# Quitting smoking is hard **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 24, 2014, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852 "2014-04-24T09:54:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/21 "2014-04-25T20:35:16Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > I think the OPs suggestion is a reasonable one for people who can’t stop cold turkey. Just like there are different work-out programs and diets, what works for one may not work for another so this method, too, could help somebody quit. Wearing the patch didn’t work for me and neither did chewing the gum. Finally I went cold turkey and didn’t smoke for many years, but then I started back. Then again I have a friend who quit by, for months, stubbing out each cigarette after only three or four puffs. Thirty plus years later she still doesn’t smoke. So, different tokes for different folks. I think you’re right, but I think people should probably try the simple method first. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/22 "2014-04-25T20:54:11Z")
I don’t believe this method could work, I know that tapering off helps when leading to a quit day but this would take an enourmous amount of will power stretched out over a very long time. I am a 1.5 pack a day smoker and have been for most all of my life. I have quit for periods of a few months to over a year on several occasions. If I smoke one cig I am back to a 1.5 pack a day habit almost instantly. The physical addiction of nicotine is not all that great but the emotional part is huge. Strangely enough the stubbing out cigs early does seem to have a positive effect toward quitting. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/23 "2014-04-25T21:04:50Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > I think the OPs suggestion is a reasonable one for people who can’t stop cold turkey. Just like there are different work-out programs and diets, what works for one may not work for another so this method, too, could help somebody quit. Wearing the patch didn’t work for me and neither did chewing the gum. Finally I went cold turkey and didn’t smoke for many years, but then I started back. Then again I have a friend who quit by, for months, stubbing out each cigarette after only three or four puffs. Thirty plus years later she still doesn’t smoke. So, different tokes for different folks. Fair enough, different things work for different folks, I will grant that. I just have a strong suspicion that this method would, for most people, prove more difficult, and take more willpower, rather than less. ---
**Author:** ![butterfiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@butterfiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butterfiles)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/24 "2014-04-25T21:22:03Z")
Smokers, why do people that had stopped for years go back to it? Especially more than once or twice. I know someone who smokes a cigarette about every 2-3 hours, continued for most of a high risk pregnancy, and then actually quit in the last couple of months of pregnancy up to a couple of years. Then she went back full force. Then she quit more gently with the e-cigarette. Now back to it again. I think this has happened a few times for her. I guess I could understand if the quit period was only a couple of weeks or months. I have a harder time understanding not smoking for say two years and then going at it again and then stopping etc. Also, I haven’t met anyone who successfully quit any other way than cold turkey. For a non-smoker, I almost have more respect for the person that doesn’t yo-yo. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/25 "2014-04-25T21:36:55Z")
> [@butterfiles](#): > > Smokers, why do people that had stopped for years go back to it? Especially more than once or twice. I know someone who smokes a cigarette about every 2-3 hours, continued for most of a high risk pregnancy, and then actually quit in the last couple of months of pregnancy up to a couple of years. Then she went back full force. Then she quit more gently with the e-cigarette. Now back to it again. I think this has happened a few times for her. I guess I could understand if the quit period was only a couple of weeks or months. I have a harder time understanding not smoking for say two years and then going at it again and then stopping etc. Also, I haven’t met anyone who successfully quit any other way than cold turkey. For a non-smoker, I almost have more respect for the person that doesn’t yo-yo. Smoking is an addiction. Like any other addiction, the addict is at risk, at moments of weakness, of reverting to it. So far, I’ve avoided it, by the simple expedient of never having a smoke - not one. It is sort of like my uncle, who has a drinking problem. He’s been sober now for ten years, but it would be in bad taste to enjoy a glass of wine right in front of him, because he can never - not once - have a drink, for fear that he will go right back to drinking. The non-addict drinker can have a drink; the non-addict gambler can occasionally enjoy a flutter at cards; the non-addict potsmoker can smoke a joint one day with his buddies. The addict loses that luxury, because he or she cannot trust that he or she will maintain control, and _stop_ doing the activity in question. Some people forget this. They think “I’ve been a non-smoker for five years. Why not just this once?” But the ex-smoker is at serious risk if he or she even has a single cigarette - or at least, many are, and I include myself in that category. That is why many people “revert” even knowing the danger. ---
**Author:** ![Oukile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@Oukile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oukile)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/26 "2014-04-26T14:10:16Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Having actually quit smoking myself, I am a big believer in quitting “cold turkey”. > > I do not like your cutting down method. I think quitting would be hard, doing that. Here is why. > > Essentially, there are two mutually-reinforcing reasons people smoke: (1) physically, smoking gives you a kick - which, if you are addicted, is really a relief from the ever-present withdrawal symptoms or “cravings”; and (2) psychologically, you associate smoking with lots of good stuff - taking a break, kicking back, etc. - which you have made a part of your daily routine. > > Here’s the important part: the “cravings” are made out to be this terrible, horrible burden that the average person just can’t overcome. In my experience, this is just not true. In fact, of the two, the cravings are relatively _minor_ in and of themselves. If you just stop smoking, they mostly go away in a week or two. > > What makes quitting hard, is the _mental_ association between “having a smoke” and “taking a break”. The very thought of quitting, to me, was terrible, because in my mind it was like saying “I’ll never have another break”. That’s the key - I was afraid to quit, because it was like giving up the “having a break” thing _forever_. The fact that when you try to go longer between smoking, you get cravings, just reinforces this - so when you take that smoke, it’s a big relief! > > So I made up all sorts of bullshit excuses not to quit. One such excuse that I think many smokers go through is “well, quitting is too hard, I’ll just cut down some”. Of course, inevitably, as soon as I started going longer between smokes than I was used to, I got miserable (those withdrawal symptoms, or cravings, kicking in). Sooner or later, I was back to smoking as much as before. > > The only way, at least in my experience, to actually quit is to: (1) stop experiencing withdrawal symptoms; and (2) replace the mental notion of “having a break” with something other than a cigarette. The only way to do (1) is to simply stop using the drug long enough to get over having withdrawal - a miserable couple of weeks. Ways to do (2) vary. 😉 > > Gradually cutting down, by contrast, provides extended torment. You are still using the drug, so you never get over withdrawal - but you are using it less and less, so you experience withdrawal longer and longer between smokes. I could take two weeks of withdrawal, but I doubt anyone would enjoy two months of it. Ex-smoker too, and I did quit “cold turkey”. I agree with everything here. I spent a long time trying to adopt a very moderate smoking habit, say one cigarette a day. My experience is that there is, in term of addiction, very little difference between 3 and 20 cigarettes a day. I would describe it like this: when you smoke 20 cigarettes a day, you are in fact completely saturated in term of nicotine and “kick”. Smoking 3 cigarettes a day rather than 20 will, for all practical purpose, provide you with as much nicotine and even more satisfaction. Your friend might learn an important lesson from the cutting down method, which is that he need much less cigarettes than they thought. He might also learn control. This is good, but he is far from zero. By the way, I never experienced any craving after two weeks, but I experienced withdrawal from 3 months. I felt stressed and depressed but had no impulse to smoke. Funny. Ah ! Quitting smoking is hard. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/27 "2014-04-26T15:52:24Z")
I miss cigarettes. I don’t really miss smoking them, just taking a little break to go outside and have one. I don’t miss nicotine, because I am just as addicted as ever. I switched to nicotine gum. I couldn’t control myself with the mints and the patches make me break out. I’ve been substituting regular gum a lot more, but I still get those urges when nothing will work but a piece of the nicotine. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/28 "2014-04-26T15:53:58Z")
I have been trying to adapt myself to vaping the electronic cigs. A few too many hits on the vapor and I feel like a kid who smoked his first ciggerette. Dizzy, sick to my stomach etc, but I still want a real cig. I am down to about 10 real cigs a day now supplemented with the electronic. I have to agree cold turkey is by far the best method. ---
**Author:** ![Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fool\_in\_the\_Rain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fool_in_the_Rain)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/29 "2014-04-26T18:56:50Z")
Last year (April 12 to be exact) I had my last cigarette after smoking 26 years. I used the patch system for 10 weeks, and e-cigs for the first month. Haven’t looked back since, and I’m feeling better and better as time goes on. It was worth it ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/30 "2014-04-26T19:55:10Z")
I quit smoking on March 6 using vaping. I bought myself a vape with 6mg Nicotine e-liquid. Then I cut down to 0mg very quickly. I vaped with 0mg e-liquid until last weekend. I have not vaped at all since last Sunday. One of my classmates started vaping in September at 18mg Nicotine. She is now at 6mg. Another classmate started the same day I started but she started at 18mg. She is now at 11mg. Another classmate started a month after I did. He is still at 18mg. There’s only one smoker left in our class\*. We’ll get him too. 😃 - Respiratory Care class of 2015\* ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/31 "2014-04-26T20:33:02Z")
I tried my first e-cigarette since I quit recently. It’s a lot like smoking. I will not do it again, because if that option is not available for some reason, I suspect regular gum won’t be an option for me anymore. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2014, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/32 "2014-04-26T23:02:41Z")
> [@phouka](#): > > So noted. Thank you, sir. > > You wouldn’t happen to remember which region of the brain, if it’s killed, takes nicotine addiction with it, would you? Bugging me that I can’t remember. It’s the [Amygdala](http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Mental_Health_Letter/2011/July/how-addiction-hijacks-the-brain). The link addresses how addiction hijacks the brain. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/33 "2014-04-27T17:58:18Z")
If cutting down works for you, cut down. If quitting cold turkey works for you, quit cold turkey. Whatever works. I started in something like 1952, when I was 15. In 1965, I had a heart attack and spent 2 weeks in the hospital, where smoking wasn’t permitted. Then I went home but was confined to quarters and my wife certainly wasn’t going to get me cigarettes (and didn’t smoke herself). By the time I went out by myself, I hadn’t had a smoke for at least a month. I never picked up another cigarette. For maybe ten years, I would fantasize that I had discovered that I had only six months to live and I was going to spend those six months smoking. After that I lost all desire to smoke and now the whole idea is repulsive. In those days, there was no nicotine patches, no gum, no help whatever. But nowadays these things and others do exist. Use them! Whatever it takes, but stop. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/34 "2014-04-27T18:56:16Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > If cutting down works for you, cut down. If quitting cold turkey works for you, quit cold turkey. Whatever works… If you smoke, you can’t really know what works ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/35 "2014-04-27T20:40:14Z")
Then, one can try cold turkey, and if that doesn’t work try cutting down, and if that doesn’t work try substitution, and if that doesn’t work, find a way to try Hari’s method - the forced cold turkey, not necessarily the heart attack. I would definitely recommend trying different methods if one doesn’t work, rather than sticking with one that has failed because it is supposed to be the ‘right’ way. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/36 "2014-04-27T21:32:25Z")
I quit sixteen years ago. n I used the nicotine patch for two weeks. Every time the craving got difficult, I would calculate how many seconds it had been since I quit. After the first two weeks, the craving was more manageable. I don’t miss cigarettes, and they do not tempt me. I do miss the good cigars. I do know that if I caved in and smoked one of those wonderful Cohibas, I would be right back to square one ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/37 "2014-04-27T21:54:56Z")
> [@j666](#): > > I miss cigarettes. I don’t really miss smoking them, just taking a little break to go outside and have one. When I quit I substituted [Dum-Dums](http://www.dumdumpops.com/) for cigarettes. Every time I wanted a smoke I had a lolly 😃 Takes about the same amount of time. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/38 "2014-04-27T23:03:54Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > When I quit I substituted [Dum-Dums](http://www.dumdumpops.com/) for cigarettes. > Every time I wanted a smoke I had a lolly 😃 > Takes about the same amount of time. You went outside to have a lollipop? ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2014, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/39 "2014-04-27T23:37:00Z")
Sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2014, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852/40 "2014-04-28T03:38:19Z")
Huh. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking-is-hard/686852.md?page=3)