Help my girlfriend to quit smoking

[ErikL]

Hi all.
First of all, I'm glad I've finally registered. I'm a long time viewer of this forum, and a long time flirt with snus. My uncle has been smoking for a long time, and so back in 2005 when I discovered snus I ordered him two cans of General, which he lost (or simply didn't want to quit smoking :roll: ). Anyhow, now I have a girlfriend for almost a year and a half, which used to smoke half a pack on daily basis. Nowdays I've lowered her to 3 cigarettes a day, but still, I would like her to move to snus. I've told her about snus in several occasions and she always complained saying "but the act of inhaling and smoking is priceless", and to that I have no answer or way to relate, because I'm a none smoker.

This brings out some questions.
First, did many of you ex-smoker had that problem when you moved to snus? is it that irreplaceable?
Second, are there any people here who started using Snus without ever smoking or consuming tobacco? Cause I believe that if I'll snus with her, she might be more kin on moving to snus herself.

[The Wolf]

Re: Help my girlfriend to quit smoking

Second, are there any people here who started using Snus without ever smoking or consuming tobacco?

Here's one. I had had few occasional cigarettes, but didn't quite get into it. However I've started to really like smoking in these past days. I do enjoy the inhaling aswell and the sudden nicotine rush (with non-filtered cigs) is great. But still - all in all, I think snus is the superior form of tobacco, mainly because the lack of stink.

Good luck for you and your girlfriend! I know it can be pretty hard to get a female to try snus. It costed me a total of 2½ months of hard trying.

[kinesthetic]

Though the potential health effects of smoking terrified me I loved to smoke and really didn't want to quit. I tried snus on a whim and liked it. Then to my amazement I quickly and easily quit smoking. Within one day I tapered off to 2 smokes a day from 15. Five days later I went to 1. A few days after that (ran out of cigs) I quit alltogether and haven't missed it a bit (2 weeks without). I use about 6 to 9 portions or loose a day. Since I keep snus in for 1 to 2 hours that is the majority of the day.
As far as your girlfried only smoking 3 cigs aday that sounds good but in reallity if she is a long time nicotine addict she is unfortunately just tourturing hereself. If she likes smoking that much (needs the nicotine) why not enjoy it more often? Unless you want to become nicotine addict yourself you should not start snusing. Relationships come and go but nicotine addictions are harder to let go of than a broken heart.

[Zero]

While I agree that there is a certain crack-like character of cigarettes which captivates people, the blast of nicotine from snus is, I would argue, pretty equally "priceless", albeit of a different character. If she's never tried snus then don't let her just dismiss it based on her expectation of how effective it will be (which seems quite low, from the sounds of things), but challenge her to try it for a week and see what happens. I think most people find that snus is much more satisfying than their initial expectations of it. A lot of people have this idea in their head that trying to quit should be a do-or-die kind of thing - something that freaks a lot of smokers out, I think. When you approach it with more of a no-pressure attitude, just to try it and see what comes of it, then it's much easier to give it a go. If she's not willing to try just once then you'll never get anywhere, so I'd say breaking the snus ice is the first and most important task. After that it's a matter of personality and taste, I think, that will determine whether or not she'd want to stick with the snus.

[KarlvB]

I think that it is hard at the beginning to move from smoking to snus (inhalation to..... well not doing much at all)

After about a week of using snus I found that I wasn't drawn to smoking anymore....

Smoking to me was always more about the habit - smoking with a cup of coffee etc. Snus just replaced that....now I look forward to my after dinner snus as much as I used to look forward to a cigarette.....

As to your second point.....I think the majority of the people on the board will discourage you from using snus if you do not use any tobacco products at present.....it is not a 100% safe but we all know the risks and realise that it is vastly safer than smoking.....

If I were you I would use bribery and snus to get her off cigarettes......or ask her to trial snus for a week to see if she still believes cigarettes are superior.....tell her you will even buy her some R&J minis or Vertigo from buysnus .....

[ErikL]

I see. Thanks for the quick response people.
As for my second question - well, I've tried cigarettes before and even cigar but doesn't seem to get me addicted that easily (that is, I've never felt an urge to smoke). What are the advantages of using snus, or for that matter tobacco, anyhow?

[Zero]

I think of it like drinking coffee - the perks of nicotine are much like caffeine. It puts away food cravings and increases your focus and concentration, gives you a bit of energy, etc. Helps to get through a day of work while keeping grumpiness and tiredness at bay. It's probably not a great thing to acquire a taste for, but snus is harmless enough that I don't mind. I like the sensation of being sharp and alert when I need to be and that makes it worth it for me.

[mwood72]

I've tried to get my other half to try Snus hoping she will switch from cigarettes but she's never been keen. I think partly because she doesn't beleive the low risk to health of Snus (as it's not sold in the UK) and also becuase she has smoked for a long time and enjoys the whole experience. I think it's her choice at the end of the day but I would like it to happen.

As suggested previously in the thread maybe order some of the mini portion Snus specifically marketed to women and give them to your girlfriend to try as a gift. You never know.

Also I agree it would not be a good idea for you to take up Snus to try to convince your girlfriend to. Although the risks associated with Snus are very low compared to cigarettes there are still some and a Nicotine addiction is a very hard thing to break. If I could go back to where I had never experienced Nicotine I would never have gone down the Nicotine road.

[Zero]

I'd agree with most of that ^, but some part of me can't help but feel like life is all about living and trying new things. Cigarettes I wouldn't hesitate to discourage everyone from trying, but with snus, as much as I might, in some spirit, do the same, I still feel that it's nowhere near as 'addicting' as the smoking experience. I think if one was curious about the effects of nicotine, snus would probably be the safest way to try it just for the experience without too great a worry of being forever thereafter plagued by an insatiable desire to keep doing it. I guess my feeling is that cigarettes are dangerous even to those who might feel they have a healthy level of self-control whereas snus is probably something you can safely try out without too much fear of addiction - if that's something that concerns you.

[Scott64a]

First, I applaud your desire for your GF's health.

Having said that, and being a former smoker of 23 yrs, she has to WANT to quit them.

My wife tried for years with nagging to get me to quit, and all it did was make me want to smoke more. It took a few solid attempts and the development of the beginnings of chronic obstructic pulmonary disease, (COPD,) to wake me up. It was no fun at all hacking up a lung every morning and having a chronic sinus infection. My wife is not at all convinced that snus is less harmful than dipping.

I'm doing this for me.

So, too should your GF do it for her.
Try to accept her for who she is, and don't try and change her. That's a bad road to go down, believe me.

[sagedil]

I would challenge her to try snus, without giving up the ciggarettes. Try a snus here, try a snus threr, smoke when you want to smoke kind of thing.

When I first moved to snus, I didn't give up the smokes. One, I just wasn't convinced that snus would work. Two, I like to smoke sometimes. I have been doing it my entire life almost (started smoking when I was 9).

That first week, I smoked a few cigarettes a day. Then it became less. About once a week I would buy a pack, and after a few weeks, i just stopped buying them. But I still have about 1 cigarette a week. usually when i am with someone who is smoking. Part of it is just the social aspect, and sometimes, i just like the physical sensation of smoking. But now, I ONLY smoke when I want to, never because I need to. And for that, I am forever grateful to snus. A couple of weeks ago, I bought my first pack of smokes in about 6 months. Just because that day, I really just wanted to hang at home and smoke.

Try not to make it an either or, see if she will just be open to trying something new, without feeling like she HAS to give up anything. I suspect she would be a full time snuser soon.

[sagedil]

I'd agree with most of that ^, but some part of me can't help but feel like life is all about living and trying new things. Cigarettes I wouldn't hesitate to discourage everyone from trying, but with snus, as much as I might, in some spirit, do the same, I still feel that it's nowhere near as 'addicting' as the smoking experience. I think if one was curious about the effects of nicotine, snus would probably be the safest way to try it just for the experience without too great a worry of being forever thereafter plagued by an insatiable desire to keep doing it. I guess my feeling is that cigarettes are dangerous even to those who might feel they have a healthy level of self-control whereas snus is probably something you can safely try out without too much fear of addiction - if that's something that concerns you.

Uhh... have you tried to quit snus??? I promise it is NO easier than quitting smoking. Nicotine is addictive. Period. Trust me, I had to quit 4 months ago when i was dating someone with a heart condition. Any nicotine in me would transfer to her when we kissed via the same mechanism that we get nicotine from snus. In some ways, it was a bit easier, just because the fall off of nicotine from snus is much slower than with ciggarettes. But the nicotine addiction is the same. If someone has never smoked, and startes using snus, they would become as addicted as anyone else.

The day we broke up, she still wanted me to watch a movie with her. Iwalked home first to get the snus that had been in my fridge for a month. I wasn't waiting even an extra minute to go back to it.

[TropicalBob]

Excellent thread with good advice. The most dead-on is this: She won't quit smoking until SHE wants to. There is NO substitute for a cigarette. Not snus. Not a cigar. Not NRT patches or gums or inhalers. I've done them all. There is no equivilent rush that a smoker feels.

That said, we are indeed nicotine addicts. The last post is proof, if anyone needs it. Quitting snus without another source of nicotine would be almost as dreadful as quitting cigarettes. But the two are not equal. Inhaling burning tobacco is more appealing because it accomplishes what no other use of tobacco can: Virtually instant gratification. And addiction keeps it going.

Using snus is safer. Not safe. Safer. That's the only pitch that is real in the final analysis. If your girlfriend is confronted with a smoking-related health issue -- for me, it was a severely clogged carotid artery -- then she might act. Might. A smoking friend of mine died not long ago of emphysema and smoked even while he had oxygen tubes up his nostrils.

If she doesn't really want to quit smoking, with all its hazards, there's really little you can do except make her aware that there are alternatives that help curb (never eliminate) cravings she'll get when missing her cigarettes.

[Zeno]

When, I've started to use snus, I never had the idea that I would like to quit smoking. I was just looking for an alternative nicotine source during long distance flights and for the times when I'm at the USA. For business reasons, I have to go there several times a year and while I'm really enjoying the country, it is a pain in the ass for smokers. No smoking in the bars, no smoking rooms in the hotels and nearly everywhere else smoking is forbidden as well. :x So, I've trie snus to see if it would be a better alternative than the ughly nicotine gums. The effect was, that after two days I went down from 30-40 cigarettes a day, to just 2-3. Now, after about two months of snusing, I still smoke occasionally, about 5 cigs a week. I don't think that the health effects are so bad with this low consumption. Maybe, I will once quit completely but for now I'm so happy that I only smoke when I really want to and not because it is a habit. Snus took away from me the constant urge to light a cigy and gave me back a lot of freedom and time, which I've wasted before with smoking in front of bars, office buildings, etc.

[sagedil]

snus and flying. YES!!!!!

I am in Olympia Washington this weekend for my Niece's wedding and Nephew's college graduation. Was my second flight since I starting using snus and it is so much a pleasure to fly now. The nicotine gum NEVER worked before, and flying was a real PITA. I remember learning which airports I could easily get out to grab a cigarette when I had a layover (Dallas great for that, so many small security checkpoints, it was easy to get back in.

And for this weekend, it is so great to not have to sneak away to grab a cigarette. BTW, my family seems to be happy to see me using snus.