Tobacco and Its Concequences

[cr8crshr]

I finally got the Elephant off of my chest last week. Earlier in my youth I used to smoke. I gave it up 8 years ago but between starting at 14 and quitting at 58 all those years finally took their toll and left its mark. Couple that with the 34 years of flying as a Loadmaster and all, I have developed some really bad breathing issues. Turns out it is COPD. Not full blown but enough that it has cost me. Doc last week put me on Spiriva Inhaler and the results are amazing. No more short windiness, no hacking up "LOOGIES" or Lung Butter as it were, and finally some decent nights rest for a change. So to all my Friends and acquaintances here on FBBO, I urge you to quit the habit if you still do smoke. It's a tough one to ween ones self from but the benefits of not smoking far outweigh eventual costs in both dollars and in health issues. Doesn't matter if it's Cigarettes, or Pipes, or even Cigars. The smoking habit will always have its consequences no matter what. Thanks for the platform to share this, But I firmly do believe that without Tobacco in this World, we would all be a Hell of a lot healthier....cr8crshr/Tuck

 

[krowbar]

I agree. I've been mulling around quitting for a while now. Starting to FEEL winded at times. It's a Damned bad habit and a Damned hard one to quit. I've smoked for 21 years. Quit for 9 months once - Cold Turkey. Glad to here of your success.

 

[MikeyT]

Gave it up 7 years ago! It is hard, but well worth it! I am not sure how I could afford it now, pretty pricey! I gree it was one of the best choices I made!
Mikey

 

[1969CoronetR/T]

I gave it up 10 years ago when my older brother had open heart surgery. I started running in place of smoking and my blood pressure is 96/58 with a resting heart rate of 45 bpm. Take your time and get healthy for the ones that love you.

 

[Dennis H]

Quit in 1985. Cold Turkey. Without the patches, gum and other over-rated crap. Don't need it. I carried an open pack of Camel Filters around at all times for a year and a half in my shirt pocket. I could always pat them, and put it off. No panic being without smokes. Going around throwing away cigs, lighters, and ash trays is baloney. I still enjoy having an ash tray (unused) on the Bar. With the awareness today and being treated like a second class citizen is not enough to make you quit, then noting will.

 

[Budnicks]

Tobacco of any kind is a damn nasty habit, glad I didn't do for very long,
I started smoking Swisher Sweet cigars especially while golfing, trying not to inhale,
to help stop a nasty habit of Kodiak chewing tobacco {10 years}, that I started in HS,
started smoking Marlboro cigarettes {maybe 5 years a couple packs a week},
shortly afterwards, I quit it because it was disgusting habit...

Pretty Much stopped one day, cold turkey, crumpled up a new pack of "fags" &
threw it in the bed of my truck...
That was probably 25-30 years ago {?}

I must admit I do still smoke a good cigar "maybe once a year" & only on special occasions,
with some nice Bourbon/Whiskey, it's not an addiction now...
{IMO boozers are just as bad, if not worse}

I sure the hell don't miss tobacco, some people that have a compulsive personality,
have a far harder time quitting & coping...

Some will only quit when they die or because of a health crisis...

As much as I don't like or condone it...
I'm really not all that judgmental of those that still partake, as long as it doesn't effect me or kids etc.
IMO it's their body & it's their life, I try not to impose my believes/values on them,
no matter if they are doing something nasty, unhealthy or not....

 

[steve from staten island]

Im happy for anyone who beats that addiction. Nothing good came from tobacco use

 

[70beeper]

Good to hear all of you quit. It's a bad habit, I'm glad I never started.

 

[Bladecutter]

Yep...it's a love/hate thing with me....i've quit 3 times for extended periods of time, last was 4 1/2 years....i've run a good gauntlet with substance issues...tobacco is the one that the crave never dies....started again again summer 2013. immediately was knocking over a pack a day...last few months i've got it down to a half pack a day.....there are times that i DO enjoy and when locked into work hard is when i want to smoke...try to offset with reefer, but just not the same.....i've never hacked green...i know ex-smokers that said they hacked up for a year after...glad it's not so with me...eventually i will quit again...but when You quit. You have to quit..no weening, screw all the gums and other nic products. and smokless is ....just stupid. July 14th will be my 24th anniversary quitting alchohol....and my feeling about drink....the very worst poison of all.. the only substance i ever did that robbed my Soul...Blackouts....when One becomes something else entirely. cocaine, speed' as psychotic as that can get. i still never misplaced myself, my awareness. Reefer never caused me to set myself up for a fall, i never f-ed anbody elses life because i was doing it....Screw A/A they insist You admit you are powerless over alchohol....stoopid....it doesn't matter how many changes people are going through to help You....it's not going to happen until You WANT to leave it...knowing that it's f-in You up is not enough. You have to come to grips and WANT no more...until then, one may quit and be a dry drunk..but if the desire can't be put off...they will resume @ some date. The biggest test of my sobreity came in 2009-2010, when my Soulmate, DanaToo developed nasal cancer. 17 year partnership.....Racer Dog...if it moved, She was getting on....i was ready to throw myself in front of a car, but i was not going to drown in a bottle and be in a fog...i had to stay in Direct Touch with the pain....and babee, except for my Mom, the hardest time i have ever endured....so i know from Dana's loss. i will never drink another drop, unless somebody waterboards me with it. All substance issues in my life, except for weed & tobacco are out of my orbit for good. and i only need to quit one of the two left

I have to go with Budnicks attitude though, being an anti smoking nazi is BS. In light of how terminal things look now, time to stop bitching and try to enjoy what's left, and do in the service of others who fall.....the world is out of control and nobody knows which way is up anymore. in the 60's republicans were pretty much pro govt.....today the majority are paranoid of govt....AS THEY SHOULD BE....i've never been pro-govt. and unfortunately, my reasons why are being proven as i type.....so if You like to smoke, don't be badgered by what somebody else thinks...if You smoke but DON'T like it, then QUIT.

 

[747mopar]

Yeah Tobacco has kicked my but for years, being short winded and stinking around the kids just wasn't cutting it. I gave it up but thought I could still enjoy a Cigar with a drink............ yeah right, you either quit or you don't there's no middle ground at least with me.

 

[Dennis H]

The self-righteous ex smokers kill me. I kind of enjoy being down wind of a smoke on limited basis. Talk about no tolerance, some act like fools if there is a smoker IN SIGHT! I used the Skoal Bandits to hold me over to the next smioke stop when motorcycling. I miss those.

 

[Richard Cranium]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJcKxlKsAy4

 

[Moparsmitty]

Good to hear that the inhaler is working well for you Tuck. You probably started smoking in high school like I did, but once I joined the Air Force I really hit it hard. I was smoking 2-3 packs a day. Of course back then the smokes were 21 cents a pack at the PX. I quit as soon as I discharged and never smoked again. The weird thing is that I sometimes dream that I'm sitting in a bar drinking whiskey and smoking and I get that same old feeling. I guess that it's true that nicotine is the most addictive substance that there is.

 

[Cranky]

I tired smoking when I got into the military but it made me sick each time I smoked (cigars don't but my sinus will kill me for the next several days). Mom and dad smoked and I remember being really stuffy feeling all the time and I seemed to always have a snotty nose. No sure if it triggered it but I've suffered from allergies all my life and so has my sister and just being around it messes me up and it (allergy attack) lasts for days. It was hard to go any place where smoking was allowed but if I drank, I could handle it but paid the price the next day in more ways than one. Most of my uncles and aunts were (key word) smokers until the very end. Some made it to their late 80's but not without dragging a bottle of air with them. An uncle lost a lung and quit cold turkey but lost the other lung several years later. I'm not a smoking NAZI but no one will smoke in my home or in my shop. In public, I will just move on and not say a word but if I was there first, I will assume it's ok if I fart if you smoke next to me I just wish smokers would do extensive research on what's in a cig and then decide if it's really worth inhaling that stuff when they read up on what the chemicals are and what they convert to when burned and inhaled.

 

[1969CoronetR/T]

The guy who rebuilt my engine smoked in his shop with two other employees (three out of three smokers) and my car absolutely stinks like cigarettes as it sat in his smoke shop for four months. I would go check on my Coronet and my clothes would stink. I did not realize that the cars interior would stink until I got it home. Four packs of 'fresh cab rodent repellent' to combat the smell and now all is fine. It has a nice woodsy smell.

 

[SteveSS]

The hardest part fo me was when I drank I would smoke. I used replacement behavior. If I wanted to smoke I just ordered another drink and it killed the habit. Also a friend told me he quit and I thought if he could do it so could I. Turns out he didn't quit but i did.

 

[Darius]

I smoked but not heavy for maybe 15-18 years. I would work in the cabinet shop all day and not smoke because of the fire hazzard ,then light up on the way home....how dumb was that?? So I just quit! I can go party this weekend and smoke a pack of Marlboros and the next day not even have any kind of urge. So once in a while I have a smoke. It is not a habit for me though, I don't think I have had a smoke in the past year.

 

[ws23jrt]

I'm a soon to be ex smoker and appreciate this thread.

I was wondering what you folks thought about the "vaping ?" thing. It seems to be catching on in a big way. I see the health Nazi mom's coming out soon and am wondering what's taking them so long.

BTW I have no intention of partaking as a way to help me off cigs. I do however see it as a way to ingest almost anything in an efficient manor.

 

[Roger63]

I tried the vapor the last time I tried quitting, it made me cough violently lol. My moto is I haven't quit quitting, seriously there are other substances that are more addictive than nicotine. I just like smoking , there was a cigarette out years ago that had no nicotine in it I loved those but it didn't catch on

 

[Dennis H]

There is no replacement for nicotine. Just gotta quit. No gum, no candy...will give the satisfaction of exhaling through the nose. I still miss it.