I quit 6 years ago April 1st....and would kill for a smoke..lol..it's just a matter of will power.Good for you!
...btw I did it cold turkey.....
Had my first cigarette at 7. Smoked ever since. Thought of quitting a few times, not bothered yet. Best I can do is get myself down to about 5 a day.Damn!! 7 is pretty young!
Never smoked. But then, I'm only 7.Uh huh. I'm the Easter Bunny. Nice to meet you, Kid.
I quit 6 years ago April 1st....and would kill for a smoke..lol..it's just a matter of will power.
...btw I did it cold turkey.....
Damn!! 7 is pretty young!
Never lived on a sheep farm, did you? :beer:
You know that phrase, "blowing smoke up your ass?" You do that to sheep, since it paralyses the bot fly grubs and you can pull them out with a pair of tweezers. Their claws let go. One of the less savory aspects of hill farming. Also works on ticks in the ears.
Never lived on a sheep farm, did you? :beer:
You know that phrase, "blowing smoke up your ass?" You do that to sheep, since it paralyses the bot fly grubs and you can pull them out with a pair of tweezers. Their claws let go. One of the less savory aspects of hill farming. Also works on ticks in the ears.
It will be 28 years this year since I quit. My husband quit almost 10 years ago. I smoked 2 1/2 packs a day, he was a chain smoker. That 18 year gap was very hard for me with him smoking around me all of the time. He tried to quit a few times, but just couldn't. I hated the smell of it, and it got so that the clicking sound of his Zippo lighter would cause a nerve tremor and facial tic in me. I nagged at him constantly about it - it wasn't pleasant.How cool is that? Good for both you and your husband!!
One day, my mother (God bless her) said, "let's just start praying every day for him to quit".
We set a certain time that every day we would both stop what we were doing and say a prayer for him to quit smoking. We did this faithfully for over a year.
One day he came home and said, "I've quit smoking." -He still had an open pack left and packs left in the carton! He never smoked another cigarette.
He knows if he smokes one, he would start again. Me, I still bum a menthol off a friend of mine about once a month (not around my husband though).
***cool cat***
I grew up on a dairy farm. No sheep at all. I understand where you're coming from, though. One good thing about living on a farm is you can experience all manner of things that city kids would never understand.
Packer fan, dairy farm. Hmmm... Wisconsin, perhaps?
You bet! Born and raised there!
I wish Kevin Greene was still on the coaching staff with the Packers. He'd get Julius Peppers' motor running! Go Pack Go!I really liked having Greene on the sidelines! He was and remains a real beast! That said, I think that we are going to be just fine this coming season. I am a huge fan of Ted Thompson and trust in his judgement, 100%.
I really like the idea of having Peppers added to our defense. I see good things happening this season.
Thanks for the comments. All of them!You bet!
I feel good too. It always comes down to health, doesn't it?
I had my first smoke in 1948. Didnt know how to smoke really . I started smoking for real when I was 12 and smoked for 50 or so years . I tried to quit about 20 or 30 times butt gave them up cold turkey about 8 years ago.
I'm still amazed at what I put myself through to "learn" to smoke . When I started it was cool..
I was a two pack a day smoker but actually hated smoking...wanted to quit so bad but didn't want the patches.
I bought plastic straws, cut them in half and smoked them for a couple of weeks. Weren't anything but air but it put me through the motion of smoking, plus, I put a rubber band on my arm and snapped it for something to do with my hands. It took a couple of weeks but I made it. That was fifteen years ago. I could still smoke but, wow...I will not pay for them!
Back in 1968...played a lot of pinochle and somebody bet dinner for two (one couple) at the restaurant of one's choice for the 1st person to stop smoking.
At the time I was opening up and stocking four different stores at a new regional mall sitting in the middle of a freaking 250 acre cornfield.
Started at sunrise and went home at midnight.....for about two weeks.
Nothing was open in the mall...some places didn't even have electricity yet.
We'd send the stockboys out for hotdogs and burgers, etc......it was the easiest bet to win when you don't have access.
Haven't smoked...(tobacco) since. LOL!
Haven't smoked...(tobacco) since. LOL!
I was a two pack a day smoker but actually hated smoking...wanted to quit so bad but didn't want the patches.
I bought plastic straws, cut them in half and smoked them for a couple of weeks. Weren't anything but air but it put me through the motion of smoking, plus, I put a rubber band on my arm and snapped it for something to do with my hands. It took a couple of weeks but I made it. That was fifteen years ago. I could still smoke but, wow...I will not pay for them!
I figure I've been saving myself about $5,000 a year, which means that by April 1 of this year I will have saved about $25,000 by not smoking for the past 5 years.
I have quit smoking twice, both times cold turkey.
The first time was after ten years of smoking ~ I quit because I became pregnant. I did not smoke for seven years, although the cravings never went away.
Five years later I quit again due to medication I was prescribed (on a side note - the medication did not agree with my body and I quit taking it after two months). That go round lasted four years; one evening while alone at my dad's place, before he passed away, my brain said 'I want a cigarette', I went and bought a pack and the rest was history. That was ten years ago.
On Monday I decided that it is time to quit again (which I will do once those four packs are gone). In this past year I have had bronchitis three time ~ which I know is partially a result of smoking. Plus, geez it is hard to find a decent place to have a smoke! I will do as I have with the other times and go cold turkey.
On a separate note - last June (06-12-13) my husband had a major heart attack, which was brought on by genetics, stress, diet and smoking. While stuck in the hospital he bitched, moaned and complained about wanting a cigarette. I went to the local drug store and bought him the temporary e-cigs ~ which not only held him over, but received the approval of his cardiologist and the nursing staff. Ten months later, my husband has not had a 'real' cigarette. He is puffing the heck out of those e-cigs, but not a 'real' cigarette. Today he said with the next order of e-cig replacements he will get some with zero nicotine.
My $0.02 worth regarding e-cigs and those that want to ban them . . . (1) the multi million dollar "quit smoking" industry (that really doesn't work) is losing money, therefore pitching a bitch; (2) oops! the anti-smoking BS folks have realize that those things work and damn we are going to loose a crap ton of tax money; (3) Smoke Nazi's are just not happy in general.
I trust that you have reported this "income" to the IRS?
I'm a smoker. I bought an electric cig maker, so the cost is around $7 a carton or less (Ohio). I have Chantix ($236) that I'm going to try next week. Too much going on this week. My son, who lives in NY is a smoker ($10 a pack). I bought him the machine, too, but he prefers those small Marlboros, so I'm still spending money sending them to him at $5 a pack. I offered him Chantix so we can quit together. Fingers crossed, and lots of prayers!
My sisters quit 20 plus years ago, and still have the urge. I need to find another bad habit. **nononono*
I started when I was about 16 when a pack was about 50 cents. I quit when they hit a dollar a pack at age 25. I was thinking who is crazy enough to pay a dollar a pack? What are they now? $8.31 a pack here in Washington. If I would ask someone how would they like to get a $3000 raise this year, everyone would say “ hell yea”. Well all they have to do is stop smoking.
$14 in New York City. If that isn't incentive to quit I don't know what could be.
I quit after my right lung collapsed while jogging back in 1973. Flirted with it off and on, mostly off, a few years after that.
Grateful to be a non-smoker. Damn, who could possibly afford $14 a pack?
Virginia crime panel examining cigarette trafficking (http://hamptonroads.com/2012/09/virginia-crime-panel-examining-cigarette-trafficking)
By Larry O'Dell
The Associated Press
© September 5, 2012
RICHMOND
Cigarette smuggling has become so lucrative that organized crime is getting involved, and many former drug dealers have switched to peddling contraband smokes instead of narcotics, the Virginia State Crime Commission was told Wednesday.
The General Assembly last winter directed the commission to study illegal cigarette trafficking and make recommendations before the 2013 legislative session, which begins in January. The commission's staff conducted the investigation and will present its recommendations at the next meeting in November.
G. Stewart Petoe, the commission's legal affairs director, said the amount of money cigarette smugglers can make is staggering. That's because they can buy a pack of premium cigarettes for about $5.55 in Virginia and sell it for a big profit on the black market in New York City, where a higher cigarette excise tax pushes the retail price to about $14 a pack.
Smuggle enough cigarettes and the payday can be enormous. Petoe said a federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent estimated that a car can carry 10 cases of cigarettes — there are 60 cartons in a case — with an estimated profit of $34,000. Upgrade to a van, and 50 cases can turn a $170,000 profit. A large truckload can haul 800 cases and net a profit of $4 million.
Petoe said he was stunned by a Virginia State Police agent's observation that bootlegged cigarettes now have a higher profit margin than cocaine, heroin, marijuana or guns.
"It has just become irresistible for organized crime, and when they come to Virginia, they will bring ancillary violent crime with them," Petoe said.
He added that drug dealers are switching to smokes not only for the money, but also because they face less prison time if they're caught.
Petoe said cigarette smuggling is booming because many states, particularly those north of Virginia, have increased their cigarette excise taxes in recent years. Virginia — the nation's fifth-largest tobacco producer and home of its most prolific cigarette factory — has the country's second-lowest tax: $3 per carton. The tax is $43.50 in New York state and $58.50 in New York City.
According to Petoe, a recent study found that 30 percent of all cigarettes in New York City came from out of state — and of those, 71 percent were from Virginia.
"As the second-lowest tax state, we're setting ourselves up to be complicit," said state Sen. Janet Howell, D-Fairfax, who added that she wasn't necessarily suggesting a tax increase.
Petoe said one of the simplest and fastest-growing methods of bootlegging is called "smurfing." Individual smugglers or small groups buy cartons of cigarettes at multiple locations throughout the day, then haul them out of state for resale on the black market.
Commission staff members conducting the study hung out for a while at a convenience store off Interstate 95 in the Richmond area, Petoe said, and watched one customer get out of a car and buy five cartons of cigarettes and return to the vehicle. Then another person got out of the car and did the same thing.
"It's very clear what they were doing," Petoe said.
Some cigarette traffickers seeking to maximize their illicit gains have established bogus retail operations so they can buy in bulk from wholesalers, Petoe said. He added that there are myriad other schemes involving forged tax stamps, selling cigarettes "off the books" to evade taxes, international smuggling and importing counterfeit cigarettes.
"The ingenuity of criminals is flabbergasting," Petoe said.
The commission also began examining whether the state needs to improve the process for gathering forensic evidence from sexual assault victims who are incapable of giving consent for the testing, but no recommendations were made.
Petoe said he was stunned by a Virginia State Police agent's observation that bootlegged cigarettes now have a higher profit margin than cocaine, heroin, marijuana or guns.
I started this topic because this week I began my "Quit". I started smoking 48 years ago and have tried to quit on several occasions to no avail. I made up my mind, that this time I am going to do it, once and for all.
Over the course of the past month, I have been having exams covering ever aspect of my health and physical condition. I have no issues with mobility, flexibility or even stamina. So far, my 62 year old body is holding up better that it should be considering all the abuse (diet, alcohol, smoking) I have put it through. I was diagnosed with diabetes (type 2) 6 1/2 years ago, but have gotten that under control through changing diet and cutting out the excessive drinking. I do enjoy a nice glass of red wine, daily (heart), but that's about it.
I figure that quitting smoking is something that I can do to reward myself. My goal is to stick around long enough to be a real pain in the ass to my kids and to blow through their inheritance.
Reading all of your comments has been a joy and a help. Y'all have given me an added perspective and motivation.
Thank You for sharing your experiences and giving me something to think about!
You can absolutely do it. Best thing I did was to stop doing the things I most associated with smoking - like going out for a walk in the early morning to get a cup of coffee and a newspaper and smoke on the way there and on the way back - and find other things to do to keep yourself occupied.
Hang tough, you'll do it!
I started this topic because this week I began my "Quit". I started smoking 48 years ago and have tried to quit on several occasions to no avail. I made up my mind, that this time I am going to do it, once and for all.
Over the course of the past month, I have been having exams covering ever aspect of my health and physical condition. I have no issues with mobility, flexibility or even stamina. So far, my 62 year old body is holding up better that it should be considering all the abuse (diet, alcohol, smoking) I have put it through. I was diagnosed with diabetes (type 2) 6 1/2 years ago, but have gotten that under control through changing diet and cutting out the excessive drinking. I do enjoy a nice glass of red wine, daily (heart), but that's about it.
I figure that quitting smoking is something that I can do to reward myself. My goal is to stick around long enough to be a real pain in the ass to my kids and to blow through their inheritance.
Reading all of your comments has been a joy and a help. Y'all have given me an added perspective and motivation.
Thank You for sharing your experiences and giving me something to think about!
I will say a prayer for your success Howie. I'll tell you how I quit. Everyone says cold turkey is the best way to go, but I weaned myself off and it really worked. First, I told myself that I could smoke anywhere except for when I was driving. I determined that was the easiest place for me to start giving up - it may be different for you. After a week or so, I was good with that - couldn't wait to get out of the car to smoke, but I had proven to myself that I was able to do that.
Then, I kept cutting places I could smoke - the last places that were left for me were my desk at work (back in the days you could still smoke in your office) and restaurants and bars. Bars were the last place for me to quit, and the hardest. But I was able to do it eventually. I think because of the method I used, I am still able - to this day - to bum a cigarette about once a month and smoke it with no ill effects. My doctor told me if that is all I smoke - don't worry about it.
My husband said that method would never work for him and most ex-smokers I know say it's cold turkey or nothing. But this worked for me. Good luck!
The best part is once you get over the cravings – which, admittedly, last years – you don't miss it ever again. I equate it to missing getting hit in the head with a ball peen hammer 20 or 30 times a day. It's not something you miss.
Something else that helps.
Self talk or self reinforcement. Run a tape in your head on all the reasons why you hate smoking. Run it over and over again whenever you get a craving.
Talk to people about why you hate smoking. Become a real dick about non-smoking – screw smokers' opinions.
You have a chance at becoming a non-smoker. Don't lose that battle. Save your life, man. Take control and save your own life.
Smoking kills you, a "silly little millimeter" at a time.
There is evidence here of a federal crime, interstate tobacco trafficking. That could get attention from ATF officers.
Seriously here is another resource. This Englishman named Allen Carr wrote a book, which several people I know, swear by. It is an informed cold-turkey method.
http://www.amazon.com/Allen-Carrs-Easy-Stop-Smoking/dp/0615482155
The smuggling problem "is a lot smaller than the study lets on," said Thomas Carr, director of national policy at the American Lung Association, noting that the Tax Foundation's data come from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which has received funding from the tobacco industry. "Tobacco companies are generally against higher tobacco taxes."