OT:Smokers

[J Smith]

How many of you smoke or use to smoke?

I haven't had a cig now for about 7 weeks and haven't really missed it,altough I did replace the cigs with Skoal berry blend pouches.

I smoked for 20 years and wasn't really thinking about quiting but all of a sudden the smell of them really stated to bother me.Even a fresh one just fired up,would make me want one before,now stinks.

I know the Skoal is not the best thing for you but its got to better better than smokeing and seems to be much cheaper.I was smokeing about 2 packs a day,1 can of skoal last a day or longer.





<img src=http://techhelpers.net/e4u/drink/trink36.gif



Edited by - J Smith on 3/18/2004 7:41:11 AM

[JBE]

Jeff,

I had been a smoker since high school, and quit cold-turkey about 3-4 years ago. I was prob about a pack to a pack and a half a day smoker. I was like you, the smell just started making me sick to my stomach and my kids were encouraging me to quit as well. Plus 11 years of seeing the effects of long-term smoking on people every day at work helped sway me too. I took up smokeless tobacco as an alternative, even though I know it's still not good for me either. That ol' evil nicotine craving is a hard on to get over! The price of Skoal is pretty steep for a can, but seems to last me from 3-4 days. I'm hoping that one day I can get the tobacco monkey off my back for good!

[J Smith]

I think the loose Skoal would last longer but with my dental work I have to use the pouches.

<img src=http://techhelpers.net/e4u/drink/trink36.gif

[silverback]

Same story here - I just wanted to quit because they started to stink and taste bad and smoking is a weakness I can live without.
Also they started to put giant warnings on the packs in Germany - a major turnoff!<img src="wink.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0>
I smoked two packs a day and quit cold turkey half a year ago.
IMHO the only way to do it - no nicotine stickers or gum or step by step reduction will help.
But remember: quitting is easy - not starting again is hard!<img src="smile.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0>
* knocks on wood *
Is skoal a chewing tobacco btw.?

Few people think more than two or three times a year; I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week. -George Bernard Shaw

[timlara]

Disclaimer: I've worked in the natural foods industry for the last 14 years, so I apologize for the lecture, but I can't help myself!

It has been proven that smokeless tobacco is basically every bit as dangerous and addictive as cigarette smoking. The side effects are different, but their long-term impact on your quality of life is just as bad.

See &lt;a href=&quot;http://cis.nci.nih.gov/fact/3_63.htm&quot; target=blank&gt;http://cis.nci.nih.gov/fact/3_63.htm&lt;/a&gt;

Other than just the health risk aspect, another motivator to break the habit could be to sever your ties to supporting the tobacco industry financially. &quot;Big Tobacco&quot; does a lot of dispicable things with their $$$ that are harmful to millions of people in the long run. I won't go into it here, but trust me, if you do some research as to where that $$$ goes, you will find it very depressing.

Sorry again to preach, as I know full well (via friends) how hard it is to quit, but it sounds like you guys really do WANT to quit, so I figure every little bit of motivation helps.

And just think: The money you save can then go to respectable companies like Spyderco who provide HEALTHY addictions! <img src="wink.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0>

Edited by - timlara on 3/18/2004 8:05:07 AM

[UK KEN]

Hello all

I am 45 and packed in smoking almost ten years ago. I was smoking 40 a day but then a ban was introduced in the office where I worked. This made it easier to stop but the thing that gave me an edge was the Nicotine patches is used.

Will power is wonderful but I'll be the first to admit that it sometimes needs a helping hand where an addiction is concerned. I had tried dozens of time before to quit but had only ever lasted a few days. With the help of the patches I was able to beat the initial cravings and have not smoked since.

There is nothing worse for me than coming home from a night out and finding that I stink of stale cigarette smoke. It’s awful to think that I used to smell that way all the time. My health has improved since I gave them up and I hope to keep off them.

Good luck to all of you who are trying to escape the grip of the “weed”!

Ken


Do not condemn the judgement of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong.

[vampyrewolf]

I started about a month after starting at Burger King, about a week before grade 10 started... Late Aug 00. I quit cold turkey in Aug 02... Was smoking pretty much whatever was cheap and about 2 packs a week tops.

Started again in Oct 03, but with Captain Black Sweets(mini tipped cigars, 8 in a pack)... Quit cold turkey about 3 weeks ago(last week of Feb 04), and the smell of smoke annoys me more than anything now. I was smoking 12-14 a week at 8/pack... never really got bad.

My sister and father both smoke, though dad smokes a pipe. My grandfather on his side has chewed for about 40yrs.

<img src="http://www.members.shaw.ca/pjharyett/spyderco/spyder5.gif"><br>Mei Fides, Mei Victus<br>We are programmed to receive. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.<br>

[jaxon]

After starting at about age 15, I quit cigarettes cold turkey about 13 years ago as I recall. Had to try to shake a cold virus so I could have my first (of many) skin cancers surgically removed. Now sure glad I did quit for many reasons, but certainly not least the cost.

I do now enjoy an occasional good cigar. But unlike the cigarettes, don't inhale the cigars.

Jaxon

Live to Ride....Ride to Live

[4077th]

I quit five months ago. Used SmokeAway for five days, then willpower and prayer. Went thru lots of cravings and uncomfortable withdrawl effects. Its been a rocky road but gets better all the time. The motivation to STAY off cigarettes comes from not wanting to redo struggles of the past five months.

By the way, replacing cigs with Skoal is no solution. Been there, done that. All it amounts to is switching nicotine delivery systems.

[Sir cuts a lot]

I used to smoke. For the last eleven years of my life I was a pack a day smoker. But I have not had so much as a drag of a cigarette since August 31, 2003. Quitting is one of the best things I've ever done for myself. At first it is probably one of the hardest things not to do, but what is truly a key element of quitting smoking is that you have to truly want to quit. Just in case you were wondering, I used the nicotine patch to quit.

Sir cuts a lot

[ramlanrafie]

Start smoking: circa 1978
Stop smoking: 1993
Start again: 1998
stop again: 2000 (lasted for 7 months)
Now stop again since November 2003
In average i'm taking 20 sticks per day. (Marlborro). I can't be a social smoker, if i'm smoke, straight 20 sticks per day.
Hoping this trial will last forever.

Ramlan

[Civilian]

Thankyou all for quitting!!!
I have never smoked(more than trying one a couple of times in JR High), and find it really annoying that someone can have such little respect to smoke around other people. Here in Cali you can't smoke in buildings which is great, but it is really annoying to have to walk through a cloud of smoke at the front door of a lot of places.

I like the old addage: &quot;I noticed you smoke, and as you know smoke prodeces a by-product, second hand smoke, which I must breath in. Well I like to drink Beer and lot's of it, this also produces a by-product. Would you like to be forced to drink it?&quot;

[gadfly]

While it's true that cigarette smokers have a shorter lifespan than non-smokers, but there's a little known fact from the Surgeon General's report from the late sixties: Pipe Smokers live an average of two years longer than non-smokers.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

One way or the other, you pay for your tools!

[Rebeltruce]

I smoke Cigars, 1-2 a day. I don't inhale and I have no intention of ever stopping. I don't buy into this crap of how the &quot;Big Bad Tobacco Companies&quot; are killing everyone with their product. In America we have a choice, people choose to start smoking, people choose to stop. If you're worried about your health then by all means stop. It's pretty obvious that smoking is bad, for a multitude of reasons.

All these new laws, and lawsuits are simply yet another attempt by &quot;Big Brother&quot; to take away our personal freedoms.

No matter what the Tobacco Companies do, no matter who they gear there advertisments to, no matter what they are accused of putting into their products, it's still a choice. A choice we make when we walk into a 7/11 and buy a pack of cigs or not buy a pack of cigs.

Of course this is all just my humble opinion.

[ledheded]

I have smoked since the second grade. I remember realizing I was addicted in fourth grade. I remember trying to quit when I was seventeen.it was total hell. I am now forty five years old,and still smoke. and I can still remember what I went through at seventeen. I remember telling myself, I will never try to quit again. to hard.

[thombrogan]

When you think about drying leaves, lighting them on fire, and sucking in the fumes, it sounds pretty stupid. I used to really enjoy smoking and, while I hated smoking them, still enjoy the secondhand smoke of certain cigarettes. Unfortunately, my family's genetics dictate that my cardiopulmonary system just can't hack it.

I don't believe in all of the claims against &quot;Big Tobacco&quot;. First off, what a horrible phrase in both it's sound and it's vile implications (&quot;They must be bad; they're big&quot<img src="wink.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0>. Second, if the various tobacco companies really were an omnipotent shadow organization whose deeds circumvent free will, then why haven't the good guys (i.e. &quot;Little cruciferous vegetables&quot; and &quot;Little American Lung Association&quot<img src="wink.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0> circumvented free will for our greater good? They certainly pass enough laws to that effect.

Ever notice that the largest critics of &quot;Big Tobacco&quot; often pine for &quot;Big Government&quot;? Hey, I gave up smoking; the least the haters of &quot;Big Tobacco&quot; can do is give up voting.

&gt;:D


"It's so nice to talk to someone who can't understand the horrible things I say" -Moe Siszlak

[timlara]

thombrogan: I'm glad that you were able to quit. However, I think that you've misintrepreted and/or grossly oversimplified the point I was trying to make. The tobacco companies are not intrinsically bad because they're big. They're bad because they make products that kill people. ( Sure, guns and knives can also be used to kill people, but they also have valid uses. ) &quot;Big Tobacco&quot; is bad because they insure that they'll always have a revenue stream by making their customers chemically dependent on their products. ( Most other companies have to innovate to survive. Call the work of tobacco chemists innovative if you like. ) The comments in this thread are a good example: Almost everyone here either wanted to or tried to quit but couldn't. Is that the mark of an admirable business that supports peoples' &quot;free will&quot;?

Am I saying the government should shut down the cigarette companies or penalize consumers with outrageous taxes for smoking? Of course not. I think that would be unfair and cause mass havoc that would make a huge dent in our economy. But that doesn't invalidate the argument that the tobacco industry's ethics are very, very questionable.

Imagine if Spyderco made a radioactive knife that glowed in the dark, irradiating everything around it, and sold it with a warning label that said, &quot;Carrying this knife every day will most likely kill you - at least according to the extensive studies conducted in our facilities in which we duct taped the knife to lab rats which, in turn, consistently died - but hey, at least you'll look cool using it! Integrity is...uh...not our problem!&quot;

[Jimmy_Dean]

I've been a smoker for 5 years. I first started for the fun of it and because it made the beer kicked in faster <img src="tongue.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0> After a while, I found that a cigarette while drinking my morning coffee gave a deep and masculine sound to my voice, which I really liked. I decided to quit just this year and miss it sometimes. Especially when i go out in bars or watch a Bogart movie, but are you gonna do. I quit mostly because my girlfriend wanted me to and because all my clothes stank. But what really got me convinced was the sexual side-effects. You don't really think about those things when you're a kid but at some point it becomes important. I didn't use any patch or anything. All of those who have tried quitting probably felt the same anger as I did. It's like: you wake up in the morning just ready to punch someone to death and are just frustrated all day long for weeks. I always thought that being in need of a cig was like being in need of food. An incomfort kind of feeling. It's actually much worst than that. It's like a rage that goes on and on. I found my self going to the gym twice a day to get all of that out. In the end, it was well worth all the efforts. I hope I'll never smoke again....except an occasional cigar. Congrats to all the others who succeded.

-Dean

[thombrogan]

Tim Lara:

I apologize for reading too much into your previous post.

There will always be people with addictive personalities who desire various means to feed the addictions they've chosen. Yeah, it'd be cool to see more people addicted to moderation, but I'd rather see more people using tobacco than methamphetamine or heroin if they're going to use foreign substances.

Regarding the ethics of tobacco-products manufacturers: I don't think too much lying really has to go on when your customers are already willing to light things on fire and inhale the fumes. The makers whose products I've used had a consistent quality from package to package. Were they so unscrupulous, it seems that they would have lightened the amount of the substance used over time instead of maintaining standards.

What I do see as unscrupulous is fining millions from these companies and then using that money to fund anti-tobacco propaganda. One even featured non-judgemental references to other addictive substances (such as &quot;420girl&quot; in one of the commercials). Using a person's, or a company's, earnings to demonize that person, or company, is evil. So evil as to be a fruit of the devil.

Again, though, I am sorry for reading stuff in your previous post that you hadn't written.

[J Smith]

Its does make you wonder a little.When I was in school drugs were bad,mostly pot.Eveybody smoked or dipped and we drank our share of beer.Now it is VERY Bad from what I have heard.Maybe the big rise in illegle drugs is because they are much easier to get than Beer or tobacco.Kids are going to experament,IMO the crack down on the what I belive to be the lesser evil is not such a good thing,at least not until the hard core drugs are brought under the same or better control.
2 days ago,Kingston TN high school.Drug raid.29 drug dogs brought in,no charges if you turned the stuff in before they found it.They had a whole bunch of pot,extacy(SP?),oxicoton,hydros,and one kid turned in 3000.00 worth of cocain.No alchol or tobacco.

<img src=http://techhelpers.net/e4u/drink/trink36.gif

[kfriel]

I smoke, I like to smoke, I enjoy smoking and will continue to smoke. &quot;My&quot; only problem is that nagging voice saying I could get two $60 dollar knives or a nice $120 dollar knife every month if I didn't. But I enjoy it too much to quit.
Kevin

[timlara]

Thom: No offense taken! You make some excellent points as well. I just wanted to make it clear that I'm not a paranoid conspiracy theorist! <img src="smile.gif" width=15 height=15 align=middle border=0>

I certainly would't go so far as to say the cigarette companies lie to their customers - everyone knows the risks, and they promise to kill their customers right on the label! (Which is actually kind of a silly regulation. Why not make McDonald's do the same thing?) I also have no doubt that the quality of most tobacco products is highly consistent. Most addicts (collectors included - hint hint) would notice right away if the object of their obsession degrades in quality. While it is well within the rights of tobacco manufacturers to sell their products to people who want them, and their customers should be allowed to make their own decisions, it will just always be hard for me to understand how a company can be OK with selling products that seem to hurt people a lot more than help them. As an example to the contrary, we sell various vitamins and nutritional supplements where I work, and the minute we get any indication that any of our products might not be safe, we pull them off the shelf and refuse to sell them. Or, if what we see as a product with questionable safety or quality is a &quot;hot seller&quot; in our market, we still will not bring that item in even if we know we could make a lot of money by selling it. I suppose we're lucky that we have a diverse enough product base that we can run our business on those principles.

I completely agree with you that opponents of the tabacco industry that resort to deceitful tactics in order to finance their transparent smear campaigns really just end up undermining the arguments that they supposedly stand behind. I don't believe that people like that actually care about the health and well-being of their fellow humans - they usually have underlying agendas. Such is the problem with politics in general: It seems that far too often, the actual issues at hand are forgotten as they devolve into some sort of &quot;team sport&quot; scuffle match between sides where the only thing that matters is whether or not your &quot;team&quot; wins.

p.s. - GREAT. My 100th post is an off-topic ethics rant!! LOL.

Edited by - timlara on 4/1/2004 9:42:29 AM

[thombrogan]

Tim Lara,

Sorry to drag your milestone post into the mire of an ROT thread. J Smith really gave us a thinker, though.

Tobacco and deep-fried animal corpse have it lucky: you know that too much is bad. Tobacco's even luckier because any chronic use is bad.

Glad to hear you don't sell what you believe will ruin or curtail your customers' quality of life.

Edited by - thombrogan on 4/1/2004 2:01:30 PM

[LT]

My parents smoked all my life, and now I've got asthma to show for it. Also I tens to have a very strong reaction around cigarette smoke to the point that I can't breathe at times. What I have to deal with now points out the problem with secondhand smoke in my opinion. Dad's gone now, but my mother and sister continue to smoke frequently which is why I don't visit either of them very often. Tried smoking myself, years ago, and decided I didn't really see the point of it. I've seen too many cases of emphysema and lung cancer since then to ever take it up again.

[dialex]

I smoke less than 10 cigars a year, therefore I consider myself a non smoker.
However, I was raised in a house where they used to smoke. Nowadays, when I visit my parents (almost daily), I am hit by the smell of cigarettes. All my relatives I know of use to smoke too. Big time. Most of them lived pretty long (over 87 years each), but it's also true they lived at the country, in a healthy environment and they made a lot of physical work.
OTOH, here's a proven fact (according to the statistics): people who smoke have less chances of developing neural diseases (like schlerosis, Parkinson or Alzheimer). Interesting, hmmm? ...

<a href="http://users.pcnet.ro/dialex"><font color=blue>(my page)</font></a>

[zeus]

I have smoked many cigars and pipes since turning 18 in 1980 but I have cut back to one or two cigars per month and one bowl per week due to a scare a few months ago. Had what I thought was a squamous carcinoma in the back of my throat, but the docs said it was just a blocked salivary gland. Still-- quite a wake up call! Before that, in cigars: Arturo Fuente, Partagas, Bolivar, Casa Blanca.... plus great stuff from JR Cigar Co. and some of their &quot;Alternatives&quot;

Also have over 85 pipes that I've collected thru the years -no drug store stuff, mostly med to high grade and estate pipes. Castello, Peterson, Barling, Nording, Sidney P. Ram, D'Argenta, Caminetto,Ben Wade, Butz C., Kirsten, Charatan, Preben Holm, Savenelli; in Traditional, ChurchWardens, Freehands, Meershams, gourds, Hookas, etc...

Only smoke Enlish blends with some Perique and lots of Latakia! Used to blend my own using Burley as a base.

In social settings I will light up a clove or a flavored &quot;Backwoods&quot; cigar (as long as no one objects) but I have never smoked regular cigarettes.

Quite a diverse hobby.

[pcvh]

I smoke about 40 a day, not ready-mades but self-rolled tobacco (more common in my neck of the woods..). Truth be told, I really ought to quite, and I've tried a couple of times, but sadly I apparently am a very weak-willed person.

Interestingly enough, I've quite worse addictions than smoking, I never even got into drinking coffee in the first place, but for some reason I can't seem to let go of my ciggies..

Chris.

[vampyrewolf]

pcvh&gt; interesting point on the coffee. I know some of us in here, mainly Java, would be lost without coffee. I myself down 14-15 cups a day. Our pot upstairs goes through 5-6 pots a day. My pot downstairs only sees my morning pot(flavoured coffee) every day.

<img src="http://www.members.shaw.ca/pjharyett/spyderco/spyder5.gif"><br>Mei Fides, Mei Victus<br>We are programmed to receive. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.<br>

[4077th]

I quit five months ago. Used SmokeAway for five days, then willpower and prayer. Went thru lots of cravings and uncomfortable withdrawl effects. Its been a rocky road but gets better all the time. The motivation to STAY off cigarettes comes from not wanting to redo struggles of the past five months.

By the way, replacing cigs with Skoal is no solution. Been there, done that. All it amounts to is switching nicotine delivery systems.Just an update... Still off the nicotine all these years later. Lovin this freedom. Working on my ninth year tobacco frEEEEE! Bring on those Spydie sprints! :)

[razorsharp]

congratulations :D

[Tdog]

I quit many years ago. With the cost of a pack-a-day, one could buy an extra Spydie or 2 every month and have something to show for it. I also did away with satellite tv 2 years ago in July. With the exception of National Geographic, the History Channel, and some sports, there wasn't much I worth watching anyway. Extra disposable :D Spydiecash:D

[rosconey]

stole a pack of salems from my mom as a kid-
went behind some bush's and proceeded to smoke the whole pack-

got sicker than a dog and havent smoked cigs since

[Spyderbro]

Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world.
I know because I've done it thousands of times.

Mark Twain

19595

[NYRich]

After 35 years of smoking, I quite a little over 12 years ago and haven't had a cigarette since. I tried just about every patch, gum and pill on the market back then and not one of them worked. It was strictly "cold turkey" and not at all easy.

What I miss more than the cigarettes is the occasional Cuban cigar, but I'm not going to tempt fate by smoking any sort of tobacco.

I don't know what the price of cigarettes is in other locations, but most brands here currently seem to be selling for at least $10 a pack. I've never done the actual math, but must have saved well over $20,000 at an average of even $5 per pack.

[2cha]

stole a pack of salems from my mom as a kid-
went behind some bush's and proceeded to smoke the whole pack-

got sicker than a dog and havent smoked cigs since

Yeah, except I swiped them from Grandma--True's was the brand I think. At any rate, I've been smoking on and off for 25 years. I ##*%^&* hate it and love it.

[r small]

I like a few cigs a day. Mostly I can keep it to around 3 or or 4 a day. But if something is stressing me out I'm likely to chain smoke a few. My advice: if you don't smoke don't start. If you smoke quit. Or at least cut back.

[quinoa]

I'm at about 5 a day. Got me the electronic green smoke last fall. I use it indoors at parties and concerts. Only nicotine NO TAR or other carcinogens. And flavored. Much better than the tabacco or menthol flavor. Mocha in the morning. Apple or strawberry in the evening. Now to cut out the American Spirits all together.

[The Deacon]

Smoked cigarettes for over 40 years. Quit, cold turkey, about 4 months after the last post before this thread was resurrected, so just about seven and a half years ago. Definitely wasn't easy, but I'm quite sure I'd have been dead years ago if I hadn't quit.

[cubsfan1969]

I guess I can chime in here a bit. I am an ex smoker, quit 3 years ago this June with the help of Chantix. When you are ready to quit, you'll know! Best decision I've made in my life I think. To the OP, hang in there, it's a fantastic feeling to know you conquered that habit.

Dave B.

[mikeo]

For about 30 years, I smoked cigarettes, cigars, a pipe, chewed tobacco, snuff, bit between cheek and gum, and sniffed it. I then quit in the summer of 1991, cold turkey. Haven't done any of that since. I'm now in my 21 year of non-smoking. Do I still get the urge, yes, but I don't give in. And I won't.

[BAL]

Congrats to all that have quit and a plea to those who haven't.
My last smoke was July 1987. Hey that's almost 25 yrs, I think
I need to reward myself with a Yojimbo or Tuff or fluted TI Millie.

What ?, there not available now, really ? not even the Yo2, damn
that makes me nervous, anyone got a cigarette.