A question for the smokers out there..

[Gary Keedwell]

LOML and I quit together in 1984. She was a 1packer and I was at least a 2-packer. I think what kept me off was taking up jogging. I would walk and jog but mostly walk at first. Took a couple of weeks to get my 1st mile without walking. Exercise is the key...IMNSHO
Gary

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Quitting was one of the hardest things that I have ever done. They say it's harder than quitting heroin.
And here's the rub; if a doctor told me "Bruce, you were tool late, you only have 6 months to live" I'd probably buy a pack on the way home...

And after being off them for 24 months and 10 days.....I'd hold you up for that pack.....

[Dave Dionne]

I quit 7 years ago, smoked 2-1/2 packs a day for 20 + years and went cold turkey, tried everything before that and for me they didn't work. My wife still struggles with them.

I have been sober for 19 years, gave up some other serious substances before that.

Smoking I think was far harder in the beginning stages, and after 7 years there are still times when a smoke would just feel right.

Those feelings don't last long now them come and go real quick.

Good luck to all that have quit or are trying it is worth it.

[Jeff Cybulski]

Well I'm still smoking about a pack a day @ $3.70 a pack. I said I would quit when it hit $2.50 but that I guess that didn't work. I lost 50lbs. in 2007 and now it's time to quit the cigs.
I'm thinking of trying Chantrix or maybe hypnosis this time. I've done the cold turkey route, tried the patches, and gums.

Time to try again........Monday ( in-laws here this weekend)

I'm callin the doc to make a appt. and will try the Chantrix first. Insurance doesn't cover but the cost is about the same as the smokes - funny how their marketing folks figured that out.

Jeff - who's on his last 3 packs of Marlboro Ultra Lights 100's

[Bruce Page]

Jeff, you can do it. It ain't easy but it's doable.
Just remember, it’s all attitude – you have to want it.
Good luck

[Von Bickley]

The highest price I paid was a heart attack and a couple of strokes.

I haven't had any strokes.....

November 1996 - Heart Attack with angioplasty
March 2005 - By-Pass Surgery
October 2006 - Implanted Defibrillator with pacemaker

Have paid a lot for smoking.... Quit cold turkey - November 1996.

[Glenn Clabo]

Jeff,
Four people I work with tried it...and it worked for 3. The other one who gave up and started smoking again...barely made it through a heart attack 2 weeks ago. He is now smoke free.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Jeff,

Try the Chantrix...........try anything. I know folks who've used Chantrix successfully.

I used the gum and it's been 24 months and 12 days. I gained 40 lbs. BUT....I bumped into a cardiologist one night while working in a local medical center. "Ken you've put on some weight"...."Yeah, I quit smoking"....."How much did you smoke?"......." pack and half a day for 41 years"......."You could afford to put on 90 lbs before you'll have the same effect on your heart as that pack and a half a day".......

It's not easy Jeff....but when you are ready.....you can do it! Most days I walk by people outside smoking and I think "Boy that stinks!".....once in a blue moon I"ll walk by....smell it and think "I'd kill for one".........I have not killed for one yet....

Good luck!

[Steveo O'Banion]

I was a 17 YO and walked into my dads hospital room in '77 just in time to see him get hit with the paddles. My jaw hit the floor and my eyes popped out of my head, nothing had ever prepared me for something like that. The nurse then looked at me and yelled "GET OUT".

I skeedaddled!

He died that night, all of 44 years old and a former smoker. Between him and watching my grandfather cough his lungs up for 9 months in '68, I never had an interest in cigs after that.

On a happier note, my mother-in-law quit cold turkey when she developed COPD about 14 years ago. She shocked the hell out of us all, we didn't think she had it in her.

Steve

It was the burns from the "paddles" when they brought me back that did me in. Hurt for 3 months.

[Jerry Clark]

I quit about 30 years ago-- got pneumonia and was pretty sick-- went to the doctor-- all kinds of people in the waiting room--SMOKING! I had to wait outside. Strange now to even think people would smoke in public buildings. I believe banning smoking in public building has helped some people stop smoking.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

I was wondering what is the highest price you would pay for a pack of cigs before you say it's too high and quit smoking?

$4.00.
Currently, they are ~$2.80 a pack.

Naturally, as a smoker, and as one who's "ox is being gored", I have rather strong opinions where the morailty of controllng people/society is directed at their wallet.

I "sat quietly" on the sidelines when these tactics were applied towards owners of "gas guzzlers", because I felt it didn't apply to me personally.
Now that it's hitting me, I'm natrurally upset about it.

Today's it cigarettes.
Ten/twenty/fifty years, who knows?
There could quite easily be a thread titled:
"How much would you pay for French Fries, before you call it quits on fatty food?"

[Mike Null]

I forget whether it was Lincoln or Twain but one said "quitting was easy, I've done it a dozen times."

I remember being in the Naval Hosp. at San Diego and they gave them out free. That was 50 years ago. I remember putting a quarter in a cig. machine and getting the pack with 2 pennies in it and a pack of matches.

After a little more than 25 years of 2 packs a day I quit cold and haven't smoked since. That was 27 years ago. I've only added 40 lbs.

The thing that caused me to fail was the anxiety connected with not having any cigarettes. I solved that by carrying a pack with me for several months but I had masking tape across the top of it.

[Michael Gibbons]

What caused everyone that posted so far to start in the first place? Peer pressure? Did it look cool? Did it smell great to you? Luckily, I didn't start even though half of my family did. Since there is a war over banning smoking in public places here in Michigan , I was wondering if raising taxes to an insane level would help in that fight. Lets say $15 a pack. Some guy who was a restaurant/foodservice owner wrote to the local paper and said that he would lose business. Then he stated a question " If some super obese guy comes in and orders A double cheeseburger, large chili chese fries with onions, 2 large cokes, chocolate shake and banana split should I serve him because it's bad for him? And I figured sure, because all that fat, cholesterol, salt and sugar isn't floating through the air and depositing in my body. If I go to a restuarant, I'm there to smell the garlic bread, the pasta, the steak. Not somebodys crap stick their smoking.

[Glenn Clabo]

Some guy who was a restaurant/foodservice owner wrote to the local paper and said that he would lose business.
If I go to a restuarant, I'm there to smell the garlic bread, the pasta, the steak. Not somebodys crap stick their smoking.

Smoking is banned in restaurants/bars here in RI and we are thrilled. Before it was banned we never went to one that allowed smoking.

Now...before it was banned there was a huge fight with many owners saying the same as that guy you are talking about. They simply didn't reallize that people likeus weren't going to their places. Now here's the facts...a study done after a year or two proved that their business actually improved! Some of the same people who fought the loudest actually had to say...they were wrong.

[Glenn Clabo]

Interesting read...
http://books.google.com/books?id=J4i...mbnail#PPP1,M1