Breathing Ash

[Sinister]

I'm done. Finished. I had my fun with it but, stop the habit, I want to get off. I don't want to smoke anymore.

Really, I don't enjoy it anymore, it makes gag/sick/turn colors. A friend of mine convinced me to start smoking(and to be clear I'm talking about tobacco) about 4 years ago and I just plain regret starting. Funny thing? I don't really seem to be very good at quitting, least not this. I've been pondering electric cigarettes or gum or some stupid, prolly expensive, gimick.

Any tips? Anyone else fed up with this or have any thoughts? And if you're a die hard smoker, what do you smoke? Pot, cigars, cigs, Kreteks/cloves, menthols? See I smoke cloves. Djarum Blacks. And tbh they're prolly worse for you than regular cigs or at least they make me feel worse. Can't even keep pace with fencing because I get out of breath.

-Sin

[Yoko]

IF I smoke, I would smoke cigars. Its like a once every 6 months type thing. I don't get addicted to smoking. I've tried it, didn't like it, so I stopped.

When I'm really stressed though, I can't help but buy a pack of cigars. That's a bad habit in it's own. I wouldn't finish the pack though. I'd get tired of it before I even finish. Then they go stale and I need to throw them out. Waste of money really.

Why do something you don't enjoy? Just don't buy them anymore. Or if you are tempted to buy, buy something else (like a pack of gum). Get your mind into thinking you don't need them.

[Bubble Boy]

Never smoked in my life and I'm not gonna diss you for smoking. But good luck with getting off your cancer sticks.

[loaf]

Djarum Blacks will make you cough up blood.

I've been trying to kick the habit these last few months. It's hard to do, I know some classmates who switched to the Electric Cigarettes. They spent the initial 30ish dollars for the cigarette and then he pays roughly 15 bucks a month on the refills which comes with 10, and each one is about 1 pack of cigarettes. You can get different levels of it, even to the point of no nicotine and you are just smoking vapor.

I have been wanting to buy the electric cigarettes. My only tip is to not give up, I haven't yet.

[Block]

I told my friend that the best way to quit smoking cigarettes is to use negative association. I told him to use watching "two girls one cup" every time he enjoyed a cigarette. Let's just say that your senses are somewhat linked and it's become very hard for him to enjoy a cigarette since that point.

[Clint]

My pop-pop used to smoke about a pack a day, but then he fell asleep with a lit cigarette in his hand and almost lit the house on fire while his kids were at home. That was the last time he ever had a cigarette. It scared him so much that he forced himself to never smoke again.

He told me his secret to quit smoking. The secret is don't smoke. It's impossible to quit smoking if you smoke, and smoking while trying to quit smoking defeats the purpose of not smoking.

[nix]

I'm planning to quit again, really gonna push for it this time too. Ive been smoking a long time and its time to kick the expensive nasty habit.

The trick to quitting smoking is YOU have to want it, you wont succeed if other guilt you into it.

I myself always find the first week the hardest, so i plan to keep myself locked in my house for the majority of the week.

I should also mention im kicking my weed habit too, for a few months at the least

[Block]

I should also mention im kicking my weed habit too, for a few months at the least

gotta get that job. clean pee woot woot

[Tallulah]

Good for you, Sinister!

I only smoke when I'm really drunk, or really stressed. Work has been quite impossible lately and I've been having a crafty cigarette during my break, and after work when it gets to me. I know it's psychosomatic but I actually enjoy it. Also, I don't do it a lot; I've only done it twice, a couple of week ago and today. I probably do it because a lot of my friends do it...

Luckily for me I seem to be able to stop whenever I want, like my dad. He just doesn't smoke. When I do smoke I try to avoid temptation by keeping busy and not taking cigarette breaks. Nobody really knows what I do; only about four, maybe five people have caught me, and I've admitted it to you lot.

I shouldn't do it, I know. It's not good for my skin, lungs, heart, or good for me in general, and I have a raging headache right now by smoking more than I am really used to. As for advice, just try to keep yourself busy to distract yourself from cigarettes. Use nicotine substitutes e.g. patches and gum, if the craving gets really bad. However the only way to do it is to stop, cold turkey.

I don't know how true this is but it's apparently harder to quit cigarettes than heroin. :/ I do doubt that because of the horrendous withdrawl that heroin provides, but some people, like my mum and my aunt, get really bad withdrawl (from cigarettes, I hasten to add!). My mum gets very, very nasty (she threw a bread knife at me whilst she was having withdrawl) and my aunt gets the shakes so bad she just can't give up. Good luck.

[winterborn86]

Good for you!!!

I know a few people who have given up smoking, and they have noticed a difference in their health and also find they have more money than they used too by the end of the week.

I hope the quiting goes well for you, the first few weeks will probably be really tough to get through, if you have a dependancy towards smoking, but just keep at it, and all your hard work will pay off

[Josh_R]

Cigs, and that shit I never really smoked for a long period. Maybe one here, and there when stress, but that is very rare. I used to smoke weed like a motherf*cker. I still do now. I just have to time when I smoke weed with my piss tests I have to take. Sometimes I don't cause it is risky. Three weeks til I get my honorable discharge then weed all day err day!!

[Rowan]

I smoked 3 packs a week for just over 2 years. I have not had a ciggerette for 1 year and 3 months. Want to know how I did it? I stopped smoking. Dont pay attention to 'cravings', just dont do it. Its actually quite simple. You know how to not do something, right? Its kind of like doing something, but not doing it at all. Thats the trick, if you dont do it, you wont do it.

but seriously, nicotine and the gum etc is just a desperate cry for help and makes people richer and yourself, poorer. The only way to quit, is to stop. Take it from me, better health will not be your only reward. You will have a sense of accomplishment as well as a fatter wallet.

[Lily]

if youre gunna quit i think youre best off just going cold turkey and doing it

I tried the whole cutting down and it never works, in the end i just decided i wasnt having another cigarette and it ****ing killed me for a couple of weeks, but it gets easier, it just drags it out if you try to cut down

I still want a fag every so often, like now when im on my period and in a cranky as **** mood and I quit a year and a half ago

[Unknown Entity]

Go cold turkey.

Maybe it's because I'm a non-smoker, but the gum is absolutely vile. It has the texture of a softer Turkish chewing gum (you won't know what they're like unless you've tried them... it's hard and tasteless. Heh heh, that what she said!), and it burns the back of your throat a little. That said, trying the gum was like my first "pull" on a cigarette - disgusting. I tried the gum because my mum was trying it, and said it was gross. So I did, and couldn't handle it for longer than a few minutes, and promptly brushed my teeth. So yeah, I recommend staying as far from the gum as humanly possible.

Patches... ahaha. Yeah, I tried those too despite being a non-smoker. Mum was using them, and left one of hers on one night when she went to sleep, and had some crazy dreams. So I put a weaker one on to see what happens, and well... yeah. Crazy dreams. Otherwise, they did nothing for me.

I wouldn't waste my money on either. It's almost as expensive as buying the cigarettes anyway, if not more. Sure, it's only short term, but I'd rather have the money in my pocket and spend it on doing something to take my mind off the cravings, rather than feed them with chewy shit and plastic sheets of crazy-dream-inducing shit.

If you take the patches route, just take them off when you go to bed.

[Tallulah]

Crazy dream inducing shit? Gimme those patches!

Also, I took some nicotine gum to school one time and offered my friend some as a joke. She gagged so hard!

Oh, I'm evil...

Haven't had a cigarette in about 2 days. I probably will tomorrow, though.

[Lily]

i tried the gum, it was supposed to be minty flavoured it was one of the most disgusting things i ever put in my gob

i quite enjoyed my friends inhilator thingy though...

[smurphy]

You could always replace one vice(in this case smoking) with a more harmless one, like picking your nose or spitting vigorously and often. Well less harmless to your health than to your social life anyway, cos smoking looks cool.

Seriously, I cant claim to know what going cold turkey is like mainly because I have never smoked before, but I know more than enough people that have tried and none of them have succeeded. And considering how bad everyone says the alternatives to straight out cold turkey are, it sound like one of the hardest things for a human to accomplish. So the best of luck with your endeavour.