Smoking Cigarettes

[Rocky C]

I just realized after a busy morning on the Forum that today is my 3 year Anniversary of quitting smoking cigarettes.

I quit cold turkey because I had some surgery and they would not let me out to have a smoke at the VA Hospital ( smoke free campus ) and after 5 weeks I never went back.

I don't feel any different but my clothes smell good all the time.
Never smoked in the house so that don't count.
My vehicles smell great.
Food taste better so my waistline expanded a bit.
My teeth are always pure white and I have them all.
I saved $ 15,600 in 3 years ( $100 per carton per week x 156 weeks ) so far.

Funny thing is, I think about it everyday.

Boy do I miss a Camel filter and a cup of coffee.

Don't go to the Casinos anymore even tho they are all around me. Too much of a trigger !!! so that saves a ton of money also.

Don't drink alcohol my whole life so don't miss a smoke with that.

I really feel like a having a smoke to celebrate my anniversary......

Should I go back ?

Anyone else quit and miss it ? and how long now ? Did you quit and go back ?

Any smokers that will never quit ?

** Note **

This is posted in " Open Squad Bay " so all members are able to post if they want to so be nice please.

[Zulu 36]

I quit smoking in October 1991 and I quit drinking in August 1992. When under stress or whatever, I have zero desire for a drink. But sometimes that urge to have a ciggie really hits hard. I have to find something to take my mind off of it. Otherwise, I don't miss it.

Seeing as I was a heavy smoker (4 packs avg per day), I'd have to rob banks to feed that habit these days.

Keep it up, Rocky.

[silveradomick]

I quit once because I promised my wife I would when she got pregnant with our first. I kept my word, but 9 months later I missed the hell out of it and started bumming them from guys at work. I guess I should probably get around to quitting for health reasons, but I just enjoy it too much to seriously consider doing so at this point.

[jrohr]

In '77 after I got out of boot, and went to Ft. Sill for survey school, I was around all the smokers who were making up for lost smokes while they were at MCRD. After school I went back to the barracks one day and someone lit one up near me. I thought it smelled pretty good after inhaling second-hand smoke all day, and asked my buddy for one. I smoked for twenty years after that and regret every one of them now. I am SO glad I was finally able to quit back in '97! It took a lung infection to make me realize that we kind of need these lungs of ours to make it to our golden years. So, in other words, be glad you quit, and to anybody out there that is wondering to quit or not-do it. You'll be glad you did.

[USMC 2571]

Quit July 3, 1996 after just buying a carton of cigarettes. Never had a craving since.

[USMC 2571]

"Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times." Mark Twain

[Mongoose]

I started smoking at age 15. Loved it then and still loving it. Smoking has never hurt me in any way. Always been a 2 packs a day smoker. On the contrary, smoking has been great for my health. I get up in the morning coughing and gagging, can't catch my breath and barley able to get to my ciggs. I go outside and light up. About half way through my first smoke, I quit coughing and gagging and spitting. By the time I finish my second one, I feel like I could whip King Kong. I think smoking is a medical wonder. I'll never quit, as it keeps me healthy. My Doctor told me the carbon monoxide in my blood was 8 times that of a normal person from smoking. That's what I call getting benefits. I've actually thought about going non filter, as it's getting hard to breath the older I get. Getting old sucks. Getting old has put me on oxygen at night. It's made me have to sit down and catch my breath after walking 75 feet. Aging has gave me COPD, for which I have two inhalers to get me through the day. So while you'll are worrying about smoking, Old age will kick you in the butt!

[gkmoz]

I started smoking for real at 13 and smoked for 52 years! I quit cold turkey 114 days ago lol :) doing pretty good not even a drag of my wife's cigs and I have gone through all the "triggers" but wasn't too bad? today though I am feeling tempted and stumbled across this post ! that settles it No Cigarettes :)

[Tennessee Top]

Both parents were heavy smokers. My mom grew up in Hazard, Kentucky so started when she was 13. Chained-smoked unfiltered Pall Malls. Always said only enjoyment she ever got out of life were her children and cigarettes. She died young (47) from lung cancer - think she probably lit one up that day even in the hospital. My dad quit after mom passed away. But, he remarried a lady who was also a chain smoker and she also died from lung cancer.

I've never even tried one and my sister is also a nonsmoker. Smoking never appealed to either of us (for obvious reasons).

As a respiratory therapist at a teaching hospital for 15 years, I got to see what smoking does to people's lives (and their families) on a daily basis. Also got to see what motorcycles, DWI, and driving without a seatbelt do...none of it is good.

[Kegler300]

I quit smoking cigarettes in 1979 ... but have been smoking cigars since 2000. http://www.animated-smileys.com/emoticons/animated-smileys-shocked-008.gif

[JimEnglish]

Started smoking at 12. Quit when I was almost 34. The first two year were bad; every time I smelled cigarette smoke, I wanted one. After a while, it stopped smelling good and started to stink. Haven't touched one in 24 years.

[Rocky C]

Thanks for sharing and posting everyone.

Every time a feel the urge to start again ( which is daily ) I'm coming back to this post for affirmation on why I shouldn't.

3 years now. I hope this feeling goes away soon or I'm taking Mongooses ( Billy ) advice and let old age set in while I'm having a smoke and a coffee, LOL.

Damn, what a drug nicotine is......

[Old Marine]

Quit in 1990 when I had my chest opened up and got 5 vessels replaced too my heart. Along with stopping the smoking, also quit drinking anything other than water or tea. I feel better and my pocketbook also feels better. It is a very nasty habit and would never return to it.

[SGT7477]

Tried it at a very young age, maybe smoked a whole two in my life,lol, Semper Fidelis.

[Mongoose]

Thanks for sharing and posting everyone.

Every time a feel the urge to start again ( which is daily ) I'm coming back to this post for affirmation on why I shouldn't.

3 years now. I hope this feeling goes away soon or I'm taking Mongooses ( Billy ) advice and let old age set in while I'm having a smoke and a coffee, LOL.

Damn, what a drug nicotine is......
Here's the thing Rocky my brother. Look around....I'm 68 and still smoking. Now look at others my age. How many do you see with no health problems. Everyone I know within 5 years of my age has some kind of serious issues with themselves. Heart problems, diabetes, cancer, copd, and many with torn up knees, shoulders, hips, and backs. Many I have known are already gone. What time I have left on earth won't be trying to beat the odds. All that will happen is I will die healthy. Just think brother....before there was any ciggarettes, people who lived to be 40 was lucky indeed.

[Rocky C]

I hear ya Billy and I enjoyed talking about this and other things on the phone as always Brother !!!

You speak straight from the heart :thumbup:

[doc h fmf]

Cograts!!!! Rocky ,real proud of you my brother,in 8 more days it will be 10years for me. I use to smoke 21/2- 3 packs a day didthat for 20 years then ,after that I smoked between 10 -15 cigars,thenAtthe end of my shift when I started to count the narc,my heart was beating a mile a minute so I gave a quick report and headed to the ER.I had my last 4 cigarrette in a span of 10 minutes.these were my last cigarrettes that I have ever smoked. What was weird though, my first 2 year I would dream that I was smoking , has anyone else had those dreams?Anyway,again congrats Rocky!!!!
God Bless and Semper Fi my brother.

Stephen Doc Hansen HM3 /FMF

[Rocky C]

Morning Doc and thank you Brother. Congrats to you also.
Yup still having those dreams.

Powerful thing that nicotine is.

God Bless Doc and Semper Fi my Brother.

[JimEnglish]

I had those dreams too.

[Rocky C]

There is no other way to say it Jim than " It Sucks " Brother....

[McT ontheRock71]

I started smoking as a twelve year old paperboy. I figured that I was earning money and I could spend it the way that I wanted to. Lucky Strike was the brand of choice back then and I could buy a pack for $.27. I quit 35 years ago as a 2 1/2 pack a day smoker. Cigarettes were $.75 a pack at the time. Smoked Camel unfiltered when I quit.

[McT ontheRock71]

Just like Jim was saying about dreaming that you still smoked after you quit. The nicotine is so powerful that it controls your thinking and causes you doubt.

[Rocky C]

Wow Ken 35 years ago ? Congrats Brother. I think about it everyday.....

[Zulu 36]

The funny thing about nicotine (if anything about it is funny) is one's PHYSICAL addiction to it is over in 24-36 hours. It's the PSYCHOLOGICAL addiction that is so powerful. Hence the dreams, occasional cravings 25-years later, etc.

Addiction specialists all agree that nicotine is probably the worst drug in existence to quit, and stay quit.

While I have been off ciggies since 1992, this time, I had quit for 10-years once before but started again in 1987 like an idiot and smoked for five more years before quitting again. I ended up with all the same health problems that led me to quit the first time, like having severe bronchitis three or four times a year. My doctor told me I was a case of emphysema looking for a time to happen. Since 1992, I have had bronchitis once.

[Rocky C]

True words Chris, it's the PSYCHOLOGICAL part. Imagine that. Decades later and people are still craving. I'm on year 3. Don't know if I can make it to 5,10,15 or 25.

One day at a time for me.

Hence the thread I guess. Sort of like a support group on the forum.

Keep going Brother...

[Zulu 36]

It does improve with time. For me I hardly think about smoking 99% of the time now. Just once in a while when I catch a whiff of ciggie smoke while under a bit of stress...

[Rocky C]

Yup for me it's stressors. Living and coping with PTSD most of my adult life does not help matters. I can't believe I quit at all to be honest.

[advanced]

I never smoked till I was 20 years old. Then one Vanentines day, a group of friends and I were on a walk in the park inching our way along the east wall of the Citadel in Hue City when all Hell broke loose. Believe me, everybody was smoking, even those of us that didn't smoke.

Over the years I learned to smoke healthy cigarettes (I bought natural tobacco and stuffed tubes myself) and later I switched to a pipe. 2 years ago I started sub-ohm vaping and put my pipe down.

Today I vape Naturally Extracted Tobacco with nicotine but without any of the 4,000+ poisons in burning tobacco. I'll never go back to "smoking" now, try vaping.<script type="text/javascript" src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/6f50be4e/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js"></script>

[awbrown1462]

they found a spot on my left kidney went in to hospital they took the spot it was cancer but the tissue around it was not keep the kidney was in for 4 days ask God to help me after the 4 days went home have not wanted a smoke nor a desire for one it has been 5 years now and cancer free for that long too

[Rocky C]

I never smoked till I was 20 years old. Then one Vanentines day, a group of friends and I were on a walk in the park inching our way along the east wall of the Citadel in Hue City when all Hell broke loose. Believe me, everybody was smoking, even those of us that didn't smoke.

Over the years I learned to smoke healthy cigarettes (I bought natural tobacco and stuffed tubes myself) and later I switched to a pipe. 2 years ago I started sub-ohm vaping and put my pipe down.

Today I vape Naturally Extracted Tobacco with nicotine but without any of the 4,000+ poisons in burning tobacco. I'll never go back to "smoking" now, try vaping.<script type="text/javascript" src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/6f50be4e/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js"></script>

I was thinking of that Russ, vaping....

Nice new Avatar too Brother :thumbup:

[Rocky C]

they found a spot on my left kidney went in to hospital they took the spot it was cancer but the tissue around it was not keep the kidney was in for 4 days ask God to help me after the 4 days went home have not wanted a smoke nor a desire for one it has been 5 years now and cancer free for that long too

Wow congrats Allen. You are a cancer survivor Brother. 5 years now smoke free ? Nice !!! Do you think about it at all ?

[USMC 2571]

Those of us who did manage to quit, we ought to say exactly how and why that happened----it might help someone to also quit.

My son called me from South Carolina on July 3, 1996. I had just bought a carton of cigarettes. He was a passenger in a car with friends, coming back from South Carolina, in which some were smoking. He knew I had a Reader's Digest medical guide, general info, and asked me about second hand smoke, how long would the eye irritation and coughing last. He put me on hold and while I was waiting I looked at the flowcharts in the back of the book, about smoking.

Most of the arrows pointed to this or that remedy, see a physician, do this, do that, but a couple of the arrows pointed to the fact that you may have cancer. Treatment may or may not be effective. Very matter of fact. You could die from this stuff. Some do, some don't.

At that moment, all the dangers I already knew were there, sank in. I put out the cigarette, crushed the pack, crushed the other nine packs, and that danger became, for the very first time, REAL.

After that moment I had the same urge and craving I had for standing behind a car and directly breathing the exhaust fumes.

[Rocky C]

No cravings at all Dave ?

[USMC 2571]

Absolutely none, at any time. The danger sunk in on a different level than ever before.

[Rocky C]

Outstanding Brother !!!

[USMC 2571]

No credit to me, at all, it's just something that sunk in very suddenly. All the knowledge in the world evidently had no effect on me, because I was still smoking. I think that not realizing the danger fully, has a lot to do with quitting or not quitting.

[USMC 2571]

For example, my wife smokes, stopped for two years, then started up again. She realizes that it doubles her risk of heart attack and stroke, but the full danger of it has not sunk in.

Knowledge of danger is not the same as FEELING the danger.

So, she continues to smoke with no worries.

[Rocky C]

Do you worry about the second hand smoke your inhaling ?

[Hammer]

Well here's my story with smoking. I quit in 1994 after a quadruple heart bypass. Prior to the bypass, I had two heart attacks. I was a moderate smoker; smoking/burning 5 packs per day; 2.8 cartons per week; the wife bought me two cartons per week and I bought the third. If you don't believe it, I'll let you ask her.

I was given a 70% chance of not surviving the bypass surgery and they allowed my wife to come into the operating theatre to see me before the operation began.

Hooked on smoking? Hell yes! Addicted? Double Hell yes! Stupid? Triple !Hell Yes!

How do you smoke/burn 5 paks a day? It's not hard if you are as addicted as I was. No difference in addiction of what you smoke or inject; you're addicted! Face it you're a junkie. A nicotine addict.

Do I still have a craving for smoking? Hell yes! But I don't and I won't! I quit cold turkey; not easy, but it's doable!

[Kegler300]

I was a moderate smoker; smoking/burning 5 packs per day; 2.8 cartons per week;

Say what????

[Rocky C]

Holy sh*t Mitch !!!!

Every time I have the urge to smoke I'm coming back here to read your post brother.

Thanks for sharing that :thumbup:

[advanced]

When you're ready let me know, I'll fast track you so you won't waste any money.<script type="text/javascript" src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/848221a5/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js"></script>

[Mongoose]

I wish I could smoke more than 2 packs a day.....but just can't afford it. I realize it is cutting my life short, but I don't have the money for 5 packs a day. I wonder if the tobacco companies have one of those deals like pharmacy companies.....where if you can't afford it, they will reduce the price to sure you get what you need. If anyone has info. on this, please PM me

[Rocky C]

Poor Billy... Time to start up a new collection " Butts for Billy " LOL....;)

[Baker1971]

Never have never will.

[Rocky C]

Craving !!!!:evilgrin:

[gkmoz]

Craving !!!!:evilgrin:

Four months yesterday with out so much as a drag ! but today the "craving" returned this morning / afternoon
:)

[Rocky C]

Keep going !!! We can do this !!!