Smoking?

[allan]

Now in full mode quitting this super bad habit but its a struggle.
Every time I've relapse it gets harder to do!

Attempt number one:
Made weak tea from tobacco and used it to fight the cravings. Tastes like crap and the after sharing this with a doctor the told my i was mad.
Worked well stopped for a year.

Two:
Used a alcohol based product called "Quit". Works well but gave me instant hiccups.
Stopped for 8 months.

Three:
Tried vaping. Not the same punch and found it to be worse, as long as the battery is ok you can simply press a button and suck i was smoking more than ever.
Especially while driving looks like the car is on fire.
And if the batteries quit on you its back to cigarettes.

Four:
Used only the vape liquid with nicotine on the tongue, same hiccup problem. Worked for a month.

So cold turkey without killing someone?

Any smokers here struggling? Any ex-smokers with good advice?
Would like to hear from you.

Smoking in my experience is common among techs especially here. Wonder why that is?

[greglogston]

Re: Smoking?

Had the "widowmaker" heart attack and required a quadrupal bypass surgery. That really helped! Seriously, you just need to convince yourself and be motivated enough to quit. Figure out for yourself what the actual part of smoking you are addicted to. Is it the nicotine or the routine of having and puffing on the cigarrette? I chew a lot more gum these days.

[Northwestservice]

Re: Smoking?

I smoked for 40 years tried everything to quit nothing worked (and you have tried some interesting things) don't stop trying to quit when your mind is done with smoking you will be done with smoking. the last a final time I bought a box of nicotine patches when I felt like a smoke I put the patch on when the crave went away I took it off, i reused the same patch for several days, just holding it on my arm at first then on my neck. I did not use the complete box of 12 patches and I have not smoked 10 years now. good luck keep trying

[Synthohol]

Re: Smoking?

the patch works as long as you are totally committed to quitting.
i was a 2 pack a day smoker and 2 years ago march i started vaping.
tried a dozen different juices, 3 different vapes and settled on the penguin by joyetech before i found a house brand graham cracker. has the same throat hit as a marlboro light (my preference) and started with 18mg nicotine and now down to 12.
for the first 3 weeks i switched off between cigs and vape during the day, until i was out of cigs. vaped ever since, haven't looked back. saved more than $7,000.00+ so far.
after a few months there was more and more money in our account and thought we missed paying a bill or something, then realized we were not spending almost 25.00/day between the 2 of us adds up even after spending on different vapes and trying juices.

listen, i was a diehard smoker, id be in the car with one in my mouth and id reach for another to light it not even remember i was already puffing away. many times.

my customers like i dont smell like an ashtray anymore. thats a great bonus.

i fully support you ridding yourself of tobacco, you just REALLY want to quit.
try the vape again, try different house flavors of your local shop.
in the beginning i used dragons blood which tasted like skittles, then when i got sick of that i started trying all the house brands, i found the sweet ones like lemonade and cotton candy are gross. i should be moving to 6mg nic by the summer, then 4 then 2 then 0 or quit entirely.
its a process man, you just have to need/want it.
im proof of that, i can give you all sorts of positives like i had 1 cold in 2 years, never hock a lugie in the shower anymore. just so many positive changes, i use less salt and sugar because my taste buds are back 100% and man food taste so much better you have no idea.

anyway, good luck man, you can do it if you really want.

[allan]

Re: Smoking?

I have an addictive personality they say. Used about every known substance at some time including all the hardcore stuff.
Screwed me up for 8 years, was working and functioning! Only people that really knew me could tell something was astray.
And the employers that did, well did not care because stuff got done.

Finally took my first and last encounter with meth(ice) to scare me shitless, booked myself into a prison like facility for an entire year!
Once in there your stuck no way out. Against the law and highly effective! Lost of people from around the world come here for some good old bush isolation. Want to escape sure thing only about a 100Km on foot nice way to encounter lions and hyenas...
That worked!!! and God bless those guys for fixing me.

Clean now for the same 8 years and less than no interest to go back even stopped occasional social drink don't like the feeling anymore. Getting plastered is reserved for a few special friends.

Know the effects of withdraw of all of them, but this nicotine thing...
So yes addicted to the nicotine for sure, but this self justification that it's only cigarettes and not the stuff of old is probable the bigger demon.
Its time i can feel it, not because I need to. Still healthy but to have victory over my vices seems to be the motivation.

[blackcat4866]

Re: Smoking?

I guess that I'm not very average.

I smoked pipes and cigars in the 80's. I was used to a much harder draw, so when I got a cigarette it was gone in one draw. I considered it a party trick at the time.

I honestly never felt a need/addiction. I tapered off smoking in the late 80's due to lack of interest, and never looked back. I still have an rare/occasional cigar, but I can't remember the last time specifically.

Sorry that I cannot offer anything useful there.


I did have a pretty severe caffeine addiction. I reached a point when I was chugging 3 pots of coffee a day. Like a friend, I began to notice severe headaches on the weekend when I got only one or two pots a day.

My solution was to measure up the fluid volume (I seem to recall 128oz=1 gallon). With each sequential day I would pour first one add'l tablespoon of water, then the coffee to volume. Each day more water, less coffee. At about 50/50 I began to notice an interesting thing: When I laid down in bed I actually slept.

For a couple years I went entirely without coffee. In recent years I take 6oz of cold brew in the morning and that's it. That's an interesting side affect of that addiction, I never cared whether coffee was hot, luke-warm, cold, or frozen like a popsicle. Coffee never tastes good as it smells anyway. =^..^=

[allan]

Re: Smoking?

I guess that I'm not very average.

I smoked pipes and cigars in the 80's. I was used to a much harder draw, so when I got a cigarette it was gone in one draw. I considered it a party trick at the time.

I honestly never felt a need/addiction. I tapered off smoking in the late 80's due to lack of interest, and never looked back. I still have an rare/occasional cigar, but I can't remember the last time specifically.

Sorry that I cannot offer anything useful there.


I did have a pretty severe caffeine addiction. I reached a point when I was chugging 3 pots of coffee a day. Like a friend, I began to notice severe headaches on the weekend when I got only one or two pots a day.

My solution was to measure up the fluid volume (I seem to recall 128oz=1 gallon). With each sequential day I would pour first one add'l tablespoon of water, then the coffee to volume. Each day more water, less coffee. At about 50/50 I began to notice an interesting thing: When I laid down in bed I actually slept.

For a couple years I went entirely without coffee. In recent years I take 6oz of cold brew in the morning and that's it. That's an interesting side affect of that addiction, I never cared whether coffee was hot, luke-warm, cold, or frozen like a popsicle. Coffee never tastes good as it smells anyway. =^..^=

Hehe Lol cracking up. Party trick... Poof gone.

Apologies see now its under the Konica Minolta forum. Anyway to fix that after the fact?

[Phil B.]

Re: Smoking?

never really smoked cigs...

pipe for about 18 yrs... (30yr ago)

started using 'dip' 12yrs ago....

so I guess the only thing that smokes here is my grill!

[blackcat4866]

Re: Smoking?

Apologies see now its under the Konica Minolta forum. Anyway to fix that after the fact?

Nope. But I won't complain. =^..^=

[ZOOTECH]

Re: Smoking?

I had a 2 pack a day habit for 25 years until I had surgery, and the hospital would not release me until my oxygen level was at a good level; about 3 times the normal recovering time. I tried the patch, and had a near overdose (stupid, I know, but I was still smoking). The gum, however, did work; it kept me orally occupied, and worked - 18 years without a urge to smoke.

[jonhiker]

Re: Smoking?

You need to tell yourself it is time and use lots of mental power. Drinking a lot of water will help flush the stuff out of the system. Then, when you want a smoke.. do something else, take a walk, read a quick article, play with the kids, grandkids, dog, or cat or what ever.

Wash all of your clothes really well and then really clean the carpets and other stuff to get rid of any odor.

this is what worked for me and that was 30 years ago. a pack of generic cigarettes was $1.00 and i though it was tooo expensive.

[mjunkaged]

Re: Smoking?

I smoked my first cigarette at 5, and swiped/smoked them throughout my childhood. Then I started smoking regularly at age 12. I knew I needed to quit, but like you say, it's tough, nicotine is quite addictive. First decade or so, I switched from regular, to light, to ulltralight. THEN, I started rationing those to one per hour (so, about 16 death sticks a day). Of course, cheat a few half smokes between hours when stressed.
Price of real cigs got up to $10 per pack here with all the taxes. WOW!
There was an ad on tv for alternacigs, a cigarette-looking stick with a battery and vaporizer built in, I think the filter had the nicotine (brown part) and screwed to the battery. They tasted NASTY, just like a real cig!! I started using those, but had about 7 packs of light name-brands left. So I 'treated' myself to one real smoke a day, until they were gone.
A month or 3 in with those, and the company forgot to send my nicotine refills!! I got pissed, shopped online, found johnson creek juice co. who sold "VEA" brand pens. And they had fruity flavored nicotine juice!! That's what I still use 6 years later, I'm not a fan of the thick huge fog-machine giant battery jobs. This gives me a light vape, similar to light cigs.

[Hansoon]

Re: Smoking?

Started very young and smoked for exactly 50 years. Cigarettes, some pipe, but mostly cigars. My, that time, new cardiologist put his hand on my shoulder, looking into my eyes, asking me "Do you really need that"? I felt like a silly stupid kid caught doing something shameful. The following days I was sitting in my office with in front of me the ashtray and I realized once again the horrible stench of the old cigar butts and almost had to puke. Collected my cigars from all places and put them in the wastebin. Didn't want to be any longer a slave.

Two years now but still every day there is regularly the desire to smoke but I have to remember the stench of the ashtray and am cured again.

Hans

[mjunkaged]

Re: Smoking?

It's amazing to me how I got used to the stench and could not even smell it most of the time when I smoked all day. You get nose-blind!

[kingarthur]

Re: Smoking?

smoked from about the age of 12, was on average 2 - 3 packs a day, then 30 years ago i moved into a new flat, saw how bad the old flat was when i moved out, decided i didn't want my new flat to look the same....gave up smoking there and then... Just used will power and nothing else, no nicotine cravings nothing.... though i did put on a bit on a bit of weight as i was eating instead