Anyone feel like quitting smoking?

For years I've felt like having a smoke was a perfect contrast to my first impression. Young gal, runs a mile each morning, watches what she eats, but smokes a pack a day (at work, on partying nights this can easily sky rocket to 2-3 packs a night).

For whatever reason I've decided this could possibly be a bad habit (there's rumors it can be fatal, believe it or not). If there's any other Orgah's who've been smoking for a decade or two, wanna start a thread to see who can go the longest without? I'm sure I'll be the first failure, but what the hey. Could be a fun competition.

Reply here (of course) if there's any interest. Maybe we could start a pool and the first to give in (me, undoubtedly) gives a donation to a charity of the first loser's choice. I say five bucks for everyone who fails, and the first Orgah out, has to fork out the sum to the charity of their choice. Of course, we're following the honor code here.

Anyone game?

I smoked for ten years. It's a hard habit to give up. Whenever one of my attempts to free myself of the nicotine monkey would fail, I would take comfort in Mark Twain's words: "There is nothing so hard about quitting tobacco; I myself have done it hundreds of times."

I strongly recommend you take yourself off in stages, using some sort of nicotine replacement at first. The cheapest nicotine gum can be bought here. It's much, much cheaper to buy your gum from overseas, so bear that in mind. I've used the linked pharmacy, never had an issue, so you have them as an option.

Glad to offer any encouragement anybody wants. It ain't easy getting the monkey off your back.

I think Robert Downey Jr once said "It's easy to stop taking drugs, the hard bit is not taking it up again." The same applies to cigarettes. I got a couple mates all smokers, started with them just doing it at parties. But now its a pack or more a day. It really takes a toll on their fitness, and it shows.

My dad was a heavy smoker and he said the best way is to do it with a couple of people who want to quit as well and will push you through it.

For about 5 or 4 years have I been a smoker and heavily addicted too. Strangely I ceased it multiple times without noticeable trouble: it was easy and I somehow instantly "switched" my mentality.

Later I made conscious decisions on restarting the habit due to the reason it would relieve boredom if I ever had it and the fact I enjoyed the taste of smoke (of good cigarettes and cigars).

Now I have not smoked in a long time and undergo no difficulties once again. A mental barrier is to control the act and urge to smoking. Even if both the physical and the mental are feeble, one must control the urge mentally and logically. Suppress your need and you are to succeed.

Your need is then to be negated (soon enough).

Only thing I've quit is soft drinks, so I have no experience in quitting smoking. Given the horrible taste of the smoke, the coughing it causes, and the blurry vision, I can't see how it's possible to get addicted to it in the first place? :confused:

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Originally Posted by LegioXXXUlpiaVictrix

Only thing I've quit is soft drinks, so I have no experience in quitting smoking. Given the horrible taste of the smoke, the coughing it causes, and the blurry vision, I can't see how it's possible to get addicted to it in the first place? :confused:

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Because everyone knows it makes you look cool and will get you beautiful girls.

http://www.grimmemennesker.dk/data/m...ale-smoker.jpg

Not that i can talk...i would give up, but i see no reason to, and hey, i enjoy it.

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Originally Posted by LegioXXXUlpiaVictrix

Only thing I've quit is soft drinks, so I have no experience in quitting smoking. Given the horrible taste of the smoke, the coughing it causes, and the blurry vision, I can't see how it's possible to get addicted to it in the first place? :confused:

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I can agree with cigarettes. A good cigar, on the other hand, is, in my opinion, easier to get addicted too.

Prol, I don't smoke cigarettes, but I wish you the best of luck.

Not at the moment, but it's on the agenda.

Good luck prole. :thumbsup:

Heh, I always like it when people say that smoking may kill you, sex may kill me as well. As does falling from a skyscraper. You'll die anyway, why bother.

That's basically how I feel. Cigarettes are damned good fun, fun which is of course inexplicable to non-smokers. Ah well, some charity will go wanting for prize money. My brand has a buy-two-get-one-free deal right now so naturally I bought near a shelf-full.

~:smoking:

:laugh4:

I seriously need to quit too. I didn't even make it through to the end of this thread without a puff.

I've promised myself to quit next year, in september. I will be going to America for vacation then with my father. To Disneyworld, for old times sake. I know about their anti-smoking policy, and hope to make good use of it.

The tough part will be not picking smoking up again. I've quit before, it's not that hard actually. But once an addict, always an addict.

It's not the smoking I miss when I've quit. The problem is that I can't stand coffee without a smoke. Every bloody day, with every cup of coffee I drink, I feel miserably sorry for myself. So my days are ruined. Then at night I want a smoke after dinner with that glass of wine. But I can't enjoy that glass of wine without a cigarette. So I skip the wine. Then I notice I can't enjoy dinner without that glass of wine. So I skip dinner too. Which makes me hungry after a couple of weeks, so I long for nicotine to surpress my appetite, lots of it. And inevitably, at this stage I'll get a chain-smoking girlfriend. Or I will spend a few days in a row in bars hanging out with smoking friends. And I simply can't resist the temptation of a cigarette when I'm drunk, no matter how long I've quit. ~:mecry:

Good luck Prol and all other Orgahs who are going to take up the challenge.

Problem with smoking is that you have to give money to some guy who is living off human weakness to a drug*, i.e you take some and your brain hurts to make you get more. The upside is that you will feel your body fitness deteriorate which could force you to quit smoking. Although smoking in pubs 'n' clubs on a night out can add to the fun along with alchohol, it adds no reason to need to smoke at all points in the day but if you don't smoke at all points in the day you will not spend as much money on them.

To be fair, I can see more point in cigars. Good cigars are well made and designed for pleasure and generally more tasteful.

If you want to quit smoking then try to think of it as if you have a hard life where you have been captured by the enemy and they are putting you through immense amounts of pain to reveal the location of "the rebel base". Being the strong-minded, proud human being that you are, you ignore the pain and refuse to take a cigarette (reveal the location of "the rebel base") and instead spit in the face of the guy who offered it (the torturer).

In other words, show some brass mortal and stop a stupid habit! :yes: :yes:

*Dont forget, this guy has kids you inconsiderate so and so who wants to quit smoking!

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Originally Posted by Stig

You'll die anyway, why bother.

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Fair enough. But if you've seen the anti-smoking ads we have here you might change your mind, they're quite gruesome.

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Originally Posted by Louis VI the Fat

I seriously need to quit too. I didn't even make it through to the end of this thread without a puff.

I've promised myself to quit next year, in september. I will be going to America for vacation then with my father. To Disneyworld, for old times sake. I know about their anti-smoking policy, and hope to make good use of it.

The tough part will be not picking smoking up again. I've quit before, it's not that hard actually. But once an addict, always an addict.

It's not the smoking I miss when I've quit. The problem is that I can't stand coffee without a smoke. Every bloody day, with every cup of coffee I drink, I feel miserably sorry for myself. So my days are ruined. Then at night I want a smoke after dinner with that glass of wine. But I can't enjoy that glass of wine without a cigarette. So I skip the wine. Then I notice I can't enjoy dinner without that glass of wine. So I skip dinner too. Which makes me hungry after a couple of weeks, so I long for nicotine to surpress my appetite, lots of it. And inevitably, at this stage I'll get a chain-smoking girlfriend. Or I will spend a few days in a row in bars hanging out with smoking friends. And I simply can't resist the temptation of a cigarette when I'm drunk, no matter how long I've quit. ~:mecry:

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Don't the cigarettes negatively effect the taste of the coffee and wine, though?

Just for the record, I had to quite coffee and alcohol for a good, long time when I went off the ciggies. Took me a couple of years to be able to enjoy them without wanting to smoke.

Honestly, dropping caffeine and alcohol was dirt simple compared to getting off nicotine.

I had a friend in NYC who lived next to an addiction halfway home. All of the ex-heroin junkies would be out front smoking. They could kick heroin, but they couldn't get off the smokes. It's some seriously addictive stuff. (And oh how I miss it.)

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Originally Posted by Lemur

I smoked for ten years. It's a hard habit to give up. Whenever one of my attempts to free myself of the nicotine monkey would fail, I would take comfort in Mark Twain's words: "There is nothing so hard about quitting tobacco; I myself have done it hundreds of times."

I strongly recommend you take yourself off in stages, using some sort of nicotine replacement at first. The cheapest nicotine gum can be bought here. It's much, much cheaper to buy your gum from overseas, so bear that in mind. I've used the linked pharmacy, never had an issue, so you have them as an option.

Glad to offer any encouragement anybody wants. It ain't easy getting the monkey off your back.

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My dad must be one of those exceptions then. Having smoked for ages and ages (since long before I was born), one day he decided to quit smoking, and has never felt the urge to return.

Wow, a good step into the right direction, Prole.:2thumbsup:

Personally, the only contact I had with cigarettes was when I held one for a friend, and then I tried to hold it into the wind, hoping it would be burnt on his return...
Anyway, cigarettes are evil, smell very, very bad and make you addicted (yeah, land of the free etc. ~;) ).
I don't really get how anyone can say they're fun or tasty, to me that sounds like his/her addiction is speaking.:whip:

Good luck, Prole. :yes:

Personally, I hate the smell, so yeah. Never saw the appeal. Then again considering my dislike for alcohol, drugs, (you name it), etc. as well my taste might be slightly skewed.

I'm already unhealthy enough as is.

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Originally Posted by Pannonian

My dad must be one of those exceptions then. Having smoked for ages and ages (since long before I was born), one day he decided to quit smoking, and has never felt the urge to return.

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It's variable from person to person. Most people who smoke are highly addicted, but ask any neurochemistry major to expound on idiosyncratic reactions to addictive stimulants, and you'll get an earful.

My dad, the Marine, used to tell us that everybody has their drug, and if you're very, very unlucky, someday you'll meet it. Mine was ciggies. Getting off them was pure hell. Many a time I wished fervently that they were illegal, 'cause the sheer availability of them worked against me.

Before I got addicted, I used to suffer from two related fallacies: (1) Addicts lack willpower, and (2) I have a high pain threshold, so I must be very strong-willed. Both of these concepts came crashing down when I finally admitted I was hooked on smokes. High pain tolerance just means you can endure a lot of physical ouches, and has jack-all to do with willpower. And when you're well and truly addicted, it takes rather more than "I will it so!" to get you clean.

But as I said, not everybody reacts to drugs the same way. I've never encountered any other substance that got its claws into me quite as bad as ciggies.

Anyone feel like quiting being 10 hours dayly in a pc?

:help:

Lmao CF.

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Originally Posted by Rythmic

Lmao CF.

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ITs not funny. I need serious help.

Try smoking marijuana. In vast quantities. I'm talking two-gram joints, all at once. Or better yet, find some heavy-duty hash.

At the very least, the resulting psychedelic episode will force you to face your addiction firsthand.

Plus, aside from being more dangerous to your respiratory system, marijuana is far safer for your entire body than tobacco. And no, I am not pulling that out of my ass; the American Medical Association recently released a report summarizing some 1,400 studies indicating that tobacco consumption essentially damages every organ in the body. :sweatdrop:

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Originally Posted by Reverend Gonzo

Try smoking marijuana. In vast quantities. I'm talking two-gram joints, all at once. Or better yet, find some heavy-duty hash.

At the very least, the resulting psychedelic episode will force you to face your addiction firsthand.

Plus, aside from being more dangerous to your respiratory system, marijuana is far safer for your entire body than tobacco. And no, I am not pulling that out of my ass; the American Medical Association recently released a report summarizing some 1,400 studies indicating that tobacco consumption essentially damages every organ in the body. :sweatdrop:

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Now there i agree with you!

Once a month is all i can afford and once a month is enough for me. No addiction and a zillion times better than the tobacco monster.

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Originally Posted by Rythmic

Fair enough. But if you've seen the anti-smoking ads we have here you might change your mind, they're quite gruesome.

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Yeah, it's not so much you'd die anyway so why would one bother stopping, but to me it's more the way you could die. Wouldn't want lung cancer eating away at my body, if I - to some extent - had that in my own hands by quitting the cigs.

Anyway, I'm glad I didn't take up the habit as so many of my friends did. Sometimes I wonder where they get the money from, 4 euro's (6 dollars ?) for a pack is a lot...

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Try smoking marijuana. In vast quantities. I'm talking two-gram joints, all at once. Or better yet, find some heavy-duty hash.

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Isn't smoking a joint the equivalent of 6 cigarettes ?

And putting two grams in a joint is a waste you know, and that's not even taking into consideration the pain it takes to light one of those monsters...

:balloon2:

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Wouldn't want lung cancer eating away at my body, if I - to some extent - had that in my own hands by quitting the cigs.

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Or Gangrene brought on by smoking, or your teeth failing out and rotting, or cancer of almost every major bodily organ. ~D

Nicotine is a killer, but so is stress. Since I have the tendency to go bonkers over nothing smoking is the best choise.

The only downside of marijuana is the fact if you play sports or apply for a job that requires a drug test you are screwed.

If we may move away from cannabis back to nicotine for a moment, here's a good article written for non-scientists about some of the fascinating neurological effects of the drug, and its implications:

Researchers Light Up for Nicotine, the Wonder Drug

Marty Graham Email 06.20.07 | 2:00 AM

Smoking may be bad for you, but researchers and biotech companies are quietly developing pharmaceuticals that are decidedly good for brains, bowels, blood vessels and even immune systems -- and they're inspired by tobacco's deadly active ingredient: nicotine.

Nicotine acts on the acetylcholine receptors in the brain, stimulating and regulating the release of a slew of brain chemicals, including seratonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. Not surprisingly, the first scientific work that identified these chemicals and how they affect the body came out of nicotine research -- much of it performed by tobacco companies.

Now drugs derived from nicotine and the research on nicotine receptors are in clinical trials for everything from helping to heal wounds, to depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, anger management and anxiety.

"Nicotine is highly stigmatized -- and for good reason, because the delivery system is so deadly," says Don deBethizy, CEO of Targacept. "But the drug itself and the research generated by studying its effects on the brain both show great promise for helping us improve our physical and mental health."

DeBethizy worked for R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company for 15 years -- he was one of the first to publicly declare that tobacco is addictive -- before he spun Targacept off as a separate company. RJR retains a 4 percent share of the Winston Salem biotech, which has one mission: to develop drugs that target the so-called "nicotinic receptors" in the human central-nervous system.

Nicotine performs that function to an unhealthy extreme. "Nicotine itself is hugely potent and not specific enough," says Linda Gretton, Targacept's director of communications. "But the research we have allows us to take the best therapeutic qualities of nicotine and develop treatments that target receptors."

With funding from pharma giant AstraZeneca, Targacept is headed into Phase II clinical trials for a compound that could help overcome cognitive deficits in people who have Alzheimer's or schizophrenia. The company is also in Phase I trials for a compound that treats pain from molar extractions. The drugs both resemble nicotine in their molecular makeup, but are missing nicotine's addictive properties and toxicity.

Research into the medicinal qualities of nicotine was spurred in the 1990s by the availability of nicotine skin patches. For the first time clinical researchers had a form of nicotine that would deliver a reliable dose for study, and could be paired with placebos in blind trials.

Patients suffering from ulcerative colitis -- a bowel disease -- were subjects of some of the first studies, following observations of unusually low rates of smoking among those with the condition. A 1982 article in the British medical journal The Lancet was titled, "Non-smoking: a feature of ulcerative colitis." Researchers subsequently found that the nicotine in cigarette smoke reduced occurrences of ulcerative colitis, though the drug wasn't an ideal treatment.

"It was somewhat effective, but as a long-term treatment it has its drawbacks, systematic side effects and difficulty administering effective doses," says Dr. William Sandborn, of the Mayo Clinic. "Still, there was a time that we had patients using nicotine patches as off-label therapy."

More nicotine surprises followed. In 2000, Stanford researchers who set out to prove that nicotine damages blood vessels found just the opposite: it prompts the growth of new blood vessels. "It may be the reason smokers' cancers are so aggressive, says Dr. Scott Harkonen, CEO of drugmaker CoMentis. "But it also raises the question: where would you want to promote new blood-vessel growth?"

The answer, it turns out, was found in diabetes patients, who too often lose a lower extremity to amputation after a wound becomes gangrenous -- a result of poor blood circulation. Rates of amputations have steadily increased, Harkonen says, and nicotine could be a key to reversing that trend. Now CoMentis is in Phase II studies for "a gel that contains nicotine that's applied directly to the wound site," says Harkonen.

CoMentis is also working with a European company to study the effects of nicotine on the immune system, where it seems to quiet immune responses that go haywire with certain immune disorders.

None of the nicotine-based drugs and molecular siblings have yet come to market, and the stigma attached to nicotine may cause patients to recoil. But "the idea of nicotine-based drugs is alive and well," says the Mayo Clinic's Sandborn, a gastroenterologist who's watching from the wings. "There aren't any approved drugs yet, but I believe they're coming."

"There will be a variety of nicotine-based drugs coming out," agrees Ed Levin, a nicotine researcher at Duke University, who's done groundbreaking research on improving mental function in schizophrenia, Alzheimer's patients and people with ADHA. Levin believes the drugs are something to look forward to.

"There will be great progress when the nicotine sister drugs come to market," he says. "About half the cigarettes in this country are bought by people with psychiatric problems -- high percentages of people with depression and schizophrenia smoke, for example.

"When we can give people their medicine in a form that doesn't kill them, it will be real progress."

Fascinating. Thanks, Lemur.

I'll join.

Oh wait, I wasn't dumb enough to start smoking in the first place.

I can quit for months at a time. I had quit for 6 when Jillian was born. But damn me for a fool if I don't find myself having one at some event late in the evening after a couple beers or glasses of wine. I'll quit again, but honestly, I don't see it lasting for long. I'm what you'd call a 'functional' smoker, I only smoke after I get home from work in the evening. So I could keep drinking coffee, but like Louis, my evening dinner and any alcohol would just leave me wanting a smoke.

Anyway, how is your quitting going so far Prole? Anybody else take up the challenge? I'll check back in after a couple of *white-knuckle* days. :furious3:

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Originally Posted by Don Corleone

Anyway, how is your quitting going so far Prole? Anybody else take up the challenge? I'll check back in after a couple of *white-knuckle* days. :furious3:

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It lasted for about 30 minutes, Don.

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Originally Posted by Proletariat

It lasted for about 30 minutes, Don.

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Bad girl. <:angry:>

I'll be sure and give you and Itchy a good deal of hell in the chat frequently. Each cancer stick is 7 minutes off your life. Both my maternal grandparents were dead before my mom was 19 due to cancer from cigarettes, and mom was a smoker too for awhile. I still get a bit antsy thinking about that, and the fact that susceptibility to cancer runs in her side... Also one of the reasons I never smoked (cigarettes at least :grin:) in my life, except maybe one or two at parties every once in a blue moon in college.

Hop to it already! And seriously, best of luck everyone.

:balloon2:

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Originally Posted by Craterus

I'll join.

Oh wait, I wasn't dumb enough to start smoking in the first place.

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:no:

:yes:

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Originally Posted by Whacker

Bad girl. <:angry:>

I'll be sure and give you and Itchy a good deal of hell in the chat frequently. Each cancer stick is 7 minutes off your life. Both my maternal grandparents were dead before my mom was 19 due to cancer from cigarettes, and mom was a smoker too for awhile. I still get a bit antsy thinking about that, and the fact that susceptibility to cancer runs in her side... Also one of the reasons I never smoked (cigarettes at least :grin:) in my life, except maybe one or two at parties every once in a blue moon in college.

Hop to it already! And seriously, best of luck everyone.

:balloon2:

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They realize how bad it is for you, but it's not as easy as simply stopping. Your body is addicted to the chemicals.

By the way, I also had a grandfather who died of lung cancer from pipe smoke and an uncle who died from cigarette smoke. Nasty nasty things.

I wonder if smokers ever notice the large white labels with large black letters attached to every packet of smokes? :whip:

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Originally Posted by Sigurd Fafnesbane

I wonder if smokers ever notice the large white labels with large black letters attached to every packet of smokes? :whip:

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In a word: no.

At least not after seeing it the first time. In the mind of the smoker, it's just one more source of getting yelled at, on top of all the places he/she has been kicked out of, and on top of the onerous taxes imposed 'for the children'.

So an otherwise perfectly rational, mature adult has to resort to the denial tactics of a 2-year old (eyes squinted shut, fingers in ears, singing "Lalalala, I don' hear nuffin' or see nuffin' cuz I don' wanna", figuratively speaking).

A pack-a-day smoker has to perform this exercise 20 times a day. After years of practice, he can jump through that little hoop of humiliation in a nano-second.

So all the yelling and screaming and charges of weak willpower and dumbness and 'ewww-ness' amount to undifferentiated static in the mind of the smoker, something he just has to put up with, like hot temperatures in July, or the price of wheat in Pango-Pango.
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On the other hand... we observe that it took only 40 years to turn popular opinion and actual public behavior around 180 degrees in regards to cigarettes. Some smart guy ought to study just how that was accomplished so fully, and maybe use it as a paradigm to follow to (almost) eliminate other vices.
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brb. gotta feed the monkey ~:pimp:

I've been thinking about quitting for a while, but next weekend I'll be on vacation in Italy for a week so the effort wouldn't last. I'll try to quit when I come back.

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Originally Posted by Sigurd Fafnesbane

I wonder if smokers ever notice the large white labels with large black letters attached to every packet of smokes? :whip:

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It doesn't work, you simply stop paying attention to it eventually.

Yep, a good idea Prole. Atleast it will be untill i feel the need to go out and smoke my next cigarette of the evening.:embarassed: ~:smoking:

Hey Kagemusha, how expensive is tobacco in Finland? I've seen the prices in Sweden (they're high) and I've heard a lot of Norse get their tobacco there because it's actually cheaper :inquisitive:

Its about 3:50 -4:50 euros a box. We Finns get our cheap cigarettes mainly from Estonia where its lot cheaper.

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Originally Posted by Proletariat

For years I've felt like having a smoke was a perfect contrast to my first impression. Young gal, runs a mile each morning, watches what she eats, but smokes a pack a day (at work, on partying nights this can easily sky rocket to 2-3 packs a night).

For whatever reason I've decided this could possibly be a bad habit (there's rumors it can be fatal, believe it or not). If there's any other Orgah's who've been smoking for a decade or two, wanna start a thread to see who can go the longest without? I'm sure I'll be the first failure, but what the hey. Could be a fun competition.

Reply here (of course) if there's any interest. Maybe we could start a pool and the first to give in (me, undoubtedly) gives a donation to a charity of the first loser's choice. I say five bucks for everyone who fails, and the first Orgah out, has to fork out the sum to the charity of their choice. Of course, we're following the honor code here.

Anyone game?

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Smoked since 15, now 33. Was always atheletic for the most part, so it was balanced.

I quit today, forever. It's about time too. Wish me luck !

... I won't lose. It's over for me, I don't want to smoke anymore, ever.

I'll post back after 8 weeks (hope I remember to) in this thread for confirmation of my victory over my addiction. I am going to win.

Good luck, man. Remember we're all pulling for you! ~:cheers:

And seriously, good luck to *all* of you who are trying to quit. I've had a number of friends stop smoking the last several years, and subsequently I have a fairly good idea of just how difficult it is to do so.

THANKS Martok. I like your spirit.

More than 24 hours now.

I did compensate by having 3 glasses of white, and 3 of red wine at a wine tasting this evening. Keep in mind I met all my goals for the week so a few glasses of wine were well deserved, PLUS I added quit smoking. Just like that, without much thought.

When I felt the need to smoke, luckily someone started singing the Happy Birthday song ! Perfect excuse for conversation, I just got out that "need for nicotine" right out on the prettiest blond in that group. Letting her enjoy all that extra energy that came from not smoking today. I felt quite relieved afterwards (HAHAAHA! because I managed the approach!), I'm not usually the approach guy, but I think that's a good way. If you feel you need to smoke talk to a pretty and interesting woman instead. It's sure to get you thinking of far better moments in life than a cigarette. For men all you need to think about is what it does to your manhood. That may be enough, but if not; find yourself women who inspire you with their beauty, elegance & eloquence (and ofc inspire yourself with your lust for them), the combination should be enough. (I'm not suggesting a replacement addiction BTW, just for the record).

I want self improvement, I want a high degree of self mastery, smoking has no place in my life. I'm not going back.

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Originally Posted by Sinan

I want self improvement, I want a high degree of self mastery.

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That, right there is the recipe to success.

Man... you are in for some suprises. The pretty ones are goning to hunt you.
Other people will notice too.. people with the power to give you better jobs and better pay.