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How Did You Quit Cigarettes?

(24 posts)
  • Started 4 months ago by rondyr
  • Latest reply from 05venturer
  1. rondyr

    rondyr

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    Since it's New Year's Eve and folks are planning for the resolutions that they will
    certainly break, I am curious to hear from folks who managed to quit
    smoking cigarettes and still smoke pipes. How were you able to drop the sticks and still smoke pipe tobacco?
    I ask because I need to quit the sticks, badly, yet I do not
    wish to quit smoking a pipe.

    Happy New Year!

    Stupid iPhone and its stupid line breaks. >.

    I'm so awesome, I make myself jealous of myself.
    Posted 4 months ago #
  2. irishsmoker

    irishsmoker

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    Well for me it was my kids. I have a major affinity to smoke but the day my toddler acted like a white crayon was a cigarette I quit. Now to me a pipe carries distinction, dignity. Nails say I'm an addict.

    "May my last breath be drawn through a pipe, and exhaled in a jest." - Charles Lamb

    Posted 4 months ago #
  3. wallace

    wallace

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    It's probably different for everybody. I quit cigs about 9 years ago after about 10 years on them. Just did pick up pipe smoking about 4-5 months ago.

    I believe, for me anyways, if I was smoking a pipe while trying to quit cigarettes I would have ended up just inhaling the pipe.

    The sticks are a tough one to quit. I've always had a love for tobacco, even while not smoking anything. The pipe has given me a chance to enjoy the tobacco flavor and a bit of Vitamin N while not letting its' hooks into me as deep as the Camels did. Good luck man. Not an easy thing.

    Posted 4 months ago #
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    rothnh

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    My dad, who smoked 3 packs of Camels a day, quit cold turkey when I was 28. My mom still smoked and quit a couple years later.

    We talked about it and he said the only way to actually quit is to decide to do it for yourself, not for anyone else and then just do it. "The first couple weeks is the hardest." He never lit another cigarette, but after the family dinner on Sundays, when someone lit up a cigarette, he'd always remark, "how great a cigarette would be right now!"

    Personally, I don't think smoking a pipe has much to do with quitting the nails, as long as you're smoking the pipe for what it is and not smoking it as a substitute for the cigarettes and the nicotine fix. If you are, then once you get over that, you'll have an easier time leaving the cigs alone and will enjoy your pipe a lot more.

    Posted 4 months ago #
  5. crk69

    crk69

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    First time I gave them up for smokless tobacco (ie snuff).. Second time, I used a product that we don't mention here and picked up cigar and pipe smoking shortly thereafter... Haven't smoked a nail since... Usually smoke more cigars than the pipe, but lately have been smoking my pipes predominantly..

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    Posted 4 months ago #
  6. baronsamedi

    baronsamedi

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    I used Zyban to quit the nails, but I didn't smoke anything for 10 years after that.

    Proud Member of the Blackblood Society Photobucket
    Posted 4 months ago #
  7. zanthal

    zanthal

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    I realized how lousy my respiratory health was. So I stopped buying and smoking them one day. It was actually pretty easy.

    Posted 4 months ago #
  8. foggymountain

    foggymountain

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    It's much easier for a pipesmoker because you still get some nicotine. I just cut down the amount by a few cigs a day until zero.

    Posted 4 months ago #
  9. madmurdoc

    madmurdoc

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    I used raw willpower. Takes a couple tries in a stressful environment but it works for me.

    “The same hand that can write a beautiful poem, can knock you out with one punch—that's Poetic Justice.”
    ― "Irish" Wayne Kelly
    Posted 4 months ago #
  10. rondyr

    rondyr

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    Thanks for the info, guys! I look forward to hearing from the rest of you too. I've got a touch of the old heart disease, so I NEED to quit. Doctor said that if I didn't change my ways, I wouldn't live to see 40; I'll be 35 in April. It's tough though because I have always loved smoking cigarettes; I started when I was 11. I know I need to quit the damn things, but man, just the idea of quitting makes me kinda nervous! I've tried to quit in the past and have failed. I'm hoping that 2013 is the year I am
    able to save my life. If not for my sake, then for my daughter. You just mention me biting the big one to her and she gets upset. She's a Daddy's girl for sure, even at almost 13.

    Posted 4 months ago #
  11. prettyinpink648

    prettyinpink648

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    Good luck to you. You can do it!!!!!

    Posted 4 months ago #
  12. joeahearn

    joeahearn

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    I did it in stages. First I quit smoking factory-made cigarettes, replacing them with roll-ups made with the cleanest, least chemically-infused tobacco I could find. I firmly believe the cigarette companies put stuff in cigarettes to keep you hooked, over and above nicotine. The reason I think this is because I had withdrawal symptoms coming off factory-mades, even though I was smoking a ton of roll-ups.

    Anyway, stage 1. Completely eliminate factory cigarettes. Even if this is as far as you get, it's real progress.
    Stage 2. I began to use oral snuff, cigars, and pipes to lengthen the time between roll-ups. My deal with myself was that if I really needed or wanted to inhale, I smoked a roll-up. I never allowed myself to inhale pipe or cigar smoke, and I did not choose pipe tobacco for easy inhaling. I still don't inhale pipe tobacco.
    Stage 3. I gradually got off the roll-ups and smoked only cigars and pipes, also using snuff sometimes.

    Best of luck. I will tell you the truth--if I can quit smoking cigarettes, as hooked as I was, you can, too. Just think: why should you pay some fat-cat corporation to gibe you heart disease, cancer, or emphysema?

    Posted 4 months ago #
  13. pstlpkr

    Lawrence

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    I did the January 2nd resolution thing.
    I smoked through New Years, and quit smoking cold turkey for a month, then picked up my pipes again.
    The trick that did it for me was going smoke free for a month.
    I had planned on smoking my pipe on February 2nd.
    That was my reward for putting away the coughin' nails.
    Been nicotine delivery system free ever since...
    That'll be four years tomorrow.


    "Ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put." Winston Churchill
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    Posted 4 months ago #
  14. fnord

    fnord

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    Rondyr:

    Mrs. Fnord and I put the nails down five years ago on my 50th birthday and started Chantix. Between the two of us we ran the table on just about every known side effect of that drug: sweats, nightmares and the most godawful flatulence you've ever heard this side of a horse barn. But, it worked for me.

    When my doc gave me the Chantix script he also wrote out another script for an anti-depressant. I asked him why and his response was fairly profound, "You've been smoking for 35 years and you're getting ready to put aside one of your best friends. These will just help ease the transition."

    I never got that script filled but I still have the slip tucked away in my desk. And I also kept my last half pack of smokes in the freezer for almost four years. It was part of my "F*ck you" exit strategy and, fortunately, I never had to use it.

    Long story short - you can do it. It might take you twenty tries but you do have the motive, friend, and you will get it done.

    Good luck, mate.

    Fnord

    Posted 4 months ago #
  15. cajundad

    cajundad

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    I Quit cold Turkey , and as mention before, it was easier thanks to my pipes .

    "A pipe is the fountain of contemplation, the source of pleasure, the companion of the wise; and the man who smokes, thinks like a philosopher and acts like a Samaritan."
    -Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton
    Posted 4 months ago #
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    mustanggt

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    I smoked from when I was 16-22. When I started to have breathing issues I decided enough was enough. I took a new unopend pack to work that day to prove to myself I could do it. I had our shift engineer try to bum a smoke off me and kept harassing me for one. I told him to GFY I'm trying to quit and this is my strategy to do just that. Never had a problem for 5 years. Then one night on graveyard I needed to smoke real bad. I had been having dreams about smoking. So I stopped on my way to work and got a pack of Pall Malls and smoked almost all of them in that one 8 hour shift. That was that. I got it out of my system. You can quit if you truly want to. It's all about making the right choice. It's the part in your mind that needs to change more than the physical addiction you have.

    Posted 4 months ago #
  17. 05venturer

    05venturer

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    here is what I did( am doing) I purchased a pouch of Drum tobacco and when I really feel the need for a cig I have a bowl full of Drum and inhale it for my fix and then I am good. I do keep a separate cob just for my Drum. I am down to maybe 4-5 bowls of this per week. I am 44 and have pretty much been smoking nails since the age of 13 and I know it is time to quit them. The longer I am away from the nails the more I enjoy my pipe tobacco.
    Good luck to ya.

    Kent

    Posted 4 months ago #
  18. kris

    kris

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    I was on 80 a day and hated spending all that money!

    So I bought a pipe & some baccy to see if I could make the switch and haven't looked back since. Now I spend in a week what I used to spend in a day. And actually ENJOY it instead of just NEEDING it.

    Today is my 9 month anniversary.

    Posted 4 months ago #
  19. jah76

    jah76

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    I went from chaw to dipping. Then dipping to smoking cowboy killers.

    Quit cold turkey about 14 years ago. From then on I've only had a cig once a year at a local buddies yearly cookout. Kind of a ritual.

    About 10 years ago I started smoking cigars infrequently then 7 months ago to pipes.

    I figure I'll always be smoking something. It's just something I enjoy.

    Good luck my man.

    Posted 4 months ago #
  20. austinxpipe

    austinxpipe

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    Everytime I wanted to have a cigarette, I didn't. If I had a craving, I would do everything to distract myself. Work-out, have a piece of jerky, talk to a coworker about how bad I was craving! Anything! Just get your mind somewhere else and the body will follow.

    I like to smoke pipes
    Posted 4 months ago #
  21. jbbaldwin

    jbbaldwin

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    I agreed to stop smoking cigarettes in the house, and I got tired of "punching the clock" in terms of regularly going outside to smoke. The idea that cigarettes are more of a job than an enjoyment started to really grate on me.

    At the same time I tried some VA flake, and that did the trick. I had been trying to like cased aromatics for years and didn't know there was an alternative - this forum helped me a great deal.

    I bought a pouch of Drum and would roll one of those every couple of days, but when the pouch ran out, I didn't buy another. So far, so good (it's been nine months).

    My wife doesn't mind me smoking a pipe in the house, and I know that helped the transition, too. (That's not to say I'm completely lazy!)

    Good luck to you.

    Posted 4 months ago #
  22. rondyr

    rondyr

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    Thanks guys (and gal!) for your encouragement and for letting me know what helped you guys. And to all of you who have managed to quit, congratulations! You should be very, very proud of that!

    I'm gonna give it a serious shot soon; however, just not now - I don't do the New Year's Resolution thing.

    But thanks again to all of you; I appreciate you taking the time to respond to this thread. Y'all rock.

    Posted 4 months ago #
  23. colorduke

    colorduke

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    rondyr when your ready to quit give me a shout,i'll quit with you.

    I will give up my pipe when they pry my cold dead fingers off of it!
    Posted 4 months ago #
  24. 05venturer

    05venturer

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    I'm gonna give it a serious shot soon; however, just not now - I don't do the New Year's Resolution thing.

    My new years resolution is to not make any new years reolutions

    Posted 4 months ago #

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