241–250 of 403 posts
Some say you have to avoid all the stimulus when quit smoking. I will not stop walk out onto the balcony and enjoy the sun. I do kot wan to stop drinking coffee.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I quit smoking in 2014. Before that, when traveling, I had a habit of smoking local brands. So when I traveled to Beijing, I picked a brand named Baysan because I saw locals smoking it. It had a beautiful package, it was high quality. When traveled back home, I had a commute in Stuttgart. So I got to a smoking area, took a cigarette from that Baysan box and it was like smoking burning wood. I coughed a lot and threw…
Fun fact: Stuttgart is considered to be one of the worst cities in Germany with regards to air pollution, because of the geography ("Stuttgarter Kessel"). But the difference between any other German city and Stuttgart is obviously negligible when compared to Peking.
The thing about smoking is that when you quit smoking you quit it every day. Imagine a light switch on the wall. You turn it off by quitting smoking and you can always go back at a desperate time for instance and turn it on. And some time later off again. Smoking your first cigarette implants that light switch on your mind and you can't make it go away. Since you know how it makes you feel good when the switch is on,…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Alcohol has gourmet attributes and is a good social lubricant. The question is more around whether those two attributes warrant ingesting what is essentially poison. I don't think I've ever heard a cigarette smoker comment on the taste of their cigarette (cigars are the exception here) and the high, especially for regular smokers, is near non-existent. So for cigarettes the initial appeal is much less obvious. I'd as…
Not responding as an argument, just to share my perspective (as I’m holding a lit cigarette in my hand). I’ve definitely described the flavor of my cigarettes. I switched to my current brand because I liked the flavor more than my previous brand, which I described as having no flavor (and of course it did, just not flavor I found offputting), which was preferable to previous brands I’d smoked. I’m leaving out brand n…
A similar example is mineral water:
I have preferences around which mineral water I drink. I even dislike waters very high in minerals and will only have them if there is no choice. But in the end water is just something I drink to satisfy a physical craving; it is not something I will consume as part of a gourmet experience (although some 'artisan waters' have tried to market themselves that way...).
You won't hear many smokers say things like: "OMG have you tried the new XYZ cigarettes? The subtle flavours of tar and nicotine are just to die for!" (and the same is true for water) There's also no 'craft cigarettes' market, or cigarette tasting tours and whatnot.
Since there seem to be past smokers in this thread, can any of you chime in for me what smoking did or does for you? I don't mean this as a insult, but I've never understood the addiction, at this point I feel like it's impossible for me to experience, and I don't desire to. I've smoked maybe a dozen or so times in my life, each time a dumb decision often for comedic effect where I asked myself afterwards, "am I addi…
Fellow non-smoker to another, but with a very different experience. Over a decade ago, I tried chewing tobacco. Definitely a stimulant, but of the relaxing variety. It’s like a shot of adrenaline but only on your brain and with no negative feeling side-effects. Or like eating an especially delicious gourmet hamburger that is both interesting in its complexity and relaxing at the same time. The noticeably pleasant men…
This: what other substance in the world relaxes and stimulates at the same time?
The thing about smoking is that when you quit smoking you quit it every day. Imagine a light switch on the wall. You turn it off by quitting smoking and you can always go back at a desperate time for instance and turn it on. And some time later off again. Smoking your first cigarette implants that light switch on your mind and you can't make it go away. Since you know how it makes you feel good when the switch is on,…
I agree, I quit smoking more than 5-6 years ago. I still get strong cravings every once in a while, especially during bad weather. It is probably because I live in Texas now and I don't get enough opportunities to to deprogram smoking associations that I developed living upstate New York. Recent winter freeze made me just want to smoke every second. I am still looking for something that can replace smoking, nothing r…
I also felt it helped to bridge the strata in the workplace, as a junior I'd often end up sharing a cigarette with an exec or manager of some kind and hear about goings on in a different part of the company or from a higher level which would help to piece together the puzzle of how the business was being run.
It's been many years since I've smoked habitually, a few months since doing so socially, I don't feel the urge, but I do miss the idle moments it allowed for.
There really is nothing quite like it. The closest thing I've found is tending to weeds in my back garden.
Since there seem to be past smokers in this thread, can any of you chime in for me what smoking did or does for you? I don't mean this as a insult, but I've never understood the addiction, at this point I feel like it's impossible for me to experience, and I don't desire to. I've smoked maybe a dozen or so times in my life, each time a dumb decision often for comedic effect where I asked myself afterwards, "am I addi…
It was in large part a social factor. Most of my first line leaders smoked in the Army. Most of my co-workers smoked getting out.
I had tried a few times without ever getting "hooked," until one random day it was about to rain. I was inhaling deeply (desert rain has a great smell), and took my deepest drag yet.
I finally realized I had been smoking in my "mouth" it, so to speak. From there the head-clearing buzz was present, and it truly felt amazing.
Then it started to go away. Take another drag, and never quite reach that again.
Years pass and you start to wonder why you still do this stupid, nasty habit. At this point, you're already addicted and like the beautiful light switch analogy another user gave, it is a conscious effort to always quit, not to pick it up again.
I somehow only picked up smoking a year after separating, not trying to insinuate a 1:1 relationship there. Now drinking... ;)
I'm still smoking at the moment. I've quit for years and started again. It's the push and pull .. the need and that satiation that I find so satisfying, and to a certain extent it's that rhythm I find ultimately attractive. The slow build up of a hunger, before you end it with a delicious meal. The relaxing bath after a 30 mile hike. The 10 hour sleep after a stressful few days running on caffeine. The buzz of endorp…
Allen Carr's Easy way out. It's a book. He explains the mind hack that smoking is. Once you grok that, quitting is easy.
Best thing we can do is to ban it completely.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's also worth noting nicotine has interesting "nootropic" properties. You don't really have to quit your addiction to quit smoking, and there can be some advantages to continuing if you can afford it in safer forms.
it is quite possible that nicotine is a carcinogen itself and there is no safe form