I'm with you Slip. My Dad was basically a copy of your Dad. Smoked all his life even though I tried to get him to stop. Found a lump in his neck one day, they found some more on his lungs, he aged about 20 years in 2 years of treatment, until finally his heart couldn't take it and he died in his late 50's. Never got to see me get married. Never got to see his grandchildren. Never got to live properly or enjoy a retirement. He only gave up smoking when he finally actually got cancer. What a dumbass. How anyone starts today knowing what we know is genuinely beyond me.
As a tobacco user, I have the same feelings of no sympathy towards me and my kind. There really isn't any excuse with all the information out there along with all the examples to choose from. I even think that insurance companies, or government healthcare (since we're moving that route) should have a much higher deductible (if one at all) to cover smoking and obesity related illnesses.
I gave up in 1995 on doctors orders when I was diagnosed with hypertension, I walked out the doctors, removed the pack of cigarettes from my pocket and threw them in the bin, never smoked since, I do like a regular drink at home though and perhaps I drink a little more than I should.
It pretty much has been banned in California. I believe you can't smoke within a 10 foot radius of the entrance to a public building, or inside. Definitely agree. I have sympathy for those caught in an addiction, but I think they should have to pay for poor decisions
I smoked on and off for about 10 years (started in my mid-teens) until I quit about 5 years ago for good. I considered myself mainly a social/at work smoker, so I don't really know how physically hooked I was. But I guess I figured there was absolutely no point to harming myself needlessly, if I wasn't even hardcore addicted. I decided I'd had enough and I've never looked back.
I would think the addiction is harder to treat than to educate people of not starting. I see a lot of non-smoking media and it would seem smoking is, or has always been, mostly, a peer pressure issue People who start at first, refuse to see the signs that they are gagging for a reason. I had tried, but listen to my body as it was trying to reject this. I would think, if someone ate a flower, and it made their eyes tear, throat tight and scratching, made them gag, cough, wheeze, and small body gyrations, one would never eat that same flower again.
I smoke occasionally: a few times a month. It absolutely saps your wind and energy, so it's definitely something you want to do very rarely (or better yet, not at all) if you take your training seriously.
I used to smoke 20-40 a day. I had my first real success with quitting when I tried E-Cigs, steam/vapour with nicotine. They feel the same, can be a lot cheaper than cigs. Problems arose for me when there was a problem with a delivery of the new cartridges!!! So it only lasted a couple of months with those. I have had the greatest success with this http://www.nicorette.co.uk/products/quick-mist it basically works like a a breath spray, and is wonderful. I quit around May, and was first astounded when I realized about 3 weeks later that I didn't even think or have the urge to smoke one day it was a very liberating feeling! This lasted until last month, went on a little road trip for 4 days last month to Amsterdam. Since I've been back I'm smoking one or two every other night. If I have a nice Cigar, like the one I have tonight I could go 2-3 days without smoking. Thanks for this thread, I think I need to get me more quickmist!
I smoked off and on for a few years and was at at least a pack a day last spring. The hardest part of quitting for me is not having something to do. Not even the nicotine. No noticeable withdrawals from that. Just the boredom and not knowing what to do after a meal other than smoke. just gotta find something to take place of smoking. Even if its just drinking some tea or soda, it's something to do and keep you somewhat occupied... worked for me.
Was a smoker for 25+years, a pack of 30's or more per day for 20 of those. Will be 2 years in Jan since I gave up. I still can't run/jog more than a couple of hundred meters without being out of breath. :bang:
I've been smoking hookah/shiisha for around 8 years now. I have lasted through both boxing, a semester of taekwondo at college as a recap, and now ninpo. When I say "lasted", I do mean "get through just fine". Then again, the tobacco used in hookah/shiisha is mixed with molasses and honey and isn't smoked dry any way.
I smoke hookah/shisha once every week or so. I smoke cigars once in a while, probably once or twice a month.