Wayne045

Anybody who was born after 1965 (surgeon general report) very likely started seeing and hearing of all the dangers in school and on TV by the time they were old enough to contemplate smoking or maybe even experimenting with smoking, I certainly did. And if you were born after 1975, you have definitely seen it all your life. Despite all of that I still started smoking . I don’t think anyone can say “I didn’t know” or even “no one told me” after the surgeon general report Personally I am not going to tell anyone that they should stop. I will gladly encourage and educate anyone who asks me though, and also sneak in a boast about myself in the process

When I quit I smoked my last cigarette right after eating lunch around midday . I didn’t start counting until the next day though, but I guess if I want to pad my “total days quit” number, that half day (0.5) could be rounded up to include one more day. To be honest I’m not certain that the day in my ticker is THE date. When I had made it a month without smoking and knew this was THE quit, I tried to nail down the date. I knew it was the Memorial Day weekend just not sure if it was a Saturday or Sunday, so I’ll cal mine (current days) +/- 1.5 Seriously though just don’t smoke anymore. When you reach one year and more, does it really matter in the grand scheme of things.

That is definitely my experience. Not only did both my parents smoke , most of my closer relatives smoked, at least one parent of most of my friends smoked, and heck, even my doctors office allowed smoking back in the 60s and 70s. Add to that the fact that smoking was allowed anywhere except for fire hazard areas, I never knew what a smoke free place smelled like.

This. My thoughts exactly

Let’s see, (checks calendar) it’s been over 3 yrs since I quit. So I would say, that give or take a few days, not counting holidays, was there a leap year? No leap year, good. I started feeling that the worst was behind me early last week. I’m joking of course. The worst was behind me the day I quit. The aftershocks I would say lasted about a month for me. Your mileage may vary of course. But that day will come when you don’t even think about it. You’ll be going to dinner or a movie or be getting on a plane and not even think about when and where can I smoke? You’ll stop scoping out new places for the smoking area the minute you arrive. You will feel better, smell better, and save money, and have a lot less stress in your life

What about the dreams. Are you handling the dreams OK? Are you having any intense dreams? I heard tales of nightmares before I stared Chantix, but didn’t experience any myself. The dreams were the most interesting effect of using Chantix for me

I've never gotten anything from Phillip Morris here in the US but then I never dealt directly with them and almost always bought a carton using cash. I imagine that there is multiple ways they could get your address 1. if you got any of their "prizes" from their catalog 2 Ever ordered cigarettes online (when it was still legal) 3. Used a credit or debit card at a tobacco shop which would record what and how often you buy. That data got shared with Philipp Morris. Always be careful what you do online folks. I did get an AARP letter almost on the day of my 50th birthday though. I joined of course do get all of the old fart senior discounts.

Going to add just one. Video games Can't believe no one here is a gamer.

This is a great question and I've been straining to come up with an answer and have none. I was tired of the social stigma, the smell, the cost, the fact that my day revolved around when/where I could smoke, jonesing for a smoke when on a flight or any other situation that I couldn't smoke, standing out in rain/cold to smoke. It was frustrating that I was stuck in this addiction and was dead-set on quitting and getting my freedom back and have a real peace of mind (not the false peace of mind when you finally relieve a craving by lighting up). So my answer is nothing. Don't miss it or anything about it AT ALL.

CLEAN

At first I thought that was pretty extreme. I thought it was just a fine for smoking on a plane. Then I read through and found that it started a fire and put everybody on the plane in danger On most flights I would just deal with cravings and light up as soon as I could after getting off. On long 6+ hr flights I would use gum

F*** Bright (no longer available AFAIK). This was not my regular brand, it was what I used to steal from my mother when I first started. It had a minty kind of taste, that managed to hook me.

Is this similar to the great American smoke out that is on November 15

Thank you @jillar and @reciprocity. My celebration today was going to work. Got a vacation planned for next week Still working on the math for my time machine, but the flux capacitor is...fluxing.

Congratulations @jillar Any special celebration plans or indulgent prize you’re going to buy for yourself. You deserve it and I know you have extra cash these days

I think it's a fictional TV show for made for you entertainment....or not. If that bothers you definitely don't watch Mad Men.

So is it just that area you outlined or are the people in the lounge chair able to smoke? What about the people on the upper tier? Sorry I've never been on a cruise It seems that on an open air deck, maybe the rear of the ship would be an ideal smoking area.

I’ve gone almost 3 years without getting those painful skin cracks on the tips of my fingers, plus my toes aren’t always freezing in winter. I think I could walk barefoot in the snow now

Here's my level of stupidity. I actually started smoking regularly (not daily, that came 4 yrs later) while on chemotherapy when 18 yrs old. My thinking at the time was I had contracted this disease, came within inches of dying, might still die (doctor didn't make any guarantees) and had never smoked at all beyond 2 or 3 experimental cigarettes previously, so what did I have to lose? I still can't answer that question and I can't honestly say I would've done anything different in that time and place in my then state of mind. That was 3 and half decades ago. Obviously I'm still around, and am closing in on 3 yrs quit. I finally realized that it was possible I might get cancer again and wouldn't be so lucky as I was the first time. Knowing what I know now, if I had a time machine (which I am working on) I would definitely go back to that time and place to tell myself I would survive and don't start smoking.... and also invest whatever money you have in Microsoft and Apple.....

Since I never smoked in my car, rush hour might be frustrating but never made me want to have a cigarette. People staring at their phones while driving, just leave me dumbfounded. In the era before "smart" phones, I once saw a guy with a PDA in one hand, obviously looking up a phone number and inputing the digits on his cell phone in the other hand (which was on the wheel). That's just an accident waiting to happen. My commute became less stressful when my job moved out of the city and to an offsite. Now I'm driving south (at speed) to work, while the rush hour is flowing north, and vice versa for the commute home. There are drawbacks of course, in the city you had your choice of coffee shops, restaurants shops, post office, DMV etc. All we got at the offsite is a Subways and a generic cafeteria. Not even a 7-11.

I noticed that a huge vape shop/lounge near me is gone. It is now a tattoo and piercing studio. Is the fad starting to fade?

I started my quit for all those sweet health perks, but honestly what you said (planning everything around smoking) carried me through. It’s great not having to worry about when/where I can smoke next

I’ve never smoked in my own residence (except my parents). I remember as a pre-smoking teen helping dad clean the kitchen to prepare for painting. We used a common household cleaner called Spic-N-Span which worked great on the walls and cabinets. Had to change the water constantly as it would be black with a dozen rinses of the sponge. Use a nice big sponge when cleaning and then throw the spong away when your done Dad was under no illusion of what caused the yellowed walls but Mom kept trying to say it was the furnace that caused it, like we were burning coal or something.

Cleary, dreaming is hazardous to your health

I started on/off smoking at 18 (post high school) and daily at 22 in college. So, like JB, my child years were pretty much behind me I was an avid cyclist. Still am but I use my exercise bike more than my real one. Waiting for warm weather to return. I also remember having more hair back then. Can I blame that on smoking too?