OK, look, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to come across as a prick. However…
This is just a *very *bad idea. A recovering smoker needs to be given nicotine like he needs to be given a hole in the head. As for giving him nicotine in an enjoyable delivery mechanism? Yeah, there’s a chance that it won’t send him back to being a regular smoker. There’s also a *chance *that pushing him into a minefield won’t end with his legs blown off. It’s still a better idea to take that wide, nice road *around *the minefield if you have the chance.
Would you do that if he was a recovering alcoholic, just because he used to prefer beer? No? Well, there you go.
I’m wondering why you seem to feel so strongly compelled to give him cigars that you’re more or less arguing or looking for holes in the advice people are giving you that this is a bad idea. I was a three-and-half to four pack a day smoker and I smoked for 21 years. After trying to quit three or four times a year for approximately 17 of those years I was finally able to quit and make it stick. I’ve now been off cigarettes for over 25 years, and I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to say that. I literally thought I would never be able to kick that addiction.
So, no matter how well cigars might go with my beloved single-malt scotches, I absolutely will not risk smoking them for fear that they will lead me back to cigarettes again.
So of course my recommendation is that you not buy him cigars. Look at it this way - what do you have to gain by giving him cigars vs. what do you have to lose by getting him something else? On the one hand you risk causing him to be a smoker again, and on the other hand you risk…nothing.
To me, it’s a no-brainer. Why take the risk? Just get him something nice that won’t be a threat to his health and you’ll both be a lot happier in the long run.
I’m an ex-smoker. I think this is a bad idea, because he’s quitting smoking. It’s not the same game as when someone doesn’t like cigarettes, but smokes cigars.
And it will quite possibly be interpreted as an attempt on your part to sabotage his efforts to quit (regardless whether or not that is your intention).
I don’t feel strongly compelled to give him cigars. I’ve already said I probably won’t. I started the thread to explore the idea that cigars and cigarettes are two different things, which I formed based on my personal experience. I’m happy to listen to people like yourself who say that cigars are a bad idea if it’s based on something other than a knee-jerk reaction towards smoking in general. My annoyance in this thread has been towards people who have shown up simply to say “No are you fucking nuts” without having any experience themselves as smokers.
In case anyone else plans on coming in this thread and questions my sanity: I’ve decided NOT to buy him cigars for his birthday, so you can untwist your knickers now.
How on Earth could this possibly be a good idea? OK, maybe the cigars won’t get him to go on cigarettes… So? The problem isn’t the cigarettes, the problem is tobacco in general. Cigar addiction isn’t any better than cigarette addiction, given that they’re the same damn addiction.
My thinking is that if he wants to try cigars as an alternative to cigs then it should be his idea. He may want to, he may want to stay away from all tobacco products. But by gifting him cigars you are removing his choice. That’s a very bad idea for someone trying to avoid cigarettes.
I gave up cigarettes just over 4 years ago. After I’d been clean for a month I bought myself a cigar to celebrate the milestone.
I now smoke 2 packs of panatellas a day, which costs slightly less than the pack of cigarettes I used to smoke.
I do inhale them but not as deeply as cigarettes, but I am addicted. Anyone who has had to deal with me when I’ve been in a meeting for 4 hours with no break will tell you I do get withdrawl symptoms.
So I’m slightly ahead cash wise but the smell is even more annoying to other people.
You made the right choice in not buying them.
Save the cigars for his next birthday. It’ll be better if you play it safe since he just recently quit smoking. Cigars might not be cigarettes but nicotine is nicotine.
I’ll reiterate my previous post. I’m not sure of the danger of temptation.
I started smoking cigarettes in the Army in 1991. I was already past that danger age, and it was stupid to start so old. I quit successfully in 2005. In 2006 I hesitantly tried cigars, and was instantly a fan. It did not provoke a desire to smoke cigarettes. Cigars were more like a good tequila: something to be enjoyed from time to time (and boy, they are really enjoyable). I’m talking, like a cigar every week or two, and only when the occasion demands it. In 2008 I did start smoking again, but it was related to my peer group in a particularly stressful, demanding environment (yes, that’s rationalization, but my point is, it wasn’t tied to the enjoyment of cigars).
Cigarette smoking and cigar smoking are vastly unrelated.
I quit smoking 5 years ago, 4 years ago I was able to smoke a shisha every once in awhile, but had I tried earlier, I probably would have gone back to cigarettes.
I quit smoking ages ago and now smoke cigars fairly regularly sooooooooo
I notice that nicotine kick a bit when smoking cigars, you arent supposed to inhale with a cigar so its only the small amount absorbed through the mouth. as a former smoker I might be a bit extra aware but as a recent exsmoker I would bet it would be really really strong.
