# Quitting smoking **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 2, 2000, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking/27791 "2000-08-02T03:51:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking/27791/21 "2000-08-03T07:43:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pkbites \* > \*\*No big deal. Just stopped. Cold turkey. > > His doctor implored him to stop chewing. His response was that he didn’t care if they had to remove his entire jaw, he would never stop chewing because he loved it so much. Now THAT’S addiction!! \*\* > [@](#): > > \*\*\* Originally posted by Diver\* > > Not in my case. I used the smokeless stuff to help me quit smoking. Stopping the smokeless was much harder for me. Used it for several years, then when I stopped, I actually had what felt like withdrawal symptoms for three or four days on top of the strong craving. When I stopped smoking I just had strong cravings for a few days, then every few weeks I would get a renewed craving for a little while. \*\* JESUS CHRIST!!! I bow to the (now) obvious fact that addiction is really more serious than I have ever experienced or can even imagine. I don’t have whatever genetic makeup allows addiction, so when I quit smoking, I just quit and within 48 hours I didn’t think any more about it. And I chewed snuff too for a few months out on a construction site to see what the thrill was, but when I went back to civilization I just stopped. My apologies to all to whom I may have used the best of intentions to give bad advice. Maybe this is why I don’t drink or do drugs. I’m already brain-dead so they have no effect? But seriously, I CANNOT become addicted. I should give someone a blood sample for DNA analysis. Curing addiction would be a nice present for the next generation…er…can you be addicted to sex if you aren’t getting that much? I tried THAT a few times and I still get cravings!! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking/27791/22 "2000-08-03T13:19:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gatsby \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* > > \*\*A good woman is a good woman, but a good cigar is a smoke. > > -Walt Kelly \*\* > > And a woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke. > _-Rudyard Kipling_ > > \*\* The cartoonist who drew the Pogo comic strip. Another quote of his was in a Len Deighton book, attributed to a “subversive American cartoonist” 🙂 “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Hey, not a bad sig… ---
**Author:** ![shorin-ryu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shorin-ryu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shorin-ryu)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking/27791/23 "2000-08-03T17:01:32Z")
On Saturday it will be 6 years since I quit smoking. Yeah, it was hard. I kept a journal, which was really helpful–it gave me a place to obsess endlessly about how much I wanted a smoke (friends got real tired of listening to me). I sucked hard candy. I worked out, which was great because my body gave me feedback pretty quickly that quitting smoking was a great idea. It was amazing how much and how fast my endurance improved! And, before six months had passed, I hated cigarettes. I’m more sensitive to the smell than my friends who never smoked; won’t check out library books that smell like smoke. I’ve talked to other former smokers who feel the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Morgan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/0ea827/32.png) [@Morgan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking/27791/24 "2000-08-03T21:08:20Z")
I had been smoking for about 8 years before I quit. I did it by going out and bying myself a pipe. If you have never smoked a pipe, it is an ordeal. You need to pack and repack the tobacco, regulate the air flow, and continuously relight it. You really need both hands and cannot be doing anything else. Also, if you happen to be in your 20s and even a little self-aware, you will realize that you look ridiculous smoking a pipe. So, when you **really** need a smoke, (regardless of whether it is for the oral stimulation or the nicotine) you will sit yourself down, pull out your pipe and satisfy your craving. Otherwise, you will be too busy or too embarrassed to indulge. Eventually, I just stopped smoking all together because I was no longer addicted to nicotine, and I just couldn’t be bothered anymore. I don’t remember how long it took (probably about a year), but I found it an extremely easy and painless way to wean myself off tobacco. ---
**Author:** ![tcburnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@tcburnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tcburnett)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2000, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking/27791/25 "2000-08-03T21:42:38Z")
[http://communities.msn.com/FreedomFromTobaccoQuitSmokingNow&naventryid%3D227](http://communities.msn.com/FreedomFromTobaccoQuitSmokingNow&naventryid%3D227) ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2000, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking/27791/26 "2000-08-04T01:09:03Z")
[continued hijack] Pogo! [http://www.halhigdon.com/kelly/](http://www.halhigdon.com/kelly/) has a nicce essay. [http://www.okeswamp.com/General\_Info/Pogo\_and\_the\_Walt\_Kelly\_Museum/pogo\_and\_the\_walt\_kelly\_museum.html](http://www.okeswamp.com/General_Info/Pogo_and_the_Walt_Kelly_Museum/pogo_and_the_walt_kelly_museum.html) (if the board software doesn’t choke on the URL) is part of the Web page for the Okefenokee Swamp. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2000, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking/27791/27 "2000-08-04T01:15:30Z")
[Try this](http://www.okeswamp.com/General_Info/Pogo_and_the_Walt_Kelly_Museum/), and click the last item in the list, or [http://www.okeswamp.com/General\_Info/general\_info.html](http://www.okeswamp.com/General_Info/general_info.html) and follow the link all the way at the bottom. The full URL is too long. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quitting-smoking/27791.md?page=1)