stopping smoking-as painless as it gets.

[DudeMeetTyler]

While I have only smoked for 3 years now, and at my worst I was ~ 12 / day, I figured it was time.

I have been "quitting" off and on all summer but its been 24 hrs without a smoke, though it hasnt been easy.

Melodic Catastrophe said:

Identify the situations where you crave a cigarette the most, like after you eat or while you're driving.

Instead of giving in to it, put it off and try to re-train that part of yourself. I'm thinking that if you can overcome these problem points first, dealing with the rest should be a lot easier.

And this has been working for me. When i crave a smoke i just try to ride it out, and eventually it passes, though at times the next craving is only minutes away.

I've also began meditating. And the techniques are helpful when i start to crave a smoke. Slow, controlled, deep breathing gives me something to focus on other than wanting more poison (as really thats all it is) and it calms my nerves, as I previously associated smoking with doing...

For me it has been the hardest addiction to quit as it is so readily available, sometimes i cringe at the thought of simply going out because I have to drive past a corner store (and there are countless corner stores everywhere!). And corner store = smokes! But each time I drive past one without stopping it feels so liberating not to be ruled this substance.

One craving at a time we can all beat this terrible habit, we just have to make the choice to stop.

Best of luck all,

The Dude

 

[tigerstrike92]

Instead if one wants nicotine, get some proper additive free tobacco, such as manitou or american spirit.

Great advice tele. Sometime i use my organic american spirit with some ganja, or sometimes I smoke it all by itself, but never once have I felt addicted. Always handrolled, At most I'll smoke one a week, and probably only about half of it anyways.

Granted... my dad has an anti-addictive personality. He could smoke a pack a day for two months, then quit cold turkey no problem. Strange man that one, but maybe I got some of his genes.

 

[Vodsel]

Nice and convenient thread, Corpus and everyone.

I smoked pretty much all kinds of tobacco over a decade. Black, blonde, pipe, rolling, you name it. The only motivation that made me able to cut it was projected pregnancy with my ex-wife, and I did quit following a method surprisingly close to what Corpus Callosum describes in the first post. So, according to my experience, I endorse what he suggests.

I stayed nicotine-free for almost four years. But life got really bumpy all of a sudden, and I ended up smoking again. Now I'm going to quit again, for good. The bumps are over, and there's no reason for me to keep cluttering my lungs, spending money that ought to be put to better use, and so on.

So I've been out, and in, and out, and in, and soon - over. I just wanted to leave some input. Just thoughts that helped me understand and focus any efforts better, maybe somebody can find them useful too.


- We don't acquire a chemical addiction for different reasons than an emotional, social or behavioral addiction. And the problem is not the addiction per se, it's what the addiction brings. So if you are reproaching yourself for the fact you are 'an addict', cut yourself some slack. Most of us are, one way or another, and nicotine is a tough bitch. So be nice to yourself. This might sound obvious, but it makes an important point.

- Imho, smokes are a constructed immediate gratification. You create the need so you can feed it. When there's not much you can do to relief other sources of distress and anxiety, craving a smoke is a piece of cake in comparison. You roll or grab one, light it up, inhale, feed your nicotine-oriented metabolism, end of story. So there is a nice control component in it, instant pocket satisfaction. Once that satisfaction doesn't make up for the growing list of drawbacks, you're on your way to quit smoking.

- I don't think there's an ideal moment to quit smoking. Like having kids, lots of people postpone it until "they are ready". But it doesn't work like that. Unless there is more stress in your life than you can handle, there is only one requisite to quit: wanting to do so. Period. Tools and means are weapons of choice, you can go either way, but the only requirement is sincere want. If you don't want to quit, don't start quixotic maneuvers. First, address the want factor. If you don't really want to quit, accept it, ponder and wait. Don't waste energies in meek attempts. And don't do it because someone else wants you to quit. Do it for your own sake.

- When quitting, whether you are using fast or slow reduction, cold turkey, other chemicals or head-banging the wall - a nice big glass of orange juice in the morning will help a lot. Or any fruit juice with a decent vitamin C component. My recipe was three oranges and one big carrot in the blender. Helps the inmune system clean up, helps kidneys to flush toxines, helps restore and rehydrate skin, also good for bowels. And it's pretty yummy.

- For almost everyone I known, once a smoker, always a smoker. Even if you quit nicotine. So if you have been an addict, AVOID single cigs or drags like the plague. Your body has good memory, don't let the self-esteem boost after quitting make you overconfident.


And just a side note regarding mixing weed and tobacco. I guess it is known, but it's not a very good combo for your lungs, since weed opens them wide, thus making easier for the harmful chemicals in tobacco to enter the system. So it's quite healthier rolling only weed, or using a bong, or even using your own herbal mixture for joints instead of tobacco.

 

[MMPA]

I have a couple questions regarding different nicotine delivery methods:

1. Do nicotine mouth strips (like listerine ones) actually do anything? I tried them for a period of time and experienced no noticeable effects.
2. How is one supposed to smoke an e-cig? I've tried this and it only stings my throat and lungs when I breathe in the vapour?
3. Do you still feel the nicotine effects from the patch or does it simply reduce cravings?

 

[proto-pax]

You smoke an e-cig by first inhaling it into the mouth and then drawing it into the lungs.


I haven't smoked a cig in two weeks and two days.

 

[Malaclypse]

I smoked pretty much all kinds of tobacco over a decade. Black, blonde, pipe, rolling, you name it. The only motivation that made me able to cut it was projected pregnancy with my ex-wife

I may be pretty lucky in my endeavors to change behavior I don't want to have anymore, one of them of which was smoking. The above is similar to a thought process I would tell myself that made sense for quitting smoking and the ability to actually get it done. That is, tons of women over the years have been smokers and most of them when they find out they are pregnant can instantly stop for the greater good. So I used this as support that it is totally doable to quit cold turkey. Obviously you need the desire to quite and my greater good was my well being. I was coughing all the time and just not feeling great despite the pleasure I still got from cigarettes from time to time. I've now quit twice. First time for 2 years I think, but then I started socially smoking again at band practice while having drinks/weed. This went on for maybe 6 months to a year and I noticed old patterns starting where I would have a cig in the morning and all that stuff. Before it got out of control I stopped again and haven't had a cig for I don't even know now, long enough that it is harder to keep track of.

I never tried the patch or anything, I just really wanted to test my willpower to quit w/o any aids. Regardless I hope some of that might help even with people using these methods to quit.

Good luck to all trying. If you are trying you know the rewards are well worth it and you will feel so much better the longer you hold on!

 

[nexalizer]

I used to smoke a pack daily.. did so for 5 years, quit about 5 years ago.

There wasn't any trick to it.. just decided that the stuff wasn't good for me and decided to stop.

Sure there were some cravings, and in the mean time I must've smoked some 30 cigs now and then, spread over the years.

But never went back to smoking regularly. I think anyone can do it if they set their mind to it.. adjust habits a bit (I quit hanging out with smokers for a few months and quit coffee for awhile too, for example) to match the intention, pick up something healthy to do instead of smoking, you're golden.

 

[۩]

There wasn't any trick to it.. just decided that the stuff wasn't good for me and decided to stop.

This was the most important factor for me in regards to quitting habitual tobacco use. The realization that it simply was not good for me anymore. After a week I wasn't even phased.

 

[NamRa]

with right intent and micro dosing with iboga stopping with smoking is not a big deal at all.

For me it worked like this.

I really had enough of this one packet thing. I did a electrical accupuncture sessions it worked but I a instable period followed and I started again.
Then I realised I had "the best" medicine to stop this habbit in my house all the time, iboga.

After I smoked my last cigaret I ate 0,5 gr of iboga in my bed before going to sleep and set my intention.
The next day I was already cured, no cravings but besides that I felt the supporting energy of Iboga telling me to lean on it.
For the next 7 days I microdosed once a day with 0.1 gr. all the time iboga's energy was felt. I even had to take the dosage down because I felt it a lot.
The final day when I had my daily dosage in my hand I realized it was not nessascary any more, the proces was finished.

To me this was the most painless way to stop smoking.

Right now, today, I am on the same point of quiting smoking again. I did not smoke for 1.5 year and I made a smoking mistake of about a month.
Its bizar to feel how much effort you have to put in to keep smoking, start smoking again. It tastes horrible, my body goes in resistance but if you persist you will be smoking the same amounths you did before you stopped.
I have one packet to finish before I will enter the same proces with Iboga.

You dont need smoking, smoking needs you !!

 

[oden]

For me it was the spice and my thoughts going to aya..
But i smoked over 30 yrs...
I wanted to know sooooo bad that some how i was able to give it up...
Because i wanted to be as pure as i could for my lesson...
I to this day do not understand it...it was just that important to me...

kinda funny huh?

 

[Pup Tentacle]

I've been off the devil's weed (tobacco - not cannabis for god's sake) for 3 years as of April 23 after having smoked for 25 years. I've never felt better. I've even moved to vaping cannabis 90% of the time in an effort to help my lungs out even more.

I quit using patches (and parts thereof) for the first week, but the biggest factor was my want to be free of that cursed enslavement to tobacco. Also, my mother is dying of and my maternal grandfather died of smoking caused emphysema... the writing on my genetic wall was pretty bold and clear...

Cheers to all of you who've kicked it and great blessing to all of you who are trying!

 

[nexalizer]

Cheers to all of you who've kicked it and great blessing to all of you who are trying!

:thumb_up:

 

[TmC47]

For me, it was the sensation of smoke in the lungs which was the real culprit in my previous failed attempts to quit. That, and situations that arose which put my mind in a fragile emotional state (like breaking up with my wife). Since I started to smoke DMT a little more regularly (about twice a month), I was in a more vulnerable state of mind anyways. Calmness set in in my life, and I slowly nurtured the realization that being a tobacco-addict made me a sorry loser.
This was the mindset I needed, and I stopped smoking on the job first. I was now down to 10 rolled ciggies a day. I also have to add that I wanted to quit Cannabis, too: it just didn't do it for me anymore, sitting stoned in a chair for hours. Not after DMT it didn't.

Then I found this site about alternative smoking mixtures (might even be of interest for the changa-lovers here ) I chose mullein as my herb, which grows abundantly in my area. I smoked it in a medium-sized whole-glass bubbler. This also made it unwieldy to carry around or take with me to friends.
I harvested about 100 grams of the dried leaf, and after a year I still have 30% left. I smoked less and less of it, until finally lost it's appeal to me: I wasn't smoking to satisfy a craving of any kind anymore.

All the while, I had no withdrawal symptoms of any kind, which led me to conclude that I was not addicted to the nicotine, but to smoking itself. I wholeheartedly endorse the use of patches or any other ROA for nicotine though.

I have a tip for those with a weak mindset:
I am a trained chemical analyst, and an old-timer at that, too . Back in the day at school, we used our mouths to pipette diluted reagents; we didn't have aspirator-bulbs. A few incidents happened now and then, of course. All of which went over without permanent damage (although that one incident with 0.5N sulphuric acid could have gone wrong for my co-student :shock: ).
Anyhow, I once got a few ml of 0.05N silver nitrate in my mouth, which I spat out immediately. It took 2 days before I could enjoy another cigarette again. Everything tasted and felt normal in my mouth and on my tongue, but as soon as I drew on a butt, Yuck! It's hard to describe, especially after all those years, but I would liken it to having a spoonful of rancid butter that has been sweetened with the worst-tasting kind of artificial sweetener in your mouth .

Years later I looked at the ingredients of a new Over-The-Counter medicine (a lozenge) and sure enough, there was the AgNO3 again.

So, if you're trying to quit but you're too scared that going to that party will put you in a situation where you'll pilfer a cancer-stick off one of yer mates, rinse your month with a shotglass of said solution taken through a straw (to prevent it contacting your teeth too much), and spit it out after 4 seconds. Breathe trough your mouth a couple of times, then rinse with water. Your tongue and teeth could turn black if you're, like me, the sort of person who talks all the time (light will turn it black: a photochemical effect). It's action, however, is like Refusal(c) for tobacco.
Maybe for DMT or Cannabis too, come to think of it :twisted:

Cheers!

 

[proto-pax]

I would like to inform you all of Indian tobacco. It has the compound Lobeline in it which works by inhibiting binding to the nicotinic receptors and inhibiting the release and uptake of dopamine. Something to look into if you want to not support products that should be provided free of charge. (if they are provided freely my bad)

 

[tigerstrike92]

I will second proto-pax. When I worked at a supplement store, people regularly came in for lobelia to help them quit smoking. Lobeline is supposedly a great replacement for nicotine.

That said, I have personally tried smoking it many time, and never felt a similar effect. To be fair, I have never tried any extract, or it as a tea, or in a capsule.

 

[VoidTraveler]

An alternative that could use some serious verification could be Erythrina mulungu. There have been done two studies and it shows good promise as a replace for nicotine. But there hasn't been a lot of evidence to confirm this. Perhaps if there are Nexians who are quitting and willing to contribute to this it would be great!

Mulungu isn't very expensive. I got 80g for 9 euros and you only need a few teaspoons for a dose.

 

[InMotion]

I have tried lobelia inflata and it's great but if I smoke too much my body gets a depressant feel and I feel nauseas.

I have tried an e-cig and it worked for what it was worth and at least paid itself off but it just wasn't doing it for me.

I've tried cold turkey my latest attempt almost had me purging and I couldn't stand up at the end of day one. Whenever I try this I can't get motivation to do literally, anything, and my emotions get thrown way out of whack.

I tried tapering down but I always shoot back up to smoking a 'normal amount'.

I have tried lozenges but they are just plain awful, they are huge, taste horrible, and deliver nicotine to slow.

Yet to try the patches but it's worth a shot when I can afford it. I'm considering just switching over to vaporizing to do damage control. I'm not sure exactly when I got addicted but it was in the age range of 13-14. Maybe I'll look into this mulungu stuff as well.

Nice thread cool responses everyone.

 

[AluminumFoilRobots]

Hello everyone.

Today is the first day of being tobacco-free and I am using this method outlined by Corpus colossum. Not only do I really desire to quit, and glad to not be hurting my body with it anymore, I also have to quit as I recently found out that the metal rod in my spine is broken:surprised . So I have to have ANOTHER spine surgery, and smoking will basically make the re-fusion not take.
The patch has been helping a great deal, perhaps 75% reduction in cravings, but I as of the moment I am experiencing noticeable cravings/ mild withdrawals... I have the 21mg patch and will wear it 7-10 days before cutting them 1/3 for 2 days and then ~2mg every day until I am 100% nicotine-free. I can basically just say "Fuck that shit, I'm DONE, I'm so happy to not be killing myself with such a pointless habit, etc." and get repumped about quitting.
I have noticed today based on when my cravings are the worst how much the addiction is a matter of self-conditioning: when getting into a car, when driving, after eating, after smoking pot, after taking kratom (of course as kratom makes me want to smoke like a chimney, but I am using it for pain management due to the broken metal rod), and lots of other random triggers that I wouldn't have even thought of. Also, my wife is trying to quit with me but she's honestly more addicted than I am and so she took her patch off and smoked half a cigarette which made me really want to fucking smoke!! Actually it's been about 30 minutes and I still want to... but I am FINISHED with dying that way. I'ved smoked for almost 10 years now, since I was 11, and that is simply too long. I'm sick of coughing up black stuff every 5 minutes, I'm sick of my lungs hurting and wheezing!!!

I have two questions however: does any one know where a better place than my left arm would be to place the patch? the patch has been sort of coming off and when I squeezed it back on a butch of clear oil came out from the sides which I assume is the nicotine with some adhesive. It got on my hand and I wiped it clear, so some of the nicotine was wasted - which may account for the fact that I am having some fairly serious cravings right now! I was thinking maybe left buttock? Or abdomen? I just don't know!

Also, what are some herbs I can use to abate the W/D's and cravings? I know of lobelia and someone mentioned mulungu, but are there any others? I may go to the pharmacy and get some lobelia caps but I don't know how good of quality it will be... I tried it once, took 50 or maybe 100mg and noticed a little help but not enough to keep me away. But my resolve wasn't as strong as it in now... I simply have GOT to stop.

Anyway, thanks for any replies and thank you corpus for posting this, and thanks everyone for the advice on this thread! I love the nexus!

BTW I have smoked for almost 10 years and I don't think I developed a really powerful addiction until I started smoking American Spirit/b]. I even smoked the "Organic" ones... this is due I believe to the outrageously high levels of freebase Nicotine found in those cigarettes... if you think those are somehow better for you check THIS study out!. I personally think it's despicable to claim your tobacco is 100% additive free or "natural" and then add something not found in nature to it...:?:

 

[corpus callosum]

^^Good move, and the best of luck AFR-it can be done.

The patch works fine, and best, when applied to any relatively hairless part of your body-the anterior abdominal wall is a good alternative to the arm.

They say that Lobelia is one herbal prep which some find useful.

Lastly, theres no harm in initially using more than a full 21-25mg patch on day 1-3 of the quit, but dont just slap on 2 full 'full-strength' patches.The aim here is to quell the rattle without poisoning yourself, but Ive known of people using 2 full 21mg patches simultaneously-they were however smoking 40+ a day.

Another tip- keeping some nicotine gum handy for use when the craving gets 'bad' is not unreasonable BUT if you can get the initial dose of patch right, you'll have less of a peak-trough effect than if you add in gum, and this peak-trough effect can make the overall process a bit more taxing.Also gum can be more psychologically addictive than the patch as it provides more of a 'hit'.

 

[AluminumFoilRobots]

Thanks for the advise. I have gone all day today without tobacco, and despite a few minutes here and there of fairly gnarly withdrawals I've not for a moment actually considered lighting up as an option... I've just said out loud (I think saying it out loud is key for me at least) "No WAY, I'm DONE with this crap!" and within 5 minutes it is usually gone. My friends have even been smoking around me tonight and other than fleetingly I haven't wanted to hit it...

I think I will obtain some gum or perhaps lozenges? Would you happen to know if one is better than the other? I mean, it's the same ROA so shouldn't it be basically the same? I will only get them for if I feel like if I wait I will likely smoke... and then return them!

Anyway I'll post in a few days to show how it goes! Oh by the way I found something useful out today. Capsaicin reduced cravings for tobacco for around half an hour at least, probably that is dose-dependant. I ate a soup with some really hot sauce and half a habanero pepper with garlic and when the pepper-euphoria set in I noticed that my cravings and W/D symptoms were totally gone! This probably also has to do with how susceptable to pepper-euphoria one is, but it worked great for me!