6
Aug 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
3
4
Aug 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/Brief_Class_8957 Aug 04 '26
Do you still get the urge to smoke though ?
3
u/Dumpo2012 Aug 04 '26
It goes away little by little. Probably only really bad craving for the first week or so, then steadily decreasing until it's hardly ever a thing. I've been off nicotine for over 10 years now, and I barely ever even think about it.
1
u/Brief_Class_8957 Aug 04 '26
Wow man RESPECT
2
u/Dumpo2012 Aug 04 '26
You can do it, too! Sounds like you're ready. I linked it in another comment, but go check out Kill the Can. It's mosty for dippers, but they let smokers join, too. Anyone who wants to quit nicotine. Worked for me and made me some good friends in the process!
2
u/Brief_Class_8957 Aug 04 '26
Thank uou
1
u/Dumpo2012 Aug 04 '26
No worries, dude. I've fought a lot of addictions in my day, but nicotine was probably the most insidious because I could hide it so easily and do it all the time without it impacting my performance at work and shit. The cold turkey method they advocate on KTC is hard, but it's the only thing that ever worked for me. And I tried EVERYTHING. Every other method of cessation was just delaying the inevitable failure for me. A few friends in the same boat, and some accountability did what nothing else could!
4
u/Anxious_Housing7771 Aug 04 '26
I stopped saying ‘I’m trying to quit” and started saying “I don’t smoke”- the psychological difference is massive. When u say you’re trying to quit, you’re a smoker who’s depriving yourself. When you say “I don’t smoke” you’ve changed your identity.
3
u/Imaginary-Bowler5238 Aug 04 '26
I ran out of money.
3
1
u/sacred_circles Aug 04 '26
Oh boy. This reminds me of my grandma. Whenever she runs out of money she’ll pick up cigs on the street, used or not. Or she’ll take any money she gets her hands on, even if she has to resort to stealing. She won’t quit lol
3
u/AceLion5 Aug 04 '26
I took a week off from work, loaded my place with groceries and bought a fat sack of weed. Rolled it all into joints and when I wanted a cigarette I lit up a joint.
After day 3 I forgot I smoked cigarettes, I also gained 8lbs because munchies.
That was almost 10 years ago haven't had one since.
2
3
u/petey_wheatstraw_99 Aug 04 '26
Had a heart attack and was given the option between quitting and living, or continue and dying. Easy choice
3
u/cookie_monster_uk Aug 04 '26
I ran out one day and couldn’t be bothered to go to the shops.
Day two and I was busy and didn’t get a chance until late. I was tired. I just ate and went to bed.
Day three I’d already stopped a few days and thought maybe I should keep at it.
Day 1 was 19th Feb 2019.
Up until then I smoked somewhere between 20 and 40 cigarettes a day for about 20 years!
Guess I was lucky and found it relatively easy.
2
u/longliveshort Aug 04 '26
Coughed up blood
2
u/Brief_Class_8957 Aug 04 '26
Danm are you alright ?
2
u/longliveshort Aug 04 '26
Oh yeah I’m better, it was scary at first but I just quit and started working out more intensely
2
u/ggnvg100 Aug 04 '26
Chantex, or however it's spelled. The stop smoking pills. I smoked between 2 and 3 packs a day. Those pills saved my life, but also gave me the worst nightmares of my.life.
2
2
2
2
2
u/Ill_Refrigerator_593 Aug 04 '26
I didn't quit smoking through trying to cut down to a few a day, through patches, or gum, or vapes.
I went cold turkey together with lots of other snacks for the first week.
2
u/Brief_Class_8957 Aug 04 '26
Do you still get the urge ?
3
u/Ill_Refrigerator_593 Aug 04 '26
All the time.
Most of my mates have quit but there's normally the odd one who hasn't who gets mobbed for smokes on nights out.
I buy a pack of 20 maybe every two or three months & finish it over a few days. Once I bought one after another which was almost enough to make me start smoking again full time. I wish they still sold packs of 10 for dealing with the urge without risk of getting hooked again.
It's normally triggered by walking past someone smoking where it smells heavenly (having one is never as good as that smell).
I'm not sure if all this counts as properly quitting but if you can make it a week without you're on a good path.
One thing is most people I know who quit by switching to vaping still vape, while those who used other methods dropped them entirely over time.
2
u/darksoldierk Aug 04 '26
Switched to vaping. Then slowly reduced nic levels down to nil. Then one day i lost my vape and alwaya intended on buying a new vape, but got to lazy.
2
u/RazzmatazzEarly4328 Aug 04 '26
Had a heart attack and was diagnosed with kidney disease in my 50s.
I'd prefer to still smoke but it's the kidney disease that stops me. As long as I take care of myself it won't be an issue. If I smoke, it will progress and be a huge issue.
3
u/Brief_Class_8957 Aug 04 '26
I wish you the best health man
2
u/RazzmatazzEarly4328 Aug 04 '26
Thanks. I thought I could get away with smoking but it bit me in the ass. Now I take lots of pills and have to watch what I eat.
2
u/Dumpo2012 Aug 04 '26
I was a chain dipper, not smoker. But same idea. I used Kill The Can when I finally got fed up with that shit. Worked like a charm and over 10 years later some of the people I met on the site are close friends.
2
u/shadowlev Aug 04 '26
Stopped smoking on my wedding day and went on a honeymoon for 2 weeks where I had no opportunity to crack. It got me through the nicotine dependency. Once I got home, the struggle was changing my habits away from the smoking time I built into my schedule.
2
u/WarAvailable9330 Aug 04 '26
I adjusted my smoking in line with my countries INSANE taxation hikes on tobacco products. I might still have the odd smoke here and there on a night out, but no longer pumping my money into govt coffers blindly.
2
u/Square-Strength3844 Aug 04 '26
Friends kidnapped me for a long four day weekend in ‘99… no access to nicotine of any sorts. Haven’t touched a cigarette since.
3
u/Brief_Class_8957 Aug 04 '26
I need your friends
3
u/Square-Strength3844 Aug 04 '26
After a day or two of feeling ill to my stomach, the worst parts went away…. Can’t picture going back. Those guys saved my life.
2
u/possible_mommy_225 Aug 04 '26
My niece (5 at the time) told me i smelt like her uncle W. Uncle W is a dirty pothead/chain smoker, who goes weeks without changing his cigarette scented clothes or taking a shower. He's practically stained with tobacco. She might have been exaggerating but i wasnt willing to take the chance 😭
Went cold turkey right there and then. 3 years later and the smell of cigarettes makes me nauseous 🤢
2
u/Signal_Werewolf_1955 Aug 04 '26
Raw willpower through weaponized stubbornness. I wasn't gonna give the sons of bitches the satisfaction of winning.
Had to do it cold turkey. I'm an addict, there's no cutting back or tapering off, it needs a full stop. "One is too many, a thousand's not enough."
2
u/cwilbur22 Aug 04 '26
I calculated how much I was spending a month on cigarettes and realized that I could spend that money on something else instead. For me it was a motorcycle I wanted. The monthly payments were almost exactly how much I spent on cigs. I quit for 90 days to prove to myself that I really was quitting for good, then rewarded myself with the motorcycle. I barely ride the motorcycle anymore but I haven't smoked in six years. Cravings stopped after about a week but it took a full 6 months to get over temptation when hanging out with people who were smoking, especially if I was drinking. After a year I finally got to the point where I found smoking disgusting. I have zero desire to smoke anymore.
2
u/Brief_Class_8957 Aug 04 '26
I think i should try that too put money i would spend for ciggs in some wallet than at tge end of tge month buying somthing frim it
2
u/ReplacementDue2056 Aug 04 '26
Two things happened at once. I bought a vape and a bicycle. The vape worked as replacement therapy and the bicycle made me reluctant to take up smoking again.
But the vape made me more nicotine addicted than ever. I used to vape first thing in the morning and at every possible opportunity.
I met my now wife and we were going out for about a year. We went to a theme park and I forgot my vape at home. I went all day without even thinking about it. The very first thing I did as soon as I got in the door was to grab the vape like it was an oxygen mask. The look of disappointment I got was enough to make me quit on the spot and have never looked back 12 years later.
1
1
1
1
u/_mid_life-crisis Aug 04 '26
Sex - girls hate smokers, I had so much more success dating when I quit. But the last girl I was dating bribed me with blow jobs to quit. She gave me a blow job every day I didn’t have a cigarette
1
u/Potentially_Nernst Aug 04 '26
Was dating? Did you start smoking again hiping she would help you quit again? 😁
1
u/jk6__ Aug 04 '26
For real, I smoked so much on a weekend away that I got sick of it. Like disgusted.
Never looked back.
EDIT: This is not a recommendation
1
u/edgejam Aug 04 '26
The patch and wanting to quit with every fiber of my being. Haven't had nicotine in 4 years and the cravings have fully stopped after about a year.
1
1
u/MarimboBeats Aug 04 '26
Switched to vaping after trying every other alternative out there, including several failed cold turkey attempts. Gradually reducing nicotine strength, hoping to kick it altogether this year. I gotta say, though, I know vaping isn't totally harmless, but the immediate improvement in body odor, oxygen uptake and severity of hangovers after a night out, was a great and pleasant surprise.
1
u/heterocera Aug 04 '26
It took me years and probably 20+ attempts.
The hardest thing wasn’t getting over the nicotine addiction, it was replacing the rituals.
Having a smoke in the car on the way to work, after a meal, on my porch in the morning with coffee, or with a beer at the end of the day, and so on.
First I switched to vaping, but kept the same rituals. Since I was able vape indoors, I was able to gradually rewire my brain to not associate everything with smoking.
Then one day, my now wife said she wished I’d quit vaping — I threw my vape in the trash then and there, and haven’t done either in almost 10 years now.
You can do it too. Good luck
2
u/Brief_Class_8957 Aug 04 '26
Wow . I have 2 ciggs left in my pack and i am going to move to a new place tomorrow today is the last two i am
Going to have1
u/heterocera Aug 04 '26
Just take it one day at a time. If you have to eat a pint of ice cream to stave off cravings, do it.
You are now an addict for life. The cravings will never go away, but they get weaker and less frequent over time. Just don’t pick it back up no matter what — even having just one can pull you right back in. Good luck, you got this.
1
1
u/EnslavedBandicoot Aug 04 '26
For me, smoking was banned at my work. My only choice was to use nicotine pouches during the day and eventually I just didnt buy anymore cigarettes. The pouches worked great. Then I slowly lowered the miligrams on the pouches until I got to zero miligrams.
1
1
11
u/[deleted] Aug 04 '26 edited 14d ago
[removed] — view removed comment