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

[ghostrider]

I am an ex smoker.
To start off with, how many people smoke right now and how many do you smoke, plus what brand are they?

Pipe or cigars and do you inhale those?
Cigarettes or loose tobacco and do you inhale those?

How many would like to quit and how many of you are in the process of trying different things to do so, like chewing gum or vaping, etc?

I know how difficult it can be for many people to give up smoking and the reasons for it.
I gave up for three very good reasons.

1. My health.

2. My son badgering me.

3. My wife.

All 3 very good reasons and I'll explain more about then as time goes on if anyone is interested.

I'd like to think my experiences could help other people who might want to quit but believe they don't have the willpower or have too much stress going on in their lives etc, to even dare contemplate it.
Believe me I had all the excuses in the world not to stop but I've been smoke free for over 3 years now.


I'll use this topic to explain my addiction and refusal to fully stop right up to stopping and I sincerely hope it helps anyone who believes they can't quit but would dearly love to.

The basic key to it all is in having reasons to actually do it or taking advantage of an opportunity, as I did and how much you believe you are addicted...because trust me, many people come out with " ohhhh I can stop any time I want but I just enjoy the odd smoke."

I've done all of that. Every excuse ever invented I've probably used.

Anyway, if anyone's up for talking about it feel free and in between I'll tell my story and hope it helps those that are having a hard time trying to stop.

[michaelowen]

Gave up 3 years ago now. 02.03.15. Was stuck in bed with back injury, smoking at least 40 a day. Had been injured for several months and money was running out. Used patches to help ease pain of addiction and I'm so glad I did it.

[ghostrider]

Gave up 3 years ago now. 02.03.15. Was stuck in bed with back injury, smoking at least 40 a day. Had been injured for several months and money was running out. Used patches to help ease pain of addiction and I'm so glad I did it.

What was the defining point which made you quit?
Was is just being in the house and not wanting to stink it out or was there another motive for you to quit?

[toptoon]

I worked fot a tobacco company for 8 years - one of those years I was a blender and so required to smoke as part of the job. On top of that I’d get 600 free ciggies every month.
I tried to stop dozens of times and now have the addiction where I want it. If among smokers I will sometimes smoke on a night out but will then have none for weeks or even months. I never thought this would be possible and I would not recommend trying to do this - it’s best and easier to stop 100%. Sorry to say that you are likely to have an urge to smoke for the rest of your life when quiiting but the frequency of the urge reduces drastically over time.

[ghostrider]

I worked fot a tobacco company for 8 years - one of those years I was a blender and so required to smoke as part of the job. On top of that I’d get 600 free ciggies every month.
I tried to stop dozens of times and now have the addiction where I want it. If among smokers I will sometimes smoke on a night out but will then have none for weeks or even months. I never thought this would be possible and I would not recommend trying to do this - it’s best and easier to stop 100%. Sorry to say that you are likely to have an urge to smoke for the rest of your life when quiiting but the frequency of the urge reduces drastically over time.

By blending do you mean mixing different tobacco plants into specific brands of cigarettes and also adding in the required additional extras, like chemicals to enhance them or strengthen/weaken them?

Did you work for this company in Brazil?

As for the way you handle your addiction. I know a lad that never smokes at work or at home but smokes like a chimney when he's having a drink. Usually when out drinking.

I used to con myself years ago by saying I was going to stop but doing it by reducing the amount I smoked.
What I found with that was, I would feel like I was robbing myself. (Silly but true).

I'd get down from 25 a day (roll ups) and over the next few weeks be down to 10 a day.
Once I got to 10 I did feel a bit better for it by a little bit which I sort of turned into something really massive.

All was ok until I hit 5 a day. I'd be counting hours until my next cigarette. It was torture but on the flip side it was a massive luxury to enjoy one when it was time, until it was smoked and the next few hour wait was ticking.

It lasted another week and then I went hell for leather back into smoking them, ham Sam.
It's one of the worst things to do because all I was doing was conning myself without any real set out purpose as to why only a few and not more to satisfy my addiction.

The feeling of not wanting to be robbed is a key issue with refusal or excuses made to keep smoking.
I'd say all the wrong things in order to make smoking appear the thing to do and a right to do because the belief my smoking wasn't really affecting others was my own selfishness that I genuinely didn't see as being selfish at all...but I'll come to that later.

[ghostrider]

I was a smoker for many many years and from a very young age. I started off smoking tailor made (filtered cigarettes) and smoked about 3 a day as a youngster.
This progressed to about 10 a day, then 20. This was when cigarettes were relatively cheap and advertised.
Into my early 20's I started to realise just how unfit I was. I would also wake up on a morning as if someone had both fists around my lungs. I used to cough and cough like an old bulldozer starting up, yet still lit a cigarette up to help me on with it.

As time went on, cigarettes were becoming expensive and sort of a bit weak for total enjoyment, so I started smoking Golden Virginia hand made roll up cigarettes, with no filters.
I loved them and eventually would not smoke a tailor made cigarette, except if I was caught short and was gasping for one, as we would say.

Mid to late 20's I was basically coughing like an old man who smoked, plus in winter months - outside - I could hardly take a large breath and would cough and splutter, plus I could hardly talk without wheezing and coughing.
The silly part is, it became so normal for me that I actually accepted it for many many years, as just being a smokers cough, which in a way, is what it was.

As smoking became more expensive and even the hand rolling tobacco became more expensive, due to the Government pricing many people out of buying them, it turned people into paying for the cheap (dodgy) brands from overseas. Basically tobacco and cigarettes that weren't what you call, strictly quality controlled. I'm sure you all know what I mean.


To be continued......

[ghostrider]

I also liked a few alcoholic drinks a few times a week at my local and would always moan about being kicked out into the night to smoke. I never thought I was selfish. I thought my right to smoke anywhere I wanted was valid and as valid as anyone else who wanted to enjoy something leisurely, whether it was taking snuff or whatever.
Smoking to me was my leisure. My comfort. My stress relief. It caused no harm to anyone, as far as I was concerned.

The trouble was, I was selfish and ignorant - because smoking is bad for your health - it really is. But so is passive smoking.

My son begged me to stop smoking. I smoked in the house and had ashtrays in various places. Nobody else in my family smoked. They had become used to my smoking habits but were never comfortable with it, but put up with it because they knew I loved a smoke and they knew what I was like when I ran out of smokes, so they sort of grinned and beared it all for my sake and theirs.
They'd hear me cough and splutter in the middle of TV programmes - naturally being put off hearing the TV, but to me, I didn't register their dismay, because it was me that was coughing and I could still enjoy the programme.


To be continued.....

[ghostrider]

I'd be smoking a cigarette and consciously aware of my son only being 2 feet away from me, on the end of the couch, and out of the corner of my eye, I'd see him wafting my smoke back at me and obviously away from him. I'd apologise and consciously blow my smoke in the opposite direction from him, as well as holding my rolled up cigarette in the hand farthest away from him. How thoughtful, eh?

What made it worse was, I would smoke in the car when they were all in. My wife would tell me off but I'd just wind the window down, citing that I like a smoke when I'm driving. Honestly when I think about it, what a selfish prick I was.

Anyway, the first time I decided to try and stop, as in simply going cold turkey, I lasted 2 weeks, but one week into my cold turkey (and bear in mind this was when smoking was allowed in pubs and clubs), I walked into my local with my new sense of worth and able to breathe better, as well as not coughing, only to walk into a cloud of smoke that rendered me speechless. I could hardly talk because the smoke got right on my chest, where one week earlier, I didn't notice any of it. Well, hardly noticed.

I've been smoke free for a over 3 years now. My family can't believe I'm a smoke free zone. The house is clean smelling. I am clean smelling. My family don't smell of smoke (from me) and the internal paintwork is white - not yellow.
I don't cough anymore. I can take a deep breath and not cough. I can go out in the cold and breathe.
How did I manage to stop smoking?


To be continued....

[ghostrider]

In a very strange way to be perfectly honest.

I had a cough that was constant. Not just a smokers cough; this cough was constant and was wearing me out. I could not smoke a cigarette. I tried to smoke but I could not inhale as it ripped my insides out and made me 10 times worse.
Each day was as bad as the first and each day I tried to have a cigarette; such was my weak will and my attitude of "I will have a smoke."
Each time I tried, I felt ill, so I decided I wouldn't smoke until my cough was better. It lasted for about a month and before I knew it, I'd been a non-smoker for nearly a full month.
Once my cough subsided, I found that my smokers cough went with it, due to my smoke free month.

Now here's the key.
My son once said to me. "dad.... if you had the opportunity to give up smoking would you take it?" I promised him that if ever there was a chance that I could give up without the horrible turmoil that went with it, like a feeling of being robbed of my leisure or irritation in terms of bad temperedness, then I would take it and not look back.

The cough gave me that chance. A chance that I honestly thought would never come. I had the month away from smoking and I had the chance to resume where I left off. I declined and gave my cigarettes away, as well as ashtrays and lighters, plus tobacco tins and so on, to anyone who wanted them.

Every day I awoke from then, I wanted a smoke. It was strong at first but I fought it off, as it only lasted 5 minutes.
What I did get, was an appetite.

To be continued....

[ghostrider]

I was picky at my food before being smoke free and I didn't realise that my skin was a greyish colour. Basically I didn't look too well but not just looking off colour, I didn't realise how down in body I was. I was basically unwell but accepting of it as normal.

I still get the odd, what people can call, craving, but it's more a thought process that lasts 1 minute a few times a week. I combat any thought of it all by simply taking a deep breath. One deep breath is all I need to know that I will never place another cigarette in my mouth again, unless I'm due to die at any time. In which case I'll simply do it because I'd have nothing to lose.

I'm not saying this to discourage people from smoking. I say, do what you want. It's your life but just remember one thing. It is your life but be mindful that your smoke can affect other people's lives, in more than just one way, as in, physically breathing in your smoke but also the mental trauma you are causing to family members who love you and can actually see what harm you're doing to yourself. So be mindful of that, just as you wouldn't be happy sitting in a cafe next to a person who stinks of bum and body sweat, whilst eating your breakfast, or watching a close family member suffering badly due to the effects of long term smoking.

We are all selfish in our own way but we never realise how much until we see it from another point of view.
I can smell a smoker outside who might be 50 feet away and I can also smell it strongly on people's clothing. I never ever could do that.

My experience of long term smoking and my refusal to listen to reason from people concerned about my health and also my half hearted attempts to not smoke in front of my family inside the house or in the car is one of many things I wish I could have changed from the start...but....better late than never.

To be continued....