Former Smokers, what's your opinion of tobacco/smoking/whatever now?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
1

I’m a former smoker. I quit about a year ago, actually on April 16, 2001.

I’ve observed the following changes:

[ul]
[li]If I go somewhere, I don’t have to worry if I’ll have enough smokes.[/li][li]I actually have spending money. [/li][li]Hi Opal![/li][li]Gained about 10 pounds.[/li][li]Actually can smell smoke now.[/li][li]Understand now what all the fuss was about (smell, kill yourself, disgusting habit, etc.). [/li][/ul]

I’ve also noticed some things that haven’t changed much:

[ul]
[li]I don’t hate the tobacco companies.[/li][li]I don’t try to convert others, or even object when others smoke in front of me.[/li][li]Hi Opal, again![/li][li]I still want one. [/li][li]It doesn’t bother me that the state is still spending my old cigarette money.[/li][/ul]

YMMV, therefore, I’d like you to share your experiences.

2

My two cents :

If I go somewhere, I don’t have to worry if I’ll have enough smokes.
Yep, I never realised how much mental energy I used up thinking if I had enough, or where I could get more, etc…

**I actually have spending money. **
Nah, the money was never an issue for me, compared to what most of my friends drop at the club on a weekend, I considered my habit to be relatively cheap, since I rarely drink.

**Gained about 10 pounds. **
Yep, and it sucks. Mind you, I’m actually positive I can beat it, after beating the cigarette addiction, I feel like I can beat anything.

**Actually can smell smoke now. **
Oh, god yes, isn’t it disgusting !

**Understand now what all the fuss was about (smell, kill yourself, disgusting habit, etc.). **
Yep, because even though I knew all that, I really knew it once I’d quit.

**I don’t hate the tobacco companies. **
Me either, but I never did. They did do some disgusting things, and they’ll be punished for that, but I’m a big believer in personal responsibility. Most people who are addicted knew smokes were addictive when they started to smoke. Bed. Made. Lie.

**I don’t try to convert others, or even object when others smoke in front of me. **
I don’t try and convert, but if somebody brings the subject up, and are interested, I could talk for hours :slight_smile: I do object if somebody lights up in front of me, because it now makes me very sick, but not verbally. I move myself out of the path of the smoke. (this assumes we are in a smoking area)

**I still want one. **
Nope. After 21 days (apparently) the physical addiction is gone, and I decided goin in that if I still wanted one after 21 days, I was going to smoke. I didn’t want to go through life craving something, I’d rather die earlier. YMMV. Luckily, I have absolutely zero desire for a cigarette.

I think people need to relax a little on the whole smoking issue. It’s getting to the point that it’s zero tolerance on both sides. Smokers need to understand that their smoke travels a lot further than they think it does, and non-smokers need to stop villianising smokers (it isn’t helping!)

That’s my two cents, hope you enjoyed it :slight_smile:

3

I smoked my first cigarette in elementary school. I’ve been addicted at least since I was fifteen. I quit when I was thirty or thirty-one–it’s been around nine months, give or take a little.

[ul]
[li]I can run farther and faster now.[/li][li]I’m retroactively self-conscious about my breath, especially when kissing.[/li][li]This is the first time I’ve ever said hi to Opal.[/li][li]My waist is several inches bigger now and I weigh around fifty pounds more.[/li][li]I can’t drink or smoke weed anymore which I guess is good but I still miss it.[/li][li]Drawing, painting, and especially creative writing are much harder now, each task takes much longer, and I’m more prone to frustration during the process(though it’s getting better).[/li][li]Anti-smoking campaigns still piss me off.[/li][li]In your face health nuts are still obnoxious and deserve their asses beat.[/li][li]My teeth sure are pretty. :D[/li][/ul]

4

The one thing I that change most for me was my ability to smell things much much better. I almost felt like I had superhuman nostrals!

5

I stand close to smokers and breathe deeply.

6

I still kinda like the smell of fresh cigarette smoke (quit 3 months ago). But stale smoke, in the car, on clothes, etc. is disgusting.

I have actually lost weight…I don’t stop by the gas station every day now and skip the little snacks I would buy when I got cigarettes. (lost 15 pounds in 3 months!) I’m back down to my college weight now.

I don’t preach, I know people will only quit when they’re ready. It’s a choice up to the individual. Once I really decided to quit, it wasn’t that hard. I didn’t appreciate people preaching at me and I don’t think it did any good.

I like having more money, better skin, teeth, and health.

7

I smoked my first cigarette at age 13 and thought to myself “where have ya been my whole life?” By age 18, was smoking at least a pack a day, up to 2 packs a day 2 years later.

I tried quiting when I was about 27, under protest, since my then husband and my boss were both trying to quit and they insisted I try too. Lasted something like 5 days.

When I was 29 I discovered I was pregnant and figured the kidlet was too young to smoke. Anticipated smoking on the delivery table.

this August, it will have been 19 years since I last smoked.

I find:

  1. I cannot stand the smell of cigarettes.

  2. I’m amazed at how much they cost now.

  3. Can’t figure out where/on what I spend/spent the ‘extra money’ on.

  4. Still remember certain things - A. Timing things/distances by cigarettes “I live 1 cigarette from work. My folks live 5 cigs away” “do I have enough time for a cigarette?” and the mental check list on the way home “do I have enough cigs/matches to last?”

  5. I am truely annoyed by the smoker’s break. I never had them when I smoked (ie it was an office, we were allowed to smoke while at work), and now, I see folks ‘taking an official break’. I’m jealous as hell.

  6. I can smell a smoker a mile away, and even can tell if some one is **around ** smoke.

  7. I no longer have cravings, but I don’t ever ‘play’ with cigs, prefer not to handle them at all (even in a pack). Won’t hold a pen like a cig, etc.

  8. RE: cig companies - I have less than zero compassion - they’ve had 30 years of public knowledge about their product as well as additional ‘secret years’ where they knew their product, used as intended caused serious harm. That gave them ample time to figure out a better way of responding to ‘we need to earn a livilhood’ than ‘how can we make these things more addictive’.

  9. Absolutely the only thing preventing me from being a 3 pack a day smoker now is the certainty that I’d have to go through quitting again, and frankly, I’m too old to go through another pregnancy. :smiley:

8

  1. I still walk across the street like I used to when I smoked.

  2. Why would you do that?

9

I’ve seen some former smokers play w/ a cig to prove they’re over it. I’ve known a couple of recovering alc’s who always wanted to ‘smell’ my drink, too. Bizarre.

Closest I go, is - well sometimes people don’t believe I was ever a smoker. So, I’ll handle a pen like it was a cig and it usually convinces them (it scares the hell out of me tho’ 'cause even this many years later, I still have all of the motions)

10

Boy that brings back memories. I too am amazed by what they cost. When I quit they cost $3.09 per day (that’s generic). I bought them by the day (always thinking this was my last pack :wink: ). Anyhow, in just a year they generic’s are $3.65 and I hear our lovely Grey Davis, the governor, has just announced another 50 cent per pack boost. We have a terrible deficit here in California (from buying all the electricity last year :eek: ), and our good guv is going to make up $20 billion or something buy hitting up the smokers. Wow, that makes a lot of sense.

As Shreck would say, “Yeah, like that’ll help”.

:wally

[sub]Do the math, lesseee 50 cents goes into 20 billion how many times. It’ll take…[/sub]

11

It sucks to expect the addicted poor to pay such taxes.
Golly. punish them enough and they will quit.

Our present receiving, Baptist preacher Governor didn’t spend the cigarette settlement money on cancer patients, but I doubt that many states did.

I’d love to see a dumb ass tax.
:slight_smile:

12

So, ** carnivorousplant** lives near me . . .

You’re not talking about Huckabee, are you?

13

Indeed.
“How can we possibly make Arkansas look more stupid to the nation, nay, the world?
I know! My wife will run for Secretary of State!”

Thank you, God for term limits.

14

long time 2.5 packs of winstons a day checking in.

i quit thanksgiving of 86. they cost 1.25 then.

i cannot bear ashtrays, the way people smell when they smoke, having to breathe it on the street (cant ask someone OUTSIDE to put it out).

every once in a great while i catch the smell of a just-lit one and i get a big jolt that lasts about a second and leaves me shaken.

if they didnt kill you (and i was going to die from them: persistent morning cough and other signs of lung disease) i would be smoking still. oh yessiree, i would. sigh…

15

$3.65 a pack??? He he, don’t ever move to Alberta - as of this years budget and something like a 50% tax increase on tobacco, you’ll be paying $8.67 to $9.00+… around 35 cents a peice. Yeah, that’s Canadian money, but do realize that Canadians are also paid in Canadian money :eek:.

16

The main thing for me is that I never realised how much cigarettes make you smell when you’re not smoking. I can smell a smoker from 10 feet away! I must’ve STUNK!

I don’t object to other people smoking, but I don’t like them doing it right next to me or in my face. That’s just not polite, and it’s going to make me smell too.

I only occasionally get cravings nowadays and they generally pass in a minute or so. Most of the time, I don’t even think about smoking any more.

I didn’t put on weight. In fact, with the new faith in my willpower I gained, I lost weight. I’m healthier, fitter and happier.

I’m with Wring too - there should be “non-smoke breaks” too. No fair that smokers get more breaks!

17

I notice that smokers smell, but it’s none of my business.
What I hate is the perfume and aftershave people use that makes my allergic sinuses (sinusie?) feel as though there is a nail driven into them.