Its been more than 20 days since I've stopped smoking.
A friend of mine who stopped smoking told me that he still continues to smoke 2-3 cigarettes a month so that he can prove that he is stonger that the addiction.
I am wondering if I am to follow in his footsteps and smoke 1-2 cigars a month(without inhaling the smoke). This way I can prove that I am not scared of smoking another cigarette and still enjoy smoking once or twice a month.
Ninetails, dont kid yourself that you are stronger than nicotine, there are many smokers who have had the same idea and are back on here with another started quit, a prime example which I hope Douglas doesn’t mind me using.
forum.nosmokingday.org.uk/s...
Social smokers are not and have never been committed full time smokers they have maybe never smoked more than the odd one over months.
But if you don’t mind being a smoker again(cigars can lead to cigs and are no better for you) then see how you get on, because guaranteed a smoker you will become again, as for your friend that’s his choice and although he is telling you it’s not a problem to have the odd cig watch his space, and if a year down the line he is still only having one or two cigs on Saturdays then hey come and tell me how wrong I am, but he is still not doing his body any good as every cig spikes his BP and it still coats his lungs in tar and doesn’t give them chance to repair.
Stick with it, it gets better and better.
NO NO NO NO NO!!!!!
I quit last year for 3 months then started having a few of my hubby's cigars thinking I'd be fine and could cope with a few cigars when I was drinking. Before I knew it, I was smoking 10 cafe creme cigars A DAY. Smoking is an addicition, no matter what product you use and you CANNOT fool yourself into thinking you can have "one or two", it doesn't work that way at all. Step away from the cigars!!!!
This way I can prove that I am not scared of smoking another cigarette ...
You SHOULD be scared of smoking another cigarette. We are addicts. All of us. Give our body nicotene - whether it's with a cigarette, a cigar, or a pessary up our bum, and our body will instantly require more of it. It's a slippery slope back to smoking and if you wanted to smoke, you wouldn't have a twenty-day quit under your belt.
Even if you don't inhale, cigars still give you nicotene (absorbed through the mouth) and can still give you cancer.
We all thought - still think occasionally - that we enjoy/ed smoking. But as time goes by in a quit and the fog clears we start to realise that there is nothing to 'miss'. What we 'enjoyed' was the temporary relief gained from feeding the addiction.
I can't tell you what to do but I strongly advise you to keep solid in your quit. A few months down the line take a long hard look at all the positive changes in you and ask yourself 'would I want to risk a smoke now'? If you do, go ahead and have that cigar. But I bet you won't.
H
Ninetails, dont kid yourself that you are stronger than nicotine, there are many smokers who have had the same idea and are back on here with another started quit, a prime example which I hope Douglas doesn’t mind me using.
forum.nosmokingday.org.uk/s...
Social smokers are not and have never been committed full time smokers they have maybe never smoked more than the odd one over months.
But if you don’t mind being a smoker again(cigars can lead to cigs and are no better for you) then see how you get on, because guaranteed a smoker you will become again, as for your friend that’s his choice and although he is telling you it’s not a problem to have the odd cig watch his space, and if a year down the line he is still only having one or two cigs on Saturdays then hey come and tell me how wrong I am, but he is still not doing his body any good as every cig spikes his BP and it still coats his lungs in tar and doesn’t give them chance to repair.
Stick with it, it gets better and better.
No I am happy to be of assistance.
Lets go back to the beginning.:eek:
*********** forum.nosmokingday.org.uk/s... ***********
And The END!!!!!!
*********** forum.nosmokingday.org.uk/s... ***********
I don't know guys I don't want to think of myself as weaker than some small paper sticks. I managed not to smoke for 23 days right? That means I am stonger!
It would be very irritating to go through the first week again, that's why I want this quit to be my final one. However, I don't want to subdue to fear of never taking another puff. I was even thinking yesterday to buy a pack of cigs, open it and leave it like that on my desk without ever taking a cig from it.
My sister for example was asking me for cigs when I was smoking and she just stopped smoking. She never smoked more than 2-3 a week though. Can you actually tell me what is the difference between her and me I don't get it?
I don't fear cancer and death and I am also not too sure if all the medical research for relation between smoke and cancer is 100% true. And who knows how many millions things that we now think as safe are actually worse than cigs.
I want whiter teeth though, good breath, to have better skin and run longer and handle heat better. I was training swimming 3 years in highschool and I want to get my form back. Oh yeah and my sense of smell is better than ever!
I was thinking more like after a couple of years to smoke a cigar when there is some occasion.
Ninetails
I took the same approach some years ago, it was at a time when you could still smoke in public places and I used smoking mini hamlets (without inhaling) when in the pub because I was scared I'd cave in (to cigarettes) when drinking.
I'd convinced myself this was OK (and it worked for around 6 months), I only drank once or twice a week so I wasn't replacing 15 cigarettes with a similar number of cigars and to be honest there were times I just didn't fel like smoking a cigar and survived drinking without them.
What eventually made me cave in was nothing to do with my continuing to smoke cigars.
This is something I haven't dismissed entirely from this quit, though I'd prefer to be completely smoke free I would view an occasional cigar as much better than frequent (daily) cigarettes.
What I hadn't considered is everything attached to cigar smoking - firstly they're significantly more expensive than cigarettes, secondly they have a stronger smell and clothes/hands/hair smell far worse, and also there has to be some health risks in smoke entering your mouth (even if the vast majority of it is not inhaled) as some smoke will enter your lungs, and of course there are plenty of illnesses that can affect your mouth.
In summary I'd stand by the line that occasional cigars can assist in your cigarette quit, but I would also confess that any form of smoking whether inhaling or not does carry a risk (and cost) and if at all possible you should try becoming completely smoke free.
Good luck Ninetails, I wish you well
I don't know guys I don't want to think of myself as weaker than some small paper sticks. I managed not to smoke for 23 days right? That means I am stonger!
It would be very irritating to go through the first week again, that's why I want this quit to be my final one. However, I don't want to subdue to fear of never taking another puff. I was even thinking yesterday to buy a pack of cigs, open it and leave it like that on my desk without ever taking a cig from it.
My sister for example was asking me for cigs when I was smoking and she just stopped smoking. She never smoked more than 2-3 a week though. Can you actually tell me what is the difference between her and me I don't get it?
I don't fear cancer and death and I am also not too sure if all the medical research for relation between smoke and cancer is 100% true. And who knows how many millions things that we now think as safe are actually worse than cigs.
I want whiter teeth though, good breath, to have better skin and run longer and handle heat better. I was training swimming 3 years in highschool and I want to get my form back. Oh yeah and my sense of smell is better than ever!
I was thinking more like after a couple of years to smoke a cigar when there is some occasion.
this isnt you talking ninetails its your nicodemon he is getting scared cause u are getting good at this quitting game and have gone a long time now 20 days, all he wants is for u to cover him in smoke and nicotine wether it be a cigar, cigarette, roll up etc
i went through all these excuses early in my quit at around three weeks i believe cause its a tough time [the terrible 3's]
i tried convincing myself of allsorts but u need to stay strong u will get past this
read read read u will find your thought process is normal during a quit
Ninetails,
You can do whatever you want, of course 
Just be aware that many many people have tried to fool themselves into thinking they had their smoking under control. The very fact that you need to think about the issue in the first place indicates to me that your smoking is not under control, and will only ever be under forced control at best, but more likely out of control given time.
A true casual smoker doesn't even think about what they are doing. They occasionally have a smoke when and where they want, without counting how many they've had (which is typically very few), and without thinking about when they can or will smoke next. Basically, they smoke without regard to self-inflicted rules. It seems some people can manage this, but the vast majority can't, and even though they consider themselves casual smokers, they are in fact self-controlled smokers who usually end up going back to their old ways.
I guess what I'm saying is that you have to already be a casual smoker. You cannot become one!
Now, as far a cigars are concerned, I gave up smoking completely for almost five years, and then had a cigar at Christmas, two on boxing day, three the day after that, and within two weeks I was up to 20 cigarettes a day. Go figure!
I think your best best is to quit the cigs altogether and not to try playing mind games... But, of course you can do whatever you want and nobody will tell you any differently.
Alex.
On a previous quit I would "reward" myself with the occasional Cafe Creme. However, the occasions on which I rewarded myself somehow became more and more frequent :confused::rolleyes:
Eventually I was smoking a box a day then went back to cigs.
The question you have to ask yourself is, do you want to be a smoker or a non smoker?
If you smoke at all then you are a smoker, the quantity is really of very little importance as you are continuing to feed the addiction to nicotine, or going through a cycle of feed then withdraw which can hardly be seen as fun!
A non smoker doesn't have the occasional smoke here and there they just don't do it.
Your friend making a statement like being stronger than the addiction really is just showing that they are scared at the prospect of putting nicotine into the past and haven't accepted that life as a non smoker is much better.
its either all or nothing for me but if i were you i wouldnt chance ruining your quit after all your hard work!!
Ninetails,
A true casual smoker doesn't even think about what they are doing. They occasionally have a smoke when and where they want, without counting how many they've had (which is typically very few), and without thinking about when they can or will smoke next. Basically, they smoke without regard to self-inflicted rules. It seems some people can manage this, but the vast majority can't, and even though they consider themselves casual smokers, they are in fact self-controlled smokers who usually end up going back to their old ways.
Alex.
I completely agree with you Alex. It seems its quite hard for me to think that I am giving up smoking forever though, so for now I decided to first concentrate on lasting a couple of years without smoking and THEN I may smoke a cigar every now and then. As you say without counting them or using self-inflicted rules, when you think of yourself not as a ex-smoker, but as a non-smoker.
It's interesting that you say you are "giving up" forever, as though you are foregoing some pleasure and feeling reluctant about the situation. Perhaps you are, but rather than think that you have to force yourself to abstain from smoking, think about the fact that you have made a conscious choice to stop, and that there's absolutely nothing that can prevent you from starting smoking again tomorrow if you want to.
I know a lot of people think about the fact of "not being able to smoke" as something terrifying, as though a basic fundamental right has been taken away from them, but the fact is, you do have the choice and the restriction is self-imposed. Cigarettes are not going away any time soon, and there will be plenty of opportunities to smoke them in the future if you CHOOSE. But for today, you have decided not to smoke. It really is a simple as that 
Hi Alex,
LOL, you are so right. You create an addiction which only harms you, then when you satisfy your addiction, you count this as "pleasure" and you have tough time giving it up.
It like burning your hands on the oven on purpose and then pouring them with cold water thinking "Oh, what a pleasure that is..."
I am really interested what you do for a living now
This is a very interesting debate. Due to risk of addiction and negative health consequences I don't want to smoke another cigarette. Many smokers have 'just one more' and that can lead to more. There are times on my quit where I have been quit tempted to have another cigarette but I have resisted the temptation and that is better for myself.
Interestingly though, there was a girl in my first year of university who would smoke on nights out but would never if she wasn't drunk. Also, my brother smokes very ocassionally, having the odd one or two but now I think he is having a few more with his new girlfriend so he may be falling back into the hands of nicotine. My brother-in-law says that he can stop and start whenever he wants and he hasn't smoked for a few years now.
With these irregular cases, it makes me wonder whether everybody that smokes does get addicted to the nicotine but obviously, most people that smoke do get addicted.
Smoking is smoking full stop. I'm guessing most will find my comment unhelpful but hey....it's just an honest opinion.
If you don't want/need to stop smoking....well don't. If you're contemplating smoking cigars 'cos that's ok' then just go back to the fags. It's the same thing.
Non smokers don't smoke ..... full stop.
Smokers smoke however frequently/infrequently.
If your friend can't give up their cigars then they're addicted. I wonder how long after one they want another....then how long they're left wanting until they can justify a point of which to smoke the cigar they don't want/need?
If your friend can't give up their cigars then they're addicted. I wonder how long after one they want another....then how long they're left wanting until they can justify a point of which to smoke the cigar they don't want/need?
totally agree i realise now i spent my whole smoking life wanting my next cigarette
i hated days out as i knew i couldnt smoke freely, how sad is that makes me real mad now how addicted and reliant i was
basically i always wanted a cigarette and i dont miss that feeling one bit
Quitting smoking (15 days)
Smoking relapse ! I need your opinion! Helppppppp!
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