Reply With Quote24 years in May since I quit
30 years and 1 day since I quit smoking when I brought forward the New Year resolution to Boxing Day ... now over 60 watches purchased later (haven't kept them all ... ) I think how much ££ I would have spent on cigarettes if I'd continued smoking. Quitting was a lot easier than anticipated ... I'd planned giving up 2 months prior and during that time concentrated on 1st January and all the reasons why I needed to quit ... in effect I brainwashed myself every day for 2 months with auto-suggestion ... no patches required. Quitting was the best decision 'ever ever'.
dunk
"Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"
24 years in May since I quit
For me is 15 years since last cigarette.
I dont keep count of how long ago it was, i quit on a random Sunday and i dont even remember the year. Must be 12 - 13 years ago.
Every day i wake up and deeply regret that i ever started.
It was all peer pressure, i was too weak at the time to tell 3 friends to F off
For me, 30 yrs on New Year's Day! Your posting is a great reminder, thanks.
I smoked at least 35 Marlboro cigarettes/day. Mind you, that was when I was teaching and I didn't smoke during the lessons (Smoking during school hours was not prohibited in those days, btw). And during holidays, I easily hit 40 - 45 cigarettes/day. It's unbelievable when I write this down in this day and age.
I quitted on the traditional day of Jan 1st. and I remember driving to my parents around noon on Jan 2nd. I was listening to the radio and I heard a psychologist(?) tell that the urge of lighting up a cigarette (nicotine addiction) is only 3x24hr a problem. After that, the physical urge to smoke has gone. From there on, it's only in one's mind. I remember thinking: "I'm halfway: 1.5 days. After that, the idea of getting another cigarette is just an illusion!"
I never touched another cigarette again.
Oh, I remember that the money I saved in the first year was used to buy a Bang & Olufsen tv!
M
Last edited by thieuster; 27th December 2021 at 14:46.
^^^ On a busy day in the office working up to 10 hours/day I could smoke 60 ... including the cigs smoked at home. I'd likely not have survived if I had not quit. In present day values quitting would be the equivalent of giving myself a minimum £7K / annum pay rise ... and up to £10K with a persistent 60 /day habit. That's c £200K minimum not spent on cigarettes over 30 years.
dunk
Last edited by sundial; 27th December 2021 at 15:08.
"Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"
Stopped fags way back in 1991 then smoked cigars a couple a day but a few more when in the pub. When the smoking ban came in that was it, not touched one since 2007
Around 26 years since we both quit, must have saved a huge amount of money although I think that due to rising prices it would have happened sometime anyway, tight git me. I sometimes wonder how much smoking contributed to me having COPD and how much 30 years underground working in the coal industry caused though.
Never liked, or smoked cigarettes. Vile, pointless chemical-filled crap.
But hell will freeze over before I give up my pipe or cigars.
The fact that you managed to quit both smoking and working underground is a great achievement to be proud of.
"Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"
All titty bottle soothers ;)Originally Posted by draftsmann
"Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"
If I remember correctly about 13 years ago, never smoked a great deal anyway, then it was when going abroad on holiday, get the allowed fags from duty free, smoke them on holiday and that was it, the last time I continued smoking when I got back home, not sure what made me quit it just happened.
It will be 2 years on the 8th Jan for me.
32 years in February. I smoked from 14yo, at my peak I was on 60 a day. If I had continued smoking I would probably be dead or in a terrible state of health by now.
Smoked 6 years. Quit 6 years. Smoked again 3 years. Quit 3 years. Smoked again 1 year. Now quit again for 7 months. This is so hard from time to time…
29 years in June. Stopped on my 30th birthday in Dublin. Not touched one since. Missed it for a long time. Now I never think about it.
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Started smoking aged 11 in 1964 and gave up 50 years later in 2014 aged 61.
scooter
I started smoking at 14 and quit at 28 because I had been smoking half my life. Now I'm 52 I'm so glad I quit. My brother still smokes and though he's only 2 years older looks about 10 years older!
I went from 30 fags a day to zero about 6 years ago- best thing I ever did……and it was far easier to do than I anticipated- no patches or chewing gum - just decided
enough was enough.
The fishing syndicate that I was a member of had 3 heavy smokers- all 3 are now dead, 1 had a heart attack, 2 got cancer. Not good statistics. I found it very upsetting, they all had lots to live for, such a waste of life.
I smoked from 16-25.
I remember feeling really low about not being able to give up, I didn’t have much money at the time and the little I did have spare went on smoking which angered me.
Read the Allen Carr book (not the comedian) , and haven’t smoked since , will be 41 in March.
Huge praise from me for anyone on this thread who had quit.
Ironically I always wanted to smoke but couldn't ever get into it. Which in hindsight was very lucky.
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Yep- dummies for grown men. Still, my means of tobacco consumption are pleasanter and less harmful than fags.
Never seen the appeal of smoking anything really.
Dying of lung disease and wasting thousands of pounds on smelling like an old ashtray doesn't seem that exciting...
I have smoked the odd cigar, but wouldn't make a habit of it.
M
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Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
A former GF contacted me two days ago ... We split up 20 years ago partly because she smokes and I could not tolerate the smell of her stale tobacco breath when she'd been smoking heavily ... she contacted me to say she's been coughing blood ... she's also diabetic and does little to help herself ref diet. Further news awaited ref her respiratory problems. She's a former district nurse. She smokes roll-ups.
"Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"
Great book! Quit after it also and highly recommended.
I didn't know the English phrase for these.She smokes roll-ups.
About 10 yrs ago I had a heart attack and the first thing the medics in the hospital asked: "Do you smoke?" At that time, I hadn't smoked in 20 yrs. so I told them "Not for 20 yrs!" They replied with: "Good, your chance of survival has just gone up with 50%."
About 18 years for me. Finally getting to the point where I don't miss it.
Also, I think I'm now up to about 500 days without alcohol. It's taken me about 30 years.
31 years, we both gave up on the day we learned Mrs L was pregnant with our first child
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Well done all, amazing that people still smoke these days but seems to be very much a minority now.
21 years for me. I started at 13 through peer pressure. Ten Sovereign and a book of matches were 9 1/2p a day back then and could be funded from my school dinner money. As a working adult I usually was smoking 20-25 a day, but peaked at 40 a day. I was still fit as a butcher's dog and could outrun most people, but come my late 20's I contracted asthma. It should have been a clue to give up, but I was so addicted that nothing worked, or if I did give up I would start again 6 months later. Sometimes I had to use my inhaler to finish the cigarette I had lit. Later I was my Dad's carer, him terminally ill with lung cancer; another long term smoker with a peak of up to 80 a day Capstan full strength or Woodbines.
In the end I was buying my cigs from Spain in batches of 1,000. The first lot got through the customs, but the second were seized, and I decided that the government were getting no more in tax from me from a habit that was slowly killing me. After all the difficulties of giving up previously this time it was a breeze. I didn't even feel any cold turkey. The first thing I noticed was that I still had money in my pocket at the end of the week, whereas I had been living from pay packet to pay packet; a feeling that I hated. I still have the asthma, and I am heavier but much better off financially, but when anyone lights a cig near me I cough my lungs up. It has become a really bad trigger for my asthma, much worse than before.
If I get the opportunity I will chat to youngsters, who are smoking, about my experience. I do it in a gentle way. There is no sense in preaching. It wouldn't have worked on me. Young women are the easiest as I tell them how female smokers of my age and younger look so much older from the effects of smoking. Not so gentle perhaps!
Thing is all you guys who quit smoking think you're saving money but it is costing you money. The good news is that money it costs you will be spent in the pursuit of living costs over a longer lifespan :)
I quit 6 years ago by going onto vapes and then quit vapes around 3 years ago.
"Well they would say that ... wouldn't they!"
Stopped Monday 5th January 2004. Can never understand people that decide it’ll be a new years resolution and they stub out the last fag just before midnight. I celebrated the new year, got the weekend out the way then stopped on the Monday. I liked a pint then but never touched a drop or went into a pub for 6 weeks, was bricking it when I had that first pint, all was good though and haven’t touched one since.
When you put it like that!
I did the cold turkey route 20 some years ago this New Year’s Day after a very heavy festive period’s “socialising”. My circle of friends and family all gave up before or after. One friend only gave up a few years ago and still persists with an e-cigarette.
An old boss of mine didn't quit when he had his first heart attack. He didn't quit when he had his second heart attack. He did quit, however, when he was diagnosed with lung cancer (operable, and in remission). I feel he might have been better quitting sooner.
My now wife only accepted my marriage proposal on condition I give up. 22 years and still very grateful.
Congrats to all who have given up, I know it’s not a simple thing!!
I’ve never smoked myself but my wife used to and tried many things over multiple years to try and stop, but nothing worked until she read the Allen Carr book.
It’ll be 17 years on the 24th April since I went 60 to 0 cold turkey. I was absolutely nauseous for a week, on edge for a month and I also put on 35lb in 4 months. I haven’t had a ciggie since and lost the weight within 2 years. One of the best decisions of my life!
I’ve never tried one, I think the smell of smoke constantly in my house growing up put me off.
My Da smoked from the age of 9 and gave up aged about 70. Smoked 60-80 a day as far as my memory goes back, so certainly 35 years or so. He’s miraculously still alive (79 now) and has relatively few health problems
My folks gave up smoking in the late 80's - I never started.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
In today's BBC news,..
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59806562
Gave up 16x17 years ago, and rarely drink. If only quitting snacks/chocolate was as easy.
Oddly, though, some of the most vehement anti-smokers I've known have also grown up in heavy smoking homes.
M
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Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
18 months since I quit.......... which turned out to be a massive mistake
Apparently the smoking was keeping my immune system surpressed, so when I quit my immune system went mental and decided there were parts of my body that were no longer required
But for anyone thinking of quitting - I am a rare case, so don't let my experience put you off. Quit it and a buy yourself a Rolex with the money you've saved.
True! Exactly my experience. How strange. I'm 'strong' enough to stop smoking, but when it comes to chocolate... and something you don't have in the UK: drop.
Salted liquorice? Nice.True! Exactly my experience. How strange. I'm 'strong' enough to stop smoking, but when it comes to chocolate... and something you don't have in the UK: drop.
Drop zout, nee "Danger zone!"True! Exactly my experience. How strange. I'm 'strong' enough to stop smoking, but when it comes to chocolate... and something you don't have in the UK: drop.
David
Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations
20 years ago for me.
I actually don't regret smoking really, it was the thing with the people I knew at the time and they were good times, and actually I enjoyed it.
I was young and fit, with no kids or anything like that, so it didn't really impact me too much.
But one day I decided enough was enough, picked a date and stuck to it...no patches or any of that malarkey, and that was that.
I can fully relate to that. Smoked from 20 to 40 years old, really enjoyed it especially with a pint. Gave up suddenly 16 years ago, like you with no patches or gum or anything.
I am now a fully paid up member of the hypocritical ex smokers club though, hate the smell of ciggies. So basically, I don't regret smoking, it was part of who I was, the scene I was in etc. But very happy I gave up and I know my health and fitness would be very different now if I hadn't.
anyone noticed smoking is even more prevalent in films and tv series in recent years? was watching a new series lately that had a branded packed of cigarette's in it!. Couldn't believe it! and Greg Davies series "the cleaner" has him vaping throughout..
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