[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

You wrote all that and expect readers to not get tempted?

Yes! Know your enemy.

Is smoking a cigarette every other day still bad for you? Probably: ask the doctors on that one. I think we have to be smoke-free before our lungs start recovering, and it takes years. Wish I'd started a decade earlier!

Well, actually, better I hadn't smoked at all, but hey, I did.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by humyum

I am trying to keep away from it as much as possible, but does that occasional say 2 to 3 ciggis a month hurt so much?

It's a game of statistics. The data says that your chances of contracting cancer and other smoking-related diseases are high if you are a smoker and reduce drastically if you give up smoking completely. I used to ponder over this hypothetical question till someone gave me the answer "One cigarette can cause cancer."

Whether that is the 20th cigarette of the day or the first is irrelevant. Also say your life expectancy is another 40 years: even at the rate of 2.5 cigarettes a day average we are looking at over 5000 cigarettes being processed by your body. That is a lot!

Also do read my earlier posts...if you are asking yourself such questions you are probably not ready to quit just yet. It's nothing to agonise over but one day you will be ready and the experience will be much different.

[zaveed]

Have been thinking about quitting but it is yet to happen.

I usually buy stock of 1 month, so that i don't have to run to the shop. hoping that this is main reason stopped buying the stock but a pack a day, stopped that too and buying it every time i want to smoke.
If i look back and see it has reduced from 15-20 a day to 7-8 a day.

Its the psychological feeling that will tempt you to smoke.

Circle of friends quit in one go , i am yet to .

Any other steps that i can take?

[noopster]

Originally Posted by zaveed

Have been thinking about quitting but it is yet to happen(...)
Any other steps that i can take?

Welcome! You've come to the right place.

Here are some practical suggestions:
- Buy only as much as you need. In your case, move from cartons to single packs, then half packs, then single sticks.
- Keep one cigarette stashed away in a secret place like the back of your sock drawer. Only one. And then forget about it. Use it only when you are absolutely desperate. It beats going out and buying a whole pack when you finally succumb to temptation.
-Keep a record of number of cigarettes smoked. One practical way to do is to roll a plain paper inside the top of the pack. Not down date and time plus any shorthand comments related to the context("Gr8 weather!", "Post-meal", "With Boss" etc.) It will help you identify triggers that you can later avoid or work around.
- Set simple rules. "I will not smoke at home/in front of my kids" is one that worked for me. Try and identify a smoking spot far from your workplace so that going for a smoke break actually disrupts the schedule and needs to be planned properly.
- Accept that you like smoking rather than convincing yourself you hate it. In the seventh year of my quit, I still remember the taste of a freshly lit cigarette between my lips and that first satisfying drag. There is no shame in this- you made it a habit for a reason. To repeat a cliché, the opposite of love is not hate but indifference. I guess, till you do this, you will keep going back for more.
- Don't be in a hurry to quit completely. The average quit takes years to stick. When you do quit, however, do it cold turkey. "I will smoke only when I go out with friends", "I will smoke only on New Year's" etc. never work. Trust me!
- If you do quit...and fail...don't beat yourself up and say "I'm hopeless" and go back to a pack a day. Just reset your quit. Use tools like www.quitnet.com to keep you motivated. Chew Nicorette if you must, or take up a hobby to fill the time. Whatever works.
- Most importantly- don't listen to too much advice ()> It's all inside of you. Stick with it and you will be rid of the addiction.

Good luck!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by zaveed

Any other steps that i can take?

You can take the one simple step that is the one thing you need to do: decide to give up.

Originally Posted by noopster

- If you do quit...and fail...don't beat yourself up and say "I'm hopeless" and go back to a pack a day. Just reset your quit ...

That's a nice way of putting it! Just because you have one cigarette today goes not mean you can't go back to giving up tomorrow.

Of course, if you find yourself doing this every day, or even every week, then you are not actually quitting. Go back to square one and review that decision.

Use tools like www.quitnet.com to keep you motivated. Chew Nicorette if you must, or take up a hobby to fill the time. Whatever works.

Whatever works!

There is nothing great about suffering. If something helps to give up without suffering, do it! Your giving up will be as good as anybody else's giving up!

Most importantly- don't listen to too much advice ()> It's all inside of you. Stick with it and you will be rid of the addiction.

Absolutely do not make a hobby of methods to give up smoking . It just postpones giving up!

Here's my theory of the day:

Smoking is...

90% just habit. Changing this is actually much easier that one thinks.

8% physical addiction. How bad is it? It's uncomfortable, but, come one, it's not as bad as flu!

2% psychological addiction. And this is the tough bit. This is all the mind games. This is tobacco's big weapon. How to beat it? see... decision.

Decision. Make it. Make it strong. Stick to it.

You can do it!

(I know, because I, and many others, did)

[selfdrive]

It could also work with a carrot or stick theory.

I quit smoking with a promise to myself that I wont eat any fried stuff or drink any sugary drinks (samosas/ fries/ burgers/ sodas, etc) on the day that I smoked.
I ended up quitting smoking but also adding another addiction - fried stuff and sugar drinks

Well, it isnt healthy either but I console myself by saying its not as bad

One of my friends (a miser), quit smoking by putting the equivalent of the cost of a cigarette in a piggy bank every time he smoked. Every time he smoked, the kitty increased. he donated it to some needy people at the end. but the very idea of giving money to someone else ensured that he quit smoking anyway. At least that is what he keeps saying

To each to find their own way of convincing themselves I guess. Best wishes to all who are trying, and also to those who are considering trying to quit.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

... I quit smoking with a promise to myself that I wont eat any fried stuff or drink any sugary drinks (samosas/ fries/ burgers/ sodas, etc) on the day that I smoked.
I ended up quitting smoking but also adding another addiction - fried stuff and sugar drinks ...

Bonus!

Watch out for other changes. On one of my earlier attempts to give up smoking, I had noticed that, when feeling socially awkward (which happened a lot! Even more then than now,) the first thing I did was reach for the cigarette packet from my pocket. Not having the cigarette packet, curiously, also reduced the awkwardness.

But that attempt? Nope. It was to be another twenty years!

[heydj]

Cant't really say I have stopped smoking but it has become very rare. Last I carried cigarette with me back in 2011.

Initially
1. I quit smoking by doing it one day at a time. Everyday would tell myself will definitely smoke one tomorrow. This way cut down the habit from daily smoking to only weekend thing.
2. Weekly thing converted to only smoking when with friends.
3. Being with friends turned into only smoking when going out clubbing and then also stayed away from smoking zones and did not carry any cigarettes with me.

Also this whole socially awkward thing is temporary. I quit drinking in 2010 & smoking in 2011. I spent last few years in Europe partying across Ibiza, Amsterdam, Berlin etc. without drinking and rarely smoking. With time these things don't bother much, if anything I get to do what I love most - listening to trance music and driving.

The thing that worked for me was never slamming the smoking door on myself and saying I have quit. We miss things the most when we are denied the same, instead I always say I am occasional smoker but just not doing it today.

[mayankk]

I picked up this E-cig thing, and in the past 7 days of using it, I have come down from 20 a day to 10. Today, I drove down to office without a smoke, just a couple of puffs of on the eleaf. I gave this a shot some 8 years ago as well but the thing was just horrible. Things have really moved up since, I must say. The texture of the vapor is very familiar, and actually is just vapor.
Cold turkey may be for some people, but was not cutting it for me. I gave up drinking like that, but this did not feel that way. I wanted to quit desperately, but the more I wanted to, the more I found myself yearning to mull over it some more with a cigarette in my hand.
The biggest problem that I faced was what to do for the morning smoke time, or the office smoke break, or driving?
For those who are struggling and smoking even more due to the struggle, give this a shot.

PS: two more weeks of this, and the eleaf will have recovered its own cost.

[Sudipto-S-Team]

Originally Posted by zaveed

Have been thinking about quitting but it is yet to happen.

I usually buy stock of 1 month, so that i don't have to run to the shop. hoping that this is main reason stopped buying the stock but a pack a day, stopped that too and buying it every time i want to smoke.
If i look back and see it has reduced from 15-20 a day to 7-8 a day.

Its the psychological feeling that will tempt you to smoke.

Circle of friends quit in one go , i am yet to .

Any other steps that i can take?

I had a 28 year old habit of smoking when I quit. At the time of quitting (8/9 years ago) I was smoking 40 sticks a day, give or take a few. It was not my first attempt. I don't remember how many times I tried. So I literally know it all about smoking and quitting.

Reducing the number of sticks never works. It is just perpetuating the agony. You will go back to your usual nicotine dose sooner or later. And if one does have the strength of mind to stick to a reduced number of sticks why not show the same strength of mind and kick the habit once and for all? You will enjoy the feeling of liberation and a sense of achievement.

[born_free]

I quit cold turkey 8 years ago and it was not easy.
Addiction affects each person differently so the amount of effort required to quit varies.

Even today, I do relish a cigarette or two once in a while and feel immense guilt afterward, but the good thing is that its only in dreams. It is like bad but realistic dream where you question whether the thing is really happening, the ghosts of past continue to haunt me in dreams it seems.

Recently I had applied for term insurance for big amount, and since I am now classified as non-smoker I could purchase it using standard rates, which otherwise for a smoker it costs almost 60% higher.

At least I know for me that a single cigarette is enough to trigger the addiction as it happened in past, so the only option is never to touch the thing again.

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by mayankk

I picked up this E-cig thing, and in the past 7 days of using it, I have come down from 20 a day to 10.

This sounds encouraging. Could you please share some more details like model number, price, where did you buy etc?

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

This sounds encouraging. Could you please share some more details like model number, price, where did you buy etc?

Its available across vendors, look for eleaf ijust 2.
Look here: http://ivape.in/buy-best-eliquid-eci...just2-kit.html

I picked it up off of aliexpress, but the price is more or less the same, 3-4k.
The juice/eliquid is averaging at 400 for 10 ml, which lasts for about 4-5 days. If you do pick it up, get the product with maximum VG/PG ratio ( look it up, you'll know what that is). Higher PG will be harsher.
Since I last posted, I am down to 3 analog sticks a day. This is massive.
Last night I did not have even one stick left with me and I was perfectly OK with it, in how long I dont even remember.

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Its available across vendors, look for eleaf ijust 2.
Look here: http://ivape.in/buy-best-eliquid-eci...just2-kit.html

Thanks for the link!
Do I need to purchase the smoke thingie once (which contains the battery, coil etc) and keep replenishing it with the refillable fluid which I will need to re-purchase once I run out.
Is that correct?

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

Thanks for the link!
Do I need to purchase the smoke thingie once (which contains the battery, coil etc) and keep replenishing it with the refillable fluid which I will need to re-purchase once I run out.
Is that correct?

Yes, only the liquid needs to be replenished. I am sore there some level of obsolescence built into the device as well, so maybe in the future you may have the heater coil or the battery failing. Still, a small price to pay, yeah.
You can get the liquid in flavors you cant even imagine, with varying strengths of nicotine.