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My first cigarette, was circa 2006 I was outside of HIM concert in Minneapolis at a club called the Quest, which has since ceased to operate in the broader Twin Cities area. I remember distinctly bumming a cigarette off a slightly balding twenty something before attempting to drive my then cohort's manual car home from a short distance of my home. For those who may not be familiar, learning to drive a stick in the states is not necessarily a given, so I rolled the car in from a few blocks out. This stemmed out into what I can only assume is a rather stereotypical situation for young smokers.
I was so edgy, you don't even know, want to talk about the Rasmus, or the 69 Eyes?
A then friend took Kools off his father and we would go on extended walks only to return smelling distinctly of AXE body spray in the hopes that his father wouldn't recognize that he was missing 3-6 cigarettes at a time. At 16 in the States though, you won't look a then gift horse in the mouth. I started smoking at about that time, finding people of legal age to provide me with a myriad of legal tobacco until I was 18 myself. By the time I was 18 Parliament was offering 2 for 1 deals on cigarettes nigh exclusively to college students, and that was my brand of choice for a good while. Sometime between my freshman and sophomore year they stopped this promo and I started bouncing about between brands.
Since then, I've never been so married to a brand of cigarettes but I've bounced around and been flirting with a half a pack to a pack a day depending on whether or not I've been drinking for sometime. Though last week, I ordered an e cig. Not what I would say the proper, cold turkey method of quitting, I think I knew that I would not be able to transition completely away from cigarettes on a whim.
A good battery with nicotine
I've been suckling on this thing since around noon today, and something is missing, likely peripheral chemicals beyond the nicotine I am after. I am still tweaking things on the device itself, but I am doing my damndest to forgo the pack I left in my desk for the electronic device currently sat on my mouse mat. I am still tinkering with flavors offered, and wattage/voltage business, and I don't mind it so much. I may be drawing a bit more on the device presently as I hope that it provides the same combustion relief I've so trained my body to expect from smoking.
It is my supposition that with enough time, I'll be able to transition completely to this little battery. One fringe benefit of which is my being able to charge various devices off the battery.Which I imagine I will employ in the near future. In a nut shell, is it ideal probably not, but I know I wouldn't be able to quit cold turkey, a device in the 50$ range will at least entice me to use it on the regular, until I deal with the DTs of the peripheral chemicals and make it through this difficult bit.
In a sentence: Don't smoke kids, the long term is harder than you'll imagine. I hope to have all this subbed out and find the most correct, healthy e liquid possible in the near future. I recognize this as a potential misnomer, though we'll see what shakes loose. For the short term, I hope that this is a good way for me to make forward progress to ditching the habit.
I've found myself for want of time that I would have otherwise spent smoking. I am rather used to popping outside for five to ten minutes, and at least the smell/habit leaves me a bit wanting. Here is to hoping I can keep up a moderately, though likely less than healthy substitution going long enough to curb the habit.
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Dude, don't be a quitter.
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My personal experience so you might have an idea of what to expect:
+ Show Spoiler +That feeling that something is missing all the time will go away eventually. For me, it took about 3 or 4 months. Til then, I would occasionally be satisfied but more often than not I would vape like crazy for hours. I went through 90-120mL per week for that amount of time at 11mg nicotine solution. The last urge to have a cigarette for me was about one year after I switched, and since then I haven't felt the need for a cig (November). I didn't consider smoking cigarettes failure during that period and neither should you. If you absolutely cannot concentrate on anything at all, just have one cigarette to satisfy the chemical need your body thinks it has and then continue with the PV.
Good luck and remember there's no way to quit/reduce smoking incorrectly! (unless it's with like, crack, or something)
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I smoked from 2003/4 to january 2015, about a pack a day. Halfway through a cigarette while my friend (who had also quit) was telling me about how bad it was I decided to quit. I destroyed the remaining pack (almost full) went out for a beer and never looked back.
Honestly I feel what helped me is making an as little a deal of it as possible. Dont tell anyone, dont buy an e smoker, and dont write a blog. Just try to forget about it. Eliminate it from your life alltogether. Pretty much anyone who told me they successfully quit did so cold turkey btw.
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Good luck on quitting, it's probably one of the best decision you can make.
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You could try sunflower seeds (in the shell) as a replacement. Gives you something mechanical to do.
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i agree with B.I.G
i have attempted to quit literally 25+ times and have gone for 1 week to 2 months each time
the thing that will let you quit is to be at peace with your life and with yourself
blogging, logging, mentioning it to people, any sort of thinking about it ... is a product of not being at peace with yourself
so how do you become at peace enough to stop smoking? i guess you work on all the aspects of your life until you become that stronger more peaceful , self-satisfied person
this is why i think you hear so many people say things like "oh i quit 1 year now, it was easy". because they were in a peaceful state of self during that time so quitting just happened and they didn't have to think much of it.
if you can't get to that place for a while then be honest with yourself and stay with the vape thing (no cigarettes) because it could be many months or even years (or 10 years) until you are ready. if you are on cigarettes that time you are doing irreversible damage the whole time and as you get older you the chance of you suddenly encountering a life-changing illness gets frighteningly likely
last week i had an xray in fear of lung cancer (clear) and have calf flutters (hopefully means nothing) and infrequent heart palpitations (i expect this means im gonna die in next 5 yrs) ... i just hit 30 years old like the rest of you , smart, not overweight, been trying to gym for the last few years .... but smoking and alcohol will kill each and every one of us and no one will care except for the people who profit from our weakness
it is irreversible damage which means you can't just degen for a few years then heal out of it. the "average age" of a first heart attack might be "65" but it is CAUSED by gradual and irreversible damage throughout the whole lifespan. not to mention, people die much much earlier than this (30, 40, 50) all the fucking time
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i think talking about it is good because it makes it real. Also if you have said / promised something, you can't back down.
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On March 19 2015 15:34 B.I.G. wrote:
I smoked from 2003/4 to january 2015, about a pack a day. Halfway through a cigarette while my friend (who had also quit) was telling me about how bad it was I decided to quit. I destroyed the remaining pack (almost full) went out for a beer and never looked back.
Honestly I feel what helped me is making an as little a deal of it as possible. Dont tell anyone, dont buy an e smoker, and dont write a blog. Just try to forget about it. Eliminate it from your life alltogether. Pretty much anyone who told me they successfully quit did so cold turkey btw.
On March 19 2015 17:30 FFGenerations wrote:
i agree with B.I.G
i have attempted to quit literally 25+ times and have gone for 1 week to 2 months each time
the thing that will let you quit is to be at peace with your life and with yourself
blogging, logging, mentioning it to people, any sort of thinking about it ... is a product of not being at peace with yourself
so how do you become at peace enough to stop smoking? i guess you work on all the aspects of your life until you become that stronger more peaceful , self-satisfied person
this is why i think you hear so many people say things like "oh i quit 1 year now, it was easy". because they were in a peaceful state of self during that time so quitting just happened and they didn't have to think much of it.
if you can't get to that place for a while then be honest with yourself and stay with the vape thing (no cigarettes) because it could be many months or even years (or 10 years) until you are ready. if you are on cigarettes that time you are doing irreversible damage the whole time and as you get older you the chance of you suddenly encountering a life-changing illness gets frighteningly likely
last week i had an xray in fear of lung cancer (clear) and have calf flutters (hopefully means nothing) and infrequent heart palpitations (i expect this means im gonna die in next 5 yrs) ... i just hit 30 years old like the rest of you , smart, not overweight, been trying to gym for the last few years .... but smoking and alcohol will kill each and every one of us and no one will care except for the people who profit from our weakness
it is irreversible damage which means you can't just degen for a few years then heal out of it. the "average age" of a first heart attack might be "65" but it is CAUSED by gradual and irreversible damage throughout the whole lifespan. not to mention, people die much much earlier than this (30, 40, 50) all the fucking time
We'll see what shakes loose, as others have pointed out the odds that I'll be successful at cutting them out completely this time around are not stellar, but in all honesty this is the first concerted effort I've made at quitting in the decade I've been smoking. I had a moment last week where I was out for a smoke and just thought, "... you know, these aren't as good as they used to be," and started looking into the vape option.
I can appreciate BIG's idea, and think it makes a good deal of sense, I may just still be waddling through stages of grieving for my smoking habit.
As far as FFG's deal go, firstly glad you're in the clear medically and no I am not at peace with myself. But I am trying to be more honest with myself, I've been going to the gym 3-4 times a week for the last month as well. Part of what I would suppose is a typical mid twenties, let me try to make up for treating my body like an amusement park for the last five years.
I am hoping a general trend into a healthier set of circumstances and habits will take.
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I smoked for about 4 years until I quit cold turkey. I had just moved into a new university and met a girl who didn't like smoking, and I really was into her so I quit and now 18 months have passed since I've had a cigarette :p Looking back, idk why I started smoking because my father died of complications caused by smoking, but I was able to quit with the right motivation. I used to smoke about 12-15 a day too.
I would say try to ween yourself down to having only a handful a day and then quit cold turkey. The first two weeks are brutal but after its not as bad if you have a busy routine. You will have cravings here and there (I definitely still do) but just being tough on yourself will get you through in the end. <3
It also didn't help that a pack of my preferred brand was ~8.25 a pack, which used to cost me around 30 bucks or more a week :o
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My father quit smoking by setting a date on a calendar and promising himself and his family that this would be the last time, and he then had the good taste to simply quit earlier and not obsess about the last cigarette concept because he truly felt that cigarettes were a harmful and bad habit. I think his main motivation was that he wanted to be around in good health for his wife & children when he was older and he thought that smoking was slowly killing him.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/89l4iXo.jpg)
