Anyone else in the process of giving up smoking?

My friend quit smoking by switching to a tobacco flavoured vape liquid, then to fruity liquids and periodically turning the strength down slightly. He then kept doing it for a little while with zero nicotine liquid, before stopping.

I still catch him with a fag sometimes when he's really drunk though! Cretin :p

He said it made it really easy because he was moving away from it on steps, so first from tobacco smoke to tobacco flavoured vapour to cut out the tar, then to non tobacco flavoured liquids to get rid of the taste association, then being able to turn the strength down in little steps helped a lot because he could still do it as often, just with less intake. He said the most difficult habit to get out of was the habit of going out for a 'smoke' periodically rather than missing the chemical.

Hope this helps... :)
 
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I smoked 30~40 a day for 35 years, with many aborted attempts at quitting, none lasting more than a few days.
I didn't quit when my father died of lung cancer and carried on smoking when my mother died of the same. Both were heavy smokers, which is where I got it from.
I was living out in the States for years, so cost wasn't too much of a deterrent but eventually came back to blighty and after seeing the cost of the things decided enough was enough.
Went to the doctors and got champix, did the course, quit smoking and started using lozenges, then nicotine gum, then ordinary gum and eventually nothing.
That was just over eight years ago and I haven't touched one since.
 
Smoked for ~20 odd years and I never managed to go from smoking to quitting even though i tried multiple times but found it quite easy to go from smoking to vaping then from there to quitting. Although i had a spell in hospital that essentially forced me to quit vaping it was easy to and didn't really get urges, probably as i was down to low nicotine juice at that point anyway. Haven't touched a smoke or vape since November last year and haven't had the urge to either even when drinking thank god.
 
The only trick that really works, tell yourself everyday that smoking is horrible etc.. , after a while you'll give up cold turkey and never smoke again.
 
Dj_Jestar said:
Salty.

15 years smoking to 3 months vaping before literally just neglecting to use it at all is not what one would call replacing an addiction with another.

Also think of how much of a complete c word you look stomping into an anti smoking thread demanding anyone quitting should be doing it cold turkey or not doing it at all. "See your GP for snakeoil." Really? You seriously think the NHS is throwing money away on schemes that are helping people quit?

Grow up.
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I quit a 20-25 a day habit 4.5 years ago, and I mostly agree with Efour.

Using the nicotine replacement products may make it a bit easier to avoid cigarettes at the beginning of quitting, but continuing to use nicotine proloings the torture of withdrawal and makes it more likely you will give in to temptation of nicotine cravings in the slightly longer term. This is amplified by the fact that the nicotine replacement products usually give you less of a hit than a cigarette, so you are in constant withdrawal without full relief.

Cold turkey sucks and requires high will power for 2-3 days, but once all the nicotine is out of your system and you are out of the withdrawal/relief cycle, it's much easier. Using the nicotine withdrawal products requires still quite high will power but for a much longer period of time.

I would advocate using patches or equivalent for a few days just to break the mental habit of lighting up before moving on to deal with the physical withdrawal, but that's about it.

With regards to NHS throwing money at schemes that don't really help people quit, I think there is an element of truth to that. Last time I investigated this, the NHS success targets were based on how many people were smoke free at 4 weeks, which is pretty pathetic. This may have changed now, but don't assume that just because the NHS plows money into it that it's automatically the best way to do something :)
 
I gave up smoking about three and half years ago and I still feel like I am in the process lol. Every now and again I still get a strongish urge to smoke. I now tell myself how disgusting a habit it was and how much I dislike the smell now. Stale smoke from my neighbour's flat does sometimes drift under the door into mine and this reminds me how foul it was. I cannot believe how stupid I was to put my body through that punishment for 30 years. I just hope I didn't leave it too late.
 
Nicotine gum, patches, vaping... It's all set up for failure. You can't break an addiction to a drug by taking that drug via a different conduit.

If you've declared your intention to stop smoking then you've already made the decision. Breath some lovely fresh air through your nose and marvel at the simplicity of it all... It's so easy to stop doing it. That's what you'll struggle to get your head around.

People talk about stopping smoking like it's some sort of horrible, arduous process that will stretch your endurance to the limit. It's such a negative approach and it really has no place in this society where smoking is practically outlawed everywhere you go.

Don't give up. Stop instead.

It's so easy, it really is.
 
Wizzkidy said:
For you maybe




Again for you everyone is different so saying "its easy get on with it" isn't going to be the same for everyone, Let people give up the way they want to?
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It's not about giving up, it's about stopping. And it's not my opinion, it's an absolute fact.

Google "Allen Carr Easyway". Read it, and be amazed at how easy it really is. Be amazed and be liberated.

When you extinguish that last, disgusting fag you'll feel absolutely fantastic and you'll chuckle at how effortless it actually was in the end.
 
adolf hamster said:
Some people, like yourself, have the natural ability to quit easily like that, sadly addictions arent the same for everyone so as i said in my first post in this thread its about finding a method and a rate of progress that works for you.

God knows i wish i could have just up and stopped the smokes like i did for the booze, but just as much as some ex alchoholics literally cant walk past a pub without going in (and they'll literally take a mile detour to avoid it) some smokers cant just stop.

So theres a variety of treatments developed to help everyone, vaping being just one of the current crop prominent as being successful. Break the addiction first then the habit rather than patches/gum that are break the habit then the addiction.

No need to get annoyed at folk for laying out the options on the table, for example if you have a pg allergy then vaping isnt for you, sensitive skin then patches arent for you etc. Dont know about anyone else but i always found the patches made you feel like you'd been given a dead arm and it had come out in a bruise.
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String said:
It's not about giving up, it's about stopping. And it's not my opinion, it's an absolute fact.

Google "Allen Carr Easyway". Read it, and be amazed at how easy it really is. Be amazed and be liberated.

When you extinguish that last, disgusting fag you'll feel absolutely fantastic and you'll chuckle at how effortless it actually was in the end.
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Doesnt work that way for everyone, sure some folk can get irratable, i for one get dangerously violent after too long of straight withdrawal.

People react to drugs in different ways, look at alcohol, you get the happy drunks, the energetic drunks, the sleepy drunks, and the kick your teeth in drunks, all from the same chemical.

The human body is a fantastically complex machine and with so much complexity there can be massive differences in the effect of one given stimulus, so at the end of the day your right and your wrong at the same time, you are an allen carr of this world and that is the right way for you. Dont shoot us for suggesting alternatives that worked for us, in case the op might want to give it a go.
 
Gave up end of March, at the same time me & the missus split up. Talk about added stress. Some of the early days at work were incredibly difficult but I just imagined her mocking face telling me she knew I wouldn't manage it and won through it with sheer bloody mindedness.

Managed to keep the weight off for the 1st 3 months (in fact I wondered what all this nonsense was about piling on weight after giving up) and then my stomach turned into bloat city and I went up 2 waist sizes. Absolutely gutted about this as it'd taken months and months of watching what I ate & intense gym work to get to a decent size only to balloon almost overnight.

I gave up initially with patches and then went onto e-cig (cheapo plastic nicolites thing). I was perfectly ok about still being addicted to the nicotine from the e-cig but have now decided to quit this altogether. Wish me luck....
 
I was a moderate smoker, 15-20 a day, for 23 years, tried hypnosis, lasted 6 months books (allen Carr), lasted 4 months, patches - 6 weeks, sprays - 1 week, vaping, pretty much everything - the max I gave up for was a year on cold turkey method but always kept coming back (as I enjoyed the habit of smoking and it helped me through things!).

Eventually, 19 months ago I found a vape that didn't make my stomach goes weird or give me a headache and have been on it ever since - I have reduced the nicotine level to 6mg and am happy.

Some people, me included, can give up but cant stay off them, vaping has helped me in this case - I don't vape to be a vaper, I use standard virginia flavour, nothing else, and do it so as not to smoke - all the habit side is still there (for a break, after dinner, with a beer etc). I don't have a problem vaping around others who smoke, and most importantly don't want or need a cigarette.

Hope that helps
 
Yup I'll be 8 weeks off the smokes this Saturday :) I am vaping still and it took me a year of 'dual fueling' before I kicked the cigs altogether. I did cut down massively on the number of cigarettes I smoked per day during that period but there were the traditional nightmare to give up smokes like first thing in the morning with a coffee and last thing at night/ post meal etc.

For me I reached the end of a packet one Saturday night and said to myself that I would have a conscious decision to make come the morning as to whether or not I wanted to continue smoking or I would be content vaping. It's not far to the shop and I had cash but in my mind I had reached a watershed or crossroads of sorts and I just felt like the time was right.

As I said...come Saturday it will be 8 weeks and if I'm totally honest even though I've had a few drags of a cigarette I haven't really enjoyed them and I'm almost certain that's me done with them for good :) Good luck!
 
I didn't it already about 2 years ago. Now I don't smoke anymore. But as I have taken an alternative way because I can't leave smoking naturally. So I need to adopt a method this is vaping. I am vaping now but don't interested in smoking anymore. I got the same flavor and taste. And I would like to give thanks to this provider https://www.blacknote.com/store/

This has helped to quit smoking forever.
 
I smoked for over 20 years. 3 years ago I got into vaping. I now vape. Next step is to give up vaping lol. Vaping is so satisfying though, it's hard to quit. :(
 
as a non smoker I never understand how someone can afford to smoke.

£400 a month is a lot of money (it's half a decent mortgage)

all the other negatives aside (heath, stinking, yellow teeth, looking like a prat) the money would be the one for me! No way would I ever want my body controlled by something generating so much tax
 
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Giving up vaping is easy as well, buy an e-lite vape ciggy, but don't replace the cartridge when it runs out but keep puffing on it, that way you still have the sensation of smoking, but no nicotine. All you have to do then is do that for a week or so, then one day just put it down. I gave up in 2 week with no withdrawal symptoms. Been off the fags now for 4 years.
 
I stopped at the beginning of September. I have been using nicotine lozenges and patches when I'm out eating and/or drinking (minty lozenges are not good with food or beer). I'm using fewer of the smallest lozenges (2mg nicotine) every week.

The price of smoking was never an issue because I got my tobacco from duty free. I reckon it cost me about £100 a year. In fact, patches and lozenges are more expensive.
 
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