# Facts I've Learned About Trying to Quit Smoking



## Geek (Feb 10, 2016)

a.) It sucks


b.) It sucks


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## TheLinuxBug (Feb 10, 2016)




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## drmike (Feb 10, 2016)

Good luck with quitting...


You quit the same way you started.  You just do it.


Yeah nag nag of the addictive parts...


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## HalfEatenPie (Feb 10, 2016)

Ya got this chief.  I hear it's fun quitting.


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## Shoaib_A (Feb 10, 2016)

There is a stress-free way of quitting smoking which is by use of homeopathic medicines. There are quite a few medicine which not only help to quit smoking stress-free but also quickly recover the damage which it has been doing to different organs especially the lungs.


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## drmike (Feb 10, 2016)

Well @MannDude didn't you stop smoking?  How has that voyage gone? Tips or tricks you used to stay smoke free?


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## mitgib (Feb 10, 2016)

I know we were not allowed to smoke the first 10 days of basic training, now 35 years later, I really regret not staying quit


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## HalfEatenPie (Feb 10, 2016)

Yeah I heard cigarettes put a big dent in your wallet.


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## drmike (Feb 11, 2016)

HalfEatenPie said:


> Yeah I heard cigarettes put a big dent in your wallet.



I'll never understand why smokers don't invest in a proper roller and buy tubes and bulk tobacco.  Far cleaner, far cheaper.


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## mitgib (Feb 11, 2016)

drmike said:


> Far cleaner, far cheaper



Definitely cheaper, I figure it is about 80c a pack, but cleaner is debatable.  I am able to buy locally 1lb of not the worst tobacco and 3 boxes of tube for $18, makes about 600 smokes, and I am able to knock out a few packs in the time it takes to watch a 1/2 hour show.


For those doing math, I know it says 60c, but factor in the $60-80 over 2-3 years for the roller costs.


If you mean cleaner as in less additives, well that is the debatable part.  I don't know for sure one way or the other, a friend recently quit rolling and went back to buying store bought smokes saying the ones he rolled made him hack more.


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## drmike (Feb 11, 2016)

mitgib said:


> Definitely cheaper, I figure it is about 80c a pack, but cleaner is debatable.  I am able to buy locally 1lb of not the worst tobacco and 3 boxes of tube for $18, makes about 600 smokes, and I am able to knock out a few packs in the time it takes to watch a 1/2 hour show.
> 
> 
> For those doing math, I know it says 60c, but factor in the $60-80 over 2-3 years for the roller costs.
> ...



I picked up an electric roller for a smoker... quite nice < $100... puts together a good compact cigarette.  Well worth the money.


Clean part is disputable.  Depends on supplier / brands available.  I see a lot of people buying pipe tobacco and rolling it.  I think that's probably not the best idea / right stuff. 


Tobacco has been on my list of plants to grow.   Tried last year and no success. The seeds are basically like dust.  It depletes soil in one season too..  I use nicotine as a pest cure in gardens. Thus the growing of it.


I need to find a bag of nicotine powder and take a photo.. the warnings on the bags, multiple.  The stuff is deadly to everything.


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## mitgib (Feb 11, 2016)

drmike said:


> I see a lot of people buying pipe tobacco and rolling it.  I think that's probably not the best idea / right stuff.



It's a tax loophole thing, pipe tobacco is taxed lower than rolling tobacco.  So most is sold as dual purpose to avoid the high cigarette tax.



drmike said:


> The seeds are basically like dust.



I've heard the best seeds are imported from England, but again, in the US, you are allowed to grow for yourself, but the minute you sell it, here comes the taxman.


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## drmike (Feb 11, 2016)

mitgib said:


> I've heard the best seeds are imported from England, but again, in the US, you are allowed to grow for yourself, but the minute you sell it, here comes the taxman.



Never heard about English seed prior.   Will try that route.  Acquired varieties common in tobacco growing region of the southern US.  Was a strange growing season last year, possibly the issue.


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## Gary (Feb 11, 2016)

Shoaib_A said:


> There is a stress-free way of quitting smoking which is by use of homeopathic medicines. There are quite a few medicine which not only help to quit smoking stress-free but also quickly recover the damage which it has been doing to different organs especially the lungs.



No there isn't, homeopathy is bullshit.


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## Shoaib_A (Feb 11, 2016)

Gary said:


> No there isn't, homeopathy is bullshit.



And what makes you say that? My opinion is based on my own observations, experiences & research.


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## MannDude (Feb 11, 2016)

drmike said:


> Well @MannDude didn't you stop smoking?  How has that voyage gone? Tips or tricks you used to stay smoke free?





Yeah, I quit.


Well to be more specific, I quit multiple times and always started smoking again but less and less each time.


Then one day I ran out of smokes, I didn't feel like getting any right then and there since it was raining and cold or something. Figured I'd wait until morning and get some before work....


Overslept, no time to get smokes before work. By the time I got ready to get some, it had been 24 hours already. Figured I'd see how long I could go without a smoke at that point.


That's pretty much how I quit. I ran out, didn't want to get up and get some right then, and just never went out and bought anymore. I don't think I've bought a pack since.


With that said, the 3 or 4 times a year I actually drink I may bum one off a friend but I never go buy any or crave them outside the social aspect of standing in a circle outside a pub with some buddies and shooting the shit while smoking a cig. I've probably had 6 cigs in the last year and a half or something. Last one was on New Years eve... and the last one before that was probably, uh... 4th of July? I don't know.


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## MannDude (Feb 11, 2016)

Also, @geek, congrats on quiting. It sucks at first but you'll enjoy the newfound sense of smell and taste. I'm glad I don't smoke anymore and I swear I can smell cigerettes everywhere now. If I am at a stop light and the car in front of me has their window down and they're smoking: I smell it.


I also work in a prison now and cigerettes are a no-no there. People smuggle in tobacco anyways and if I am patrolling the yard I can smell it outside the units when people blow it out the vents and when down wind from the 'porch' areas and stuff.


It's nice being able to smell stuff again.


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## Geek (Feb 12, 2016)

Thanks man.  Whatcha doing, building VPNs for an inmate Internet program?   
So I'm only on my second week.  My desk looks like Dennis Nedry's (Newman) desk in Jurassic Park because of all the snacks I've been having during cravings.  I'm gonna put on 50 pounds before I'm done.


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## MannDude (Feb 12, 2016)

Geek said:


> Thanks man.  Whatcha doing, building VPNs for an inmate Internet program?
> So I'm only on my second week.  My desk looks like Dennis Nedry's (Newman) desk in Jurassic Park because of all the snacks I've been having during cravings.  I'm gonna put on 50 pounds before I'm done.



Haha, nah. I'm a Correctional Officer... better pay and healthcare versus being a contract worker for a company. Harder to get laid off and replaced by outsourced teams this way... haha.


And yeah, when I first quit I was tired and hungry all the time. I'd eat, take a nap, wake up, be hungry, eat, few hours later... nap. Repeat. It stops soon. If you're in week 2 you're already over the hump.


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## Geek (Feb 12, 2016)

That's awesome.  Will we be seeing you on Lockup anytime soon?


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## Nyr (Feb 12, 2016)

Haven't ever smoked but did go trough a different drug withdrawal (GHB) some months ago.


Anxiety was so severe that it was waking me up at night. I did eat a lot of shitty food too.


Advice for quitting? Just don't do it again. Have in mind that you are going trough that shit because of the substance and ask yourself if you are so stupid to let it become worse. Go out with some friends if you can, keep working on a project or something, play a videogame, whatever works for you.


Thankfully my withdrawal lasted only two weeks and I have nearly zero risk of returning now, I guess nicotine is worse for that.


Good luck.


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## Gary (Feb 13, 2016)

Shoaib_A said:


> And what makes you say that? My opinion is based on my own observations, experiences & research.



Luckily, there's peer reviewed, properly conducted science that proves otherwise.


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## graeme (Feb 13, 2016)

Ben Goldacre's book Bad Science is an excellent debunking of homeopathy and alternative medicine in general.


It is also worth realising that the principles of homeopathy are just a slight variation of the commonest type of witchcraft, sympathetic magic.


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## mikeyur (Feb 13, 2016)

I 'quit' just about 2 years ago (coming up in a month). I put quit in quotes because I went the e-cigarette route, so really just traded one habit for another. Although I do feel a lot better with the vaping than smoking cigarettes, breathing/sense of smell & taste are better and I don't slip into insanity if I go long periods without my 'fix' (long haul flights were a nightmare, I think every smoker can relate on that one).


The first 3 days after were pretty miserable, even with an e-cigarette or some other nic fix, after that it became a lot easier. For the first 2-3 weeks you still have an itch to go buy a pack (mostly out of habit in my case, was part of my routine) and the ability to say no goes away after a few drinks, especially if you're around friends who smoke - so try to avoid the 'peer pressure' aspect.


I've had friends who have had success with going 100% cold turkey, some switched to e-cigarettes and slowly cut back over time until they were 100% nic-free, and others (like me) stuck with vaping.


Personally, it works for me. I understand it's riskier than going cold turkey, but it's a personal decision. Everyone gets something different out of smoking, I don't drink much coffee but I vape first thing in the morning so I think nicotine is just my preferred stimulant, where others are fine with caffeine.


If one option doesn't work just try another, don't go "well that didn't work, back to the same old thing I was doing". Cold turkey, patches, gum, e-cigarettes - lots of avenues out there to get off cigarettes.


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## Shoaib_A (Feb 14, 2016)

Gary said:


> Luckily, there's peer reviewed, properly conducted science that proves otherwise.








graeme said:


> Ben Goldacre's book Bad Science is an excellent debunking of homeopathy and alternative medicine in general.
> 
> 
> It is also worth realising that the principles of homeopathy are just a slight variation of the commonest type of witchcraft, sympathetic magic.



Well, to each his own.


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## earl (Feb 16, 2016)

10 smoke free days!! it's been pretty rough.. but can't believe how much better I feel in such a short time.


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## HBAndrei (Feb 16, 2016)

4 and a half months without a cig, I don't feel the need to smoke as much as right after quitting, but it is still a constant battle nonetheless... especially when going out with friends that smoke.


What I've learnt from quitting smoking?


a) it does suck


b) it's very cost effective, since I used to spend almost as much on cigs as I spend on renting a nice apartment (2+ packs per day was my quota)


c) stopped coughing so much like I used to, I still do from time to time, just not as much and as badly as when I used to smoke


d) it's a constant uphill battle, it only takes one moment of weakness to piss away months/years of struggling (last time I quite I restarted after 7 months), which is why it's very important to always be in control, mind over body


I honestly wish everyone trying to quit the best of luck in achieving this goal.


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## drmike (Feb 17, 2016)

rf-harris said:


> Electronic Cigarettes are very helpful in getting rid of smoking habit. I have couple of my friends who have already done it lately.



Unsure if e-cigs are any better big picture.   I mean as a non smoker it's better as I don't smell the filth on folks...  But health wise, it's likely a different ingestion part / method and the fluids aren't the same as dried tobacco.


I know a bunch of folks that went from smokers to e-cig addicts.  I don't see them shaking the e-cig habit any time soon and appear to be consuming a good bit of such.


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## MannDude (Feb 17, 2016)

Not a fan of e-cigs and vaping in general. People think that just because they quit smoking physical tobacco that they're better off. I mean, I'm sure it's good to not smell like rancid smoke anymore and to not be breathing in the harsh carcignens associated with _any_ burning plant material but you're still addicted nicotine even with the e-cigs and vape pens.


Also I can't stand how popular vaping is. I've seen people vaping in non-smoking airports, grocery stores and restaurants. It looks ridiculous. "Nah bro it's not a cigarette! I _can_ do this here!" I still think you should vape outside if you're going to try to imitate a smoke stack.


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