# Poll: for Smokers who have Successfully Become Non Smokers, How Did You Do It? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 9, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978 "2012-01-09T22:38:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/41 "2012-01-10T03:01:39Z")
I smoked 2+ packs/day for over 25 years and quit cold turkey almost 20 years ago. The boss where I worked said he was quitting on Tuesday and I said ok, I will too. He failed (and he’s now dead, oh my!) and I succeeded. I kept telling myself I could smoke tomorrow if I still wanted to and when I got up each day it was so pleasant not to have that heaviness in my lungs that I no longer wanted one right away. My SO, on the other hand, has failed at every method: cold turkey, patch, gum, Chantix (which made him very depressed and neither of us knew why as the side effects weren’t well publicized then). I have (ahem) \*recommended \* he try the e-cig but so far he has resisted and says he’s only smoking x number each day (heh). I give up. Once, in the middle of a fight, I snatched up the pack and lit one. I smoked two cigarettes that night, and the next day the horrible taste in my mouth and the old-ash-tray feeling in my chest convinced me that I could never in a million years go back to it. ETA: and good luck to \*\*everyone \*\*who wants to be a non smoker. It really is more fun to be able to climb a flight of stairs and still breathe at the top! ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/42 "2012-01-10T03:14:01Z")
My friend Joe who quit ~2+ years ago was a heavy social smoker (that is, drank a decent amount and usually smoked when he drank). He said he had to quit both alcohol and tobacco cold turkey (resuming alcohol a month or two later). It was a powerful trigger for him, and it doesn’t help that alcohol also lowers inhibitions. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/43 "2012-01-10T03:17:00Z")
One other thing I meant to say: be careful about replacing your habit with a food habit. I started eating hard candies, and then I began taking coffee breaks to replace cig. breaks, complete with donut, and before I knew it I had gained about 15 pounds. So beware! ---
**Author:** ![dogbutler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dogbutler/32/428_2.png) [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/44 "2012-01-10T03:19:04Z")
i smoked a pack a day for 8 years, then quit cold turkey. I’ve been quit for 14 years. ---
**Author:** ![malkavia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malkavia/32/5621_2.png) [@malkavia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkavia)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/45 "2012-01-10T03:44:14Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Hot shit! [I found it.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=72050) Holy cow, I haven’t seen that name in yeeears. Do you know where Mr. Frog is these days? ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/46 "2012-01-10T03:49:11Z")
I quit for a year…just didn’t feel like smoking. I almost did it again…for a whole day. If we could only locate and control that twitching neuron. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/47 "2012-01-10T04:30:13Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > The overwhelming majority of “cold turkey” responses here mirrors the government and university studies I’ve found. Nicotine replacement (NR) and prescriptions definitely help some people quit, but apparently for most it is strictly “quitting by stopping”, which is interesting. > > One thing I’ve found a lot, first noticing it in Carr but then in numerous objective articles, is that much of the drive towards NR is driven by the companies that manufacture them. Apparently it is really huge money. Cold turkey, 15 years ago after 30 years of addiction. [Here](http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-nicotine-patch-doesnt-work-20120109,0,6657081.story) is a timely article on NR that reports on a recent study that showed little, if any, benefit to NR and success in quiting. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/48 "2012-01-10T04:39:10Z")
I’ve quit twice with the patch for over three months, and each time within two weeks of being off the patch started smoking again. For what that’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/49 "2012-01-10T04:52:33Z")
Flower essences tailored to my triggers. (Yes, yes, I know, they’re silly stupid placebos. But for me, they’re effective placebos, so I don’t care.) Nicotine replacement patches for 2 weeks only (The strongest ones; I didn’t taper at all). Acupuncture with ear seeds. 2 weeks in, I stopped changing my patch and that was that. I bummed one smoke about a month after that, and it tasted just nasty, thank goodness! ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/50 "2012-01-10T04:52:55Z")
Basically cold turkey, though I went through about two rolls of life savers per day for about six months. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/51 "2012-01-10T04:57:02Z")
FWIW both of my parents were heavy smokers for oh 40 years or so. My father was 3 packs unfiltered Camels, and my mother was 2 packs a day of Kools or Salems. Anyway in 1956 an extra penny in tax was added to the price. Both of my parents independently of each other decided smoking was too expensive and they both quit cold. Neither of them ever smoked again. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/52 "2012-01-10T05:01:43Z")
I had bought the gum, but got a really bad stomach bug right after quitting – too sick to keep anything down, or want to chew that nasty gum, or even smoke. After recovering from that, it seemed stupid to start chewing the gum when I’d been nicotine-free for about 72 hours already. So … cold turkey, but not intentionally. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/53 "2012-01-10T06:40:49Z")
I don’t smoke myself, but both my parents were HEAVY smokers, to the point of “taking down the pictures when you move and there’s a visible ‘clean spot’ where the picture hung”. Once as a teen I accompanied a friend when she was getting a haircut. For some inexplicable reason the hairdresser came over and ran her hands through my hair, then blurted “Who smokes?” I was mortified. I had lived for years and years with mom doing the “I’m smoking one less cigarette today” or “I’m only going to smoke half a cigarette from now on” and bullshit like that. It took a triple-bypass for her to get her shit together and go cold turkey. Took my dad several months after but he eventually was able to kick it. Good for them. Can’t imagine what it must take to overcome something like that. So relieved I never started. Wish I could go back in time and not take that first drink. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/54 "2012-01-10T06:45:42Z")
I quit cold turkey after 20+ years of hard core smoking. I was up to 3+ packs a day (smoking two, sometimes three at a time for me was not uncommon). For many years I put off trying to quit, under the erroneous belief that if I wasn’t 100% ready to quit, I’d certainly fail and be less likely to successfully quit from that point on\*. \*\*“I’ll quit someday, but I’m not quite ready, yet", \*was my catch-phrase for quite \*\*a \*\*long time. I knew I had an addictive personality, so I figured when the time came to quit, it would be a difficult ordeal, fought with dark moods and tribulation. But then, 10 years ago, I was hit with the most debilitating bout of flu I’d ever experienced. It had me flat on my back, non-functional and barely conscious for nearly a week. When the viral menace finally retreated, I had the light bulb-over-the- head realization that, not only did I go a week without a cigarette, I had no particular craving for one now. \*Should I simply try seeing how long I could go not lighting up? Why not?, _said I to myself_. \*I never lit up again. I had no craving, no withdraw, no problem going cold turkey whatsoever. I was actually pissed that it was as easy to quit as it was—I could and should have quit years earlier. I’m proud to say that today my only so called “addition” (beside my evening oxycontin, nitrous oxide & rum chaser cocktail, which I consider more a habitual stress-reliever than an addiction), is my affinity for fine cigars—about 20 Avo Piramides a day…and you don’t want to waste a good smoke like that without inhaling. (Ok, the last paragraph is obviously a joke, but up to that point is true. I do still enjoy an occasional cigar, but only one or two every few months. I encourage all smokers who delay attempting to quit tobacco to give quitting cold turkey a try. It may be much easier than you think—it was for me and I regret not trying earlier.) ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/55 "2012-01-10T08:17:47Z")
Cold turkey, but not pure will power, knowlage helps a lot, e.g. knowing that a crave only last min vs. the unbearable time it seems to exist in your head helps a lot. [http://www.whyquit.com](http://www.whyquit.com) There is a great resource, free videos and nothing to buy, they have nothting to sell you, they just want you to quit. ---
**Author:** ![Janetda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@Janetda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janetda)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/56 "2012-01-10T09:22:07Z")
Two and a half years ago I quit smoking with e-cigs. I still them. I feel so much better and I’ve saved a ton of money. The big question when you’re thinking of quitting is whether you want to stop smoking AND nicotine, or just smoking. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/57 "2012-01-10T10:42:06Z")
I smoked 2-3 packs a day for 7-8 years. I only ever quit once–never tried except for the time that worked. The patch was a miracle drug for me. I knew I could break the psychological part, but I LOVED the drug and I was terrified at the idea of giving it up: not having nicotine to smooth me out seemed like the end of the world. I told myself that I could stay on the patch as long as I needed–that even if I fell off the wagon, I’d go put on a patch, not smoke a cigarette. I did the full six-week taper and it wasn’t that bad–but knowing I could go back to the nicotine really helped. My brother has done something similar: he smoked for decades, and has now chewed nicotine gum for years. Raising his chances of mouth cancer, I am sure, but that’s got to be more treatable than lung cancer, and there’s no emphysema of the mouth. Also, as mentioned above “you really have to want to quit” was, at least for me, a bullshit lie I told myself to give myself permission to quit smoking. I was never, ever going to want to live without nicotine. I quit because I realized I had to. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/58 "2012-01-10T10:45:34Z")
Cold Turkey. I quite a 2-pack a day habit in 1984. If you want advice, I’d mirror some of the above; Don’t go to places where you used to smoke (bars, etc.). I’d also add that it helped me to be really, \*really \*busy during the first month after quitting. When you have idle time, you tend to reach for a cigarette. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/59 "2012-01-10T10:54:08Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’m convinced that tapering off is by far the least effective method. I’m sure they’re out there, but I personally have never known anybody who successfully quit using that method and yet I’ve had doctors (who have never been smokers recommend it). > > Carr really dissects it, basically saying that you’re deliberately keeping the addiction alive rather than just hitting it in the head. You’re no less addicted to nicotine once you’re down to 2 cigarettes per day than you were when you were smoking 30, so those last 2 are going to be just as hard as quitting the 30 all at once. > > That said, I didn’t include tapering off as an option, so if anybody did use it, please add it. Because I could be totally wrong about its effectiveness. You’re totally wrong about it. I tapered off very slowly, using nicotine lozenges. I was not able to go cold turkey. I’ve known other people who did it that way, that’s how I came to find a way that worked for me. When it comes to the intersection of individual brain chemistry and addictive substances, **there is no one-size-fits-all solution**. Anyone who says there is… is trying to sell one. There are very good reasons why nicotine replacement treatments are available: They **do** work, and for some addicts they’re the **only** way to stop. We’re not all the same, and any approach which doesn’t take that into account is going to fail at least some of the time. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2012, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978/60 "2012-01-10T11:20:19Z")
The attempt that stuck (10 years ago now) was through willpower alone. I believe you have to really want to do it and not just be doing it because it seems to be the thing to do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-for-smokers-who-have-successfully-become-non-smokers-how-did-you-do-it/608978.md?page=4)