Cigarettes Are bad.
I am sure we all know this. Dammit, I know it too.
Tabs. Snouts. Cigs.
They have a million names. One amusingly that is quite popular in Britain is even fags.
I know. Lord knows where that expression comes from but it is quite a common one. No doubt it can cause some confusion in America when a Brit says they are going out to smoke a fag.
It doesn't really mean they have became a bloodthirsty maniac trotting off to commit murder.
I used to be quite the smoker. When I became a father I stopped.
Sometimes when I got a little drunk I would give in and get some and smoke. Not good but I couldn't help myself and always promised myself that I would quit again and largely stuck to it.
Gradually though, over time I smoked less and less. It's quite easy to quit in Britain I think, given that they cost an arm and a leg to buy.
When you go on holiday and overseas the price is less than half they are at home and it's easy to slip into the habit. And slip I did recently.
I pledged to quit to quit on my return. So ladies and gentlemen of the blockchain. I present to you in the cover picture, my last cigarette.
I find it easy enough to quit. Sadly I slide back now and then. Sometimes so much so that I coined the phrase.
Quitting smoking is easy. I've done it hundreds of times.
It is an insidious thing though. Easy to fall back into. A combination of addiction and marketing.
When I smoked regularly. I would find myself outside in conversation with other smokers who obviously saw me as a kindred spirit. I usually kaiboshed this by proclaiming.
Smoking really is a dying art, isn't it?
And it is. Less and less people are doing it. Although many are quitting it by vaping.
For me the art of vaping has never really appealed. You see them everywhere, every one sucking on what looks to be a gun barrel and blowing out gigantic puffs of vapour for all the world like Puff the Magic Dragon.
Well no more of you, you stinky dragon nemesis. I am done with you.
Have you given up? Found it hard or easy? Please let me know in the comments. I always like to hear other dark mother rejecters points of view!!
So true. Nicotine is the hardest addiction to beat. Kudos to you for doing so. As for myself, still trying to beat. I enjoy smoking but I know I have to stop soon. After all, Health is your #1 wealth.
I like that phrase! It is a hard thing to do. That's the problem, it associates itself into you so much that you do enjoy it despite people telling you it's the addiction talking!
it's your last? cheers to that!
It certainly is!! Damn things!
Cigarettes are bad, bacon is bad, alcohol is bad, porn is bad. Everything we like in our lives is bad. Tell us who? Hm, I'm wonder? Government? I'll take it with a grain of salt. Oh my; salt is bad too?
It's all bad!! Except cotton wool. I think that's still ok :0)
Smoking will kill you...Bacon will kill you...But smoking bacon will cure it.
What the.
That's brilliant!
Yeah!! Let's smoke that bacon!!!
I have quit smoking for the last time on April 1st, 1978 (or around this date) when I was 28 years old. It had taken me several years to quit. I found it hard to do.
I found it hard many times before. The price these days makes it easier as it's quite hard to justify. It's almost £11 a pack here!
Well done for stopping so well!
When I was a cadet, at the French naval academy, in 1968-1970, for the equivalent of US$1, every month we were given 16 packs of black tobacco cigarettes ("Gauloises"), without filter, of course.
I was already smoking before starting the naval academy, but was limited by my finances: you could buy a pack of Gauloises for a little less than 50 cents, and that was expensive for me, as I had no money allowance from my parents.
I have heard many times of Gauloises, they were meant to be ridiculously strong werent they? That must have been the black tobacco part. It always amazes me that they didnt have a filter. That kind of smoke would send peoples heads reeling.
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Well, as a smoker I understand you. I can say, as you, "Quitting smoking is easy. I've done it hundreds of times.", but I'm still a smoker (so bad, I know). Every time that I tried to stop, it was very difficult for me and for who lives around me because I turn myself in a very bad person. Maybe there will be the right time to quit smoke for me, but maybe it's not now :(
Cheers Silvia, I know what you mean. You can't do unless it feels like the right time that I do know!!
I've done my share of smoking. Started with my girlfriend in college when I was 21. She broke my heart :( I hate her, no I don't. The habit lasted longer than her, all the way to my 28th birthday.
I only managed to stop because I was thinking about doing it for a year or two and then I hit gold:
Ridiculously dumb book but it works. Well it did for me, not for my parents.
If you or anyone else needs help I have a pdf or you may download it from pirate bay where it may or may not be available. I don't know, I never downloaded it that way.
On the other hand, I did buy the translation for my parents.
But it went sooooo well with beer :( I wish this stuff doesn't kill. I wonder how pricey would it be then :/
I have actually read this. On eof my early attempts to give up was fuelled quite successfully by this book. I have gone for years at a time without. My devil may care do things for fun approach is what lets me down. You know the voice that always says, oooh this would be a cool time to have a smoke
I listen then think, what the heck I havent smoked in a year, one wont hurt. Boom! NExt minute a pack aday.
I am determined this time to not smoke when I drink. I have instructed all my friends to deny me if I go wild and demand one :O)
I hate how cigarettes kill people and its legal, and nobody has died from marijuana alone(without driving or doing an activity to be killed) and its illegal.
I know, the whole legal yet deadly aspect is a right pisser. Its what gets lots of people started. Thankfully now its not so common in the youngsters
still more common than I;d like. I don't get why young people take on smoking..is it even cool anymore?
You would think not. Just all the older people who got sooked in by the advertising and peer pressure when young. Ihope
Cold turkey is only way to do it! I quit two years ago, but still really crave one every now and again. Sometimes you feel like you are missing out when people are in their little cliques are enjoying a chat and a cigarette.
I have noticed exactly that. In the past and now you see them clustered together and think aw, I want to be in on that!
Cold turkey is the only way!
I smoke one or two cigarettes a day, and I do not think I'll die soon :))))
I don't think you will either! :O)
I've been down the same road buddy. You've got really a want to quit for it to stick. I started smoking when I was 12 and couldn't ever imagine not smoking, especially when drinking.
I was flying back from Las Vegas a few years ago with 2000 'fags' stashed in my stuff hoping I wouldn't get pulled by customs and thought WTF! Why am I doing this, I got home, sold the Malboros and haven't had one since,it was 6 years ago.
You do get a WTF moment dontcha? Mines was hiding out the back garden so my daughter wouldnt see me smoke and I thought jesus man Just quit! Well done on staying off them!
It was lucky as the very 1st e-ciggie had just come out so I had that as a crutch for a while to help break the habitual stuff. I'd be tapping my pockets when I got off the tube etc looking for something to do with my hands. It was hard when having a few jars, but you do break it.
Hardest was the doobies but just went back to the bong 😀
The payoff was the extra cash as I was 40 Malboros a day
Quit smoking 15 years ago. Part of the reason, becoming a Dad. ;-)
Never wanted it any more after quite a rough time staying away from the bad habbit, I made it. The first day was the worst, then the week after that. And I got confident after half a year.
Drastic measures, no ashtrays in the house anymore. Guests had to go outside for a smoke. Did not make everybody happy. But it was all worth it.
Started to love food though, the smell, the taste, too much for a while, hahaha. But that also went back to normal.
Glad I decided to stop 15 years ago.
Good luck with dumping Fag the Stinky Dragon for ever!
I am going to make sure it stays dumped. I had stopped since the birth of my daughter but gradually over the last year it crept back when I was drinking then after my holiday I was just plain old smoking again. Had to stop!
Good luck, you'll make it!
Cheers dude, I kinda know I will this time!
Coffin nails, as they used to cell them back in the 50s
I am in the opposite direction, I never really smoked cigs, I have always smoked weed tho. And lately I am rolling spliffs, 50% weed 50% tobacco. And I enjoy the blend, its nice. I never smoke straight tobacco tho, but I miss my spliffs when theres only pure weed joints around. lol
Good read man! Thanks! :D
Hehe, a pleasure!
You know that's how I got started! The joints with baccy in them. Then after a while I started getting the jones when I hadn't had a spliff! That was back in my teens, it was a short hop onto the cigs from there.
Would it help for me to tell you about my friend, Tracy who died of lung cancer. She didn't take my advice to quit. And she's dead. Her son was 5 years old and had to be put up for adoption.
That does help. It's thoughts like that that will keep me on the straight and narrow
Nice post.. Smoking is bad. Resteemed
Definitely bad. Thank you
I quit smoking for 2 years but recently started back up. I feel that once you become addicted your pretty much addicted for life. It's all about retraining your mind to quit. I feel that I'm going to quit again I just ran into a stressful time in my life and fell for the trap.
Contrary to popular belief cigs don't calm you down. They actually make you feel worse. I think if you look at smoking therd is a bit link between nicotine and depression. Of course they won't research it and it might be just my experience.
I think your experience is spot on. It comes with what I have felt and know.
They mate you feel bad and your brain less to you and tells you another one will make you feel good. Nasty damn things
Well, I'm lucky. I never got it started. Remember the first time my friend Eric and I 'borrowed' one from my mom's pack during one of her coffee clatches'. Went out to the bushes and lit it up. Yowza. Felt like someone took a blowtorch to my alveoli. Kind of cured up the thought of the habit from then on.
But I feel for you. Several friends have tried to smack that demon, and it just comes back like a springtime dandelion. Supposed to be one of the hardest thing to kick. Good luck on the final quitage. If only they wouldn't make it so daggone glamorous and addicting. Hmmm....
Just like a Dandelion!! That's absolutely true.
When young the first one I snaffled was awful. It was the so called glamour that in my ten years eventually made me succumb after having gotten used to smoking weed. So many bad habits!
I gave up over 20 years ago, I used to love a drink and a ciggie when out, packed in when I got pregnant, still don't feel any better off lol
Well done you!! You would notice the cash difference if it was now!!!
I couldn't afford to smoke now
My wife has quit smoking about 20 times. I never got started. Growing up in Denmark everybody smoked... the "no smoking" section was some tiny dark corner somewhere.
Interestingly, she "auto-quit" the instant she became pregnant with each of the three kids... she says she actually knew she was pregnant because she'd light up one morning and suddenly it was GROSS... and she'd stop "cold turkey" right there and then... and generally not have the urge to "sneak one" till 3-6 month after each baby came.
When I was young here everyone did it too. I hate it which is remarkable because eventually I started too. That's quite astonishing that she did and very good too!
The smoking corners here are like the no smoking corners your describe then!
The wife and I are in pre-quit mode. $8/pack is killing us. I love those little bastards so much, it's going to be painful. I'll be a financial quitter of smokes - not a health conscious be well do gooding for myself type. It's been a 30 year affair that must come to an end. eek!
Its the money for sure. If anything that is the main motivation for me! I know it will be hard and I feel you there!! $8 dollars would keep me on them probably!
@meesterboom I gave up smoking in 2012. I went from smoking 20-40 roll ups a day to just vaping without any trouble. I still vape to this day though and my nicotine addiction is probably as bad as ever if not worse.
"Stinky dragon nemesis?" that's harsh lol. E-Snouts are the future! I make my own e-liquid and can probably vape my stinky cloud cannon for a whole year on about £100 ;)
Snouts cost eight sobs a packet in the UK now, so I could easily spend that in two weeks on analog tabs.
Wow, you make your own vape liquid? How do you do that? Please dont tell me you soak ten fags in a solution of vinegar and plum flavoured sweets ;O)
I tried vaping but it was exactly that it didnt stop my addiction which made me stop that too :O)
Beer and cigarettes helps for everything....lol! AND you can drive while you're smoking.
That is very true, one of my really bad habits was smoking in the car when the little one wasnt in it and it was a sunny day with the window rolled right down.
I quit cold turkey about two years ago. I just didn't drink for a while until I had it beat. One thing I found is my mental state went from unhappy to happy almost right away after quitting. If I had known smoking was the cause of my depression I would have quit long ago. Its a horrible habit.
I think that is the key for me. Not drinking as much, It doesnt affect me when I drink in the house as I dont smoke there having a child and all. But when in the pub, oh dear. The advent of another child on the horizon though will mean my going outness is numbered and hence the opportunity to smoke. You are right though, its horrible.
In my opinion, nobody can persuade you to quite until you make the conscious decision that you want to quit...not for a little while but forever!!!
True, it had to be something you really want. Half hearted measures result in failure
Aye there bad, im kind of the same bout as you go through phases on/off the smokes, but heavily on them now....need to be able to enjoy somethings in life and as long as you no its not forever then its no that bad, you could get hit by a bus the morrow(hopefully not:)) but you no what a mean
good on you pal tho keep it up
I know what you mean, there is a certain gotta love in the moment kind of thing to appreciate as well.
Cheers dude, will see how I get on!
I like a smoke now and again, this probably isn't helpful to mention. Almost got addicted at one stage but rarely smoke now, it was the days of social smoking in a bar/club. Those days are long gone
Those were the days that it was like fun and cool to smoke. I liked smoking back then, Its not the same huddled out in the wind and rain!
Vaping worked for me. Now I don't even vape either...I dunno, the smell of cigs is what killed it. I can;t take the clothes ( you could smoke in bars until last year here ) smelling like an ashtray and that constant taste in the mouth.
But sometimes, i miss puffing one...the fact is, I quit cold turkey and never looked back and I don't trust myself enough to try even one. I must, one of these days, a man can't live in fear of a cig...
For a while, I was thinking to try smoking some cigars. It's pretty interesting hobby and is a lot like other hobbies we might share ( cough...beer tasting..cough) or even coffee ( so many varieties and tastes ). But I don't really "get" cigars and I end up feeling like I just smoked 1000 cigarettes. I am unsure if I should persevere.
Vaping, too, had this appeal...so many flavors and it's fun, 0 side effects. But it got so technical, my friends who were into it kept buying better and better hardware while I stuck with my stupid e-cig that I felt left out a bit :) I can't really find a reason to get back in it but sometimes I catch a wiff of a nice flavour ( minty watermelon!! ) and would love to try it. Better not though.
http://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/health/a4263/learning-to-smoke-0308/ this is an article that I love and read from time to time. IT's a backwards approach to smoking and a reminder that there is more than marketing to this ( also a reminder that we can always strive to write better ).
All in all, happy you quit! Means we'll prolllllllyyyy maybe get to read more of you :D
Minty watermelon sounds like a fantastic flavour.
I see that with the vape devices. They started out with a little cigarette looking thing which is what I had but they have got bigger and more expensive and more complicated and now people seem to have these big gian handgun type affairs in their hand!
I am exactly the same with cigars. I cant bring myself to not inhale and that is like eating the devils biscuits!
I will read that article. I do like a good un!
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Good lord man!!!
Excellent post dear friend @ meesterboom, you have a lot of reason in what you say and can only understand who has smoked, there are three things that go hand in hand, music, alcohol and cigarette. I was a sonidista for a long time, that betrays me the drink and then the cigarette was inevitable, I smoked and took a lot of two to three tied in a night and maybe two drawers of beer in one night, one day I said enough, until the Today never smoke a cigarette and alcohol if I take a liter in the year is a lot, there is nothing more powerful than the mind when one makes a determination.
Thank you very much for sharing your experience and congratulations for your work.
Have a good week
Thank you @jlufer for sharing. It sounds as though you have had quite the life. The mind is a powerful thing I agree. Well done for stopping and cutting down on the beer!
I'm still a smoker, bad, bad girl. You know what I tried to quit several times 6 months each time, tried vaping, helped a little but.... and then I decided, I'd rather die happy smoker then miserable, hysterical non smoker. It's bad but so is stress, alcohol, food, pollution, harsh sun, blah blah blah 😉
Quite right, I would never condemn anyones choices. If you are happy in what you do that is the main thing I have always said :0)
Cheers to you for gaining the upper hand, each time is a victory! (Though conversely I suppose that losing the upper hand would be the worst of all F words. Boo.)
You are forcing out my horrible secret :( For me the phrase is something like...I quit! Until the next one. I make very strict rules, no smoking here or there or around them or in this instance. Or only smoke here or there or around them or in this instance. And being surrounded by Native reservations we have A: cheap tobacco in large supply, and B: roll your own chemical free, native grown. Which is of course far better for you then the stuff they loudly proclaim contains cyanide and chloroform....right? And I will lay it down just fine, but beer, beer is just that much better when I pick it up. And coffee. And waiting....
I know, I really know!! So many temptations!! Done things just go hand in hand so well!!
There is a part of me that is thinking wow, natural stuff with no horrible additives. Now my resolve is weakening, although only weakening in a kind of I want to live where you live kind of way!!!
I think I've quit quitting more times than I quit smoking.
It's a fine thing to be able to quit and then quit quitting!!
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Really!! The top ten? This I have to see, tis quite the accolade!! Thank you!!
I stopped with the electronic cigarette. Now I do not even use that one ...
I won!
Well done you!!!
i have given up smoking like 8 or 9 years ago. it was very easy, but God i do miss a cigarette after my hot and spicy meals
Oh aye, they are especially good after a hot and spicy meal. Dammit!! :0)
I am glad you have the will to quit! Others seem to have it not so easy!
You may be the world record holder for number of times quitting smoking!
I have seen some massive vaping machines. Some look like they must weigh a pound or two!
Yep, thems the ones. I swear some of them look like 357 magnums!!!
HAHA! They really do! They have come a long way in a few years!
Thanks for sharing!! All those who are smoking they need to read this blog keep resteem guyzz!! This one thank you.
Cheers dude!
This made me chuckle right out loud
going out to smoke a fag. It doesn't really mean they have became a bloodthirsty maniac trotting off to commit murder.
I too have quit many times, each time I got pregnant, for instance. But I always started up again until after my last son was born. The the smell of it and the inconvenience of having to go outside finally gave me the impetus to finally quit.
I think of starting up again from time to time...
The going outside thing was definitely a kicker for me. Its amazing how it can be the small things that make you make a big decision! Standing in the rain and cold in Scotland is never great at the best of times!
I quit and restarted smoking several times over the years. But eventually I found a really good way to quit for good...my doctor told me I had cancer. That was over eight years ago and I haven't touched one or even thought about it since then.
Holy flip. Yes, that is certainly a stopper. Thank you. Sometimes it is good to hear of things like this when you stop as it gives you added impetus
I learned back in 8th grade that you guys call them fags. We thought that was the funniest thing.
It still cracks me up. They still tell a joke here about an englishman asking a shopkeeper in new yoik for a pack of fags and the shopkeeper shouts, what the f*ck ,is one not enough for you?!
It is funny we speak the same language but in different parts it is so hard to tell what people are even talking about. Hahahah
It is, its quite wild. I can barely understand people that live fifty miles from me!
Hahahah
To much of almost anything is dangerous. The REAL problem with cigarettes is that all the commercial tobacco is low quality and full of fertilizers and herbicides. Then to top it off they add hundreds of chemicals many of them neurotoxins and known carcinogens.......
I have been growing tobacco for years and roll my own home grown cigarettes often with some herbal smoking blend added...They taste and smell GREAT and are also quite medicinal. I also only smoke every once in a while instead by compulsion or addiction.
Thats the way to smoke!
If we ever meet I will share an "Epic Smoke" with ya!
Good choice quitting conventional smoking though! Good on ya.
SteemON!
That is what @dreemit had said to me that near her tobcco is grown without all of the muck they put in to keep it alight.
You know that does give me an idea. I have nothing against the idea of smoking at all and would happily smoke for pleasure now and then. Its what I used to do before I eventually started chain smoking. I might try and grow a tobacco plant!
The weather here is pretty tortuous in winter but I wonder if I could pull it off in a big pot or something. I will start googling!
Cheers dude!
where do you live?
Its a summer crop so all u need is a few months of summer, it dies in the fall anyways. Natural tobacco is actually medicinal used properly. In fact some of the most bad ass indian chiefs who make modern men look like pussies smoked natural tobacco. The two main factors is that they had high quality tobacco and they smoked ceremoniously not addictively .
U can also buy natural home grown tobacco online or from me. I am pretty sure we have it listed on PeerHub actually. Can get it for steem!
I will have to check that out then!!
I live in Scotland, or summers are often camp and wet and not always hot! Now I have a real hankering for natural tobacco!! Lol
Oh wow you live in scotland??
Awesome, I was there for a few months years back. LOVED it. The constant wet and clouds was a little much for living year around but loved it regardless.
I visited pretty much every single scotch distillery in scotland!
Also some super ancient forest with multi thousand year old trees!
Yea you should totally get some natural tobacco, its a totally different game and like I said in moderation is actually medicinal!
I can tell ur getting excited hahahaha
I am, its ridiculous!
That excellent you have been. You understand about the weather then. The perpetual murky grey can be abit daunting buit when its sunny its amazing. Its kinda amazing anyway. The distilleries are excellent. I have been to a fair few!
hahahhhhhahahaha awesome!
I am liking you!
SteemON!
my grandmother die because cigarette 15 years ago, i am not smoker learn the lesson
I will consider it learnt
nice post!!
I mom is super addicted to smoking. Has been for years, and because of that, I told myself from a very young age that I will never smoke. I have tried it once, it gives a nice feeling, but it's not worth it to me.
Besides, I wouldn't be able to handle so many fags at once :P
Lol!! Yes, one at a time!!
Already resteem my friend. Thank for shared !
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You said "to quit" two times in one sentence, so it must be true haha! I've never tried smoking myself (though, that would be weird, I wonder what charred @jedau tastes like, I hope I would be spicy) although, I have been a reluctant second-hand smoker for years now, partly because my old roommate was a smoker (of tobacco and weed).
I really don't get the appeal of smoking, but I do hope that you do finally decide to quite. For real, this time. We can't have you shortening your life span, not when Boom Baby Number 2 is on its way. Surely, the cure for cancer is just beyond the horizon (wait, for it, my future daughter would invent the cure ;) ) but before that happens, let's not tempt fate, shall we?
Yes, fate is a thing but to be trifled with!!
Goddang, don't you just hate it when you proof read something and a typo still gets in!!!
Gaaaaar, I shall leave it for posterity :0)
The best way to quit cold turkey for me was trying to smoke with a severe case of of Bronchitis > until it was too painful to breathe. It worked but it's a nasty way when there are so many other options.
Do you want your children to smoke?
They are watching you.
Marathon a smoker's day
until you puke & detest smoking.
Smoke where there's no smoking and let people show you a bad time. I don't know how well peer pressure works for older people.
Find a crazy fun hobby
to replace your smoking addiction
Hope this sparks a brain storming session.
Involve your family and make it an
insane adventure to remember.
"God writes a lot of comedy-the trouble is, he's stuck with so many bad actors who don't know how to play funny." Garrison Keillo