I've smoked for over 35 years. I've been up to 3 packs a day for a good many of those years now. I'm sick of it.

Today is day one of my quit. I'm using a nicotine patch to help me out. So far so good, I haven't killed anyone. Yet.

I wish you well, same boat about 12 years ago. I tried with the patch a couple of times then I had to quit cold turkey. The patch seemed to leave me with the nicotine urge. The first two months are the hardest. The first year was a fight for me. I did change one thing, I quit drinking beer at the same time. I didn't quit drinking coffee though. I didn't become too much of a bear, my wife still smokes and we didn't get a divorce.

You will have a high probability of success if you are quitting because you want to. If you try quitting just because someone else is putting on the pressure, you will probably fail.

If you really want to do it, no one can stop you.

If you don't really want to do it, no one can force you to.

Here is a quote that has prompted a lot of people to really want to quit. I hope this isn't your situation.

"Cancer cures smoking"

>> "... 3 packs a day ..."

i dont consider by doing that is enjoying smoking ...


//but to think about it ... probably when we think we are actually burning/smoking and inhaling nicotine and plain tar(not cigarettes) then maybe we will quit for sure ...


.

Good Luck! Hope you don't work for tech support.

Tried the patch about three times and failed. It's a constant dose, not like the sudden rush of nicotine you get from smoking a cig. Nicorette gum simulated the smoking experience a little better for me. Used it on/off for about six months. Only caveat is flavored kind tastes a bit too good, IMHO. Good thing it's also the most expensive. It's a lot harder to develop a "gum habit" with cheap knockoff brands, like Walgreens'.
http://www.nicorette.com/
http://www.walgreens.com/store/produ...id=prod2672484

I tried quitting once then the other day I forgot I quit and smoked again. I felt disgusting that I had such a forgetful mind. Haven't tried again but I promised my girl, the day we got married I would quit. Right now I don't know how I will but I think I will anyway. Never been anywhere and Never done anything from where I could not take a U-TURN !!!

try enjoying(not smoking) your cigarettes and do hard perspiring exercises(start from younger age) ... you will be able to live well into old age ...

if want to quit(or totally avoid with discipline) any bad things and habits ... go for liquor and gambling , these two are among the worst for mankind ... i witness it myself live quite a number of times on people ...


.

There have been several statistical studies on the effect smoking has on lifespan. Some of the prominent entities doing these studies include Stanford University and Loma Linda University. While they may not have come up the the same numbers, they all agree that smoking dramatically shortens the life. The amount shortened ranges from 5 to 11 minutes per cigarette smoked. Do the math over a lifetime if you want another incentive to be a quitter.

I enjoy *not* smoking. It gives me a freedom that to me is more valuable than a free operating system.

Freedom from budgeting smoking expenses. (Do the math of this one over your lifetime)
Freedom from smoking related health problems.
Freedom from smoker's breath, cough, clothes, etc.

By the way, my dad smoked for 30 years, quit for 40, and still died from lung cancer. He had 6 younger siblings, all of them were lifetime smokers, and they all died from lung cancer. His 2 older sisters, neither of them smoked, and they outlived all of the younger ones by several years. Both lived well into their 90's.

So to you who want to quit, go for it. It *will* be difficult, but hang in there and don't let the little setbacks sabotage you. You won't regret it and you will have a better quality of life.

I tried several times with the patch and failed. The last time, I didn't want my family to know I was trying to quit so I had to find a place to put the patch where they wouldn't see it. So I put them on my ass.

Bingo! Success! I figured out that this must have been the shortest route from the patch to my brain.

I quit back in January with the help of the patches. It is possible and the patches can work. But, as has been said, the willpower aspect is very important.

Good luck.

On a lighter note - I have gone out and got absolutely plastered and not needed to smoke. So not all vices have to be stopped

Good luck, Mason. I've been a smoker since I was 16, that's 46 years of it. Tried to quit God knows how many times, longest was for a month. Been rolling my own for past 10 years, average 15 a day. Both my parents smoked, both lived 'til they were 90. Think I've given up giving up.

I don't believe that for a minute. The only clear studues I've seen project an average of 2-5 years of shortened life expectancy. Hardly worth it if that's your only reason for quitting. There are other good reasons related to quality of life, financial interests, the issue of "slavery," etc.

Personally, I'm a (so far, age 60) happy smoker (1 pack a day. Nat Shermans.). I ride a bicycle and do other things to exercise my cardio-vascular system, and I hope that will offset whatever health impairment I may be accruing by my enjoyment of tobacco.

I've known a number of people who quit smoking, but I've never known any who quit talking about it.

LOL That's just funny man!

Anyway masonm good luck dude...
I haven't smoked a cigarette in my life and intend to keep it that way...

Very true. Usually those who successfully quit are more fanatically anti-smoking than lifetime non-smokers.