Still Having Trouble Quitting Smoking.

[GENERAL BILLY]

During all of this, i stayed on Snuson constantly, this board and everyone on it were such a huge inspiration/distraction, that I just kinda forgot about smoking.

I think there is something important to what Veganpunk is saying here. Not only are you addicted to smoking but it is a part of your culture and your life. I associate cigarettes with memories of childhood and my father and they were a comfort that was there for me through out my life.

Snus is awesome and I hated how cigarettes were effecting my health. When I see the blank looks on the faces of smokers when I have told them about it I think it is because they have no point of reference for it. They never knew anyone who did it and they never saw James Bond throw in a snus after sleeping with 'Pussy Galore'.

This website supplies a missing piece of the puzzle and gives you a frame of reference and a community of people experiencing the same thing you are; validating the reality of it.

I didn't post for the first two years I switched from smoking because I am an antisocial weirdo but I read it every day.

[MojoQuestor]

I will chime in to what sagedil, Karanya, and the others have said. For me, smoking was 2+ packs a day, except when I was trying hard to bring it down. I still never got much below a pack and a half a day. I smoked for about 23 years.

What sagedil says about just letting it happen organically is also what has worked for me. I've always been one to draw a line in the sand, set a milestone, worry if quitting after midnight meant I didn't really quit that day, etc. This "time" has been completely different. I'm still not officially quit. I had half a cigarette on Friday the 13th last month (easy to remember), and half a cigarette in all of October the best I can recall. Smoking dropped surprisingly fast once I got into snus, but it still took weeks as (looking back) I gradually lost interest, before I went from scrambling to make sure I had tobacco & gum with me, to just making sure I have snus with me. But, I was already ready to quit, and had gone a couple of 2- & 3- (or was it 3- & 4-) month-long stretches using the gum. Got kind of hooked on that too, until Swedish snus came along.

I don't know how helpful all this is, just sharing a bit of my story; but I will say, concentrate on snus and how much you like it, rather than concentrating on *not* doing something. Don't worry about creating a vacuum, just fill your lips and your heart and your mind with good stuff.

[MojoQuestor]

I didn't post for the first two years I switched from smoking because I am an antisocial weirdo but I read it every day.

:O)

[Ulsterman]

removed

[LHB]

I REALLY appreciate all the helpful and empathetic advice. The most important thing it made me realize was how incrediblly helpful Swedish Snus has been in enabling me to get to where I am in my attempt to quit smoking. Instead of viewing myself as a failure if I have a few hits off a cigarette, I should focus more on the incredible sucess (to me, anyway) of NOT having the 19 that I didn't smoke. Not to mention that the Snus is extremely enjoyable and interesting all on its own, even as an addition to a smoking habit.

If you would have told me three months ago that I would be able to get through an entire day (especially one during which considerable whiskey was consumed) with only one cigarette, I would have said "you're insane." So today I'm focusing on the positive that I haven't had a cigarette yet, I don't want one right now, and that feels good. To the poster above who suggested Thunder Frost, I've tried that, and while it unquestionably comes closest to replicating some aspects of the cigaratte experience, I don't think I could use it all day.

I should also add that like some posters noted above, a steady stream of nicotine doesn't feel right to me. I actually like some peaks and valleys. So today I'll try keeping my portions in for 20 minutes instead of 40 minutes. It really is amazing how much better you feel even if you're smoking a little compared to 20 full bore Newports or Kools a day.

I still would like to know exactly what it is about them that's so addictive. Has anyone else noticed the extent to which they "piggyback" on other intoxicants? Notice how well they go with coffee and alcohol, and the next time you hurt yourself, notice how cigs maximize the effects of pain medication.

Thanks Again! I look forward to visiiting this forum on a regular basis, but I have to get back to work now.

[sagedil]

A couple of further thoughts..

If you haven't tried snuff, give it a go. Not that the nicotine you get is a lot, but it is that immediate bump, you may find it helpful. Regardless, it tastes so good, you won't care. :wink:

3 years later, I still have that occasional cigarette when that is what I want. Usually, if I am hanging out with a smoker. I still dig that social bond of sharing a smoke. But I may have one every month, sometimes one every two months. And once very 6 -9 months, I buy a pack and go all out.

But the point now is I only smoke when I WANT to, never again because I NEED to. I still like cigarettes, I just don't want to kill my lungs by smoking 30 - 40 a day. I don't think the damage I do with maybe 25 cigarettes at most a year really is gonna make any difference. And I get enjoyment from it when I do.

Snus is all about harm reduction. So if you have already cut out 90% of the cigarettes you used to smoke with snus, pat yo0urself on the back, know that you are already successful. An occasional cigarette here and there is just not something to worry about. For me, at least, that is what I am most grateful to snus for. I have choices now in what I use. 3 years ago, all I had was needs.

[rkh3]

I'll chime in, though I'm new to snus (month). 2 packs/day for 35 years, never able to quit for even a full day. Tried e cigs three months ago and quickly dropped to 2-4 analogs a day but it bothered me that I couldn't totally quit. Tried snus a month ago but continued the 2-4 analogs/day until I upped the nic and started using Clag Qui (what the hell does that mean?!). That was two weeks ago and I have not smoked since and really do not miss it. I will occasionally use the e cigs before I go to bed because I don't want to start a new portion then. I do not notice all of the benefits people talk about not smoking except my cough has disappeared and it was pretty severe. I am saving a ton of $$, $1.60 a day compared to $16 a day for analogs!

[shikitohno]

Well, help you feel a little better, part of it could just be because you smoke menthols. I remember reading people have a hard time quitting the menthols because it doubles the length of time nicotine stays in your blood.

Personally, I just miss the way coffee+cigarettes taste. Coffee just isn't the same now. I think I'll go make some though.

And I don't think Claq Qui means anything, really. Doesn't look Swedish, maybe a Romance language. Still, I'd guess it's just a word that looks cool to Swedish people. Kind of like how I've been told some of the Asian shirts you see with non-nonsensical English on them just appeal to Asian visual tastes.

[MojoQuestor]

I do not speak French, but from playing around with the Google translator, it seems that "claque qui" would be something like "hit that" or "slap that". I think I remember reading somewhere that it is a French saying that may mean something like "those who fight" or "fight club", or I might just be confused by this:

<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ycBRmvgeKaI&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed>

[sheilalynn]

I might hear it for suggesting this, but maybe the snus alone isn't going to work at first. I actually started out with an electronic cigarette and then found out about snus. The e-cig does work to get past that whole thing about needing that hand to mouth fix...I was immediately able to give up the regular cigs and it was even easier with the snus added to it.

I had that e-cig in my mouth constantly at first but less after I added the snus. Once what I have stops working (the e-cig breaks in other words), I don't plan on getting more, but they definitely were a HUGE help in the beginning. Snus is now my main source of nicotine and I'm fine with that.

Also, the more I think back, the more I'm convinced that it's something other than just the nicotine in cigs that keeps you hooked. The cig craving and snus cravings are totally different to me. The cigs were more of a "light me up now or else!" and the snus is more like a "hmmm, think I'd like a Thunder Frosted...". Hope that at least makes some kind of sense to you as a long-term smoker like I was.

[GoVegan]

Sheilalynn, your not kidding about that "light me up now or else!" feeling. It is impossible to have a good time, no matter what the circumstances are, when you are really craving a smoke. I remember planning many things around my cigarette addiction. If I was going on a vacation, I would want to know about rest stops along the way so I can stop and have a smoke. If I went camping, I would worry more about bringing smokes than food even. I have not smoked in over 2 months and I still catch myself reaching for my shirt pocket to grab a smoke even though I no longer have any. This may be suicide but I did leave my last cigarette in my desk drawer at work and I tell myself if I really want one, its right there. So far, I just look at the cigarette whenever I open the drawer up and say "not today".

LHB, hang in there and keep us updated. You will also find a great sense of freedom with snus. I can use snus at work and in my car. A can last me about 3 days and is way cheaper than smoking. I don't need to worry about how I smell when I am meeting with clients or giving a presentation. Also, it seems a lot easier to go longer without using snus than with cigarettes. You are definitely on the right track just by using this forum and are in good company. There are a lot of us nicotine addicts in here! Non smokers never understand and I would hate when someone would tell me something like "have a carrot instead of a smoke".

[kjoerup]

I think a lot of people are misled into believing that any nicotine replacement – be it snus, snuff or whatever – is going to immediately kill the urge to smoke. That is just not the case. Deeply ingrained habits over a long period of time just do not diminish overnight. As someone rightly stated above, you have to *want* to quit smoking.

Speaking as someone who half-heartedly quit smoking countless times over the years, I now know that I really didn't actually want to, and that's why it didn't work. I quit cold turkey a number of times. The longest I went without smoking using that method lasted nearly a year. Other attempts didn't last a day. The nicotine patch gave me one hell of an allergic skin reaction, and nicotine gum was completely useless. (I never chew gum anyway, so it's not surprising that it didn't appeal to me at all.)

I had tried snus while in Sweden in the late 1990s. It wasn't bad, but I was pretty indifferent about it. I still preferred my cigarettes. Nearly two years ago I just realized that I no longer wanted to smoke. I no longer wanted the health risks, the expense and the feeling of being a slave to it. It was absolutely ludicrous that my criterion for picking restaurants and bars was based on whether or not they had a smoking patio, etc. Flying was a nightmare, and I'd make certain to schedule long layovers solely so I would have plenty of time to go outside and smoke. It was all just ridiculous, and I felt like a fool for being that way.

So I quit cold turkey. As is usually the case, I was very uncomfortable and irritable for the first few days. After a few weeks, I just really wanted nicotine. The craving came on strong and suddenly, and I just couldn't shake it. Instead of buying cigarettes (which I was so close to doing), I ordered some snus instead. As I waited for it to arrive in the mail I told myself that I was going to acclimate myself to snus and resist the urge to smoke, no matter what. It took some adjusting, but I finally managed. After around three weeks of concerted snus use it dawned on me one day that I hadn't even thought of cigarettes in several days. And I haven't thought about them ever since.

When I first started using snus, I felt it important not to deprive myself of the rituals I enjoyed that were closely associated with my smoking. I enjoyed my smoking breaks, going outside to do so, etc. So I made sure to continue to do those things while using snus. A lot of people seem to think that because they are quitting smoking, they also have to deprive themselves of the ancillary things they enjoy. That is a recipe for failure, and it's also the wrongheaded "advice" doled out by anti-tobacco zealots who obviously have no idea what it is like to be addicted to smoking. (Note that I wrote "smoking" and not "tobacco".) This isn't religious penance! You're just modifying your habits. You do not have to suffer, but that seems to be what the anti-smoking crowd *really* wants you to do. Don't let their guilt-tripping that verges on outright sadism get to you. You know what is best for you.

I really don't even use snus much at all these days. I still have about 12 cans of Gotlands Anis in the freezer, and I may use maybe one portion about once a week. I switched to nasal snuff and found it more satisfying. That's not a knock on snus. I just found that I have a preference for snuff and find the experience more satisfying than snus or cigarettes. That's just me, though. Everyone is different and has different preferences.

The key thing is that I don't allow snus or nasal snuff to control me the way I allowed cigarettes to do. Some days I don't even take a pinch of snuff; other days I go wild with it – especially when a new snuff order arrives in the mail!

For what it's worth, it wasn't until I kicked the cigarette smoking habit for good that I fully realized that as a smoker I was just as addicted to carbon monoxide as I was to nicotine. And how screwed up is that? Well, I'm convinced that it's true, and no one ever really talks about that. I really believe that that first-cigarette-in-the-morning head rush feeling has more to do with ingesting lungfuls of carbon monoxide than it does nicotine.

I also do not believe that cigarette manufacturers use special chemicals to addict you to one brand or another. It's down to preference, and, yes, I was very much addicted to American Spirit RYO Organic for several years. As any smoker knows, if you are out of your brand you will smoke anything anyone hands you, no matter how horrible it is. I know. I would even smoke my mother's Carltons when I would be at her house and found myself without a cigarette. And there is no brand that tastes more vile than Carlton.

[kjoerup]

Non smokers never understand and I would hate when someone would tell me something like "have a carrot instead of a smoke".

You said it. An ex-girlfriend of mine was so inflexible and intolerant of my smoking, as well as completely clueless about the addiction, that it really was a contributing factor to our subsequent break up. I made certain to never smoke around her, but it still was not enough. Sure, I can say that her concerns were based on good intentions, but she, being a lifelong non-smoker, hadn't the faintest clue, and, worse, was unwilling to listen to anything I calmly and continually attempted to explain. (Never mind that it was irredeemably evil of me to walk out to the balcony to have a smoke, but it was unquestionably OK for her to sit there all the while stuffing her face with a pint of high calorie ice cream.)

As I stated in my previous post, I've long since learned that for many anti-tobacco zealots, it is not enough for you to quit smoking. It is as if they want you to suffer, pay for your past "sins," whatever. It's crazy, but it's all too often true.

I firmly believe that if smokers weren't made to feel so damn guilt-ridden, they would have a much easier time actually quitting. So much of this useless "advice" (coming from hostile people who don't have a clue in the first place) seems designed to make you feel like a failure just for being a smoker in the first place. And their laughable "suggestions" on how to quit will ensure that you fail.

Dr. Brad Rodu recently wrote a scathing response to the American Cancer Society's ridiculous smoking cessation "counseling":

Dr. Thun dismissed the existence of inveterate smokers as a “false assumption,” even though over 13 million Americans have died from smoking-attributable illnesses in the 34-year history of GAS. His solution is to provide all smokers with “sufficient counseling and treatment.”

“Counseling” consists of giving smokers behavioral coping skills. ACS instructs smokers who are in desperate need of nicotine to “Take a walk, go get a drink of water.” In 1991, the National Cancer Institute told physicians to help their patients quit smoking by advising them to: 1) ”Keep your hands busy- doodle, knit, type a letter,” 2) ”Cut a drinking straw into cigarette-sized pieces and inhale air,” and 3) ”Keep a daydream ready to go.” I’ve never met a smoker who could daydream himself out of craving for a cigarette, and I’ve never met a physician who passes along these ridiculous tips.

http://rodutobaccotruth.blogspot.com/

It pretty much defies words, doesn't it? Their advice is to suck a straw, draw little fluffy bunnies and "keep a daydream ready to go." Ha! How about I give you a punch in the face instead?

It sounds like a Monty Python sketch. This would be quite comical if their advice wasn't setting people up for certain failure.

[LHB]

Just checking in again. I'm getting ready to go up to Montana for Christmas, and usually have a layover in Concourse B of Denver International Airport. There is a single smoking lounge there, carefully hidden, that I used to rush to as soon as my plane landed. At the worst of it, I actually almost cancelled a trip because of the thought of not being able to smoke except in that smoking lounge. Several years ago, I had to fly on an airline that uses Salt Lake City as a hub rather than Denver. Believe it or not, SLC is one of the most smoke friendly airports in the world; I was amazed to find that there are numerous smoking rooms on every concourse. The next year, I paid about $200 more for a ticket on that airline because I knew my layover would be in Salt Lake City. That's about the most insane thing I ever did for a cigarette.

I think the posters above who suggest you have to take some time to get acclimated to a new method of satisfying your nicotine cravings are abolutely right. It even took me two weeks to make the transition from Kools to Natural American Spirits. Above all, the key for me is to avoid the guilt that comes from failing to achieve perfection all at once. There are degrees of freedom, and moving toward it is a lot better than moving backwards or not moving at all. Had only 1/2 cigarette today and feel pretty good, despite a persistant hangover. All the best to everyone who's in a similar boat to mine right now.

[sagedil]

LOL, flying with snus is such a pleasure, I promise. Fly one time, you will NEVER want to go back to cigarettes.

Seriously, my advice to everyone in your shoes is just stop thinking about it. Use what you want to use when you want. I have been here for 2 years, everyone, over times, eventually moves over to snus 99%+ of the time. It is a process, just enjoy the ride.