America's #1 Online Cigar Auction
first, best, biggest!

I am attempting to quit; and as means of getting over the hump I am smoking the cigars that come in tins....is this wise? Or should i quit kidding myself and smoke my normal alottment of cigars. I kinda feel like I am kidding myself as when i need a fix i go outside and have a few puffs of one then put it out. So far it has worked but I am interested to hear of other cigar smokers experience that have successfully quit smoking cigarretts.

On a different note; I just completed 2 trades and I am amazed at the freebies given to me...almost as much fun trading as smoking them ( and i stress almost)

I try and stay away from Tequila since I was in the service; but if you send me some good blue agave I will give your method a try.

Just say 'not' ...

Rick ...
Any chance that hypnotism could help change your leftist views? Hehehe

I used smokeless tobacco (Copenhagen) in the round tins to wean myself off cigarettes. You can get weak in the knees from your first pinch of that nasty stuff. It is disgusting enough a habit that you never really want to do it, just have to for the nicotine.

One night I had a dream of digging in the tin for a pinch and there were fat slimy worms slithering around in the moist snuff. Makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck recalling it. I threw away my last can in the morning and never went back to snuff or cigarettes. That was 1975. I have always smoked cigars occasionally, but never inhaled. Average maybe one a day now.

Ever try ACCUPUNCTURE ?

Guaranteed to work ....

Every time you want to light up a cigarette ... just start sticking yourself with needles until the urge subsides .....

My wife did this to me when she wanted to wean me from having sex all the time .... it worked ...

I quit smoking the day before I moved in with my wife and step kids 6 years ago. I went cold turkey and it worked. I used chew to replace some of the urges to smoke, but as I saw my gums start to recede, I realized that this could be worse than any other tobacco product. Now it is just the occasional cigar. The wife doesn't approve, says its bad for the kids to see me smoke cigars. She doesn't like the smell. But...I gave up a he11 of a lot of vices and behavior from my 35 years of being single to marry her. I deserve to have 1 good vice. The lure of cigarettes lasts forever though. I can go days without thinking of having a cigar, but some part of every day I think of having a cigarette. Must be a different drug.

I had my girlfiend ration them to me starting with 12 a day and gradually reduced to 6 a day before I stopped.

She would hide the carton from me so I couldn't cheat. After a month of being down to 6 a day, I stopped and started using nicotine gum. Did that for about 6 weeks and stopped that. Haven't had a craving since, been off cigs for 8 months after smoking a pack a day for 21 years.

I quit in 1979, the day my first daughter was born. I had quit several (20 or 30) times before and this time it stuck. I have to admit to craving cigarettes (especially in certain situations) for approx ten years after quiting. Now I wouldn't touch one on a bet. As much as anything else quiting is a mind set, you have to be ready and you have to be determined. Anything else you do to help will be just that, an aid. But you will only be sucessful if you are convinced that is what you want to do.

Don't look at it as quitting, look at it as progressing to the next level. Cigarettes are a crude bastardization of the noble tobacco leaf. They chop it up and add all kinds of chemicals and then wrap it in paper. Cigars are a natural product with nothing but tobacco (at least the ones most of us prefer). Cigars are smoked purely for the enjoyment. It's kind of like the relationship many of us have had with alcohol. A lot of people start drinking simply to catch a buzz but later develop a taste for a particular wine or spirit.

I use to have a fairly strong cigarette and smokeless tobacco habit. Sometimes I'd have a pinch of Skoal in my mouth while smoking a cigarette. I quit them both at the same time almost 15 years ago. My alcohol habits have gone the same route. I use to drink a lot of cheap liquor, mostly for the wonderful euforic effects and the added bonus of a headache the next day. Now I truly enjoy smoking a good cigar with a nice blended whisky like crown royal or even an occassional beer. But I seldom have more than 3 or 4 drinks in one evening.

For me, the cravings for cigarettes went away pretty quickly. I'm convinced it's because of my attitude about them. That I realized I wasn't smoking because I enjoyed them but because it was just a habit.

When was the last time you smoked a cigarette that was so good, you just couldn't wait to tell one of your smoking buddies about it?

penzt8 -- not so much a habit, as an outright addiction. Sure there is habit (or a routine) that everyone who smokes them follows, e.i. after meals, after sex, when stressed, etc.) but ...

Think about it ... cigarettes are nothing more than a 'nicotine injection system', made only to get nicotine into your system. Ther are some reports that cigarette companies even 'add' nicotine to them to keep you hooked, and to hook the teenage population.

I smoked cigarettes since I was 15 years old ... and quit when I started smoking cigars. I don't miss them one bit ... and when I by a pack at the bar when I'm out drinking with my buddies, they almost make me sick. They are nasty ... once you get over the hump ...

Haven't had a cigarette since January and I was a smoker for 27 years.

It's still tough and I think about it every day. Especially when I am stressed or having a beer(which is most days...LOL!).

My main reason for quiting was the expense. I've smoked cigars for years but had to give up one, and cigars are much more of an enjoyment rather than just an addiction. It's tough, but I am trying not to smoke cigars in their place, especially since the inhale reflex is hard to break and I do inhale quite often.

Hang in there and try not to kill anyone.

Interesting point Aberdeen and one in which I am seeing more and more of. I know quite a few people that only smoke cigarettes when out drinking or with people that smoke.

I am sure you'll see more and more people doing the same with the insane taxes being put on tobacco products. Unfortunately, after 27 years of addiction....it's all or none for me. I've tried it many times with no success. I've also heard that 1 to 2 cigarettes a day is enough for the addiction, the rest is habit.

first of all Slim, I don't want to quit tobacco, I enjoy it, and in moderation one can enjoy something without the addiction label thrown around. When I get sick I don't smoke anything for two weeks, for I get no pleasure out of it and cigars taste terrible, so I don't smoke at all then as it wouldn't be enjoyable as I said and I have no withdrawal during that time, I just spend the normal cigar time catching up on my dvd's watching with a cup of tea (I don't drink when I'm sick either or use caffeine). I don't always have a cigarette when I am not sick each day, especially if I am really busy, it's no big deal to me with cigarettes, but if I get a chance for a break, it's nice to relax to a cigarette once or twice at the shop. If I was truly addicted I would smoke when sick and everyday no matter what, but I think you are not using the term addiction as it is defined Slim, otherwise by your definition I would be addicted to half the things I consume or do. Now if anything I would say I am addicted to cigars, but again it's a personality thing not the product. I really look forward to my nightly cigar as I made it my habitual routine and a way for me to unwind and think about my day and the day ahead, it is very meditating for me, like the fanatics who will jog in the mornings no matter what the weather, addiction as well I suppose by this working definition here. I also think the dangers of cigarettes in the first place are overblown. Diet to me is every bit important if not more so than tobacco consumption.

Besides ... the only way you could be addicticted to half the things you do or consume, is if they are considered a narcotic.



Hallmarks of addiction



University of Vermont professor John Hughes, an expert on nicotine dependence, says the scientific consensus is that "the core of the issue [over dependence] is the loss of control over use. The drug controls you -- you don't control the drug."



Specifically:




You're not able to stop using it when you decide to.

You use the drug despite clear evidence that it is harming you.

There are clear withdrawal symptoms (defined) -- including, in the case of nicotine, depressed mood, insomnia, irritability and difficulty concentrating.


According to these standards, says Hughes, who is past president of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco, "there's no doubt that nicotine produces addiction." He also cites anecdotal evidence about the strength of the compulsion for nicotine -- or tobacco smoke containing nicotine. "If you put people in a position where it's hard to get, they will go to great lengths to get cigarettes. From World War II, there are records of starving people trading food for cigarettes in concentration camps."

There are physical addictions (narcotic) and psychological addictions (gambling) ...



Research shows that nicotine, like other addictive drugs, affects the part of the brain that produces 'feel good' chemicals (the mesolimbic system). This is the same part of the brain cocaine affects.



When you smoke, nicotine reaches the brain in about eight seconds. It then triggers the release of the same brain chemical that gives you a warm feeling when you eat chocolate or are hugged (dopamine). Your body gets used to nicotine after you've been smoking for a while, so you need more doses to get the same 'hit'. Giving up therefore becomes harder.



But what many people don't know is, it's not nicotine that makes smoking so harmful – it's all the other chemicals that you breathe in each time you take a puff.

aberdeen -- this ought to amuse you ... LOL!

Take this little quiz and see how you do ... just for fun.

I guess you missed the humor in my telling you to take that test, "just for fun" ...


So basically, what you are saying is ... that you are some special person that seems to beat all the odds. All you have done, is learned moderation, and that's the key. Well, congratulations ... as many others aren't so lucky.

Tell that to my father-in-law who almost died last year from an abdominal aneurysm caused by arterial sclerosis, due mainly in part to smoking cigarettes since he was 15 years old. The specialist who saved his life told me, that if it weren't for peoiple who smoked, she would be out of a job, and that 90% of her patients smoke some form of tobacco product.

I've got to say, you sure know how to talk in circles, carefully weaving in and out of issues so well ... and you've convinced and justified it to yourself for so long, that you actually believe it. ...

Everything I said is true. You just admitted it ... the nicotine in cigarettes is addicting, but it's the other crap in the tobacco that causes the problems. Nothing you can say will convince me otherwise, because I live in the real world.

BTW ... I'm going to email you the HTML code for paragraph breaks ... LOL!

Thank you ... excellent article to drive my point home.

I think aberdeen agrees that nicotine is addicting ... and he's just trying real hard to prove that he's not ... which is fine.

Decades of sound medical research has proven to most rational human beings that inhaling tobacco products is harmful to ones health ... and moderation will just do less damage, that's all.

Another thing. If you go a full year without smoking cigaretes then you've quit. There are many, many things you normally do throughout the seasons and habitually light up that you don't realise till after you give them up. For instance just stepping outside of the house or doing a little work in the garage. I also found out I went fishing most every weekend mainly to smoke. Oh your taste buds, canned beer tastes like crap now. Got to be bottled. It's hard but you can do it.

I am addicted to food and sex.

... sorry, I didn't mean to 'bold' my last sentence. That should have been a 'paragraph' break.

In conclusion ... a small circle of friends who like to 'social smoke' cigarettes once in awhile dosen't even dent the millions of those who are addicted to nicotine. Get real ...

And I have a hard time trying to understand why you try to compare 'apples to oranges' with the poor diet theory. They are two completely different issues. Yes, poor diet causes massive health problems, another proven medical fact ... but what does that have to do with what smoking cigarrettes does to people? Both are equally destructive if abused.

But ... I grow weary of running this treadmill with you, and getting nowhere.

So let's just end it here ... and get on with our lives.

okay we disagree to disagree. But I maintain that my current intake of cigarettes, which is fluent from 0 a day to 5 a day does not pose a significant health risk to me in itself. If I can't compare to food, what about alcohol. At least you admitted that is someone quits smoking for a year or for 20 years, they aren't addicted anymore. But the common thought is that once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic and one drink will cause a person to resume old habits. That seems pretty hardcore, but yet most people can enjoy alcohol without getting addicted. If you have one or two drinks a day Slim I wouldn't call you an alcoholic, in fact this is starting to seem very healthy to do. My dad smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for 20 years, then met my mom and quit instantly, cold turkey. And now 40 years later I wouldn't say he is addicted to nicotine and is in perfect health. My point is addiction effects people differently, genetics seems to be a big factor. Most people can't quit cold turkey, some can, and some never get addicted in the first place. It isn't a simple all or nothing proposition. Also Get Your Own, obsesity does lead to heart attacks and diabetes.

I will look up denial but for your convenience I include the definition of addiction as you have been abusing the term to fit your outlook. I also said my habit varied from 0 a day to 5 a day at the most, interesting how you jump on the five and make that the amount I smoke and ignore the 0, that sums up how you have dishonestly carried on this discusstion. You have been absolutely inflexible and stubborn in this post, you refuse to concede any points and in fact seldom answered any of my points directly instead using personal attacks of denial and ignorance. Again I think this is because you are too emotional over the subject to have a give and take. I conceded many points, ie nicotine provides a rush to the brain, that the habit is dangerous if abused and addictive if abused, but you still cling to the all or nothing proposition.

ad·dict Pronunciation Key (-dkt)

n 1: someone who is so ardently devoted to something that it resembles an addiction 2: someone who is physiologically dependent on a substance; abrupt deprivation of the substance produces withdrawal symptoms v : to cause (someone or oneself) to become dependent (on something, esp. a narcotic drug)

ad·dic·tion Pronunciation Key (-dkshn)
n.

Compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance: a drug used in the treatment of heroin addiction.
An instance of this: a person with multiple chemical addictions.

The condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or or involved in something.

1: being abnormally dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming (especially alcohol or narcotic drugs) [syn: dependence, dependency] 2: an abnormally strong craving

Slim, by reading these definitions, I don't know how you can sit there and tell me I'm as addicted as a two pack a day smoker, and the my habit is compulsory and that I am abnormally dependent, as I wouldn't be able to stop when sick and on average there are two days I week I don't smoke at all and don't feel withdrawal. The last definition is the best I think, being abnormally dependent on something that is physically habit forming, such as cigarettes. People who smoke a pack a day are abnormally dependent on the drug. But you just can't accept that there are many people out there that can enjoy the habit without becoming compulsive and ardently devoted to it.

I agree this can't be taken any further, especially since you are determined not to have a give and take discussion about it.

If this is where you got it, "nicotine is highly addictive, and just because you only smoke a 'couple' a day doesn't mean you are not addicted."

This statement wasn't meant to imply you peronally. When I said you ... it was in the context of 'you' meaning the general population.

Sorry if you read more into what I meant, and took it personally ... but now I understand why you defended your position so strongly.