I guess addictions can be controled.....

[precious007]

I was reading in another forum ... about this guy trying to quit dip....................

I mean as an ex-smoker I never really wanted to get hooked on SNUS or DIP or chew or anything else......... like snuff (which I just quit using yesterday)

What I'm saying that tobacco can be used recreationally and I don't think a few pinches of SNUS .... or lets say a pinch of dip every evening would hurt anyone......................................... and I will stick to using dip recreationally ....... this guy has made me take this decision .........

Been reading enough here to know most of you recommend Cold Turkey as the best quit option, but I don't think I can quite pull that off just yet. I'm not a smoker you see, I'm an addict to Skoal. There doesn't seem to be the same info/studies/support for guys like me as for the smokers, so I'm just adapting what I can from what I can find.
Here's me: 39, husband and dad to 3 kids, 12 rotating shift worker with a highly stressful (to me) job running a control board at an oil refinery. Been chewing that stuff since High School with 2 short quits breaking up those 20 years; once for about a year in my 20s totally nicotine free, and again in my early 30s for about 6 months on the gum- I went back to chew because I couldn't afford the expensive gum anymore at the time. The stuff has caused my gums to recede and shrivel, in the last few months I had taken to putting it under my upper lip because my lower lip had gotten so bad. That is just ridiculious and I know it. The new dentist I just saw scared me into starting this quit.
Here's what facts I have gathered: one can of Skoal Long Cut contains 377 mg of nicotine (11.1 mg/G x 34 G per can) most of which is absorbed by the body (as opposed to cigarette which burns off some of the available nicotine). On Nightshifts I can go through a can a day. Using a round approximate number of 20 dips per can, that means I'm getting about 19 mg of nicotine every time I take a dip. The info I've found online says after burning a smoker gets about 1 mg of nicotine per cigarette. So as a chewer, I'm getting 19 times the hook a smoker gets?! Yikes! No wonder this is so hard!
So I'm past the 72 hour mark using BOTH the 21 mg patch AND 4 mg Gum about every hour... hour and a half. By my math that's 117 mg of nicotine, or roughly a third of what I'm used to, and that's about what it feels like. I feel like a guy who wants a huge corner off the birthday cake but has to settle for a little bite off the end of the fork.
Here's my plan: continue on the heavy duty patch and gum for 2 weeks (until April 1st). Kich the Can, so to speak, still hooked on nicotine but not putting that poison in my lip anymore. April 1st step down the patch dose to medium, try to stretch the spaces between gum fixes. Continue to wean down the dose each week of April, stop using the patch at night, etc, etc. When the time is right, go cold turkey off this junk and never touch it again.
I have written these instructions down for myself, with some other motivational stuff that will help me but I don't feel like re-typing it all out on my phone right now.
Thanks for letting me rant! Give a brother some love & support, this is hard and I need it!
Thanks,
e.

[Snussles]

I am kind of in the same boat in terms of "controlling" the addiction. I personally use the products pertaining to chewing tobacco, whether snus or dip, as a means of obtain nicotine which in my personal experience has benefited me in particular case, such as a relaxant in cases of academic/college-induced stress...And yet have never went to a point where it was necessary to use this stuff outside of these particular means. I picked up a tin of snus, used it, and have gone months to years without using it to a point where it was still foreign to my body, psychologically, physically, etc. when I decided to try it again.

I can literally respond to the comment, "Ewww! That stuff is disgusting and carcinogenic" with "Oh, I can toss this stuff out today and not give it a second look."

Maintaining control is nice.

*Not sure if I misunderstood the original post...haha

[xrt]

Gosh if people would just take 1-2HOURS reading Allen Carrs' book there would be no more smokers, dippers, snusers, chewers, nothing.
Understand, nicotine does nothing for you. It is a POISON first and foremost. The only reason we get a "high" from nicotine is because it is addictive. And when we "crave" a cigarette we get this endorfin release because we went more then 5 hours without nicotine and the little monster needs to be fed. Guys... if you want to quit read, understand, question, accept Allen Carrs method.

I did and I don't miss smoking or snusing at all, no withdrawal pangs nothing. It was as easy as putting on a pair of shoes.

[precious007]

Maintaining control is nice.

Exactly ...

+1

[Jwalker]

I'm confused precious the guy you cited was saying he couldn't control it but you're different, basically if you've been dipping a can a day for 20 years and your lower gums hurt so bad you're upper decking dip that's hardly being in control of it.

I'm also pretty sure you don't get 300 whatever mg from a can of skoal since the LD-50 for nicotine is 60mg, I get like 8 dips from a can and I can barely feel it compared to grizz, cope, or something like thunder. You absorb about 10-15 percent of that so about 30-40mg per can, less if you don't keep it in for 30 minutes. The NRT is actually giving him a near lethal dose of nicotine the 21mg patch actually contains I think 121mg and the 4mg gum is the amount there is and you absorb 2-3mg from that.

[precious007]

I'm confused precious the guy you cited was saying he couldn't control it but you're different, basically if you've been dipping a can a day for 20 years and your lower gums hurt so bad you're upper decking dip that's hardly being in control of it.

I'm also pretty sure you don't get 300 whatever mg from a can of skoal since the LD-50 for nicotine is 60mg, I get like 8 dips from a can and I can barely feel it compared to grizz, cope, or something like thunder. You absorb about 10-15 percent of that so about 30-40mg per can, less if you don't keep it in for 30 minutes. The NRT is actually giving him a near lethal dose of nicotine the 21mg patch actually contains I think 121mg and the 4mg gum is the amount there is and you absorb 2-3mg from that.

I know I replied to the thread back on that forum and told him that only roughly 30 mg are absorbed ....... 300mg of nicotine would probably kill the strongest human alive :^)

I know he's not in control............... but that's what I am saying nicotine can be controlled and even used as recreational thing....... I mean.... there's people taking cocaine recreationally and they're nowhere near addicted to it..... and there's dozens of other examples...

[Jwalker]

Reminds me of charlie sheen's recommendation to only smoke crack if you can do it recreationally. Working night shift at an oil refinery though is a unique job there are jobs like that where the people pretty much dip non-stop which is partly habit one can a day is a lot a fair comparison would be smoking 2 packs a day or so for 20 years.

Habit is a part of it definitely but I find it hard to use less than 12 portions a day I guess everything is different for different people.

[precious007]

Reminds me of charlie sheen's recommendation to only smoke crack if you can do it recreationally. Working night shift at an oil refinery though is a unique job there are jobs like that where the people pretty much dip non-stop which is partly habit one can a day is a lot a fair comparison would be smoking 2 packs a day or so for 20 years.

Habit is a part of it definitely but I find it hard to use less than 12 portions a day I guess everything is different for different people.

Yes, you might find it hard....

But as long as you use 12 portions a day, that means you can only use 6 portions a day if you would have controlled the addiction and imposed yourself to only stick to 6 portions..... every single addictive substance builds tolerance and that's when you WILL need more..... I bet there's people going through two cans of snus a day... but that's a different story it can be controlled.

[Rattlesnake]

I am, and probably will always be addicted. I went from 25cigs a day, to 10-15 pinches snuff a day no cigs, to 6-8 pinches a day 4 prillas a day, to 3 prillas a day and 3 pinches a day. I don't think I can cut back anymore but there are times when I now forget to sniff on put a prilla or portion in for 3 or 4 hours.. I don't call that control, but it is a good reduction.

[Bigblue1]

@precious- Why have you not told this guy about snuson. It appears he is getting some pretty bad info first of all. Secondly, he could be snusing right now instead of taking copious amounts of pharmaceutical grade nicotine......

[precious007]

@precious- Why have you not told this guy about snuson. It appears he is getting some pretty bad info first of all. Secondly, he could be snusing right now instead of taking copious amounts of pharmaceutical grade nicotine......

I told him :^)

about Snuson and KicktheCan.org

What I don't understand about this guy ..... is how on earth would you be dipping 20 years loooooooool and claim that a can of dip gives you 300 mg of nicotine.... that's insane.... I mean that's just like not knowing your age properly :^) loooooooooooooool

I'm into smokeless for less than one year and I am full loaded of almost every detail about it ................

[nicodude]

I got a buddy at work who used to be a big chewer (like alot of other employees there) and he had quit for over a year now. I gave him some snus one day and he loved it, he then started bumming snus off me everyday, a few times a night. Next thing I know I see him pinching out a big ol chaw of chew one night, I asked him about it and he said that once he had a taste for nic again he couldn't help it. He has since quit again and now he says that he can't even have one small dose of nic or he will start chewing full time again. I am wondering if this is a mental thing, or if he actually gets nic withdrawals from just using it one time.

[AP]

I can get 6 or 7 dips from a can so iam having more than 50 mg of nicotine in a pinch ?
i highly doubt it.

[Snus Boost]

Gosh if people would just take 1-2HOURS reading Allen Carrs' book there would be no more smokers, dippers, snusers, chewers, nothing.
Understand, nicotine does nothing for you. It is a POISON first and foremost. The only reason we get a "high" from nicotine is because it is addictive. And when we "crave" a cigarette we get this endorfin release because we went more then 5 hours without nicotine and the little monster needs to be fed. Guys... if you want to quit read, understand, question, accept Allen Carrs method.

I did and I don't miss smoking or snusing at all, no withdrawal pangs nothing. It was as easy as putting on a pair of shoes.

I read that book. Twice since it says in the book if you still feel like smoking to read it again. There was no chance I was going to quit "the easy way". Snus is the only thing that got me to quit smoking. Not books, gum, patches, 9 months of not smoking because I couldn't get cigarettes nothing.

[GoVegan]

I normally use 10-12 portions a day but on Monday I tried to stick to using 5. It actually went OK. I felt myself craving snus but it was not nearly as bad as craving a cigarette when I smoked.