I was encouraged to join by a very lovely young lady. I have been off all forms of tobacco for almost 24 years. If it's okay with you fine folks, I'll share my story.
What worked for me may not work for everyone. This was in the day before nicotine patches, and things of that nature. Those who wanted to quit were pretty much on their own.
I was a 2 1/2 pack a day smoker, I had been a smoker since the age of 16. In 1985, at the age of 28, I needed to quit. The first problem was our kids. My wife was (and still is) a smoker, and with all of us and our smoking friends, a blue layer of smoke haze would form in our house. The kids were always having respiratory problems. I knew I had to quit for their sake. Going outside for a smoke wasn't really an option in the dead of winter in Michigan.
I had also started taking classes at the local community college. One of my classes was in a third floor classroom, and climbing the stairs was giving me chest pains.
The final straw came when my youngest son started having trouble breathing. We got him into the hospital, to find out he was having asthma attacks. The poor little guy was only about a year old. He was in the hospital, in an oxygen tent. I stayed by his side the whole time. Obviously, I couldn't smoke.
Ironically, his first day in the hospital was in November, the "Great American Smoke Out Day." I thought to myself, "Someone is trying to tell me something!" He was in the hospital for the whole weekend, and I didn't have one cigarette. When he got out, I made it a vow that I wouldn't smoke anymore.
Here's how I did it. Keep in mind, this method may not work for everyone. It's not easy, but it did work.
I bought a pack of Hall's cough drops. Every time I needed a cigarette, I had a Hall's instead. Unlike gum, those cough drops aren't "yummy," and they actually last almost as long as a cigarette. Even though I was not a menthol smoker, the menthol helped.
Here's the other secret... I took a retractable ball point pen, took it apart, took the ink container out, and used the hollow end of the casing for a "cigarette." I held it between my index and middle fingers like a cigarette, and puffed on it as needed. Sure, it looked stupid, but it really satisfied that fixation smokers develop between their fingers and their mouths. And, after a few weeks of being off the cigarettes, I was able to put it down.
Whatever you do, don't take up Skoal to try and quit. You'll quit cigarettes, but you'll be addicted to Skoal. Yeah, you'll eat a lot of Hall's cough drops, but, you won't be smoking, and eventually you'll be able to wean yourself off of those as well.
Good luck, all!
