The psychological association is strong.

Start breaking the associations you have with smoking and other habits. For example, if you normally have a cigarette with coffee, stop. Have the cigarette, then the coffee, or the other way around, just not at the same time. Same with driving. If you smoke when you drive, make it a point to stop doing that so you can break that association.

Don't overlook the value of patches, lozenges, gum, etc. These are helpful and according to new guidelines, you can smoke while using these aides. If you fall of the wagon and smoke while wearing a patch, it is not the end of the world and is no reason to stop wearing the patch. It will still help you smoke less. You can also use the lozenges or gum with the patch if you need to.

Mints, mints, mints.. make sure they are strong, like Altoids. I'll bet I ate a tin of them a day when I was quitting. Make sure to keep busy! I've heard of men and women taking up knitting to keep their hands moving while trying to quit!

This helped me: http://www.tobaccofreeflorida.com/how-to-quit/3-ways-quit/florida-quitline/
Does your state have something like this? It it an excellent help to be able to speak with someone when you need encouragement.

Those and Halls were great because they produced a sort of vapor and felt like smoking in a weird way

It may just be mind over matter but hey, once you find something that helps, stick with it!

those red jawbreakers that taste like hot cinnamon.

also, nicotine gum, walking and sometimes just sitting in front of computer/tv saying to myself " doing anything is better than smoking."

smoked for 30 years- have gone 3 months



hi I'm new here, actually I used to be zippy890 then stopped for many years,
nice to be back-

I've declaird no alcohol when I get to five a day, that's my biggest one. I don't drive, and I don't drink coffe.

I'm also a little buzzed

Any other triggers that come to mind?

I know, that's not always easy but watching people smoke made me really want to join in! At least for ME, this was a trigger.

I was trying to quit when I was watching True Detective Season 1 and watching Rust Cohle smoke all the time drove me batty! Ha ha! But I have read that women who are trying to quit are more inclined to be influenced by watching people smoke, so that may have been part of it.

That is a great first step, anyway. From there it's easier to go to only the gum, and then phase that out.

But if nicotine gum isn't in your interest, perhaps just regular gum? When I tried (and failed) to quit last time, I was addicted to Halls lozenges during the withdrawal. My girlfriend hated that

One little trick that worked really well for me was, when I got the urge, I'd take and hold the biggest breath possible. While holding it as long as I could, I'd keep adding more little "sips" of air. Really pack it in. Hold as long as possible, then exhale as slowly as you can stand. It'll give you a little rush very much like that first "drag".

Get through three days it's all mental from then on.

Good luck.

Got (surprise) bronchitis...quit smoking for a month, swearing off forever...till temptation...hen back again with a vengence..It was like I was making up for every cigarette not smoked!

Then that wonderful illness, bronchitis reappeared.

I know some people do not like e cigs or vaping vs smoking...it saved MY life

Here is a forum

https://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/

I think these are a good solution for some people. They only thing is, it's really not helpful in breaking the psychological habit of smoking because you're still puffing and getting that oral gratification.

BUT, I know several people who just like you, say it saved their life and that is a wonderful thing. At least they kicked the tobacco and that is what matters.

You will avoid at least some of the triggers. If you usually smoke in the car, keep a little bag of red hot candies at hand and pop those instead. Don't let one set-back stop you--start again! The set-backs will get fewer and fewer. One. Day. At. A. Time. Ask everyone you know for support, they will respond.

Congratulations, you're on your way!

I may never quit.
I'm 74.
But less is better.

About a year ago it came to me that the tobacco company was dictating my 'dosage'.
One entire cigarette.

I don't need a whole one to satisfy my craving.
So I've cut back from a pack a day to 8 or 10.
Smoke half a cigarette and snuff it out.
Sometimes a few puffs is enough.

Head games:
I keep the smokes in the kitchen, at the other end of the house from my office.
So I can't just reach for the pack.
I have to get up and walk to get a smoke.
I have to make a conscious effort.

I don't carry them with me when running errands around town or eating out.
I pretty much smoke only at home now.

Good luck with quitting.
As Mark Twain said "Quitting smoking is easy. I've done it dozens of times."

Your plan of one less cigarette per day every week is a good one. It's what I recommend for my patients. I've been reading this thread for more tips to offer them. (I've never smoked; I can only go by what successful quitters - interesting juxtaposition of words there - tell me).

I always recommend mints for the oral fixation. I know now to recommend strong-flavored mints like Altoids. Sugarless whenever possible.

Keep up the good work. Physiological recovery will start as soon as thirty minutes after your last cigarette ever.

They can cause intense bowel side effects.

worked for me.

For example, learn to line dance if it is something you've never done. When the urge to smoke begins to weaken you stand up and do a few steps. After a few weeks you will feel good about your new skills, but that won't last long. Soon enough you'll realize why you never line danced before and brush it aside. Learning how to use a fly rod, throwing darts, or precisely drawing today's cartoon characters would serve as an identical distraction. In short, replace the habit with a habit that's easier to quit.

and then started vaping.
My doctor told me to use the patches like you do antibiotics; do the full thirty days of patches, even if you feel you no longer need them. I then picked up vaping and have been doing it for a year now. Mostly because i like blowing smoke outta my face. Every doctor I have spoken to has told me that it's not so much the nicotine that is bad, but all the other shit that is in tobacco smoke.
Good luck and much success. I now wonder why I ever started smoking in the first place.
But hey, if I can do it so can you.

I never thought I'd be able to quit smoking until I tried a vape pen with refillable tanks. I used to smoke a pack and a half a day, sometimes chain smoking, but when I tried the vape pen for the first time, I cut back from a pack and a half to 6--overnight! I quit smoking altogether a month afterwards and haven't picked up a cigarette since (I did try to smoke a pipe a year after quitting, but it was too hot for me to handle). I started vaping 24 mg. nicotine and almost 2 years later, I'm down to 6mg.
Vaping mimics the smoking ritual and the nicotine in the liquid alleviates the cravings without you having to breathe all that tar, which can cause cancer. Not only does the shit in the smoke cause lung disease, but also smoke contains an anesthetic that numbs your airways so you can get that big lung hit without feeling the heat. Someone said smokers smoke for the nicotine but die from the tar.

Mind you, I'd be careful in choosing a flavor. I avoid flavors containing diketones, such as cheesecake, chocolate, and some other dessert flavors, because they don't agree with me. Personally, I prefer fruity flavors such as raspberry, orange creamsicle type, and blackberry to name a few.

(Haven't smoked in over three years.)

Stock up on low cal finger food like celery and carrot sticks. Helps with the oral fixation and with weight gain. Once off the cigs, your appetite and taste sensation will start returning and you'll want to fill your face and tummy. Keep up with the exercises.

Drink lots of water

If you can, treat yourself to a professional teeth cleaning and whitening. There's a lot of gunk on your teeth and under the gums. Get rid of it. You will feel and taste the difference.

straws the same length as cigarettes (I like the bendy straws)
toothpicks
cinnamon sticks

Take 3 deep breaths when an urge hits.

I used zero-nicotine e-cigs only when a craving was so strong I wanted to cry. They were lifesavers!

I kicked a 40-year 2-pack-a-day habit cold turkey... 4 years ago yesterday.

Good luck! You can do it!

that nasty yellow/green/black sludge was inside you because of the cigarettes. Inspect it, let it gross you out. Then when you want a smoke, picture the cigarette as being made of that foulness. Picture it coming out of the cigarette, into your mouth, and depositing itself inside you. Hopefully the disgusting imagery will help you refrain from lighting up.

50 years of smoking 2-3 packs a day of unfiltered Lucky Strikes. He lived to 86.

My Mom could not quit even after lung removed, heart attack and emphysema and died at age 63.

I have never used tobacco but likely childhood health problems were from Mom's smoking.

You see people use nicotine gum or e-cigarettes and Wellebrutin sp? (and there must be other rx drugs available now).

If you are single, find a new love.

None of the patches, gums, or drugs that have enabled so many people to quit successfully.
Smokers now make about 13% of American adults , down from around 50% in the 60's.
Oh yeah,I went the cold turkey route.
Tried tapering off but something would always start me up again.
Hard way to go but it did work.
I don't recall if I ever saw anyone successfully taper off.

Tapering off involves too much of a stuggle and thinking about it for me. Sunday will be a full week- with me luck!

I'd stay away from vapor related products. What you inhale should be known, and when there is no regulation over that method, the conjugates inside the liquid could irritate or interrupt your immune response.

I'd say you're better off with doing something (anything) with your hands… painting, picking a string instrument, woodcraft, model airplanes…

Just my thoughts. I know it's all behavior modification from this point out.

MMM

By about month 5 of my quit I was done with craves. I used champix/Chantix for two months. That really helped. Then I smoked a few herbal cigarettes a day for a few months. The chantix/champix separated smoking from the pleasure centers of my brain. The herbal cigarettes replaced the pleasure of smoking with disgust of smoking. Those herbal cigarettes really are gross. One day I totally stopped the herbal cigarettes and I was done. Not one real crave since then. When I see someone smoking, I feel so sorry for them. I did go through a stressful few weeks when intellectually I wanted to smoke again but resisted. I am so happy and proud. I highly recommend quitting. There are websites like the quitnet.com where you can log in when you initially have craves and get people to talk you out of it. Plus you can log in and help others. Puts the shoe on the other foot and helps you to look at things from a healthier perspective.Good luck. Quitting smoking has been one of the best and most rewarding thing I have done. It was hard at first. But once those initial first months have passed it is all about being a healthier, happier person.

Vaping. Gradually eliminated cigarettes and the more I vaped the worse they tasted, which really worked as a good negative stimulus.

While it may not be for everyone, the vaping made the transition rather easy without anxiety and I never imagined quitting a forty-year habit so smoothly and easily. The worst part was actually the "rituals" involve in smoking more than anything else since the nicotine was not an issue.

Then my ability to smell and taste improved, my teeth became much whiter, I didn't stink everything up, and I am now much less winded, so the vaping gave me a chance to feel the rewards of not inhaling smoke with all its other chemicals.

I am now so comfortable with the vaping that cigarettes are not interesting and I find that the next step of lowering the nicotine levels is not so bad. Some continue to vape after they quit, but I am now using the vaping as a step towards easing off the nicotine and I am in no hurry at this point, considering how good it feels at this point.

It helps to have the support of people around you, no matter what method you choose. I have had people express how pleased they are with my progress, (and smelling better to them) and that added to the reward factors, which I think are very important in quitting.

But I relapsed about a year later.

A year or so after that I was having trouble breathing.... allergies mainly, exacerbated by smoking... and I quit the smoking permanently without Nicorettes because breathing feels much better than NOT breathing.

Somewhere between 1-1/2 and 2 packs of Marlboro reds a day for 15 years, smoked my last one in June 2002 and haven't had one since.

The other tip that goes with it is don't smoke a "ceremonial last cigarette." I didn't. I thought about quitting for a few days after mom mom died and I think it was day 3, I'd smoked at some point but I just said "OK, I quit," and I quit.

It's what my doctor recommends too. Patches and gum and the rest may help some folks but for me they would have been delaying the inevitable. I was in pain over the loss of my mom so the monkey's claws in my back just blended in with all the other pain.

I did it a little differently. I tried to smoke as few cigarettes as I could without going crazy. I immediately dropped from 2.5 packs of Marlboros a day to about 8 cigarettes a day. This showed me how much of it was habit rather than craving.

I stayed there for awhile. Gradually, I cut back more and more, until I got down to one cigarette a day. This took probably a couple of months. I stayed at one cigarette a day for a couple more months.

I kept track of how many cigarettes I would have smoked that I didn't smoke. This made me feel very successful, immediately. Soon the number of unsmoked cigarettes was in the thousands.

And, I always, and still give myself permission to smoke a cigarette if I really want one. To that end, I kept an unopened pack of Marlboros in a drawer in the kitchen.

I finally quit, and forgot I was a smoker within two weeks, and never had any cravings because I had gradually reduced the nicotine in my system. I threw away the unopened Marlboros after about a year.

I smoked 2.5 packs a day for 14 years. I've now quit for 31 years.

It happens to most who eventually quit. Just work up your will and take another run at it.

and would hold them in my hands like cigarettes. i worked as
a computer operator in an office by myself with no windows most of the
day...(computers were loud in those days)

And back in the day removed the lighter in my car that was MY BIGGEST TRIGGER.

of each other.

I applaud your decision to quit smoking. Best to you!

Then I got an office job and had to cut down more but still managed to get in a pack a day.

Finally decided to quit when my company said they would subsidize the cost of patches. At that time patches were more expensive than a carton of cigs but the subsidy made them about equal so I figured I'd give quitting another shot.

I decided I wouldn't change anything but put on the strongest patch they sold. I smoked when I felt like it but I soon found I was going longer and longer between smokes. I went for a couple weeks smoking only 2 a day - one for breakfast and one before bed.

One day I realized I had forgotten the morning smoke so decided to try just one a day.

A few weeks later I realized I didn't want a cig all day so I smoked one more for old time's sake and never bought another pack. That last cigarette was on April 20th, 2003. (The irony is not lost on me )

I continued with the patches every day but I started buying the smallest patch and went with that for a few more weeks. One day I realized I forgot to put my patch on that morning and I never put another patch on after that.

The whole thing from start to finish was nearly 3 months but it was WAY less stressful than the times I tried cold turkey.

I'll have 3~6 cigars a year but at least I'm not smoking cigs every day.

I had smoked for 25 years and tried to quit numerous times. First, I stopped smoking at work. Then I stopped smoking in the car. That meant I went almost 10 hours without a cigarette. Then I cut out the morning cigarette, so my first cigarette was when I got home at night after work. That put me at about six cigarettes per evening.

At that point, I picked a date that I would quit completely (my child's birthday, so it was important to me.) I chose an unpleasant place in my house to smoke (my garage) and I started to switch brands. Originally I smoke Marlboro 100's, then I went to lights, and finally to Benson & Hedges menthol lights 100s. Those cigarettes were so disgusting, the joy was gone and I easily extinguished my last cigarette on my quit date.

Hope some of this helps! You can do it. Good luck!!

cinnamon flavored candy helped a friend of mine. Whenever she felt like lighting up a cigarette, she popped a Red Hot into her mouth and lit up that way - they're pretty hot. Sometimes she popped nearly a whole mouthful of the candies into her mouth at once.

An uncle of mine quit smoking by dipping toothpicks in cinnamon oil and chewing on those. Cinnamon oil is hot, hot, hot.

Good luck to you, whatever method you use.

Seriously, once you have quit, stay quit. It works.

I am a former smoker who has quit for 31 years now. But I had to quit more than once and learning this lesson was key for me. I smoked for a total of 14 years. In my 6th year, I quit for 4 months. Then one night, while with other people at a bar who were smoking, I decide to bum "one". Then another. Then I felt bad about bumming, and got up to get my own pack - "for that night". It was 8 more years before I quit again - and when I quit again - this time I didn't pick up that "one".

or cure lonelyness or all the shit we thought when we started .Give your self a break and light one when you start freaking about wanting one then say okay I got my fix and then stub it out .It may be all about that first rush you get when ypu light up .You can do this , if you use them for props get another prop to hold if its a oral thing get another oral prop .

I swear you will look back and be baffled that ypu did smoke but don't go anti smoking nazi on smokers because chances are that kept alot of us smoking because of the authority jerks fake couhing and making you feel like a sleaze and a weak junky .Main thing is give yourself a break if you mess up .

I quit many years ago after 1)being revulsed that the clothes in my closet and even my underwear smelled of smoke and 2) started a new relationship with a man (now my husband) who could not stand being around smokers.

So I was motivated very strongly. I realized that I didn't want to be a smoker any more. I was influenced by Ralph Nader, of all people. who said he'd never hire a smoker as one of his Nader Raiders because he viewed them as being weak willed individuals. Not that I wanted to be hired by him. I just looked up to him at the time...

Motivation is key, IMO...

It took full blown bronchitis to get me to stop.