I'm sure I'm not the only one who kicked the smokes for New Year's. It''s now day 11, and officially the longest in my mature life I have gone without a cigarette.

I just spur-of-the-moment got on the snus wagon right before the first of May in 2010. Even then, with a fire in my belly to get off the cigs, I made it eight days before I had one. From there, it would be every three or four days, maybe six where I'd have one or two. Having a career where the day was paced by smokes (or filled-by on slow days,) and having a spouse who still smokes like a chimney, I honestly felt like that was good enough. It's easy to rationalize that one cigarette every three days is better than one every 45 minutes.

Of course months passed, and then you find yourself going out, so you buy a pack figuring it'll last you a week. And it does. But then the next one lasts five days. The next, four. Three. Son of a bitch, if you're not right back where you started, except now spitting out a snus to light a cigarette.

I found myself at Christmas exactly where i started. The same ailments that have been getting worse for the last five years; the sore tongue, the throat with nectarine sized tonsils in the back screaming, the rattly awful cough, not sleeping cuz you're snoring so hard and loud; it was all back again.

I don't know the purpose of writing all this, except maybe to point out the little progress I've made to myself. I never imagined myself having a smoke free life. I never really saw WANTING one. But here I am. Snusin' like a fool.

Thank Christ for Skruf... and O2... and Nick and Johnny...
and of course pot, but who's counting...

Happy Snusing...