I think I have decided....how many times for you?

Fight a cold with mildew..... that's something....wow

 

I've quite twice.

2008 - First time (cold turkey) was when I quit an old job and was starting a new one. Help because it changed things up and didn't have those same 'usual smoke times'. and when I came home, I would walk my dog to help with that certain time as well. Quit for about 7 years.

2015 - Started again when I separated from my ex wife. We were together since high school, so 15-29 years old, I had never lived by myself and figured fuck it to help pass the time because she got the dog so didn't have that 'out' time to keep me busy. But I was a closet smoker and really only smoked at my apartment and I would chain smoke three four back to back.

Second time was 2019 my new lady got me a vape, just to see if I could get myself off smoking. So, I quit smoking and started vaping. Probably not much better but I didn't smell like it which in itself was a plus for me and anyone around me. I still vape occasionally, not a daily thing but seems to help me when I feel I want something.

I think the thing that has helped me the most was changing my routine and filling those smoke times with something else to keep me busy. Mornings / evenings would be walk the dog. After work go to the gym. Picking up hobbies etc. Also would get my mind off thinking about it, day one, then a few days, weeks then no more smoky smoky.

Might not work that way for everyone, but helped me.

Good luck buddy.

Edit: also heard people say candy helps, mints, gum, whatever for the hand / mouth fixation. You also have kids, so I'm than in itself is an added determination.

I have also tried to smoke since last I quit. Annual friends beach trip, just 3-4 days of drunkeness, but I'll bum a smoke, I can't even finish half of it. So, that's good.

 

I am already on this forum for like HOURS a day while at work (you obviously see now how bored I am at work and why im tempted to smoke) but its worked out, learning alot on this forum and Youtube university lol.

 

Thanks brother! I have been destroying alot of toothpicks recently, seems to help most of the time. Ill be damned if the small chunks of wood cause me problems later, the irony would be amazing.

 

Imagine how bad cig smoke is that mildew makes you feel healthier....

 

Yeah i think the routine/ritual part is the best way to do it. This is how i did it the first time. Instead of having my morning smoke on the way to the car, i kept my keys in my hand and had my coffee in the other, didnt have a free hand to smoke. As dumb as it sounds it actually worked. I refrained from the smoke in the car and once i was at work, i told the older ladies to yell at me if they saw me going out for a smoke hahahah

 

Thanks for making my point that much more obvious! I was afraid Ian had missed it.

 

I smoked and chewed from 7th grade through my freshman year of college. Quitting was one of the best decisions I ever made. Took me 3 tries, just keep at it, it gets easier as you get it out of your system. I would slip up when I was drinking in college and backslide, until one night I drank too much tequila, and tripped on some stairs with a Copenhagen in, swallowed it, threw up for a good 30 minutes, and basically became allergic to tobacco, just smelling it makes me want to hurl. Would not recommend this method except as a last ditch, when all else fails option. But it works, never touched anything again after that. It was pretty rough though. Good for you, you've got this!

 

When I was a kid my compadre started smoking cigarettes and then it was pot. The issue of quitting was always swirling around in one conversation or another.
My compadre said;

"I don't see what the big deal is about quitting smoking ~ I've done it 4 or 5 times already."

Tobacco is a tough monkey to get off your back. My mom tried quitting during much of her adult life and never could. Lung cancer claimed her at age 61.

Good luck with your quest.

 

thanks man, that makes me think of my buddies roommate years ago who chewed. He had the dumbest habit of spitting in a coke bottle. One day he had a coke and his spit bottle next to each other playing video games, you can imagine what happened. Just thinking about it now makes me gag.

 

Sorry to hear that man. My aunt recently died too from lung cancer resulted from smoking that she battled for 20 years AFTER she had already quit.

 

This is an interesting thread. I probably quit at least a dozen times, back in the 70s and 80s. In the 70s I was still flying choppers in the Army, and even after weeks of not smoking in a ground assignment, would need a pack sitting on the radio console in my chopper, and of course would indulge. Flying Hueys just wasn't the same without my Zippo (fueled with JP-4 jet fuel, haha) and a pack of Marlboros. Smoked a lot pushing airplanes around on a scope controlling air traffic for years. At one point, like the OP, I said "enough." Then at another point sometime later, again said "enough." And yet again..... At that point that I did finally quit, I don't know why then, or what was different I have no idea. But in 1987, I put them down cold-turkey and never again picked one up.

But here it is 2022, and I still sneak one in my dreams every now and then.

Hang in there, MadMax. It's worth the effort in the long run.

 

I started when I was 13, quit when I was 25. I tried a couple of times but only lasted a few hours. One day I just decided, that's it. It's going to suck, but I can do it. Same with alcohol. I was an evening alcoholic. Every day from 6 o'clock until I went to bed around 11, I would drink 6 or 7, 10 to 12% ABV beers.

It's gonna suck, but I watched my dad die from lung cancer, and that sucked more.

 

I can quit drinking for years at a time, but never tried to stop smoking. My work no longer allows any tobacco on the premises, and that includes vaping, so I actually have to go for a short drive twice a day. I asked my Doc for a prescription for Chantix last year and found out it had been pulled from the market due to carcinogens?? I was so relieved I didn't have to quit..... Nicotine is a hell of a drug.....

Sorry man. I'm no help.

 

My father quit cold turkey in 1972. Never smoked again. To this day when the phone rings he grabs for a cigarette from his shirt pocket. He even admits to this conditioned reflex. By the way, he is 87, travels a lot, likes to go hunting, is mentally sharp, and is hard to keep up with. We are blessed.

 

I can imagine how much harder it would be in the military when everyone around you is lighting up, especially in the 80s when your doctor would come into your waiting room with a lit cig.....I still remember smoking sections in restaurants.
Thanks for your service.

 

yeah i really dont want to subject my kids to something like that, and more selfishly, i just want to see them grow up as old as possible. If only just to watch them suffer with their own kids lol.

 

I thought about this drug too but you always hear how prescription drugs end up having something crazy worse than what they were supposed to cure years down the line. I quit cold turkey before i think i can do it again.

 

Amen brother. Though both my girls says ewwwww to the thoughts of having their own kids (to them is just more things to do, and they don't want to) but man, I want to live to see the grans.....

 

Thats where I want to be at 87.

 

lunchtime check in, only had 1 smoke today and put it out halfway . Normally i would be at around 4 or 5 by now. now to keep this up for the rest of my life haha.

 

You gotta start somewhere, and that's a pretty damn good starting point. Now, go look at some trucks and gals.... not necessary in that order...

 

what would make this way easier i feel like, an upper respiratory infection or something that would make me physically unable to smoke for a week or 2, oh to dream.

 

Don't hold your breath on it, there is one out there and that's the one you don't want, it can do much worse damage than what you would like it to......lol
Stay safe and strong!

 

Your right, totally forgot about the last 2 years somehow. probably for the best I dont get that.

 

I quit and started vaping. A year later I stopped vaping. Neither was easy. Wife quit the same way.

 

I actually tried this some years back, but the juice gave me really weird headaches.

 

When i quit i used to hit the heavy bag. Hopefully you can kick the habit

 

I smoked but just got tired of them and quit probably 40 years ago. It wasn't hard for me because they were just no longer enjoyable. It was a lot harder for my wife. She used some prescription drug and was finally able to kick it.

 

I smoked regularly 20+ years ago, but quit by taking up dipping instead. Not exactly the best decision I have ever made. I dipped a can a day for a long, long time.

In any case, I recently decided that i needed to quit dipping. I am now at day 35 without a dip. Gum helped a lot at the beginning. Now, I only get the desire once or twice a day, especially after meals. For me, I just needed to make the decision that now was the time.

I do feel much better. No more headaches and dehydration, and my mouth feels a whole lot better. The one downside is that I fill that oral habit with eating and have gained 5-7 pounds. I need to get over that and take the weight back off.

Good luck MadMax! You can do it.