any piece of advice is welcome, thank you :-3
I’ll tell you the strategy that worked for me last time (quit for ~2 years), and that I’m using this time.
- Switch to a vape. Lung capacity increases immediately, and you get rid of the bad smell. If you haven’t vaped, give yourself some time to get used to the different habit (no cigarette packing ritual anymore etc)
- Buy a 0 nicotine vape or two, or find a local place you can get them easily. This is your “inside” vape.
- Buy a refillable vape and get nicotine liquid roughly equivalent to the full-nic vape you switched to from cigarettes. This is your “outside” vape.
- Start restricting the locations you use the full-nic vape. I work from home, so I don’t vape full-nic at my desk, I walk outside to do it. You want to break the absent-minded vaping+work or vaping+tv habit.
- Step your nicotine intake down over as long a period as you like, but don’t ever step it back up. First time I quit, I did it over about a year. That’s a little extreme. You could probably do it over a few months.
- Once you’re on 0 nic all the time, either stay with that, or gradually wean yourself off the habit as well. This is much easier without the chemical addiction.
Good luck.
I switched to vaping, then gradually lowered the nicotine levels in my juice over time until I was vaping 0 nic for two months. Then I realized I no longer needed it, and stopped vaping altogether, quitting nicotine for good. This was back when you could get high quality juice sent to you in the mail, though, which is no longer possible, IIRC.
Obligatory TBD Liquids and Blue Dot Vapors, absolute GOAT.
I was a heavy smoker for thirty years. I quit…16 days ago. So I might not be the best to advise you on this as I’m still just getting started myself. I have quit a few times in the past though, and I can tell you what is making this time easier. First, realize that nicotine is not the problem. That’s out of your system in a few days, from what I understand. It’s the habit that screws it up for you. And I am definitely feeling that. I no longer have that treat to look forward to when I get home. I don’t have anything to do when I’m frustrated trying to figure something out at work. I can’t go outside and have one to relax and think about things. Some of my best work was accomplished while taking a smoke break. Anyway, the way I dealt with that was to start breaking the habits first. Start small. Here’s what I did. First, no smoking in the house. Took some time to get used to that. Next, no smoking in the car. That took a while, because I drive a lot, but eventually I got used to it. Then, no smoking at work. Didn’t even bring them with me. The reason for all this was to get myself used to the idea of not smoking during these times, so that when I stopped it wouldn’t bother me as much. While I’m at work, I’m used to not smoking at work so it doesn’t bother me. Same thing with the driving. So, once I got all that down, I set things up so that I would finish my last pack right before I went to bed on Sunday night. That way I wake up and go right to work. A good head start. So, that’s where I am now. And it definitely helped. Nothing will ever kill cravings completely, but for me this made things easier. It still sucks though. A lot. So willpower is still going to be a big factor. I wish you luck. It won’t be easy. However, if it helps, I can tell you that even after only two weeks it has made a huge difference in my mood, and drastically reduced my stress levels. Aside from being a constant stimulant, I’m also not in a hurry all the time, just trying to get to that next smoke break. I don’t worry about how many I have. Things like that. So, just do it. And stick with it. It’s worth it.
There is no trick. This will require active repragramming from you for months.
I couldn’t find a quit method that took the fight out of my addiction. You have to want to quit more than your addiction. That’s nice but doesn’t mean much.
I found in practice, this equates to action in meeting cravings with determination. Even if you don’t really feel it. You’re used to feeling anxious/angry/sad/sorry for yourself when you can’t have a cigarette. Take back that moment, that feeling. Redefine it. It’s a battle you’re choosing, and the best thing you can do is practice fighting it.
The plus side is, the battle will change as you fight it. So you won’t get bored!
The first two weeks are the hardest.
You already know the first fight, if you’ve ever had to wait for the shops to open to buy some cigarettes or tobacco. You’ve just got to raw dog that. It’s going to suck, but it will at least suck with purpose.
After about 4 days, I started getting spiky, intense cravings that passed after about 30 mins to an hour. Several times a day.
By week two, I only struggled when I was around smokers, saw it on tv, read about it, had a drink (it’s still hard).
There was a resurgence in cravings in month two. I felt I’d earned a puff or two. This is a trap. Notice it, it’s a useful trigger to double down on deciding not to smoke
I’m now a year in off of vaping and cigarettes. It’s still sometimes hard, but mostly I don’t think about it, except to be glad I don’t need to go for a smoke. I don’t miss things at parties anymore. I don’t miss moments with my daughter. Plane rides are way easier.
The patches are good options in my opinion but ultimately I just needed to drop nicotine all together and have the willpower to say no.
Edit: the best piece of advice I can give is you have to be deadly serious about not smoking, anything less than full commitment is a failed attempt.
Speaking from my own experience here is my method.
- Start by accepting that you will suffer, but think of the suffering like having a bad cold or the flu. You’ll hate it but it will pass.
If you are quite a light smoker (handful per day) I would just quit and ride it out. If things get really bad allow yourself 1 but no more. You’ll be surprised how quickly the worst cravings go away after a week.
If you’re a heavy smoker take more of a run up to it, as follows.
Put off the first smoke of the day for as long as you can. E.g. if you usually smoke as soon as you get up then hold off until after breakfast. Next Day try for just before lunch, and so on over a week or so. Try to also put a gap between eating and smoking. Once you are down to a few a day then do the cold turkey thing.
The trick is actually not buying more cigarettes. If you have them till probably smoke them. But if not, that barrier helps.
I smoked from about 19yo until I was in my early thirties (about 1 pack per day). I also spent the nights smoking a lot of spliffs as well (that’s weed with rolling tobacco). Now I only smoke Weed when I go down to see my friends which is like twice a year. I bring back enough tobacco to make 3 or 4 small roll ups which gets me through the come down over the following week. Then it is done.
Quitting the first time is fuck hard but the cravings pass. Now I find it quite easy because I’m used to doing it.
Good luck. You can do it.
Too many helpful comments here. My advice? Just lock in, bro 🗿
Based shi gang
Not the answer you want, but for me, I quit cold turkey after smoking a pack a day for 15 years.
The thing that helped is that I wasn’t being forced to quit for health or social reasons. I simply realized that all smoking a cigarette was doing was making me not want to smoke another cigarette for 30 minutes. I felt I had no more desire to continue the trend.
The first week sucked. I ended up rolling loose-leaf paper into the cylindrical shape of a cigarette, putting Scotch tape on one end, and poking holes into it so that dragging on it felt like dragging on a cigarette. That actually got me through week 2.
After that, the pull to smoke was far, far weaker. It’s weird. It ends up coming in waves. You’re fine, you’re fine, then you get an overwhelming urge to light up. The need lasts for about 30 seconds and goes away quickly. Over time, the frequency between those cravings gets longer, and the cravings get smaller. At some point, I just didn’t feel like smoking at all anymore.
But yeah, the first few weeks are not great.
Best of luck!
Edit: my main advice here is that if you don’t feel like you really want to quit, you’re going to have a much harder time. If your plan is to taper down, it may be torture. If you’re plan is “I’ll only show myself this one” every so often, it’s going to be a long, drawn out losing process.
Here’s my advice on how to really and actually quit: make the decision to quit, and keep making that decision. Every time you feel yourself thinking “just one more…” remake that decision to quit. This was the only way I was successful. Keep making that decision and keep reminding yourself about your decision. You can do it.
The way I implemented this strategy was to make sure I had a single cigarette and lighter on me at all times. I named the cigarette, which psychologically helped prevent me from smoking it. I stuck that out for a few months until a friend smoked it in desperation. At that point I felt confident I’d quit because I wanted to, not because of random circumstance.
Regular re-affirmation. Yes
Cold turkey is what works for most people but if you tried it and failed many times don’t be afraid to use nicotine replacement in some form, medication ( I used Champix and I’ve quit successfully 3 years ago) or even therapy. You’ll find online a lot of people who say that you only need willpower which is true if you have it but just depressing if you don’t making your situation after numerous quit attempts worse and worse.
There are plenty of websites with concrete plans and tips on how to do it, all of them with good advice but you have find out what works for you and what doesn’t. There are also some apps that can help you track your quit process, the health benefits of quitting and reward you.
Since you told nothing about your previous attempts if you had any or how long youve been smoking and why you want to quit I can only give some general advice:
Every day you don’t smoke is a win. You need to find out why smoking hurts you, why stopping smoking would help you. Choose a plan, stuck to it and if you fail learn from it.
I’m going to tell you what worked for me. There’s a very good chance you’ll hate it and I will get flak.
Cold Turkey.
You physically stop yourself from purchasing cigarettes and not ask for them in social situations. You make a line in the sand and never cross that point again.
Same for me. I quit, but I didn’t change the things I did in order to quit. I still went to the same bar with the same friends and hung out with them outside while they smoked. It sucked, but kept getting easier.
The one thing I did do was buy an ozone generator and used it to get rid of the smoke smell in my cars and the house. Everything seemed cleaner.
3 years later, I still always want to smoke. I just don’t.
Cold turkey worked for me. Took me 4 attempts. I wasn’t hard on myself for failure, I noted what happened (emotional trauma, stress, alcohol) and prepared myself for the next attempt.
I wanted to quit, so when I relapsed it’s not because I wanted to smoke but because those little cancer stick bastards were trying hardest to kill me. But if they were going to be tough, I could be tougher. I found it easier when I could see the cigs as my enemy.
Cold Turkey. Yes. That’s exactly what I did, in 2014, after 20 years of smoking, and it works. You must decide, absolutely, NEVER AGAIN. Not even a brush close to smoking again. After a week, it was easier. After a month, it was a new way of life, and a much better one. You’ll see.
Honestly, this is it. You have to want it, and you just have to do it. You’ll feel “sick” for a while but you just have to muscle that out.
I know it’s easier said than done, but it really is that simple. Just stop.
Cold turkey worked for me. But it wasn’t this big thing. One day I didn’t want to go to the gas station to get more and that turned into, how long could I go? And now I smoke once a year on my friends birthday and HATE the taste.
This is also the only thing that worked for me
This and a case of pneumonia for me. Grabbed my remaining cigs and vape accessories and threw them all away. Not one puff since.
I did the same and can confirm it worked. First two weeks will be the worst, then it’ll be easier. Just be stuborn and aware that your will is stronger then a habit and that it doesn’t have power over you. The urge to smoke will remain but at that point you need to be aware that even if you’re convinced you want a smoke, it will taste really terrible when you actually do it and you will regret you broke your streak of non-smoking days.
I do confirm that cigarettes taste awful now.
My grandma quit using a program that basically attempted to break your habits.
She did things like:
-if you normally have a smoke break at noon, wait til 12:30. Tomorrow do it at 11:30 instead
-If you normally use a lighter, switch to matches, tomorrow use a lighter.
-On Monday, Wednesday,Friday switch to a different brand of cigarettes … next week go the opposite days.
-Smoke, but every other drag put a pen in your mouth instead.
-Only allow yourself to smoke half a cigarette and then chew a stick of gum for the rest of the time you would normally smoke
-Alternate smoke breaks between smoking and chewing nicotine gum or using the patch (I don’t think she used the patch so I’m guessing on that one).
And just a lot of things like that that didn’t specifically stop you from smoking, but attempted to stop it being a mindless thing that you just do on reflex without much thought and made it so before lighting up she’d have to think about what the current rules are … at a certain point, the habit has been broken and you don’t seek it… it worked great for her. Was a 6 month or so process and then she never went back once she finished her last pack.
There was a whole program around it with those types of rules and things you’d do and time restrictions on certain days and stuff … sorry, she passed a few years back and I can’t ask her the name of the program.
Good luck! Just remember that even if you lapse, any length of time that you’re able to smoke less or stop smoking all improve your overall health! Even if you have a setback, any time that you stop is still a win!
I dont have advice but best of luck with it!
I quit by switching to vaping and then working the nicotine level down to nothing and then quitting that. Whatever you decide to do I wish you the best of luck (and stick with it!)
Same here. Fuck the naysayers who say cold turkey or nothing. Do what works for you.
For OP: One caveat to the vape plan is you’ll likely need to get a vape that’s refillable so you can customize the nicotine level. Juul/vuse/disposables typically only come in one, or at best, 2 nicotine levels, which prevents effective tapering.
Also, don’t fall into the trap of vaping places you wouldn’t have smoked (e.g. in your house/car). That can increase your nicotine dependency.
Good luck!
Just stop!
But what helped me: often smoking is part of a daily routine or ritual, so mix up your routine. Take up a new hobby or take the bus instead of the car. Go for a walk after lunch. Giving up smoking is a big change, so don’t be afraid to make big changes. Get new clothes. Make new friends. You have discarded your old identity as a smoker. Still smoking? Doesn’t matter! You already want to stop - you’re becoming that person already.
And don’t be so hard on yourself if you have a smoke now and then. Be conscious of what situation or routine triggered the reflex, and change it in future. If you have a smoke every few days or weeks, don’t sweat it, you’ve broken addiction as far as I’m concerned!
