# How long have you been smoke-free? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 7, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-smoke-free/371793 "2006-09-07T16:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-smoke-free/371793/21 "2006-09-07T18:32:15Z")
[QUOTE=melondeca] Congrats on both. Actually, congrats to everyone. [/QUOTE] Yeah - that’s the benefit of developing really stupid destructive habits - instead of actually doing anything constructive, you get credit for just stopping being stupid! ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-smoke-free/371793/22 "2006-09-07T19:03:16Z")
45 years last March 😉 ---
**Author:** ![buns3000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c89c15/32.png) [@buns3000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buns3000)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-smoke-free/371793/23 "2006-09-08T10:07:30Z")
To the OP, congratulations. For me, its been 7 years and a couple of months. [This book](http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Way-Stop-Smoking-Nonsmokers/dp/1402718616/sr=8-1/qid=1157709856/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-5029433-8667350?ie=UTF8&s=books) was the key to me quitting. A real watershed moment was walking home from the train station about a month after I had quit and smelling a nearby Italian restaurant for the first time after more than 2 years of getting off the train at the same station. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-smoke-free/371793/24 "2006-09-08T12:31:59Z")
I quit on May 21, 2005. It went much better than I expected. I used the Allen Carr book also. It wasn’t nearly as hard as I had been led to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Sunrazor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sunrazor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunrazor)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-smoke-free/371793/25 "2006-09-08T13:48:53Z")
I seriously quit smoking back in the mid-1980s. Didn’t intend to go cold turkey, but that’s how it happened – crushing workload, the workplace converted to nonsmoking, no time to run down two flights of stairs to puff in the winter cold, so I just didn’t smoke for a week, suddenly realized I was a non-smoker. I would occasionally backslide – have a smoke when drinking with friends – but didn’t seriously smoke again until a few years ago when I worked in a call center. The only thing to do on breaks was go out with the smokers, who inevitably offered a cigarette, which I inevitably accepted. Fortunately, just as I felt myself sliding back into addiction, I changed jobs and have no time for smoke breaks again. I do puff on a pipe when I’m in my woodworking shop, but that’s not inhaled, and I usually go weeks between smokes. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-smoke-free/371793/26 "2006-09-08T14:11:58Z")
I quit smoking February 7, 2000. I smoked about a half-pack a day at that point, but before had smoked over a pack a day (Canadian packs are 25 cigarettes). I quit using Zyban/Wellbutrin and had the most fucked-up dreams you can imagine. I picked up my mom’s smoke allergy, which got much worse after I quit. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-smoke-free/371793/27 "2006-09-08T15:08:40Z")
I am 2 weeks shy of being tobacco free for 2 years. The first 2 weeks were cake and the next 2 were hell and during that period I was using the gum. About six months after I quit I did have one smoke and I threw up from it. That made me realize how toxic nicotine really is and it seemed to kill any further cravings for cigarettes. Now I feel that I am as much of a non smoker as I ever was a smoker. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-smoke-free/371793/28 "2006-09-08T15:56:21Z")
2 years and 3+ months. I started on the Wellbutrin route, but had to quit that after 2 weeks when I had to go on IV steroids for another problem. Though I stopped taking the Wellbutrin, I stayed off the cigs too. I had a thread on here about that time bitching that the Wellbutrin wasn’t working much anyway. Between quitting and the steroids, I gained 40 lbs in about 2-3 weeks. Still haven’t been able to lose it. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-smoke-free/371793/29 "2006-09-08T16:36:41Z")
My smoking history: 0 to 18 = no smoking. 18 to 32 = smoking. 32 to 44 = no smoking. 44 to 53 = smoking. 53 to 63 (today) = no smoking. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-smoke-free/371793/30 "2006-09-08T17:22:37Z")
[QUOTE=Antinor01] Just about 65 minutes now, I see a relapse coming in 40 more. Seriously though, I’ve been considering quitting but just haven’t convinced myself that I really want to. The excercise thing isn’t a factor, I already walk about 4-5 miles a day (half mile on each break,about 1-1.5 miles on my lunch and 2 miles home from work). Money isn’t a real issue for me though it will be if the new cigarette tax goes in here in CA. Maybe some stories will help, I don’t know. [/QUOTE] I made any number of attempts over the course of ten years. It finally took a little more than two years ago. Haven’t had a cigarette since May of 2004. Don’t give up. It’s entirely possible that you’ll make a number of attempts before you finally succeed. But you really do need to get yourself psyched up about it, first. You need to make a definite commitment. I urge you to make the commitment. (And don’t beat yourself up when you fall off the wagon. Just keep trying.) ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-smoke-free/371793/31 "2006-09-08T21:52:54Z")
10:00 pm on May 24, 2001 is when I had my last cigarette. I was a pack-a-day Marlboro Red smoker. I used the patch and it helped a TON! And yes I got weird dreams too. I didn’t do the full patch routine, after about 4 weeks I knew I was done smoking, so I gave the rest of my patches to a friend. I did gain about 15lbs, and I didn’t go to the bar for that 4 weeks. When I did eventually walk back into the bar I asked the bartender for a straw and I cut it to cigarette length. When I craved a cigarette I’d stick that straw in my mouth and chew on it for a while, it probably looked silly , but it helped! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-have-you-been-smoke-free/371793.md?page=1)