Anyone have any luck quitting smoking?

In all seriousness, I broke the after-a-meal-smoking habit when I first got into the business, which was one of my biggest craving times. After that, it was all a matter of not going to the bar, and not drinking beer. I haven't figured out yet how to drink and have a good time without smoking.

If I ever dated someone who was opposed to smoking, and undoubtedly if I ever got married and had kids, I would quit cold turkey. Each to his own on the profitable quit-smoking gimmick industry. I've never tried it.

 

I'm about to order something called Nicocure...herbal patches, no nicotine.
Have read good stuff about them as most effective 30-day quitting aid.
And I have to quit now or I am in deep shit with the girl friend...OK I'm already in deep shit over the smoking, but it could get worse in the next month if I don't do something.

 

The idea is you taper down the amount of nicotine you have in your blood. Is it the best way? No, to be sure. But it worked for me, although I never even needed to "step down." After almost two weeks on the strongest patch, I had broken the mental need for a cigarette.

 

My only other legit attempt to quit, I did what alley did. Went about 4 months without smoking, then started up again.
These herbal things I'm about to try supposedly supress the nicotine urge, make the cigs taste even worse than they already do and have some stuff that's supposed to lessen the anxiety and withdrawal symptoms.

 

Kicked pipes two decades ago . . . haven't gone back.

 

Not to poke fun at people trying to quit smoking, but this song always goes in my head when I see someone smoking:

Now I'm a fella with a heart of gold,
The ways of a gentleman,
I've been told.
The kind of a guy that wouldn't even harm a flea
But if me and a certain character met
That guy that invented that cigarette
I'd murder that son of a gun in the first degree.
Well not because I don't smoke myself
I don't reckon they'll harm your health
I've smoked all my life and I'm not dead yet.
But nicotine slaves are all the same,
At a pettin' party or a poker game,
Everything's must stop while they smoke a cigarette.

Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! that cigarette.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
And if you smoke yourself to death,
Tell Saint Peter at the golden gate
That you hate to make him wait,
But you got to have another cigarette.

Now in a game of chance the other night,
Old Dame Fortune was doing me right.
The kings and queens just kept on comin' round
I played 'em hard and I bet 'em high
But my bluff didn't work on a certain guy
He kept on raisin' and layin' that money down
Yeah he'd raise me, and I'd raise him.
I sweated blood, gotta sink or swim;
He finally called, but he didn't raise the bet.
I said aces full, pal,
How 'bout you?
He said well I-I'm gonna tell you in a minute or two
But right now I got to have a cigarette.

Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! that cigarette.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
And if you smoke yourself to death,
Tell Saint Peter at the golden gate,
That you hates to make him wait,
But you gotta have another cigarette.

Now the other night I had a date
With the cutest little gal in the 48 states,
A high bred up-town fancy little dame.
She said she loved me,
And it seemed to me
That things were about like they oughtta be.
So Hand in hand we strolled down lover's lane.
She was oh so far from a cake of ice,
Our smoochin' party was going nice,
So help me Hannah I think I'd've been there yet
But I'd give her a kiss and a little squeeze
And she said, "Phil, would you excuse me please,
But I got to have a cigarette."

Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! that cigarette
Puff! Puff! Puff!
And if you puff yourself to death,
Tell Saint Peter at the golden gate,
That you hate to make him wait,
But you got to have another cigarette.

And the next time ... don't bring no filters!

 

I've been off nicotine for 20 years now. Quit cold turkey albeit on my fourth or fifth try. I agree with those who say to stay away from bars (although it's probably a little easier now, at least where I live, because there's no smoking allowed in bars anymore.)

Exercise really helps, too. I convinced myself to switch my "addiction" to good health, so I went heavy on eating healthy and exercising. Smoking just doesn't fit in that equation.

The other good motivator for me was the thought that I (and my home) wouldn't reek of cigarettes anymore. If you haven't quit yet, smell one of your shirts after a day of smoking. Even the tips of your fingers will have nasty little stains and smell like smoke.

Good luck.

 

I quit 15 years ago after smoking for 18 years.  In my personal case, I found something that was more important to me than smoking and which smoking was getting in the way of.  Once I realized that, I threw the cigarette I was smoking in the gutter and never wanted another.

My doctor told me that the physical addiction to nicotine is broken quickly.  It's the habit that's hard to break.  One colleague used a stop smoking pill that was basically a very mild antidepressant to fight the drop in endorphins that quitting smoking brings.  It worked really well for him and if I could remember the name of the damn things, I 'd post it.  :-\

 

I quit cold turkey right before my daughter was born. It was tough for a while, but I knew I didn't want to smoke around my kids. Almost 17 years later, still hanging in there.

 

I quit six months ago after 31 years, the last ten of which were a cycle of patch, cigarettes, gum, cigarettes, chewing tobacco, cigarettes... and I was a runner virtually the whole time. When I chewed the gum, I didn't smoke, but even plain old nicotine isn't healthy.

I went cold turkey, sort of by accident, ran out one night and didn't want to go to the store, decided to see how long I could go the next day and went from there. I had to trick my self into enjoying and trying to control the almost hallucinogenic physical withdrawal and metal waviness that ensued. Took my brain about four months to adjust. Thinking was like reading through soup, hard to focus, and time seemed real distorted, moved very slowly.

Exercise and water, don't sub one oral habit for another.

 

I've been trying for a long time. It's hard.
I've tried breaking key smoking triggers.
I used to really enjoy the first smoke of the morning, so long, long ago I stopped smoking in the morning.
I used to enjoy smoking with a cup of coffee, so long ago I gave up coffee. After a long time, I can now drink coffee without craving a smoke.
I gave up smoking while driving.
I gave up smoking immediately after eating.
But I can't break that final connection: liquor.
If I drink, I smoke. There's still a direct connection.
If I go two, three weeks or a month without a drink,
That's the final frontier.

 

I've been quit for seven years.
First step, have a good support system of people who don't smoke.
Second, have a damn good reason. Mine was a guy who never would have hooked up with me if I was a smoker. We lasted for four years.
Third, fill the habit with something healthy ... whether it's munching on a good snack like fruit or veggies, going to the gym or running. Just do something.