Anyone Smoke?

[ManOnTheWave]

Smoked for years. Quitting cold turkey was the most effective way of quitting for me in the past. However, I'd find that after a week, a month, or a year something stressful would happen ( it always does) , and I'd start smoking again. I tried e cigarettes a few years back, however the device wa expensive for something that was just going to break after a few months. Last summer, I found a brand that makes disposables. They are the equivalent of 1.25 packs and sell for $8 at local pharmacies. Using the e cigarettes, I found myself smoking less and less until the point where I just forgot about it. I had actually planned on getting a reusable/rechargeable kit and refills, but at this point it seems a waste of money. I keep the e cigarettes around for an especially stressful day, or when friends who smoke call and want to get together, otherwise, I don't smoke anymore.

 

[Toolfriend]

I smoked for 40 years and have been off them for 7 years now. That cough turns into asthmatic bronchitis and then you will quit when you cannot breath. With the proper motivation like that I was off them in a few days and have never looked back. Oh I dream about them often but have not fell off the wagon, not even once. It is so great not to smoke I assure you.

 

[Niorah]

I started smoking when I was 14, smoked for more than 20 years and then I quit in August 2009. I just threw the last packet away and never looked back.
I smoked because I really liked the taste of it, but thankfully was never really addicted to it. I was one of those "healthy" smokers who didn't smoke when I had a cold or a cough, and some lazy Sundays I didn't even think about it until after dinner.
All the same. I quit and I feel much better now.

 

[Lark80]

Yeah, I'm 31 and i smoke for 15 years or so... tried really everything and still i can't quit.

 

[ares93]

I smoke on occasion, but i'm not addicted. I dunno why, most of me mates were hooked after a few cigarettes.

Then again, cigarettes were never my thing. I'm more of a cigar guy.

I'm 19 btw.


EDIT: I tried remebering when i smoked for the last time, i'd say maybe three or so months. And nothing. Pretty sure that means i'm in the clear.

 

[sidious618]

I've never smoked but I'm not into demonizing smokers as many are. We all do stupid, unhealthy shit.

 

[Gil T.Azell]

December 23 this year it will be 31 years since I quit.

Ever Wonder What Happens to Your
Body the Moment You Stop Smoking?

Within 20 minutes of smoking that last cigarette, the body begins a series of changes that continues for years.

20 MINUTES

Blood pressure drops to normal.
Pulse rate drops to normal.
Body temperature of hands and feet increases to normal.
8 HOURS

Carbon monoxide level in blood drops to normal.
Oxygen level in blood increases to normal.
24 HOURS

Chance of heart attack decreases.
48 HOURS

Nerve endings start regrowing.
Ability to smell and taste is enhanced.
2 WEEKS TO 3 MONTHS

Circulation improves.
Walking becomes easier.
Lung function increases up to 30%.
1 TO 9 MONTHS

Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath decrease.
Cilia regrow in lungs, increasing ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, and reduce infection.
Body's overall energy increases.
1 YEAR

Excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker.
5 YEARS

Lung cancer death rate for average smoker (one pack a day) decreases by almost half.
Stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker 5-15 years after quitting.
Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat and esophagus is half that of a smoker's.
10 YEARS

Lung cancer death rate similar to that of nonsmokers.
Precancerous cells are replaced.
Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decreases.
15 YEARS

Risk of coronary heart disease is that of a nonsmoker.

 

[An Officer]

Got hooked on the shiisha pipe for a year or so, had it at home and smoked it everyday - about the equivalent of 20 cigs a session, I'm told. When I began struggling with stairs and took on a strange pallor, and happened to read about strokes, I got pretty spooked and stopped cold turkey. Felt fantastic after the fact. I dread to think how long term smokers feel. Saved a hell of a lot of money as well, since (good) molasses tobacco costs a small fortune.

Good luck to all those who wish to quit - I suggest you read about strokes, which aren't just for the elderly... if you have any regard for your health, this will put the fear of god in you, and the idea of smoking will (hopefully) make you feel nauseous.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Sadly, for addicts of any drug one of the things that will most certainly stimulate the desire to use is - wait for it - fear and anxiety. Trying to scare a smoker into quitting will fail nine times out of ten (cue anecdotal success stories from several "Smoker #10s" ).

I was a two, two-and-a-half pack a day smoker until the age of 31. I stopped altogether then, only to pick it up again for a year and a half at the age of 45. That time, I averaged three packs a day. Stopped again in May of 1999 and haven't had a drag of anything since.

My experience was that it got much easier after a few days when the nicotine was completely out of my system, but that the habit itself really didn't recede altogether from awareness for about six weeks. You make it two months, you've effectively broken the habit.

 

[clint g]

Early on in my life I had the chance to watch first hand what smoking for your entire life can do to people. Sort of turned me off from ever seriously wanting to try the stuff. I do get curious but never cave in.

 

[SmoothieX]

I've never smoked but I'm not into demonizing smokers as many are. We all do stupid, unhealthy shit.

Yeah, but most unhealthy habits are not also unhealthy to the guy standing next to you.

 

[DS9Continuing]

I can understand how once you've started, you're an addict and can't stop. But I've never understood why people start in the first place.

It's not like almost everyone alive today hasn't been told how bad it is for them. It's not like in the 50s or something, when they told you that smoking was a good thing. Now we all know it's not. So why deliberately start a habit you know will have nothing but negative effects?

It is peer pressure? Are you really so weak that you'll let someone else persuade you to do what you know is bad? That's going to reduce your life, make you smell, all the usual complaints that we all know so well?

Personally, I think it's a filthy habit and it makes me really sad to see so many otherwise beautiful young people ruining themselves by deliberately giving themselves a drug addiction at such a young age. It also disgusts me to see parents smoking while walking their children around, or pushing their baby in a pram. Are they so in love with their addiction that they'll deliberately pass it on to their children?

Like that news story about the chav bitch who insisted on smoking all through her pregnancy - despite every doctor and sensible person's warnings not to - because she claimed it would make the baby's lungs stronger. That's the kind of person who should be forcibly sterilized for the good of humanity, IMO.

As you can probably tell, I'm not a fan.

To the OP, since I've never smoked, I have no advice to offer about quitting. Just a smug finger-wagging about having been stupid enough to start in the first place. But at least you do want to quit, so that's a good start.

.

 

[SmoothieX]

It is peer pressure? Are you really so weak that you'll let someone else persuade you to do what you know is bad? That's going to reduce your life, make you smell, all the usual complaints that we all know so well?

I never felt an ounce if peer pressure to do much of anything when I was a teenager.

 

[RoJoHen]

I was pressured into going to Applebees a lot as a teenager. I have since broken the habit.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I've never smoked but I'm not into demonizing smokers as many are. We all do stupid, unhealthy shit.

Yes, we do.

I know ex-smokers who are anti-smoking Nazis. They can't stand to be near someone smoking.

I can't stand to be near them.

 

[O'Dib]

I used to be a really obnoxious ex-smoker, looking at these people, thinking how stupid it is being a smoker, even though I quit out of sheer necessity and not force of will. I noticed that in the States unlike Europe, where pretty much everyone smokes, smoking nearly always places one in the bottom tier of the economic ladder, which makes it all the less attractive.

 

[RoJoHen]

Well, it doesn't help that smoking costs as much as it does. My smoker friends spend more money on cigarettes in a month than they do on rent.

 

[RAMA]

Yes. I started when I was 7 and slowly went from one cigarette a month or two, to half a pack a day as a teenager, one pack a day since my early twenties, and for the past year or so a pack and a half a day because I've been under a tremendous amount of stress. I also occasionally smoke cigars and very occasionally smoke a pipe.

The only reason I don't quit is because I really don't want to. Yes, I'm fully aware of the health risks and the "you're slowly killing yourself" propaganda. However, I do plenty of other things that could also be considered "slowly killing myself" as well as several other things that could easily result in my immediate death, just as every living thing does. Also, following this logic, all living things are slowly dying.

I have quit twice, because my ex-girlfriend wanted me to. I didn't find it all that difficult. In fact, nicotine withdraw feels good in a lot of ways. The only downside is that I'm really irritable for a few days. I started up again both times as a result of breaking up with that ex-girlfriend. Both times, the first thing I did afterward was going to the store and buying a pack of cigarettes because fuck her.

I may eventually quit. Cigarettes anyway. Cigars and the pipe aren't about the nicotine for me and with the amount that I smoke either of them the effects on my health and bankroll are insignificant.

This post sounds really delusional...

You could also logically say you are in enough danger from other things, why exacerbate it by doing something that's stupid, smelly, and harms you?

RAMA

 

[Darth Duck]

I just had a smoke. It was wonderful. I'll give it up soon.

 

[bbailey861]

Ex-smoker. Quit Jul '02.