I know many of you smoke cigarettes. I doubt any of you dip snuff (I've never seen it.) I seriously doubt any of you dip as a 'can every two days' habit.' I would be the house that none of you smoke a pack every two days along with a can of snuff every two days.

I need to quit this ****.

What have I done to quit. Well, not much of anything. A few years back, I'd sworn to quit smoking and I did...for 2 years, but it was a dubious achievement since I continued to dip; probably much more.

We're all going to die. Saying that you'll get cancer is probably the least effective argument against nicotine. Maybe it scares you, but not I.

At any given moment, you could lose your arm or your leg. Every time you get in your car and get on the highway, you chance dismemberment or worse. Oh wait! This is a high performance car enthusiast website; how about when I strap into my car and do laps around a crappy track with other drivers who are every bit the novice that I am?

The chance that I wreck or get wrecked are actually pretty negligible, as far as I'm concerned. I'm a soldier in the Army during a time of war. What, me worry? There's about the same chance that I'm going to lose my lip and my jaw.

I know that I'm pretty combatitive about this, but all I'm saying is that I don't want to quit for your usual reason of health and such.

Reason 1) Do you know how BAD *** my car would be if I had the money I've spent on cigarettes over the last 15 years (I started smoking on the night of 19 December, 1989, which was my very first night of real combat down in Colon, Panama I started dipping about 2 months prior to that.)

Reason 2) Part of my pay from the Government is for doing PT. My ability to do that has grossly suffered and my run time has decreased significantly. In this case, it's not an argument against a carcinogen, but against carbon monoxide and whatever element in snuff that causes blood to thin.

Reason 3) And this is actually a very humiliating reason. I have a 15 month old little boy and my wife is 3 months pregnant. My parents smoked when I was little and still do today. It's not something that I look down on them about, though. My motivation here is their health. Yeah, I can justify away any arguments against due to my own health, but I don't want to give my children any disadvantages in life. [In this day and age, a nicotine user must be increasingly illogical in order to justify their habit...read: I realize that none of my argument makes much sense. Regardless of how illogical a nicotine habit is, it's a habit. It's not something where you can wake up one morning a decide, "I know I've been doing this for 15 years, but I'm going to quit. Some can, the thought of cold turkey makes me very anxious.]

Last thing. I know this is long. I don't really care much if anyone reads or comments. This is catharsis.

Thanks.

 

ive been smoking since i was 7th grade.... i WILL quit though b4 i have any kids...

 

WHOA! Pat... one more on the way?

Congrats!

 

I have been smoking for about 8 yrs now (Yes, I am still a rookie smoker compared to some others out there. Still a smoker none the less).

I have done the calculations on how much I would save if I didn't smoke. The number is quite staggering.

I have quite b4, but that was only for 3 months. I want to quit, I have gotten some advice from who quit. They told me I can only quit when I am mentally ready to do it. If I am not, I won't be able to do it.

Congratulations Pat on the child on the way!!!!

 

Yeah, I got on the island on 18 Aug, doc says that conception was probably 19 Aug.

I'm good, huh?

 

hey congrats pats..

back to what brandon was saying...

lets try and calculate... i smoke about 3-4 packs a week at 4 bucks a pack...

lets just say 3 packs that comes out to 12 bucks a week. times 4 thats 48 bucks a month. 48 times 12= 576 bucks.. so, 576 a year if not more is what im spending. and thats just for me... i but my gf the same amount 1 pack every other day... so i guess you can say im spending about 1152 a year for cancer...

 

My number came out to be $1525.70. That is based on a pack a day, 365 x $4.18 = $1525.70.

 

pack a day?!?!?!?! damn, when i smoke a pack a day, my mouth comes really stink and dry... lol. your a OG smoker huh brandon lol

 

Well, like I said, I'm at about a pack every 2 days and a can of snuff every 2-3 days. I don't know exactly how much I'm paying at the commissary/px, but unfortunately, those facilities are no longer within 5 miles of my house. Now more like 60 miles away.

 

dayam!....we gots to quit yo!

funny that when i'm indoors i dont smoke or have cravings at all. but once i'm in the car or outside i gotta light one up. i smoke prolly a pack every 2 days depending on if i drink or not. that reminds me...i gotta quit drinking too!

so depressing.....well i guess i'll go smoke a cig right now. LOL

 

Pat,

I don't know you...but I "know" smoking.

I started early in 1988. I was a pack-a-day smoker up to around 1994, at which point, I became a pack-and-a-half, and sometimes, two-pack a day smoker. This continued on till 2003.

What assisted me in quitting was a number of things: watching my mother (a smoker of almost 30 years) battle cancer and its effects...battling cancer devastates the body (as I'm sure you already know), being around my grandmother (a smoker for about 40 years) who is confined to her house and has to drag an O2 cannula around attached to her nostrils at all times due to her emphysema, and most importantly, the 3-stage Nicotrol patch.

Mom:
I agree with you 100% when you say dying is going to happen no matter what. I was also of the mindset that the fear of "cancer" wasn't going to work on me either. I'll tell you what though, the "treatment" of cancer is something to fear. The treatment ravages the body. Can you imagine being in your late 40's through your 50's battling the effects of age AND the effects of cancer treatment? It's a SLOW and PAINFUL process. After watching my mother go through it...I'm not sure if I would have been able to do it. Although my mother managed to beat stage two cancer, she will live with the aftereffects of her treatment for the rest of her life. She will be taking numerous medications, visiting doctors, arguing with her health plan providers for the rest of her life. She spends nearly half of every day arguing with health providers about what they should be paying for (because they aren't that eager to pay).

Grandma:
If my grandmother wants to leave the house, she needs to take an O2 tank with her. She can walk about 12 feet before shortness of breath occurs...even with her O2 bottle wide open. As of today, it's been over a year since my grandmother has left her home. My mother has to take care of her on a daily basis (on top of her emphysema, she also suffers from dementia)...do all her shopping, pay all her bills, make sure she gets fed three squares a day, organize all the doctor visits, bathe her, etc., etc.

The Patch:
There is no way I would have quit smoking without the patch. If you are mentally ready and follow the instructions, it's a powerful tool. For the first two weeks, I was being pumped full of more Nicotine than I'd ever had smoking in that same time frame (20 mg per patch each day). The patch is VERY effective at curbing the "physical" dependence on Nicotine. At that point, you're only real hurdle is handling the "mannerisms" (putting the cig in your mouth, taking a nice long drag, exhaling, and lowering the hand holding the cig) and "associations" related to smoking (for me drinking coffee was the BIGGEST hurdle...I'd have a small pot of coffee and around 5 cigarettes before leaving for work in the morning...it was a ritual...and I always looked forward to it). Man, you can't beat taking a sip of a freshly pressed cup of Starbuck's House Blend and then taking a nice long drag off a Marlboro Light...I could have done that for hours and hours.

I quit smoking (with the aforementioned aides) on September 29, 2003 and haven't had one...not even a drag off one since.

I could have gone on and on but I'll just put a cork in it. Like you said, this is catharsis.

 

non-smoker here, im a very good boy..

 

I smoked for nearly 10 years (pack a day). I quit. How? Cold turkey. Just stopped and showed willpower. That's it. Just do it. Lord knows that if I could, anybody can because I have NO willpower. Do what you gotta do. No gimmicks, no tips, no tricks, just do it.
__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote

 

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I quit for a girl too. ;p
__________________
Best Car Insurance | Auto Protection Today | FREE Trade-In Quote