I got to quit smoking. Before I kill myself

[knucklesnus]

Just kidding. About the kill myself. Just trying to get attention and responses. HO HO HO!!!!
Anyhow, I'm 39. I have smoked for a long time. I'm tired of it. I am 39 and I have no energy. I eat right, work out daily and feel like shit all the time. I sleep 10 hours and feel like I have slept 2. Got to be the cigarettes. As for doctor? Don't go there. Been there, done that, had all the tests, vitamins, etc... I'm fine. Other than the fact that I'm dying from cigarettes.

I smoke about 1 pack a day and nothing satisfy's craving other than cigarettes. Funny thing is, as a teen I started on dip and like a F*****G IDIOT, switched to Marlboros. I have dipped on and off and snused on and off while I smoked, but can't make the f*****g transition off cigarettes to snus. Snus just doesn't seem to do it. It just plain does not seem to satisfy the cravings.

On another snus forum they suggested to put in a fresh snus every 1 hour after I quit cigarettes. As for snus, I have enough snus for about 3 years. But, it's as if the snus has no nicotine in it, no effect. Any ideas? I have some strong stuff, too, extra strong general, etc.. Los snus.

Any ideas what my problem is? The worst F'N thing I ever did was pick up a cigarette. Sometimes I think the only way I'll get off cigarettes is if I do actually blow my head off. Which I'm not going to do. I have kids

Any ideas appreciated.

Kevin
kNuCkLeSnUs

[tom502]

I keep hearing, to not sweat it, just keep snusing, and evntually the snus will win. I would say that whenever you have an urge to smoke, put a snus in. If after an hour or so, you still want/need a smoke, then smoke. Start your day with a snus. Use strong ones only for a while.

Just my suggestions.

[truthwolf1]

You could try the tapering down method and also switch to American Spirits. If you do that dont just buy a pack but a entire carton so you dont go back to the chemically induced crap after a couple of packs. They are expensive but I see them as the best transitional smoke.

Count your smokes and go down slowly to 3 a day then two then one.

[f. bandersnatch]

I think truthwolf has a pretty good point on this one. NAS don't have any of the other chemicals that you are addicted to in the Marlboros. While advocating smoking more cigarettes is not really my thing, it sounds like you may be strongly attached to the freon/cyanide etc. in the corporate sticks.

Nicotine from snus is different from cigs, so it could very well be a struggle to make the switch. It will take time for you to change the whole nature of your addiction. If its something you actually want to do, though, just stick with it, and it will come after a bit.

[snusjus]

Like truthwolf1 said, switching to an additive-free brand will help. If you don't feel like spending $60+ for a carton of American Spirits, you could try Winston instead. They're additive free and are less expensive than Basic, which is why they were my go-to brand when I was a smoker.

Remember, snus delivers nicotine at a slower rate than cigarettes. It takes 30 minutes to absorb a cigarette worth of nicotine from a pouch of snus; it only takes 5 minutes to absorb the same amount of nicotine from a conventional cigarette. When I quit smoking and started using snus, I abstained from nicotine for three days and immediately switched to snus. This will "trick" the brain into thinking its getting its main source of nicotine. Good luck.

[RobsanX]

Everyone is different, so it's hard to say what will work for you. I quit smoking with snus because I really started to hate smoking. It was more like a chore than a pleasure. Smoking addiction has a psychological aspect to it. Certain triggers can cause you to crave a cigarette even when you have plenty of nicotine in your system.

For me, it was blood sugar changes that induced hunger. When I got hungry, and it wasn't meal time, I would go smoke. I would snus until I was dizzy, but I would still crave a cigarette. I finally figured out what was happening, and when that craving came over me I would drink a soda, or eat a snack. It worked, and I finally weaned myself off cigarettes for good.

[Snusdog]

Try using nasal snuff along with snus (the hit from snuff is more like that from cigs. Also there is more of a ritual to taking snuff that might also help. Toque snuffs are a great place to begin and if you order from Toque directly the shipping is free
http://www.toquesnuff.com/


Also you might want to check out snuffhouse.org many of our members are members there as well. You will find the folks there very knowledgeable and helpful

[auggie]

Kevin, good to see you around, welcome to the boards.

I have a suggestion, because I was in the same boat. I really almost felt like snus was a lie, like it didn't give me any nicotine. Made the transition from smoking to snus much harder because I was doubting the snus was doing its job.

My "ah-ha!" moment was when I happened to run out of cigarettes one day at work and had only snus until the next evening (so almost 24h of nothing but snus). I felt nothing when I finally picked up another pack of smokes and got the cigarette that I "needed" because I had been getting the nicotine from snus. That really boosted my confidence in snus, that it could fill in for me for cigarettes.

Don't be afraid to double-bag your upper lip. When you get serious nicotine craving, a 2-fer of some strong portions can work wonders.

I eventually got to where I was so friggin pissed at cigarettes, that despite the habit of actually smoking every time I was bored and thinking about how great a smoke would be, I really wanted the snus to win, and eventually it did. Don't force it. It's alright to keep smoking while you get used to snus. It took me about 3-4 months and a few orders from the retailers where I wound up not using all the snus I'd ordered since I'd go back to smoking and let some of my snus expire in the fridge... but just be patient and keep working at it.

[GoVegan]

snusjus mentioned Basic's in his post and that was my favorite brand for years. You just have to give it time knucklesnus and actually WANT to quit. You will still crave smokes from time to time and just have to learn to live with it. Snus makes it easy to quit but certainly not effortless. Change your daily habits for a while as well. For example, if you normally drink coffee in the morning switch to tea. Take your breaks at a different time if you are able to. Drive a different way to work. There are a lot of daily routines that can become a trigger to have a smoke. Eventually it will get easier as times go buy and you will prefer the snus over smokes. What kind(s) of snus are you using to stop?

[Tristik]

~~
The nicotine side of cigarettes wasn't too hard to kick for me. The psychological part, howerver, was nearly impossible. I'm 31 and smoked since I was in 6th grade (not a lot back then, but that was my first), so I've learned how to do almost everything in my adult life while having a smoke. It's not easy to stop that kind of mental habit as it has nothing to do with getting nicotine whatsoever. I've quit smoking about 6 times now lasting between 2 weeks and 8 months (twice!). I've now been off of it for a year and a half. Everyone messes up a quit attempt and buys a pack of smokes. The important thing is to get back on the train as soon as possible and not beat yourself up about it. It's not easy. Actually, it's probably one of the highest tests of a human's will you can encounter (especially for a very long time smoker).

I've read statistics that somewhere in the range of 80-90% of people cannot quit smoking on their first attempt. The more attempts people try, the more likely it is they will finally quit. So if you can't do it the first or 2nd or 3rd time around, just keep trying.
~~

[Owens187]

Thunder Frosted + Lots of Dum Dums(lollipops). Worked for me!

[Bigblue1]

All that has been said in this thread is true. To me quitting smokes came down to this. I purposefully cut back my smoke intake before ever finding snuff and snus. I was down to like 10-12 pall mall regs 100's. Then I re-discovered snuff. I used to use it at work in-between smoke breaks for awhile. Then i found a couple of old boxes of poschl I had. At this point I was really tired of smoking, So I just started snuffing all the time and forgot about the smokes. Well at some point or another I got a free coupon for camel snus, said hey, I'll give it a try. Well, I pretty much thought it sucked, being an old dipper as well, So I bought a can of dip. The funny part was I didn't open the can for like three days, then a trigger went off( think I was fishing) and I had a dip. It was good, but that can lasted me a week. Then I googled snus. Found the northerner, which had snus and snuff. I made an order. Long story short, i now snus and snuff and occasionally dip. But i am only going thru a can of oral a week and maybe 2 grams of snuff. But i do occasionally have a cigarette, but i never by them. Usually when I'm drinking. I don't beat my self up over it tho and it's prolly like 4 a month. but it's ok, 4 a month is better than 30 packs (600 cigs) a month I started with. It's strange to think about 600 cigs now period let alone in one month. Anyway best of luck to you man.... You can do it, My advice keep snus'in, try some snuff and just let it happen..... just remember there are no hard and fast rules.

[whistlrr]

additonally (besides using both snus and snuff) you might invest in one of the smaller e-cigs that's realy about the shape and size of a cigarette, for those times you think just nothing else will do it can be handy to put a snus in (to get the longer term nicotine maintainence started), sniff a snuff (they are harder to master but I found toasts and especially american scotches to work really well for this, probably the best newbie toast for this might be Toque Natural Toast), and

deposit your snus, take your sniffs, then "smoke' on the e-cig (master exhaling it through your nose if you did this with cigarettes, doing it with an e-cig is a bit different)...

you might just trick yourself into feeling a smoker's satisfaction, fooling your body and brain that the great smokey smell in your nose and the whole e-cig thing as your nicotine level is met is, the result of having smoked.

This is what I had to do at times when it got really rough.

When I compared this to actually smoking (when I had a relapse or two on my way), I found the actual cigarette was crap by comparison to this experience (a real cigarette just cannot compare or be as nice as the snus/snuff/e-cig experience)

Eventualy and over time I have learned this, got it into my head, barely need the e-cig any more and am more relying on the snuff than the snus (but its there as a safety and especially if I'm somewhere or in a situation where its not good to have to stop and fiddle with the snuff).

I'm getting now to where I can see smokers on tv, see actual people smoking, can talk and think about smoking (like I'm doing right now) and really don't want it. I've even ridden through a couple of stressful times (the things most likely to set me back a need of a 'crisis cigarette') without.

[Frosted]

You need some Frosted in you my friend.

[olderthandirt]

You need some Frosted in you my friend.

That just sounds so very wrong on so very many levels Frosted