OMG, I don't smoke OR know what Twitter is. I'm finally officially uncool.....

People Paula

@People Paula: correction you are cooler for not doing either

geoffcbassett

Internet Fact #9237: Smoking does make you cool. Twitter does not.

Maurik

This sounds like a take off on Quit Net, who has been around for years.
People Paula- you are officially uncool which, with smoking, means you are Really Cool!
"It's cool to be uncool"

TravelingMan

Hm, the only real way to quit is cold turkey. The hard part is the niccotine addiction - and that only lasts for 4 or 5 days, once you're passed that mark it's just about breaking habits.

I'm trying, it's hard. I've not smoked for 14 days and I don't see how this service would help anyone in my position, maybe people curious about their addiction and looking to cut down, but not quitters.

trstn

I'm not a smoker anymore, I successfully quit smoking since 1st January 2008.

As trstn said, the hardest part is the first week.
My trick is drinking Japanese Green Tea. It will make me lose the desire of smoking because green tea and cigarettes doesn't combine very well. Your cigarette tastes really bad after you had a cup o green tea (IMHO).

Luis Neng

My trick was to dis-associate my routine with smoking. For example, in college, I would get up early, and sit on my front porch with coffee and a few cigarettes. When I quit, I skipped the smoking part, but found myself cheating and sneaking a few in every other day or so. So I had to give the whole routine up. Same with going out with friends and bar hopping. A beer in one hand and a smoke in the other was the way it went, so I had to quit that too.

After the addiction finally went away, I'm able to do both without feeling the 'need' to smoke. I can even smell smoke more than when I was smoking, and gives me a headache.

holymogwai

I quit cold turkey the same time as my husband. I think it was a competitive thing I could not fail and have him succeed. Whatever it worked. We quit in 1985.

I also gave up drinking in 1992 (no program, no problems) just decided I did not like the feeling.

I have however replaced cigarettes with an internet addiction.

Totally hooked on politics and reading. But that can't kill me.

When I quit smoking it was at least a year before cigarettes stopped smelling good to me.

ZenNonna

holymogwai you're right, I forgot the most important part. I quit coffee too.
The day with a coffee in one and a smoke in the other is gone!

Luis Neng

I quit smoking almost 6 months ago to the day... I found that sipping carbonated (soda) ice-water helped initially. Now, shooting heroin seems to do the trick.

OmniSwami

Cold turkey is the best possible way to quit smoking, if you have the will power. But it is really tough for a lot of people (for some people it is inexplicably easy). They say nicotine is more addictive than cocaine. I believe it after trying to quit smoking. I found this natural supplement/aromatherapy product that helped me deal better with the cravings. Obviously you are doing the quitting yourself, but it definitely did help me a lot. If anyone has interest, here is the link

I don't have any other specific suggestions, but putting more nicotine in my body via patch or gum really didn't make a lot of sense to me, but I think people should try whatever they think could work for them, including the Qwitter module mentioned above. The other thing I discovered was every effort you make to quit, even if it fails, makes it more likely you will quit for good the next time.

Smoking is the #1 preventable cause of sickness and death in the world, and we need more and better solutions if we are going to have a solvent health care system.
Big Tobacco is scamming the public with fake studies all of the time. The New York Times exposed one more recently, and a medical industry whistleblower wrote about it here. This could have cost the health care system billions in wasted screenings and a higher cancer rate if they got away with it.

trueguy

I just quit last Monday.  I have to quit cold turkey - I'm way too good at rationalising to be able to do the slow downsizing thing.

Also, it seems odd to me to move from "I am a smoker" to "I am a quitting-smoking-er" - both are identities that revolve around smoking.  I have a better chance of quitting if I just straight-up change my self-identity to one that has naught to do with smoking.

Xtina S.

I don't know. I have never smoked, so more power to those of you who have the willpower to do it. My demon was caffiene. I had to quit that cold turkey. One month now. Vices are horrible to kick, even more so when they have an addictive element. Good luck to those who are trying, and make sure to be careful about replacing one addiction for another, like soda.....

Darkenigma75

oh, and if it makes anyone feel better, I know people who've quit heroin/crack/similar nasty drugs who can't quit smoking. Shows you just how hard it is!

moloko5

Smoking is the coolest way to commit suicide.

I quit a year ago but then it slowly crept back in again. So I re-quit last month (cold turkey on both attempts) and am determined not to let it sneak back up on me again.

Three months seems to be the hard part to get past. Most of the ill effects of smoking have disappeared by then and so you start to forget how nasty it can be and only remember how great it was... and so you just have the one. Then next week you have another one. Two months later it's two a week. Six months later you're back up to one a day. Then you have a really stressful time at work and all of sudden you're smoking like a chimney again. Insidious little buggers they are.

Now if I get any cravings I just get so mindblowingly stoned (using a vaporiser so no smoke involved) that I don't remember I even smoked in the first place!!

moloko5

Truly the best advice I've found so far (has helped me quit after 16 years):

* Not One Puff Ever (NOPE)

* You don't have to quit forever just today (one day at a time - suddenly months have gone by - really)

* Everytime you have an unbearable craving, cut off a finger. (Yes, it has to be your finger).

Hope that helps.

PS - It's amazing how good I am at typing with my elbows.

OmniSwami