What do you feel is the best way to kick the smoking habit?

I don't know. I've never smoked.

From what I've seen in other people, it's all about wanting to quit. I don't mean you think it'd be a good idea if you quit but you have to really want to all the way through. If you still like smoking, then you will probably continue to smoke or start up again after a little while.

i would try cold turkey first and if that isn't working for you, i would cut back and then wean off. after that i would try the patch, seems to be successful for many.

Wean off them slowly... Start with i dunno...what are u smoking now?? a pack a day? then in 2 weeks, go down to half/pack a day, then in 2 more weeks, go down to 5 cigs a day, etc.. I should stop too... I have found this to be the best method... PLUS, get a lot of things to keep your mouth busy (your boyfriend should be happy with this... or suckers, or a lil plastic stick, or whatever, and keep it in ur mouth a lot..

I know it's tough. Nicotine is more physiologically addictive than heroin, even if the withdrawl effects aren't quite as bad.

I think the only way to quit is to just do it. Decide you not only never need to smoke another cigarette again, but that you need to not smoke another cigarette ever again.

You need for your friends to be supportive. If your friends aren't supportive - if they try to get you to smoke again - then they're butt-holes and you need new friends.

One dose of nicotine can hook you.

The only thing that will keep you off cigarettes in the long term is the will to never smoke them again. Everything else is finesse.

I don't know. Whatever you do, though, I think you have to want to do it.

Cold Turkey I know alot of people did it that way!

Get your boyfriend to nag you every time you even look at a cigarette - my boyfriend started shouting at me every time I picked up a cigarette and I just stopped cold turkey one day. It wasn't worth the hassle.

I did it cold turkey for about 18months and started again....... cutting down is rubbish, you always exceed your amount.... cold turkey is the way to go

I don't know. I've never smoked and none of my friends smoke.

Since I am still smoking, I can't give you a real answer on that one. My best guess would be to wean yourself off. At least that it what I am doing, or trying to.

Either cold turkey or weaning yourself. That seems to work best with people I know who've quit. I've tried to quit, but it's never worked out so well. I just don't have enough "want to" to get the job done, I guess.

The first thing is that you have to really want to quit and commit to to it. I quit smoking 8 years ago and have not had even one cigarette in those eight years. I did things like switched to cappucino in the morning for a while because coffee made me crave cigs. I drank something other than beer for a while when I went out because beer made me crave them. I always had sunflower seeds in the shell to keep me occupied and black licorice seemed to help the cravings also. I also pretended to smoke on a straw and that seemed to help too. So I guess just change things that make you crave them and keep your hands and mouth occupied. Worked for me.

I think you have to want to do it, and then after you fully want then then it really should be cold turkey.

Its about changing the mental attitude towards cigarettes.

I quit for 2 months using Wel butrin (form similar to zyban, but ins. will cover the perscription) and nicorette or the patch. The hardest part is to know that when you are weak, stay away from temptation, bars...alcohol and smokes...coffee and smokes. Once you are done for a month do not think that you can have one once in awhile, that was my downfall, although I am smoking less than half of what I used to smoke.

Cold turkey is easy! I keep doing it over and over and over...

Try taking up chewing tobacco. If that doesn't work, try smoking crystal meth or crack. I hear that might help too. If all else fails, at least look on the bright side, nicotine should help keep off weight.

I don't know.

none of the above work! they are just there to make you feel better and more confident in yourself, it may be hard, bu if i smoked and wanted to stop, then i'd have to help myself stop, i wouldn't not buy products that don't make a difference or work, as they are a waste of time and money!!!

Whenever you feel you wanna have a cigarette, jut take a gum.

Pain killers...they take care of most of the withdrawal symptoms and they are much easier to kick. As a side note, the mild nausea caused by pain killers also counters the ex-smoker's desire to stuff their face (via their oral fixation) with food that is becoming ever better tasting (with the receding coating of nicotine on the tongue).

While my previous statement is true, in regards to pain killers, I also quit by going cold turkey. I also started smoking in my early twenties (22 to be exact), and I smoked up until I was 30. I quit for over a year, and now I am smoking again (I am now 36). I don't know if you have ever tried to quit before, but I hope my experiences can help. It's not as bad as people make it sound, but I have heard, from reliable sources, that it's tougher to kick than heroin. So if you manage to pull it off you should be proud.

Keep these things in mind:
Everything you do, with the possible exception of sleeping, sex, eating, and showering, will seem to have something missing. At times, you will feel like there is something you need to do or something you forgot to do. This will occur every five minutes, or so, for a few days. The interval between these "attacks" will grow until finally (after a few weeks) you may have this feeling once a day or less. You have to keep reminding yourself that you only think you want a cigarette. I used to go over how much money I was going to save by quitting. Make no bones about it...the desire to have a cigarette will be with you the rest of your life.

When you do things that you have associated with smoking in the past, e.g. drinking coffee, after sex, after a meal, while driving, etc., you will have a strong urge to smoke. I started smoking again when I was out with friends and drinking. Gum didn't help me, but it might work for you. The only thing that really helped me was staying active. When my hands were busy I never wanted to reach for a cigarette.

It does take some willpower, but it can be done. Ultimately, you will save yourself and a hell of a lot of money. Three months after I quit I had a new DVD player and a collection of 12-15 classical music CD's (all bought with cigarette money).

By the way, I am a hypocrite, I still smoke, but if that's the worst thing people call me all day I'm doing pretty good.

thanks a million for that.. I'm sorry that you picked it up again.. but you did it once and of course you can do it again. I'm going to find it a hard struggle, but I guess If I want it bad enough I can do it!

Other: Possibly look into herbs that might help stop the craving, and especially search on the Internet for various articles and ideas about how to quit. I am wondering why I see so many young people today smoking away -- teenagers and young adults seem to be smoking more than they used to. They now have to make themselves uncomfortable by going outdoors in the rain, wind, cold, etc. because they're no longer allowed to smoke indoors - not even in bars where I live. Is this a law all over the US now or only in certain states? It bothers me to be around smokers, not only because I don't like the smell, but I have heard so much about secondhand smoke being bad for one that I don't want to be anywhere near a smoker. Yet I often have to walk behind them and they hang out on the outdoors lunch deck where I work when I'm eating lunch or taking a break. Is the upsurge in young people smoking due TO the fact that they're rebelling against people hassling them about where they can and cannot smoke? I never started myself so I can't imagine what it must be like to try to quit. I have a neighbor who is one of the rare, lucky ones. He used to smoke but then was able to quit immediately with no addiction cravings. I just passed a very young woman on the steps of her apt. building for about the millionth time who is obviously obliged to go out there to smoke; today she was violently coughing. Maybe more scare tactics are needed in schools?

Now, now, if I myself had an answer to this question, do you think I'd still be smoking?

So... would getting myself hooked to heroin stop me from smoking?

Thank you for stating that cutting down is an absolute fudging rubbish. You go few days with having less cigarettes, and then all of the sudden you begin smoking twice as much as before.

If you OD'd, sure!

I've quit twice. The most effective was the morphine method... a few weeks of unconsciousness caused by morphine and you are good to go. It also helps if you are having severe breathing problems and have required oxygen.. Nothing helps you quit like struggling for breath...

The first time I quit I used sweettarts that were wrapped up like smarties in the little rolls.. spent a lot of time untwisting the wrapping and eating those things.. I was also pregnant at the time which gave me a good incentive to quit.

Death.

Cold turkey. Keep gum handy - sugarless. Chew on straws. In your car, listen to a cd of your favorite songs and sing along to keep from thinking about lighting up. Keep busy. Find another habit, a healthy one to replace smoking.

......Or the ..........I am going to switch to "lights",and you smoke twice as many because you are not getting the hit

start taking heroin, or just dont start smoking in the first place

Good luck to you. I have also considered quitting since I wrote this reply. Then I remembered that I gained 25 pounds from replacing smoking with eating and because the food tasted so much better (with the exception of McDonalds). I might try it again. I would save close to $1,000.00 a year (although I might eat the profits).

Did you read Half Blood Prince?

Lights are bad in their own way because they use bleech to get them to be 'light'. What do you smoke?

Yeah... I wasn't completely surprised but it made me very sad. I loved the book, though. You must've read it too - how'd you feel about it?

I smoke a local menthol brand called Matterhorn which is not as menthol as most

I know one person who quit cold after seeing a hypnotist. My father in law quit using some little thing about the size of a calculator he had to program. For the first week he just entered when he was smoking. The computer broke the habit because it made him smoke when he normally wouldn't and made him wait that extra few minutes when he would normally want one. Worked for him. I haven't met one person who the patch actually worked for.

My mother found the gum very helpful. I am very lucky that I never got addicted - I certainly gave myself plenty of opportunities when I was younger. I wish you luck - it's a hard thing to do. Maybe learning more about lung cancer would help - it kills very quickly and sometimes strickes the very young. A guy I went to school with died in his twenties.

I think cold turkey is the BEST way to quit. Acupuncture is just all around good I think. I'm not sure about it helping to quit smoking, but I have it done every couple months because it just plain relaxes me and makes me feel a lot better.

> Cold turkey is easy! I keep doing it over
> and over and over...
>
>

Me too! ;-(
I have cut down a lot though.

> |> Cold turkey is easy! I keep doing it over
> |> and over and over...
> |>
> |>
>
> Me too! ;-(
> I have cut down a lot though.

I don't smoke at work, only on my break but I chain smoke in front of this computer!

I don't know, someone tell me. I quit when I was pregnant but started right up again.

At first I was devastated, thinking how could my Severus betray Dumbledore. But then again, on Harry Potter communities, we theorize that Dumbledore begged Severus to kill him not to not kill him (he only says 'Please Severus' not 'please don't kill me'). If you read the book closely you'll see that it all makes sense. My personal opinion is that Severus is not evil nor good, but that he's grey, working only for himself.
I was also devastated that Lucius doesn't appear.
I loved some of Harry's lines. 'There is no need to call me sir, Professor' is hilarious.

I enjoyed Harry much more this book than last.

I just hope that Snape didn't really betray Dumbledore and that you're right.

The only thing that didn't really work for me is D. drinking the poison in the first place, knowing full well it would likely kill him. It just didn't seem that important that they do what they were doing at that time... and it didn't make sense to me that only Dumbledore and Harry could possibly deal with it.

But I loved the book.

That's where I cut back a lot, I used to smoke while I was doing whatever I was doing. Now I only have one when I'm done or taking a short break. I also quit smoking while I'm riding, but when I'm outside cooking and have friends over and am drinking Beers I ALMOST chain smoke! I still smoke a lot less than before. Over all I probably average 1/2 a pack a day, one day may be more and one day may be less depending on what I'm doing and what's going on. I was at 1 1/2 - 2 packs a day.

Damn beer!

Oh! Did I say that??!

I know.. I was thinking of that the other day, if I forced myself to look at lung cancer dead in the face.. learn more about it..but honestly? it crap-bakes me.. I guess that's the point huh ? Did this guy smoke loads? I think its a gamble too though... people who quit years ago can still get it.. people who have never smoked a day in their life can get it.. then you know people who have smoked ALL their lives and die in their 90's... I will stop!!! And I'll keep the survey updated with my progress.. Thanks for the help.

That sounds like Me!! Why is it the Computer that makes us smoke so?? We are keeping ourselves busy, yet it's like we are out partying or drinking.. ( smoking like trains) . I smoke sooo much when I'm on the web.. Weird.

I just checked your user page! You're a Newfie!! Now you have to clear something up for me;
Do you guys say "aboot" instead of "about"? Americans seem to think that all Canadians say that - I've never heard anyone say it! I'm trying to figure out where that myth comes from and the only thing I can think of is Newfoundland - they do have a particular lilt to their accent over there!

No we Newfie's don't generally say aboot...I would say it's more of a mainlander thing... I used to live in Alberta and have heard them say it there.. and some of my Ontario friends too..its very subtle though. I can tell that someone is Canadian right away by their accent though.. Can you? Our accent over here in Newfoundland is very Irish.. Dublin to be more precise. Apparently Jim Carrey based his accent on 'Newfs'when he played the skipper in Lemony Snickets. We are Irish decendants, we listen to the same music /similar culture and geographically very close.. They say on a clear day you can look out your window out into the Atlantic Ocean and see Ireland.. ( but that's just a myth!) It's only 3 hours by plane though! We love visitors.. come check it out! It's Aboot time you did!!!!!!!!!

Are Jamaica cigarettes any good?

I didn't really like that last scene. That didn't work well for me either, but also, I was surprised at how quickly and easily they overcame the Inferi. There wasn't really much struggle.

How'd you like Ginny? Whole HP community is harping against her because they thought she was too perfect in HPB.

> No we Newfie's don't generally say aboot...I would say it's more of
> a mainlander thing... I used to live in Alberta and have heard them
> say it there.. and some of my Ontario friends too..its very subtle
> though. I can tell that someone is Canadian right away by their accent
> though.. Can you? Our accent over here in Newfoundland is very Irish..
> Dublin to be more precise. Apparently Jim Carrey based his accent
> on 'Newfs'when he played the skipper in Lemony Snickets. We are Irish
> decendants, we listen to the same music /similar culture and geographically
> very close.. They say on a clear day you can look out your window
> out into the Atlantic Ocean and see Ireland.. ( but that's just a
> myth!) It's only 3 hours by plane though! We love visitors.. come
> check it out! It's Aboot time you did!!!!!!!!!

Me Maw's from Glace Bay, dere by! Of Irish decent too!
I have a lot of relatives in Ottawa but the accent isn't English still, I've never heard anyone say that and I've travelled across the country too! Having grown up in Montreal, you can detect a difference when listening to someone, say from Toronto but as you say; it's very subtle.
I've never been further East than Gaspé and that was only recently. I really should go out that way one day... I hear it's quite beautiful.

I liked her! She didn't bother me at all. How'd you feel about her?

I'll let it slide this time, but you shouldn't damn Beer like that.

> I'll let it slide this time, but you shouldn't damn Beer like that.
>

No! No! I won't do it again! Do you think the Beer Goddess heard me?!

mmmm, They only manufature 2 brands Matterhorn and "Craven A" (Nothing like the canadian ones bye the way shorter than k/s and pretty strong............... I guess so, sweety

I never liked her. At first she was whiny and then she became loud and cool. Plus, she kind of messed up Lucius Malfoy's plans in Chamber of Secrets. What do you think about Lucius Malfoy?

How do you know about Canadian Craven A?

I haven't heard of them until recently... those are ... well.. lower class cigarettes. Because they're cheaper.

I feel bad for him...

Why?

Because he's not with me

You forget what I do for a living?........ I used to do business with Imperial Tobacco of Canada.and sell Players, Dumaurier, Export A etc .Then the Canadian government put an EXPORT tax on Duty Free cigarettes so it made no sense to carry them anymore because Canadians would not save anything buying it from me

I need to quit too Keep trying and failing!!!!!!!!!!

Canada is a fudgeed up country when it comes to cigarettes. Do you know what you are unable to buy foreign brands in Canada. YOu can only get Canadian versions of it. That's why our Marlborough tastes like crap. We even have a different packaging for it... What I smoke is Canadian Rothmans, which tastes nothing like what I've tasted ... well... anywhere else.

Yep............... *Hush*

If someone puts out a fire on a nun's outfit and it's still smoking, you shouldn't kick it, as it might reignite. You should probably stomp on it.

I think your ok! Of course really it's all in the context. "That was a damn good Beer!"

> I think your ok! Of course really it's all in the context. "That was
> a damn good Beer!"


Speaking of damn good beer - I drove up to Chateau Shack with my daughter, her boyfriend, one of his friends and 2 of my daughter's girlfriends. We stopped at the local liquor store (one of her girlfriends doesn't drink beer! ) to pick up some wussy women's drink and I found this beer called Samichlaus;

[full]

It's brewed only once a year on December 6th - It's very smooth considering it's 14% alcohol!! A little sweet and may even be called a dessert beer! I would easily serve it at the end of a good meal with some strong cheese, nuts and fruits!

If you want to know more about it;
http://www.realbeer.com/edu/tastes/samichlaus2000....

I also picked up an XO beer made with cognac - Dang! That one was really good! And only 8% alcohol... Needless to say, I came back home a little buzzed (had some regular beer too!)
http://le-cognac.com/ll/ll8_us.html

Them sound good, I'll have to check out those web sites. Ill save the page and check them out later as I need to go get some things done before it gets to hot out.
14% WOW!

Kicking the Habit, will either cost you lots of $$ or it can be FREE! you choose.

I did it with the step-down patch and Zyban together. It took me about 7 months to complete - with a few setbacks. It's the hardest thing I ever did - but you can do it!!! It's amazing how much better you'll feel!

> I know one person who quit cold after seeing a hypnotist. My father
> in law quit using some little thing about the size of a calculator
> he had to program. For the first week he just entered when he was
> smoking. The computer broke the habit because it made him smoke
> when he normally wouldn't and made him wait that extra few minutes
> when he would normally want one. Worked for him. I haven't met one
> person who the patch actually worked for.


It worked for me! I took Zyban in conjunction with it.

lily333 is right. I had to change alot of other habits too. No coffee in the mornings when I would usually smoke with my coffee. No beers.
I would never roll the windows down in my car anymore. I immediately got my car cleaned professionally and had fresh car scent put in - so I couldn't smell it. I wouldn't let others smoke in my house anymore, and i WOULD NOT go outside with them with they smoked. I could not be around it - at ALL. I would busy myself with something immediately after lunch or go for a walk so that I wouldn't be overwhelmed with that "after-food" craving - because for me that was the worst. So I always had my activity planned before I finished eating.

I really never even think about smoking now. I'm SOOOOOOOO glad I quit. I wouldn't trade it for the world! I save SO much money now!!

so you gave up drinking too while trying to quit? I take it you can drink now and not feel tempted for a smoke? also.. can you be around smoke and smokers now? Well Done you... another inspirational story.. thanks.

Oh yeah...i wasn't around it for a time...but I allowed myself a few drinks - usually not more than one at a time when I was trying to quit....but yeah now I can do both and it doesn't bother me - ever!! Keep at it - you can DO this!!!

I quit smoking when cigarettes went up to $1.00 a pack back in the 1980's...it was purely monetary. Couldn't finance two people smoking on our combined income.

Because I was driven by "money," or the lack thereof, it took me two weeks, cold turkey. I've never looked back.

At work, we had an ex-smoker who gave everyone grief in the lunchroom when she saw them light up. I never told my co-workers I had quit, so one day she was ragging on someone when I told her this:

"Roz, you,re so sanctimonious about people smoking, but I've quit now for a month and you never noticed."

She never said another word about smoking.

I think the smoking cessation plan that has the highest success rate is the one where you go to the Doctor, and he says you have terminal cancer, but you might live 6 months to a year longer if you quit smoking right now. Seems to work almost every time.

I don't know. I don't smoke.

Smoke 2 packs in one night with alot of liquor and you'll never want to smoke again. Worked for me.

I was searching the word "smoking" for a survey I wanted to create and I came across your survey. I'm wondering if you managed to quit?
My husband is 46 and he started with the nicotine gum three days ago. Hasn't had a cigarette since then. It's still early days but so far so good.

Hi, Sadly I only managed a week, then had a bit of a rough patch personally and stupidly started again, but I was thinking of going to see my GP this week for some suggestions on whats right for me, I see those ads on TV about the Gum, maybe its an option. Good Luck to Hubbie though, Im sure he can do it!

If you haven't done it by now, sack it, but weaning off them's meant to help. As does excercise.