhale! ha! still 6 or 7 years on...and the number of years are freaking me out..... must do something..but like others said..i really enjoy smoking. for me it's not at all the nicotine but rather the physical aspects...6 years or so ago i was forced into very early retirement due to serious neck problems. so these last years have been very easy to just keep doing it as i get bored so easily with little to do.

today i received an e liquid vape and hope that does the trick to keeping my hands busy and starting me down the right path anyway.....for me i do know it's a mind over matter thing...one has to be at the point mentally that they're just fed up and done. after about 15/20 yrs i quit cold turkey and it was very easy. six months later gave in to the devil on my shoulder and right back at it. tried again another time and was sooooo much more difficult...didn't quit. and now mentally i am not prepared to quit but know i must....

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Hey just seen your post and wanted to say your on the right track E-cigs are the best way to quit.
I say that because when I started to use one I found it very easy to stay off once I stopped. On top
of that I was able to get everyone in my house to stop as well. My dad was a smoker for 40 years and the vape saved him my friend had no willpower and did not even want to quit but I got him a ecig he's been off a year now. Not only is vaping herb better then smoking it vaping ejuice is better then smoking.
If you can just stop for a few weeks with a ecig when you do smoke again it's gonna taste like shit and as long as you keep vaping and not smoking. If your vape has Ego threading you should try the Kanger pro 3 mini and some extra heads. This stuff is getting cheap batteries are around the same price as a pack of cigs if you look hard enough. Also learn to mix up your own juice it's easy save a bunch of money. Buy a few batteries and clearomizers, tanks or whatever your into so when your battery is charging or if something goes wrong you have back up. I would bet you should be placing an order today before you run out of something. If you need more info PM me.

I'd smoke roughly half a pack to 2/3rds a pack of cigs a day, trying to quit but I don't want to be a slave to the cigarette in any capacity.

I don't want to need a cigarette, and I don't want to deny myself a cigarette on occasion while I'm out and about. Maybe one day, but as of now, I'm "2 weeks" free from regular cig smoking....had one yesterday after lunch, only one I had. Haven't had one today. I consider that a plus.

I did pick up a mech mod and RBA from a vape shop near me to help curb it, works pretty well and the taste is pretty good too (Currently vaping PB & Bannana mixed with a drop of coffee and a few drops of waffles, tastes fantastic and complex even).....hopefully I come across some wax soon, as it seems I could build myself a coil to vape that pretty effectively.

I utilize it a few times a day, I notice I use it with less frequency than a cigarette, but when I use it, i use it for probably 15 minutes at a time, at least one tank maybe 2. Figure I do that once every 3-4 hours.

Honestly, my biggest motivation for quitting was the weather.....its fucking cold out here right now, and I don't smoke in my house, I got fed up of bundling up and going outside for 5-7 minutes and freezing my balls off. We'll see how I do in the summer months...

@HellsWindStaff
had to LOL at the weather...same boat..tho usually in TN it doesn't get too cold but it's been quite cold so far this winter. and i feel the same way..pain in the ass to bundle up for just a couple minutes..i smoke (or soon to vape) only one thing 'inside'..... good luck to you!

@FrogBoy138
thanks for the info and congrats to you AND getting others off the nasty trail! i purchased the v2 pro series 3...love the design and hope it performs..and hope i didn't go the wrong route with proprietary stuff. haven't tried it yet but will be later today. i'll PM you if things don't go as planned!

I quit smoking 10 years ago or so. I was about a pack a day smoker since I was a teenager. I had tried MANY times before, and succeeded for various periods of time, but always managed to start again. I had used various methods and incentives (hypnosis, drugs, etc.) but I am weak on willpower and kept coming back. When I had my heart attacks in the 90s I thought that would finally stop me, and it did for 3 or 4 years, and then when I stopped being afraid I slipped back into it. Finally about 10 years ago I thought I had it beat and stopped completely. I had made the decision that I just didn't WANT to be a smoker any more, having to go outside at any given time just to light up (I was usually a considerate smoker and only smoked outside). But then a couple years ago I got into a habit of having dinner at a friends once a week who smoked, and when I was there I would have one or two (I said to be social, but it WAS the addiction talking). I only smoked there and only on that one day a week, or two if she was making something special (!). I didn't consider myself a smoker because it was only a couple cigs a week, but I was fooling myself (and my insurance company). When her daughter had a baby we always made sure the baby was in a different room and we blew our smoke into the stove hood fan (strong). When she learned to walk we kept her away, but I was VERY concerned that the baby (Sophia Grace ) would learn that people she loved thought that smoking was OK, so I started putting pressure on my friend to quit, "For us both".

It is now a bit over 3 month since either of us has had a cig and Sophia will not have a bad influence (at least in this way) from us and that makes me VERY happy. And I am no longer encouraging my friend to misbehave either. Or lying to myself. About this.

Quit myself about this time last year through ecigs. Amazing how much better I feel and how much more money I have in my wallet. I will note I rolled my own with drum tobacco and even then I found the taste of a regular cigarette horrid. Used to also roll my joints with drum tobacco in them and liked the flavor but tried that with cigarette tobacco and YUCK.

It's so worth it to quit. No more stink breath, yellow fingers/teeth, more money in my pocket, non-stinky car and I can smell and taste things again. Most important is I have a 7 year old son who never knew I smoked but was pretty sure he would figure it out soon.

Another thing to note is I have not been sick once since I quit. It is the first winter in my life not coming down with major bronchitis which I always had even before i started smoking. I somehow think this is related to the PG in the ecigs.

I really don't think smoking analog cigs will be trendy at all in 10 years. Ecigs maybe but not analogs.

1 to 2 packs a day for 20 years. Same story as everyone else, quit MANY times using many methods.

Haven't had any nicotine in any form in 15 years.

In my opinion...if you really want to quit...

1 - Forget patches, ecigs, gums, etc. Every one will keep the addiction alive and actually makes it harder to quit.
2 - Forget "cutting back". It actually increases and prolongs cravings.
3 - NEVER have the "one cig" or "one cigar" or "one ecig" - you are an addict and one ALWAYS leads to more....eventually.
4 - Don't hang out with smokers, don't take "breaks" with smokers. If your wife smokes and won't quit, realize that she will LITERALLY be the death of you.

5 - JUST STOP. No cigs, no cigars, no pipes, no chew, no ecigs, no hookahs. Anything and everything with nicotine will keep you addicted. Trading one "medium" for your addiction for another means you are still an addict.

That is my advice. Treat it like what it is - an addiction. You are an addict. Until I got that through my thick stupid skull, I could not quit forever. As long as I thought it was something "controllable", something I could regulate, something I could mentally handle, I could not quit.

Until you realize that it is NOT something you can control, you will never do what it takes to quit. Patches, gums, ecigs, all are gimmicks to make you believe you "got it under control". But you don't and never will.

If you want to quit, JUST QUIT.

Stop complaining and making excuses.

Don't even waste the mental energy trying to convince yourself that nicotine is killing you - if you don't already know that, you have zero chance of quitting. I've seen lung cancer patients smoking. Knowing you are killing yourself and actually quitting cigs are two entirely different things.

The ONLY mental analysis you need to make is "STOP".

You don't need to justify it. You don't need to do it "for someone". You don't need to do it for your health. All justifications lead to rationalizations.

It has nothing to do with "will power". I have no willpower, and I quit. Willpower is just another excuse - "I don't have the willpower" - bullshit. Will power is something you need when you are trying to cut back on something you think you need or want. You don't need willpower to not drink a gallon of bleach, or to not light yourself on fire. I do not need or want nicotine ever again. No will power required once you make that decision.

STOP. Completely. Entirely. No short-cuts. No further analysis. STOP.

I finally did STOP, and I knew at that moment that I would never smoke again. I finally stopped making excuses and STOPPED.

Forever.

Solomon said:

All justifications lead to rationalizations.

Willpower is just another excuse - "I don't have the willpower" - bullshit.

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isn't that the truth!!

EXCELLENT post....thank you

Here is a fascinating article about the nature of addiction. Anyone trying to quit anything they think they are addicted to should take the time to read this:

The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered and It Is Not What You Think

Solomon said:

Here is a fascinating article about the nature of addiction. Anyone trying to quit anything they think they are addicted to should take the time to read this:

The Likely Cause of Addiction Has Been Discovered and It Is Not What You Think

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Interesting article. I'm curious as to how people interpret it. In one section the article implies that lack of 'bonding' and 'human connection/relations' is the cause and in another it seems to make the case that 'boredom' and/or 'loneliness' are the cause.

842 days nicotine free.

Wow. It doesn't seem like a year has passed since the last time I bumped this thread.

See you guys next November!!

I have quit a few times over the last 10 years with chantix. It definitely kills the cravings but it also keeps me from getting high, which is unacceptable.

Chantix made me feel like I was on speed combined with crazy mood swings.

Stress got me smoking cigarettes again back in February and I want to give ecigs a try now, if anyone can recommend one that actually tastes like real cigs?

I quit smoking around 10 years ago. I haven't kept track of how long. I smoked 2 packs a day. I decided everytime I had an urge to smoke, I'd drink a bottle of water. Worked for me.

Little things, like paying for gas with a card at the pump versus with cash inside can make a big difference. It's too easy to just throw a pack on along with the gas. A lot of times people who are trying to quit keep going to the same store they're used to going to and maybe getting a coffee and some icecream, or candy instead of a pack of smokes. Having sold tons of cigarettes to people who are relapsing from quitting, I can say that I think avoiding stores that sell cigarettes is imperative until you've crushed any desire to smoke. Addiction is very sensory, and just being inside those stores can set off hidden cravings. If the store sells coffee, then it probably has a very strong and distinct smell, and if I remember correctly, the sense of smell is strongly connected to memory, and memory is a central part of addiction.

Maybe what I'm saying is complete hogwash, but it's just the impression I've gotten from having worked selling cigarettes for a long time.

1St let me say congratulation's to everyone that has quit & or is quitting.
Fuck those nasty cigs. Oops wrong thread....
5Yrs for me cold Turkey.
Major health issue's plus pregnant wife we both did it same time.
At the time I was still smoking joints and had a groww room. Soni just doubled up on spliffs.

Goodluck everyone don't give up...

Like the original poster of this thread, I am from the UK and culturally herbs are smoked with tobacco.

I personally quit after watching Allen Carr's quit smoking video. You can download on itunes for £7 or something cheap. He doesn't try to scare you or tell you some horror story about how your going to have a heart attack or how bad lung cancer is. Instead it covers all the excuses people give for smoking tobacco and destroys them all. "it helps me concentrate" - "It's a social thing" - "I enjoy it" - and so on. Its only around 40 mins. He even tells you to smoke a ciggerette at the start, middle, and end! I had smoked for more than half of my life and I quit after watching. Cold Turkey. First 4 days I felt like I was going crazy but after that pretty much fine. I also know a lot of people who have quit with his book. I find the video is best for me as the imagery makes it easier to remember arguments that are formed. They also do an audio book. Allen Carrs quit smoking ideas have helped millions and it is one of the most successful in the world.

I enjoy vaping as the flavour is so much better compared to smoking with or without tobacco. So thankfully for me I can't see myself going back to choking myself to death.