Hehe, can't disagree with that. I heard, that in the original Rambo movie, his character had just quit smoking, but those scenes were edited out by pressure from the tobacco lobby. Go figure.
This may be cool with you, but sorry. In my book, if you smoke cigars, you still smoke. To say that they're not habit forming may be okay for you, but that's actually not the case, and IMO, not what we should be telling inveterate smokers who understand that they need to quit. I quit 4 years ago, cold turkey, after smoking for a long time, and I still think about smoking every single day. It is a constant battle for me. I have not had one cigarette in that time. Hate to say this too, acronym, but it is like an other addiction. You will be able to quit when you absolutely, unequivocally get to the end of your rope. If you are there now, then you are going to be able to do it. Most of the guys I know who still smoke, the guys who say to me 'Oh, man... how did you do it?' are just paying lip service to quitting. They don't really want to quit. I strongly suggest treating your smoking for what it is - a drug addiction. You're a drug addict. As such, getting clean is the most important thing in your life, whether you want to admit it or not. Do what drug addicts do. One of the most successful programs of treatment for drug addicts is daily meetings with a group of people who are also recovering addicts. Most smokers are unwilling to make quitting the focus of their lives.
Thanks tradernik, i already knew that. For me, quitting smoking would be like Z stopping trolling, it is a tough ask. But i reached the end of the tether long ago, so i can only see what happens. This might be useful to some people, maybe not-this "every day" struggle i hear about, i dont like the sound of it. Bit too "mein keimpf" for my liking. The best i've managed, was waking up one morning-all the smoking stuff was buried under a newspaper, lighter, filters, tobacco etc( smoke rollies, mostly) Didnt smoke for hours. Didnt even think about it. Not with coffee, nothing, didnt enter my head. You know why? I'd COMPLETELY forgotten, i smoked at all. Felt fine, felt great-i'd actually forgotten, that i smoked at all. If you could bottle that, and sell it as a quit smoking aid, you'd be set. Never did figure out how that happened, but if anything was going to work, thats it, and maybe theres something to it, aside from memory problems. Only happened the once, but still.
To summarise all that , near 's i can tell, quitting should NOT be the focus of anyone's life, because you will alway's focus on it, kinda like the watched -pot not boiling. But you quit, so im going to defer any other comment's there, score's on the board if you like.
np, acronym... more than one way to skin a cat. I strongly disagree with the second part, and I don't really understand the Mein Kampf reference, but then there are plenty of ex-smokers who say that they never think about smoking, plenty who say that quitting was easy. I have no idea how to relate to any of that. It sure as hell wasn't easy for me - it took me 12 years. Most people who smoke don't consider themselves drug addicts. Bottom line is results, just like trading, right? If you are attempting to achieve a goal, and you are failing, you must accept one of two conclusions, without argument. 1. The goal isn't really that important to you, or 2. Either your strategy or your tactics, or possibly both, need modification. IMO only.
Both those point's are valid, the "my struggle " reference (pardon spelling) was just to illustrate the inherent difficulty factor, visa vie, watching a pot boil (never seems to happen) or boiling frog syndrome, something like that. I dont think it should be the focus, on that basis....bloody important , yes, but maybe that depends on how your focus is applied. You focus on something, it will always be paramount in your mind, you stated its an everyday thing for you, for 12 years? Smoking these peices 'o crap, is an everyday thing for me. Maybe, im that guy, lighting up everywhere you go, having a drink, reminding you of the not -so -sweet smell of these death sticks, but i dont want to be that guy, you know? Regarding cigars, i actually dont see a lot of similiarity, they just aren't an all day everyday option, near as i can tell. Still drug's, sure, but f#k they let you know it, too.
I dunno, but for me there are two sides of the coin to deal with. The physical part is the easy part. You have patches, gum, whatever to help with the physical withdrawal. Patches, by the way, give you the most vivid dreams when you leave them on at night. The mental part is the hard part. You discuss the intense rage you feel. That's part of the mental side you need to find a way to deal with. You have to prepare yourself mentally to quit. You know that your craving will die down in five minutes. You have to have a mental picture to help fight it out. Before Jim Varney (hey... Vern) died they took a tumor the size of a softball out of his lung. I picture that growing within me and that helps. It's a partial cop out, but another thing that may help is to take the pressure off of yourself. Don't say "I quit smoking forever today." Say "I choose not to smoke today." Tomorrow may be different, I may choose to smoke then, but for today I choose not to. And then keep your promise to yourself -- just for today, or the next six hours, or the next hour, or the next craving. Like Mark Twain, I've quit countless times. Three times in the past year. The last cigarette I had was last Sunday at 4:30 pm. My goal is to make it to 4:30 pm today. Tomorrow, I may fail. But then I'll get my mental game in order for another attempt. I've smoked for over twenty years. Figure out - mentally - what will work for you, but you have to have your head in the game. Good luck to you.
Yeah, what of it? Are you one of those typical anti-tobacco Fascists? I quite smoking cigarettes. The little tubes of chemically treated, nicotine enhanced products of evil men that come in packs of 20, which used to wake me up in the morning, kill the time on the way to work, break up a dull morning, complete lunch, break up a dull afternoon, complete dinner, and keep me company all night, and end up gone by the end-of-day. I enjoy cigars. They are not an integral part of my life. Tobacco in the form of a hand-rolled cigar, coupled with a cup of gourmet coffee with a little chocolate on the side is heaven. Tobacco, after-all, is of-the-Earth. (You are not going to call me a Drug-Addict Are You? If so, prepare for hell-fire!) Everything in moderation.
Well... let's think about this for a sec. First, here's what you initially said " I smoke cigars from time to time now, (and sometimes more than that)" Sometimes more than that, huh? Ah, I see. How many times more than that? Sounds to me like you substituted cigars for cigarettes to some degree. An anti-Tobacco fascist? No. I'm an 'admit you're an addict realist". I have no problem admitting that I was addictively using a drug which wasn't providing me with enough benefits to make its continued ingestion at those dosages worth it for me. I was also unable to willfully reduce my dosage. I have a friend who used to ask me for a cigarette once in a while. The guy works out 3 times a week, is 45 years old and looks 32. He never buys cigarettes, and he told me he has smoked on average about 3-4 cigarettes a week for the past xx years, since he was in University. Amazing... but I have no way of relating. Now that's how to use cigarettes, if you can... but acronym isn't like this guy. Are you an addict? I have no idea. I know this though.. if you are engaging in a behaviour, and you want to stop it, and you try, and you can't... and then you wait a while and try again, and you can't... and then you do that for a few years, trying and not being able to ... you're an addict. Some things aren't so bad to be addicted to, like running, sex, working hard, practicing the guitar. I have exhibited, in my life, compulsive behaviour patterns relating to all of these, but the benefits outweighed the detriments so I had no need to change those behaviours. I did want to quit smoking but I couldn't. So I admitted that I was an addict and I started treating my smoking as an unwanted addiction, and I was able to quit because it changed the way I was thinking about it. EDIT: I just reviewed your earlier posts in this thread and you seem to have a fairly level headed view of this thing. We may disagree on a few points but we're in agreement about other things. If you have an approach that's working for you, I am not going to tell you it's wrong. That would be stupid. I guess I just advocate complete abstinence for those who are having a tough time quitting. Ok, flame away
I haven't had a cigarette in 6 years. I quit cold-turkey and didn't touch tobacco for six months, before I had it completely licked, and then I smoked a cuban. Smoking a cigar from time-to-time, or a few mini-cigars a week is nothing compared to smoking 1-2 packs a day, everyday. Unlike the days when smoking was as integrated into my days as breathing, I don't "need" a cigar. Tobacco is cathartic, as a ritual, rather than a habit, I find it very benefitial. Cigars aren't saturated in chemicals and processed for maximum dependancy, and are nowhere near as habit forming as cigarettes. It was your high-and-mighty, and self-righteous attitude that threw me off. "Sorry, you still smoke....". I think we are pretty much on the same page though.