Smoking and smokers, let's talk about it. (off topic)

[ghostrider]

We hear all kinds of stories from all kinds of people as to why they can't or won't give up.
We hear as many stories, complete with visual effects from anti smoking campaigners, whatever their motive and not all as legitimate as they appear, as far as I'm concerned...but anyway.

The thing is; stopping smoking isn't just about being a health thing these days. Stopping smoking is something that many people are doing because they are simply priced right out of buying them.
It's a valid reason to stop and it appears that the government cares about your health enough to actually price people out...right?

Not really, is it?

To this very day if I take a deep breath and know that I won't smoke again.
I've been through many family traumas since I gave up and some tested my resolve in a massive way, yet I seriously took a few deep breaths and focused on everything but a cigarette.

Never in all my time did I think I had the will power to stop for any length of time but one thing I can say is, time lessens the craving because the craving ends up in your mind and not as a bodily requirement as in the early stages of stopping.

When people used to say to me that the first month is the hardest but once you do it you can go the whole hog...it's true to a large extent.
The major problem with stopping smoking is not giving yourself a reason to stay off them for good..and it has to be a good reason, not just a weak reason of, " I can't afford them so I'll stop."....or " I'll cut down to 10 a day because I can afford that and I can easily manage to stick to 10."
Stuff like that is a waste of time for 99% of addicts.

The biggest route to stopping is to take a look at yourself and how you act with them around people who don't smoke...and trust me you'll never really appreciate the disgust of people around your smell until you become smoke free for long enough to be put into the same place. I kid you not.

[ashingtoon62]

Smoked for 40 years, until 5 years ago when I bought an e-cig Ive never looked back.And before anybody says " you haven't stopped your still getting your nicotine" I say "so fu ck". I can now breathe,there isn't 45 mins of coughing and spewing every morning. I was very surprised by the fact after only a fortnight I felt like I had a pair of new lungs.Iv'e tried to encourage smokers I know to swap over and I'm gobsmacked by some of their responses,"I like smoking"FFS I hated it.Another plus is of course the house,as Ghost says white paintings lack of smell etc.
I can smell a smoker at a hundred paces now and I know that I will never ever light up again...

[michaelowen]

I think I realised I was gonna kill myself with them to be honest. It's said that some people have addictive personalities, I think I'm 1 of those people.

[toptoon]

If you think about it, only the first two drags on a cig are really nice. The rest of it isn’t that great.
As with most addictions it’s the thought of having a smoke which is much better than actually doing it.
One tip for giving up is trying to avoid situations where you always smoked. If you always lit up with your morning coffee, then don’t have a morning coffee - have a glass of juice or nothing. And then there’s the really hard one- having a smoke with a beer........

[HughieG]

As with most addictions it’s the thought of having a smoke which is much better than actually doing it.

Absolutely. It's always the thought and the feeling of wanting or needing a cig more than actually having it.

One tip for giving up is trying to avoid situations where you always smoked. If you always lit up with your morning coffee, then don’t have a morning coffee - have a glass of juice or nothing. And then there’s the really hard one- having a smoke with a beer........

I think this is where people who have tried or even succeeded in quitting are divided - I haven't quit (yet ), but my friend recently quit and he goes to the exact same places where he used to smoke with the same people that he used to smoke with. And they still smoke. For him it wasn't about changing the location, it was about changing the habits that he had whilst being at these locations. After some time now it has becomem ore than natural for him not to smoke and everybody respects that - so IMO you also need friends around you that are empathic of your situation.

[ex_pat_magpie]

I didn't start until I was in mid 20's and that was after going through a period of 19 months National Service served in Germany where we got them for one shilling (5p to the youngsters) for 20. I was popular coming home on leave saving weeks of allowance and giving them to friends.

Gave up for 8 years then stupidly began again at a party. Had my last one 25th Nov 1975 when buying a house and haven't even laid a finger on one since.

I still must admit when someone lights one up the initial fresh smoke smell I still find pleasant but can't stand the stale smell of exhaled smoke.

[ghostrider]

I would never turn my nose up at smokers because that would be hypocritical of me. However, it takes a length of time off the addiction to appreciate the many many things that are wrong with the addiction to smoking as opposed to what the supposed benefits are to those that still smoke.

1. You don't realise how bad your clothes smell and your hair.

2. Nicotine stains on the fingers.

3. Yellowing teeth and dark tartar build up around the base of the teeth and gum.

4.The coughing and wheezing in any weather but worse in colder weather.

5.The inconvenience when you're out having a drink of having to go outside each time you want a smoke which is heightened by the amount you drink.
It can be a joy in the summer but a pain in the winter or damp weather.

6. The torture when smoking in confined areas with people around you who don't smoke. Most people put up with it out of politeness but secretly are despising being around the smoke. This will rarely be acknowledged by the smoker because generally smokers believe their hazard is solely to themselves...but, like me, will occasionally do certain things like I mentioned earlier, by blowing smoke away from people who don't smoke or winding down a car window in a belief that I'm actually helping.

7. Ashtrays around the home that look unsightly when there's a good few stubs in them, as well as the stench of it which is bad enough for a smoker but 10 times worse for a non-smoker.

8. As has been said earlier; the walls and ceiling and woodwork and basically anything that isn't generally cleaned as a matter of everyday tasks. That yellowing is not appreciated until the repainting is underway.

The thing is, those who are around it simply become used to it.
The smoker with the nicotine fingers or the yellowing teeth or stenching hair/clothes, etc, just take it as par for the course of their lives. It's not a shame to them because it's a normality.
This was how I ran with it.
Now and again I'd see my inner fingertips look a bit too dark and i'd give them a good scouring.
Brushing teeth doesn't rid your teeth of the yellowing, just some of it.

Do you know what the real bad part of it all is?
It's when your own family beg for you to cut right down or better still, stop and you shrug them off as interfering... at the low end to nodding in agreement without ever taking in anything that's said... at the better end.

You only ever really know the consequences of it all when you've stopped long enough to feel the full benefits of it all and it takes time... it really does, to rid yourself of the major downsides of it all.

The beauty of it all though, is, bit by bit you feel the difference.
One week you'll feel better in yourself, plus your clothing and skin smelling and looking better.
Another week and your breathing becomes a lot better, plus your coughing subsides dramatically.

The cravings are still there and you do have to battle it out which isn't helped if you like a drink, because we all know, drinks in and wits are out. It takes nothing to pick one cigarette up, even for a few drags, to knock you right back.

Just one month in and the benefits are massive. One month.
Seriously this is the hardest obstacle of time you'll ever endure with craving and it starts to make you appreciate how bad it is/was to smoke.
Up to that month, give or take, you'll literally feel like you're getting robbed.

You'll question every aspect of why should you stop and you'll look at other people appearing to enjoy a smoke around you and envy them.
In a few short months you end up pitying them and hoping you could help them, but knowing how difficult that is when you were once in that same boat.

Like Toptoon said earlier in this topic. The first few drags on a cigarette are the most satisfying and it's basically true. The rest of a cigarette through the day is generally just because it's there.
Generally, for me, it was the first roll up on a morning that I enjoyed fully, then one after every meal I sort of enjoyed near fully.
The rest were just because they were there and the fact that I could smoke them.

It's like eating a meal. You enjoy the meal but snacking throughout the day becomes a habit rather than a real need for a feed. You convince yourself you enjoy it but in reality you are picking for the sake of it being there.

Take that food away or look at empty cupboards and your food craving goes through the roof. You want what isn't there and you crave for it.
Just like late at night when you open your tab box/baccy tin/pouch and realise it's empty. You start to get irritated and start hunting about for a loose one or some loose baccy and even raid the ashtray to make a roll up with the putrid remnants of the cigarette nippers that are laden with tar and strong as all hell.

Same with food. You look in the cupboard and see two slices of bread that might not be the softest and nothing else. Brown sauce on bread? Tomato sauce on bread?
Toast it and add the remnants of the butter tub.
Basically you'll do anything to eat yet wouldn't give it a thought if the cupboards were full.

It's a mind addiction that can be overcome and trust me, if I can do it, anyone can do it. I seriously mean that.

I still remember all the arguments I had with people who had stopped or didn't smoke at all....ever.
They'd say, " give them up man they're no good for you. You're coughing and wheezing."
I'd say " Look lads, I'll never give up because I enjoy smoking and I could get run over by a bus or die of something else if I stopped, so I'll take my chances."

All kinds of stuff like that came out of my gob.
A staunch man who stands his ground and will carry on doing what I want to do even if it damages the well being of others as well as myself.
And here I am over 3 years later doing the very opposite of what I stood up for....and guess what?

It's the best thing I've ever done in my entire life outside of my wife and kids.

Many ex smokers say you never lose the craving. I disagree to a point because it's not the craving that refuses to go away, it's merely the odd sporadic memory of what you remember about it.
Your real craving goes after a few months and all you're left with is a sort of reminiscing mind.

All I can say to anyone that's been smoke free for a month. You've done the hardest part so don't look back in envy of losing out, look forward with pride that you conquered something you didn't believe you could.
Use this as your further enhancement of time without and before long you'll be like me looking back and wondering how in the hell you lit up in the first place.

Let nobody, no matter who they are or how convincing they are, tell you that it's ok to weaken or to " go on have a tab with us you know you can stop at any time now." kind of thing because the only qualified person to judge that is your rational self which tells you otherwise.

If you jumped off a bridge and broke your legs and took an age to climb back up onto it and heal over time. Only a fool would go back to the bridge and jump again.

Never half heartedly try to stop. It's all or nothing for 99.9% of people, but 99% will think they have control over sporadic attempts. The reality is much different which any honest person would agree to.

[pboromag]

anyone who smokes shouldnt be treated under the nhs

neither should morbedly obese people

why should my taxes go towards those that continually smoke knowing the dangers to health that it causes

same with excessive drinkers


any way shut the nhs and lets all take out a private medical insurance with a guarantee of mediacal aid to those that cant afford it ,however if they can afford to smoke they can afford a limited insurance schenme

[Jammy89]

I don't smoke and to be honest beyond the occasional 1 when i was uni and had a few i've never got into the habit.

This was despite most of my friends getting into it (several still are). I didn't have a reason for not when all were, i just didn't want to and stuck to my guns about it.

[toonlegend]

I stopped smoking 6 years ago

if i'd known it was this easy i might have given up years ago and saved myself a fortune.

i didn't tell anyone i'd stopped i just did, didn't use patches/nicotine gum/e cigarettes or anything.. just said to myself i wasn't gonna smoke that day ( but i might the next day) i had about 140 cigarettes in the house at the time. felt easier knowing they were there and that IF I wanted one i could have one.

i can't afford to smoke anyway. i think i had my 1st cigarette when i was about 10 and would say became a smoker when i was about 12 or 13 maybe 14.

health benefits - can't say i've noticed any - still cough, still breathless, then i think eeh well how much worse i might have been then