Jump to content
SASS Wire Forum

How many times have you quit smoking?


Alpo

Recommended Posts

In 11th grade I was smoking Winchester little cigars, because they were a quarter a pack. Ate two packs of Reese's cups for lunch one day, washed them down with a root beer, and lit up Winchester. Oh my God that was nasty. Quit. That would be 72.

 

In 74 I started up again. Smoking Luckies. Bought them on base for a quarter a pack. Quit about 78.

 

Started up again in 80 when I was doing the census. Had gone to menthol by this time.  About 88 or 89 I decided that it would be better for the children to eat that $10 bill every week, than for me to put a match to it. Quit again.

 

I've been quit about 30 years now.

 

But smoking is like drinking.

 

"Hello. I'm Alpo. I'm a smoker. I haven't had a cigarette in 30 years."

 

But all it would take would be for me to light one. Just one, because I remember how good it tasted. And in a week I'd be back to a pack and a half a day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I started dipping(Kodiak) in high school in 89'. Started smoking in college 92-93', still dipped occasionally. By 95' I was smoking two packs a day and dipping a couple cans a week.  In 96' the factory i worked at banned smoking in the building so I quit that for the most part and dipped a can a night; I'd smoke one after work occasionally and while golfing occasionally. By 2000 I'd quit smoking altogether but dipped 1-2 cans every day. On May 14, 2004 I quit it all when Mustang Lewis came along :D

October 2005, the factory announced it was closing and like an idiot I started back dipping 1-2 cans a day. May 1, 20011 I quit dipping again and have not had a dip or cigarette since. I have NO desire to ever dip, chew, or smoke cigarettes again. The last time I quit dipping I had the shakes for a week and literally thought I'd die; no thanks.

 

Now, I will smoke a Cigar from time to time. Yes I know I get some nicotine, but it is minuscule compared to the rest and I can go weeks without; but 2-3 a week(especially at a Cowboy match) has not been a problem.

 

I think if I messed up and lit a cigarette I'd be hooked on them again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I quit 4 times. The last one took. 
 

I started smoking at 15. I had my last cigarette almost 2 1/2 years ago. All it took was a motorcycle crash and a desire to quit. ;) 

The 3rd time I tried to quit I tried Chantix. That crap needs to be pulled off the market. I had psychotic dreams and suicidal thoughts...weird suicidal thoughts, like; riding my motorcycle and thinking “All you need to do is swerve and hit that tree. Problem solved. No more cigarettes.” But these weren’t random musings. They were serious. I had a super realistic psychotic dream that I was in a slave camp and they had just jacked up my best friend. I woke up crying and freaking out. That was it for me. 
I contacted the makers of Chantix and told them about it. I felt like they couldn’t care less. 
 

I still use 5 - 2mg nicotine lozenges a day but my doctor says 10mg of nicotine daily is fine and nothing to be concerned with.  
I do not miss cigarettes. My lungs definitely don’t miss cigarettes. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I smoked for about 15 years and quit a couple of times, including once in basic (I re-started in basic once we got passes).  The nicotine patch worked for me, my co-workers said I was more pleasant on the patch than when I was smoking.  Of course I was addicted to the patch for a year or so after I quit smoking.  Now the price in CT is $10-$11 a pack and I am real glad I quit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You mean other than every night?   Been smoking or chewing for 55 years+  Tuned it down several years ago. Can lasts 5-6 days but stop when gets more than that.   Smoke when I feel like it.     GW

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I quit 5 times. The last time in 1999 finally stuck after going to the funeral of a good friend that died from lung cancer. I still like the dang smell though and I know if I tried one tomorrow I'd buy a pack! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Once, October 2 2019 after a stay in the hospital. Actually smoked my first when I was about 10. Started for real in 1974 at about a pack a day. Got caught smoking in the bathroom on the first day of school in tenth grade. The guidance counselor told my mother and step father that I'd quit after a few years. Turned into 2+ packs a day for the rest of the time until October. Quit cold turkey (hospitals don't let you smoke in there for some reason) and haven't started back up. When it bothers me is when I wake up, when I have a beer and after supper. Weird thing is though, when I want a cig the most is when I get in my truck to go somewhere....that's shen I notice it the most. 

 

I use the 4 mg gum, I figure if I used the patch I'd look like a damn Nascar car. 

 

The people who are most appreciative that I quit smoking are my dad and my girlfriend. I guess it hasn't been long enough for me to hate the smell of someone else smoking, to me it smells good. Curiously enough, it doesn't make me want one though.

 

I just hope that I can stay quit for good but like Alpo said implied, once you're a smoker...you're always a smoker, kind of like an alcoholic.....you just cut down by a BUNCH.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Only smoked whole I was in Vietnam. Quit when I left.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Started cigarettes around 1966 in Jr. High, stealing singles out of my Dad's pack of Pall Malls.  Smoked Marlboros and then Kools; quit more times than I could count, usually throwing a half smoked pack out the car window and swearing I was done.  The birth of my son in 1990 finally gave me the incentive to quit for good.  I did start smoking good cigars (I was partial to Cohibas when I could get them, and Bahias when I couldn't), but when my eye doc told me that I had the early stages of macular degeneration and should not smoke, that was that.  I only miss the cigars when I'm in the islands or out on a boat, but that passes quickly; I value my eyesight more.

 

I'm very pleased that my son has chosen not to smoke.

 

LL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I ran out of them Thanksgiving 1976 and have not gotten around to buying any since. I changed a few habits to help quit, like getting up and doing dishes to get my hands wet after eating  instead of having a smoke and quit going to bars for awhile. It helped

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I quit 42 years ago, took up jogging, did a marathon and continued jogging, now I just walk a mile per day and average 15 flights of stair per day. Had all the heart tests last spring and the cardiologist said my heart was strong, the valves are tight and no sign of any blockage.  He said just keep doing what you are doing. I'm 77 yrs old.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I quit when my wife was expecting our son, 43 years ago.

That was after two previous, unsuccessful attempts to quit.

 I really started as a defence measure, when everyone used to smoke cigarettes, in meetings I had to attend.

So, I smoked nice flavourful cigars or sometimes a pipe. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was never a heavy cigarette smoker, but would smoke for periods now and then; associated with work stress. Quit a couple of times then quit for good; but in my case without much problem as I was never over a half-pack a day and I'm just one in whom the nicotine was only mildly addictive, so I never had cravings. This was many years ago.

 

I was a one-cigar a day smoker for many years, though. Doc said quit, about 15 years ago, and I just quit. I get 5 or 6 really good cigars a year from sons and sons-in-law, and so I will smoke those few over the course of a year on special occasions, but it's so few it doesn't concern me. 

 

I still own one great briar pipe, but I quit pipe smoking long ago, mostly because of the associated hassle. I keep that pipe and a backy pouch in my backpack, and smoke it around the campfire on backpacking trips; maybe 5 or 6 times per year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I started smoking cigs when I was 15 (tried my first one when I was 12 and didn't like it). I started because it was "cool" and all my friends in high school were smoking. I stopped in '95 after smoking a carton a week. It was a mental thing, I just decided to stop smoking because they didn't "taste" good any more, even with my morning cup of coffee. I have noticed in the many posts above mine that many of you have said they have started and quit many times. When you read my post, you'll see that I say I stopped smoking, which infers that if I wanted to start smoking again I could. I have never said I quit smoking, because the only time you actually "quit" is when you die...….and smoking is one sure way you can actually "quit" .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Started smoking when I was 19 or so.  Was working for TVA, on a truck that hauled lumber from a storage yard to the project site.  We'd sometimes have to set for several hours waiting on our turn with the crane to lift lumber off the truck.  Boredom fueled the curiosity.  

 

25 years later, I had a two to three pack a day habit.  I had halfheartedly quit several times.  Two things drove a final attempt...my mother was dying of cancer (brain cancer) and cigarettes went to $3.00 a pack locally when buying them by the carton.  March of 2006, I laid an open, partially smoked pack on my end table by my chair, along with my Zippo lighter.  Three weeks later, I threw the cigarettes away.  I didn't use patches or any meds...just will power.  When I quit, I figured that I was spending over $2500 a year just for cigarettes.  

 

I still get a perverse pleasure out of getting a sniff of a cigarette from 15 or 20 feet away.  BUT, I can't stand to be in a vehicle or enclosed room with someone smoking.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I attempted to quit several times but it was actually more for my wife than my desire to quit.  I was smoking a pack to a pack and a half daily.  One day while on vacation I decided I wouldn't have one that day.  The next day I thought "that wasn't so bad.  I wont have one today either".  I've been "not having one today" for about 35 years.  

 

And like Capt. James H. Callahan I occasionally dream that I am smoking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nicotine is the Devil.  I understand fully all of the health reasons not to smoke.  I've seen the blackened lung tissue and the mouth and throat cancer damage.  And as repulsive as all of that is, I know inside myself that it would only take a day or two of renewed smoking to get me hooked again.  I hate it, and the folks who continue to market and sell this addictive and deadly product should be prosecuted and shunned.

Never thought I'd say that, but enough is enough.  Most folks can't quit whenever they want.  The makers know this, rely upon it as a sales strategy, and have even enhanced the content to make it even more addictive.  They have moved their marketing concentrations to Africa and Asia, where there is less pesky regulation, litigation and adverse publicity.  A pox on their houses, and may every plaintiff who sues recover ten fold.

And finally, shame on the US government for not declaring tobacco a defective product and banning its sale in any form (or at least opening it up to strict liability claims).  When I think of all of the less deadly stuff that is banned or regulated, there is absolutely no justification for leaving this poison on the shelves, where it entices and harms yet another generation of curious kids.

 

Rant over; smoke 'em if you've got 'em...oh..no..no..no!

 

LL

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Never really smoked cigs, just cigars and a pipe. Started smoking cigars when my buddies and I got together to play pool ant the local pool hall of bowling alley. Tried chewing Beechnut, but that was shortlived. When I played baseball in the service and minor league stuff later, lots of the guys chewed. I was a catcher and got a foul ball in my mask and swallowed a big chunk of it. Got pretty sick for awhile.

Really liked my pipes, had quite a few. Found a custom blend that tasted as good as it smelled. In 1978 I changed jobs and during my physical, was told my bp was high. My regular doc said if I quit smoking, it might come down. Stopped cold, gave all my pipes away and have not smoked again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Nicotine is the Devil.  I understand fully all of the health reasons not to smoke.  I've seen the blackened lung tissue and the mouth and throat cancer damage.  And as repulsive as all of that is, I know inside myself that it would only take a day or two of renewed smoking to get me hooked again.  I hate it, and the folks who continue to market and sell this addictive and deadly product should be prosecuted and shunned.

Never thought I'd say that, but enough is enough.  Most folks can't quit whenever they want.  The makers know this, rely upon it as a sales strategy, and have even enhanced the content to make it even more addictive.  They have moved their marketing concentrations to Africa and Asia, where there is less pesky regulation, litigation and adverse publicity.  A pox on their houses, and may every plaintiff who sues recover ten fold.

And finally, shame on the US government for not declaring tobacco a defective product and banning its sale in any form (or at least opening it up to strict liability claims).  When I think of all of the less deadly stuff that is banned or regulated, there is absolutely no justification for leaving this poison on the shelves, where it entices and harms yet another generation of curious kids.

 

Rant over; smoke 'em if you've got 'em...oh..no..no..no!

 

LL

 

One has to be careful on wishing a product banned. They'd be outlawing a product that has been in use since the first person set foot in the America's. The tobacco products of today are not of the same ilk as fifty years ago. Tobacco, in itself, is not a defective product, it does what it was meant to do. All the additive chemicals in tobacco products are what makes the product defective and should be banned from use but not the actual product itself.

 

As you know, lawsuits were brought against the tobacco giants which they lost and huge settlements were awarded......but to who? From what I understand, the lawyers got a big chunk, the government got most of the rest and a few individual received some of the settlement. 

 

In my opinion, the settlement should have provided every smoker the monetary provisions to quit smoking....gum, patches, counseling, hypnosis or whatever it takes (for as long as it takes) to accomplish the task of smoking cessation. I've heard that nicotine addiction is worse than any other addiction including opiates. When it comes to quitting, you're on your own both physically and monetarily. It shouldn't be this way, but it is. 

 

I'm not an advocate of cigarette/tobacco manufacturers, far from it. I wish there was a way to force the CEO's and top exec's to smoke four packs a day of their own product but there's not. I'm just saying that one has to be careful about wanting certain products banned as it may open the door to other products being banned, even if the right to own such other products are guaranteed by our own Constitution.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

The government will never get rid of tobacco because of the amount of tax revenue it generates. 

Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. So much tax revenue money to be made they have their own bureau...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Started in 58 worked my way up to 40 Rod's 4 packs a day in the 90s. I quit dozens of times. After 2 or 3 days without I would develop chest pains.

My successful stopage was in the late 90s, cold turkey.  Did cigars, pipe and snuff.  

Now all of the above disgust me.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quit once, after 3 packs a day for twenty years.  1992.  Petey will try to tell you I didn't smoke them; I just let them burn up in the ashtray.  Well, yeah - that's because if I wasn't asleep or in the shower I always had one lit & had to put it down every now and again to get anything done.  Yeah, it was hard, but the time was right.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.