Quitting smoking: Tapering off

[trof]

7 Years ago Alabama raised tobacco taxes...again.
That pissed me off.
I was already paying about $65/carton.
(And that was just stupid, I know.)
The tax increase (on something people were ADDICTED to) was just wrong.
So I said "Fuck it, I'm not paying.&quot

First I decided not to let the tobacco company dictate my dose.
I realized that I didn't have to smoke a whole cig to get satisfaction.
A half a cig would do.
So I had just cut my consumption in half.
I continued to whittle it down.
I found that maybe half a dozen leisurely puffs was plenty with a cup of coffee or a drink of Scotch.

Eventually I got to the point where ONE (1) cig would last all day.
Take a puff or two, put it out.
Relight the next time I felt the need.

Finally I got down to a butt with a couple of puffs left, then put it out, and QUIT.

I'll be honest. I had a few (very few) pangs, but they were easily overcome.
It worked for me, maybe it will work for you.
PS: Not buying cigs gave me about a $280/mo. pay raise.

[mahina]

1. Drinking lots of water helped me. Being pregnant did the trick.

[RamblingRose]

2. Congratulations! Not an easy task.

[Tetrachloride]

3. A friend went cold turkey. Effects were 3 weeks, he said.

[luv2fly]

5. At the checkout line today in the grocery store

I noticed a pack of cigarettes was over $10 now. I asked the cashier what a carton costs these days and she said over $100. I haven't paid attention in many years and I was shocked!

Congratulations on quitting!

[trof]

6. And yet...

Here in coastal Alabama I see folks who are obviously not high or even middle income smoking.
Oh, and many have multiple tattoos.
How do they afford it?

[Warpy]

15. Maybe they look like that because their income is going to cigarettes

and tats instead of decent food, decent housing, and clothing that wasn't on a clearance rack.

[rurallib]

7. take @10 deep breaths when you have an pang - it works!

Heard it on the radio decades ago - you want the deep breaths more than the smoke.
The only time most smokers breathe deeply is when they inhale.

[trof]

8. Funny...sometimes I ALMOST smoke in my dreams.

And I'm cognizant. I know I'm dreaming.
And I think "OK, I can smoke a cig and it doesn't count".

But I can NEVER find a light.

[Farmer-Rick]

9. Very funny trof

I have actually smoked in my dream. With lighter and everything. But I was sooooooo disappointed with myself for smoking. Then I woke up.

But I quit much like this original poster did.

I was down to one cigarette in the morning and realized I was having withdrawal symptoms at night and early morning before that one cigarette. So, I quit all together and haven't smoked for 10 years now. Though sometimes in my dreams......

[rurallib]

13. what you are talking about is the dream

every ex-smoker I ever knew had a dream that they would figure out a way to sneak a smoke that no one would know about.

Mine involved driving in my Corvair (I quit a long time ago) with all the windows roll down in the middle of winter in Iowa. That way Mrs. Lib couldn't smell it on me. But every time I dreamt it, I would wake up in a cold sweat, mad at myself for smoking again.

The dream was frequent when I first quit that slowly tapered down in frequency over years. Haven't had such a dream for many years. I quit @ 50 years ago.

[Maraya1969]

10. Excellent! It also really helps to change your mind about what quitting is like.

I swear all the "Quitting smoking is harder than stopping heroin" that I used to hear was passed around by the tobacco lobby. They want you to think it is really hard.

What if you convinced yourself it was easy. I did that and it was easy!!

[SheltieLover]

11. Congrats!

It is an insiduous addiction.

[Woodwizard]

12. I smoked for 18 years.

Then I took up mountain biking and road cycling. Did not take long to decide biking was more enjoyable than cigs. I did quit drinking beer for a month one of those grab a cig triggers. Not my coffee though.
That was 21 years ago I still bike ride. Have never had another cigarette.

[Warpy]

14. Whatever way you manage to quit is the right way

and you can't beat that kind of a pay raise.

Thing is that every time they raise taxes on the damned things, a lot more people figure out how to quit and most likely a lot more stupid teenagers never start.

[Timewas]

16. 30 years ago

After smoking since I was 13 I decided I needed to quit, there were several good reasons for sure... I was doing about 3 packs a day and a carton was $16 dollars at the time... A friend had attempted a few weeks or so prior to this and happened to have some nicorette gum left from her attempt so I asked her could I have a few pieces, she gave me 5, I used that whenever the desire got overwhelming...they lasted about 3 days then cold turkey.Using corn chips as a substitute seemed to help a lot but keeping busy seemed to be the best thing... It was in fact the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life but I made it and have not had a smoke since... I went from 175 to 205 in about 3 months and until a couple years ago have not had a lot of breathing problems but now I do have COPD and need to use an inhaler quite often... I applaud anyone who quits no matter how hey do it