Thread: Quitting nicotine, wanting to want to ....

I had the pleasure to meet Jimmy about 2 years ago when I was just starting out with straight razor shaving. He helped me out tremendously including honing a few razors of mine and showing me how to do it also. He did all of this for me without asking for anything in return. Jimmy is also a great tattoo artist who is very talented. And finally when you look at how many posts and threads he has done on here it is mind blowing the time he puts into this site just to help other people. When I was in high school many,many years ago we took a field trip for science class to the Los Angeles coroner's autopsy lab to witness a full autopsy. I will never forget it and the smells and sights come back to me from time to time. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy for us that day was the famous Dr. Thomas Noguchi. The deceased on the table in front of us was a 52 year old man who had died from emphysema and advanced lung cancer. He was a 5 pack a day smoker for 43 years. when the doctor got to the patients lungs they were as black on the outside as the asphalt on a freshly paved road. when the doctor cut open the lugs they were full of a dark,thick,slimy nasty smelling stuff that was so abundant he scooped it out with an ice cream scooper looking instrument. I was an image that I have never forgotten and has kept me from ever using a tobacco product. The coroner said he probably suffered tremendously for the last few months of his life. Jimmy you are an extremely talented artist and such a compassionately unselfish man when it comes to helping others that I think you need to do whatever it will take to live your life to the longest possible time. Think of all of those who would be affected by your leaving this earth any sooner than your intended time with us.

Your friend
Mark Holladay

I grew up in Italy, where I started smoking Marlboro Reds and Lucky Strike no filters at age 11. At first it was the occasional smoke, but soon that turned into between 1 and 2 packs a day for 10 years.
I quit cigarettes on the first of this year, and my motivation was simple: my girlfriend (at the time of only a few months) who is very sensitive to smoke due to her allergies.
I kept on consuming tobacco products occasionally after that, but that all ended after a severe night of drinking when I smoked a few cigarettes during my drunken stupor. The morning after was hell, alcohol poisoning hell. Between throwing up I realized that I could taste the tobacco from the night before... nothing like that to keep you off smoking for ever.

Give up while you can man, it will also make you way faster on your bike. I am also a big time cyclist, and although it was always fun to wait on people after a hard climb wile having a cigarette, its even more fun to not be out of breath when trying to beat your own times up said hill.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but... I've known people who got lung cancer, had a lung removed and then kept on smoking. I've known someone who had wounds that wouldn't heal anymore because of things in her blood, and she kept smoking 4 pack of 25 strong cigarettes per day which were not really helping. Didn't want to quit or lessen either.

Some people smoke themselves right into the casket without ever wanting to quit. Wanting to quit comes from the heart. Wanting to want to quit comes from the intelligent mind. Sometimes, wanting to want to quit is what you have to settle for.

I used the Nicoderm CQ 3 step patches. It took me two tries but finally quit.
I found that it made it easier if I drank a lot of fluids I used gatorade and when I had a craving did some deep breathing. It's been 16 years for me.

You have to want to quit, you'll know when that time is when you've simply ''had enough''. I smoked 2 packs of cigarettes a day for 15 years and I tried to quit many times, with many different aids. Nothing worked until my mind was made up, and I've been smoke free for exactly 45 days now, which is a record for me. Before I couldn't last 1 day! There is too many benefits, and you have to think of them too. It's also getting easier for people to quit these days too, because it's becoming less popular, and there are way more restrictions on where you can smoke compared to even 5 & 10 years ago. Personally, I think tobacco should be illegal. This time I quit with the aid of some pills, which I'm not on any more, but they worked along with willpower. You are your own man, you don't want to be ruled by tobacco. Keep busy with other things you like to do, like straight razor shaving!

I quit so many times!
The only time I stayed quit was by taking up another incompatible addiction(running)
I tried one cig since then and knew that I would never do it again.

Haven't ever felt better than I do now almost two years later.

I smoked for about 5 years. Quit when i noticed that i was out of breath constantly, sick more often, and felt generally unwell. It took a few tries, but i did it cold turkey and only lapsed once. The trick to it, besides really wanting to, is to replace the addiction with something else. when i have a craving, i generally reach for soda or brew a pot of herbal tea.

its been about 5 months, and i only occasionally smoke my pipes, and thats it.

I started smoking when I was 12 and I kept at it for 17 years. The only thing that helped me stop is my wife became a yoga instructor and when I would practice her routines with her I felt like I was going to die since it requires very deep breathing. It made me see that well I will get sick when young, she will be healthy, and I didn't want us to end that way.

I never smoked again...

Also in NY cigarettes are 11$ a pack.

I've never been a smoker. There was a very brief period when I was in college when I tried a pipe but that didn't last but a few months. I've seen plenty of folks including relatives die from smoking. I think too many people are delusional and always talk about the guy who smoked multiple packs of smokes a day and drank a fifth of scotch a day and lived to be 100. yea there are some people out there with very good genes and no matter how they abuse their bodies nothing seems to affect them but there aren't too many like that. Most of us pay for how we treat our bodies down the road.

To anyone who smokes I hope you all have the desire and ability to quit before it's too late. In the end the final and 100% guaranteed cure for smoking is death.

Allan Carr wrote a book named "The easy way to stop smoking" It is really great, the first instruction is to keep smoking as you read, then as the pages are turned I looked more and more forward to be able to quit, and as I read the chapter where it says to smoke your last one it is actually a relief!

Try it