Yet another way to quit smoking…

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I found this article (Man Eats 200 Cigarettes to Quit Smoking) and could never imagine quitting like this. Whatever works is the bottom line I suppose.

Man Eats 200 Cigarettes to Quit Smoking

By Ashley Neglia

Some people choose the patch. Others the gum. Not Richie Magic. To kick his 40-year smoking habit, he put out 200 lit cigarettes on his tongue and then chewed them to ensure they were fully extinguished.

In just 6 minutes and 3.7 seconds, Magic, 53, set a world record for "orally extinguishing, chewing and expelling" one carton of cigarettes, Dr. David Adamovich, president of the Record Holders Republic, told the New York Daily News.

"I got pretty bad blisters," says the Scarsdale, N.Y. native. "After I finished I definitely felt dizzy... I was gagging. It was horrible, but I didn't want to leave to go to the hospital."

World record rules only permitted Magic to extinguish five cigarettes on his tongue at a time. However, there was no limit to how many he could have inside his mouth. Since he had to chew the cigarettes to make sure they were fully extinguished, at one point he had 40 or 50 in his mouth.

For Magic, though, it wasn't about himself, the pain or even the world record. It was for the kids.

After retiring from a 26-year career as a Westchester County correction officer, Magic legally changed his last name and became a master magician, a hobby he had been toying with since he was 10 years old. As a result, his new vocation found him surrounded by kids, some of whom look up to him. He didn't want to pass his habit onto anyone else, especially children, so he decided to quit smoking and get his message out loud and clear.

"I came up with the idea to tell [kids] how disgusting it was, for me to say that your mouth is going to taste, smell and feel like a human ashtray," he says. By Magic's count, nearly 100 children and teenagers attended the August 29 event. "After 20 or 30 [cigarettes], I started to feel like I was gagging. I was just staring at the little kids and [wanted to] yell at them, 'This is for you!'"

"I'm not smoking," Jennifer Mitchinson, 9, of England, vowed after watching Magic's act, according to the Daily News.

"I'm still ecstatic. I'm so hyped up with adrenaline. I’m so happy that I helped a lot of kids," he says. "They looked at me like a hero."

In the past, Magic hadn't really committed to kicking his two to three pack a day habit. "I chewed the gum, and I smoked with it and got really dizzy," he says. "I guess I wasn't ready."

Even though Magic admits he wasn't concerned with his own welfare, a medical doctor was on-hand to take his pulse and check his mouth while he was performing the stunt. "There were burn marks and blistering, but he wasn't that concerned about it," he says.

Two days later, the blistering in Magic's mouth still hadn't subsided, making it painful for him to talk. The only treatment he's used to assuage his throbbing mouth is gargling with salt water. "I'm going to survive," he says. "But I can never smoke another cigarette. I can't let these kids down. It was so worth it."