After 17 years...

[Buffalo]

I owned a dental laboratory for 25 years & we manufactured partial denture frameworks. One of my customers was an Oral Surgeon in CO. that specialized in facial reconstruction. He seemed to specialize in very severe cases like people that tried to commit suicide by shooting themselves in the face with a shotgun (not much left) & survived but, a lot of his cases were caused by the oral use of tobacco. Seeing the results of the use of these products is enough to make almost anyone WANT to quit.



My own personal story was with cigarette use. I got a newspaper route when I turned 11, in Detroit. At the time of my first collection of money, I immediately went to the drug store & bought a pack of Parliments (recessed filter tip) for 35 cents. I smoked til I was 27.



One Saturday evening, I went to the wedding of a friend. At the time, I was smoking Marlboro's. It was a 2 pack wedding!!! Once in awhile, I would get packs that just didn't taste good & these were two of those packs. Sunday morning, I woke up, looked at was left of the second pack & remembered how bad they tasted & decided to quit (threw what was left in the garbage). It worked, for me, & I don't think that I'm such a strong person. If so, I would be a lot skinnier than I am.



Everytime I felt the desire for a cigarette, I would think about how lousy the last two packs tasted & the need would subside. If broccoli tastes bad, to you, it's easy not to eat broccoli. At the time, I was going to the bar 7 nights a week & drinking with my friends, who all smoked. In the beginning, it was a bit hard but, fortunately, I got over it.



I'm almost 64, now, & have never regretted quitting. Not too many people regret quitting but, a lot sure do regret starting!!!



If I wanted to quit, today, I think I would use the cost & health factor of tobacco use to help in the fight. I know that there is not too much worse than a recovering smoker, chewer, drinker etc, trying to preach about not doing what you enjoy doing. Good luck with your efforts at quitting!!!



Joe F.

 

[Wingate]

Just wondering how its going?... Still "on the wagon?"

 

[DValentine]

16 days and counting. Not as bad on the nic-fits. But I still have cravings much of the time. I am chewing lots of gum. Trying to cut back on the candy.

Thanks for the support and conversation.

Dave

 

[GHarman]

Hang in there, Dave!!! Soon, you'll not even miss it! GregH

 

[RByrum]

After 19 yrs chewin I quit cold turkey and unplanned. I noticed habit of constantly reaching into my pocket for my chew. Took me 6 mos. to overcome that reaching habit. I think reaching for it was an action I must have enjoyed.

 

[SRath]

Don't apply there

Anti-smoke laws are to protect innocent people from being exposed to other's tobacco smoke. Imagine someone in your family working in, a restaurant that allows smoking and is exposed to cigarette smoke for years and years. Your family member is a non-smoker and takes good care of their health, and yet they have to expose themselves to your toxic smoke in order to make a living.

You can smoke all you want as long as it doesn't affect other folks.

I call that Freedom.

And after 17 years of a tobacco habit, kicking it is also Freedom. Good job!

GulDam

When a person applies for a job at a bar that allows smoking, they know full well what the environment is. That same idiotic logic could be used to say "banning alcohol at a bar will protect employees from dangerous drunks, loud patrons, bad jokes, and sob stories; as well as from becoming an alcoholic themselves. "

FREEDOM is where the bar owner has always had the RIGHT to make his establishment smoke-free and does so by CHOICE.

When the government TELLS him what to do, they TAKE Freedom away.

It doesn't get any simpler than that.

If people don't like smoke, they should find a smoke-free bar and stay out of bars that allow it. More Freedom of Choice right there. Let the bar owner decide based on his own preferences and the market. I guarantee you there has been a huge loss in income to bar owners and employees since the ban here was put in place by our nazi liberal legislature and governor.

This despite the HUGE amounts of money the owners have since spent for outdoor "beer gardens" to try to attract some of their smoking patrons back. It doesn't work. Thirty below zero is thirty below zero and I'm not going outside to have a smoke with my beer. Not only is it cheaper to buy my beer at the store and drink it at home, I have NO stinkin' liberals telling me what to do.

As has been said here: I have to WANT to quit and will only quit when I decide to. These laws are all about Power seizure and control. I can't wait for the fat libtards that voted for those idiots to find their Twinkies and Pepsi Colas carrying a "fat tax". Once you allow politicians to use taxation as a weapon, there is no stopping it, or where they will take it. Once they start legislating based on "You are too stupid to know what's good for you. " you end up with, well, what we have now... Socialized Healthcontrol for everyone but themselves.

Liberals hate Liberty.

 

[guldam]

SRath,
You may poison your body anyway you see fit. For all I care you could do hard drugs, sniff glue or huff spray paint from a paper bag, or wrap your lips around an exhaust pipe. I don't care how you rot your brain, poison your lungs or fill your gut with toxins. That does not concern me. But if your habit affects me or innocent children or other adults in a negative way that threatens our health then I think you need to change your behavior either by choice or by law.

Second hand smoke is proven to be dangerous to folks who aren't smoking that tobacco with you. Sometimes people work a job such as waiter/waitress, bar tender, etc not because they want to breath your tobacco smoke but because they need to make a living. Not everyone has a choice of where they work. But they should have the right of breathing fresh air in their place of employment. That sir is Freedom. You can go outside and away from others and smoke your tobacco, or better yet take your nicotine in pill form or as a suppository. But if someone works in a restaurant that allows smoking then they have NO Choice. That is wrong.

I recall flying to Europe, Asia and Hawaii as a child and at that time they allowed smoking on airplanes. There was no avoiding breathing that smoke, and I recall the cabins being thick with the stench of tobacco. Airline employees had no way of avoiding that smoke, and thus NO Choice. I also recall playing drums in a band in local bars for a decade in the 80's. All those bars allowed smoking. All I wanted to do was play music, and this was one of the few venues I could practice my art. I hated the smoke. I can open my drum cases that haven't seen a bar in over ten years and that old tobacco stench wafts out just like I'd played in a bar a week before.

Both my Mother and Father smoked cigarettes in the house when I grew up. I still remember waking up to that stench in the morning. And when my father was diagnosed with lung cancer at 50 years old, he finally put down his pipe. And a year and day later when he finally succumbed to the disease that moved from his lungs to his other organs and then his brain, my Mom smoked her last cigarette. She says that after over twenty years, she still occasionally craves a smoke. It's in her DNA now. As a child, I had no choice to avoid that smoke. And all over the world today, innocent children have no choice. That is wrong. But you the smoker cries about their rights. Give me a break.

To this day I wonder how much exposure to tobacco smoke contributed to my asthma, and my own bout of cancer and the myriad allergies I suffer. I have never smoked tobacco, but I have been exposed to it for many, many years. These days I break out in hives after just a few minutes exposure, and then my asthma kicks in and I feel like I'm breathing through a straw.

I guess I'm just selfish to want to breath fresh air when I am in a public place such as a restaurant, a bar, a stadium, in line for a movie or my ferry ride home.

Then again, the cost to us as a society to pay for those who cannot afford health insurance, but have smoked their whole lives, and then linger on with a horrible cancer is enormous. The cost to those of us needlessly exposed to your poison is enormous.

This is not a liberal or conservative issue, rather it is a human issue. One day, perhaps you'll understand. Of course it will probably be the day that the doctor tells you that you have a lung, throat or mouth cancer caused by years of smoking tobacco. Good luck, chemo and radiation treatment, and the never ending worry of the disease coming back really sucks.

Dave, sorry about hijacking your thread. Good job on quitting the habit! This is a good fight.

GulDam

When a person applies for a job at a bar that allows smoking, they know full well what the environment is. That same idiotic logic could be used to say "banning alcohol at a bar will protect employees from dangerous drunks, loud patrons, bad jokes, and sob stories; as well as from becoming an alcoholic themselves. "

FREEDOM is where the bar owner has always had the RIGHT to make his establishment smoke-free and does so by CHOICE.

When the government TELLS him what to do, they TAKE Freedom away.

It doesn't get any simpler than that.

If people don't like smoke, they should find a smoke-free bar and stay out of bars that allow it. More Freedom of Choice right there. Let the bar owner decide based on his own preferences and the market. I guarantee you there has been a huge loss in income to bar owners and employees since the ban here was put in place by our nazi liberal legislature and governor.

This despite the HUGE amounts of money the owners have since spent for outdoor "beer gardens" to try to attract some of their smoking patrons back. It doesn't work. Thirty below zero is thirty below zero and I'm not going outside to have a smoke with my beer. Not only is it cheaper to buy my beer at the store and drink it at home, I have NO stinkin' liberals telling me what to do.

As has been said here: I have to WANT to quit and will only quit when I decide to. These laws are all about Power seizure and control. I can't wait for the fat libtards that voted for those idiots to find their Twinkies and Pepsi Colas carrying a "fat tax". Once you allow politicians to use taxation as a weapon, there is no stopping it, or where they will take it. Once they start legislating based on "You are too stupid to know what's good for you. " you end up with, well, what we have now... Socialized Healthcontrol for everyone but themselves.

Liberals hate Liberty.

 

[Wingate]

16 days and counting. Not as bad on the nic-fits. But I still have cravings much of the time. I am chewing lots of gum. Trying to cut back on the candy.



Thanks for the support and conversation.



Dave

Oh... . one very important thing...



If you drink on occasion... DON'T DO IT!!!... not sure aobut you, but if I had a beer in my hand, I had a "pinch between my cheek and gum" The two just seemed to go together... . Its only been recently that I have been able to drink a beer without wanting some "Fresh Cope!!"

Once again... good luck!

 

[SRath]

guldam, Children and childish people like yourself should simply not enter adult establishments like bars that allow smoking. Go to a Dairy Queen and keep your snooty whining to yourself and OUT of my business.

 

[DValentine]

21 Days today. No more dreams about putting an nice fresh chew in, later to wake up and really wonder if it happened or not.

Yeah I understand Windgate. I have thought about not having a beer. I have found that driving long distances is another tough one.

Thanks again guys,

Dave

 

[DValentine]

In the middle of my sixth week. Still a battle when driving.

 

[Flexiheep]

Congrats, always good to hear about successes.

I don't chew, or smoke more than an occasional cigar, but jerky is always good for long drives for me, gum seems like too much work, and I get tired of the sweetness.

Keep it up!

 

[DValentine]

Thanks.
I am chewing gum like a man on a mission.
The wife can't believe that I have quit.
It can be done.


Dave

 

[kenny61]

I quit the day after Christmas cheated once or twice back in Jan / Feb I dont even think about it anymore... (well not a lot anyway )

 

[Wingate]

Well, how are things going?... The urges still hit every once awhile... but they pass quickly...

I have become a GUM connoisseur!...

 

[SHobbs]

I quit over three years ago after ten years of dipping. I was sitting at home when I ran out and was too lazy to go get more. Just quit cold turkey and never looked back.

 

[Dieselnut59]

I chewed Skoal in high school and did it for about 6 years then switched to Red Man. I did that for another 2 or so years. I quit cold turkey for several reasons. The biggest one is I am really anal about keeping my teeth nice looking. I love going out dancing and one of the first things people notice is your smile. Having tobacco stains on your teeth (or the disgusting smell of cigarette smoke on your breath, hair, clothes) is a huge turn off. I have never known someone to refuse a dance or date with someone because they do not smoke or chew, but I know many people who will do just that when a smoker/chewer comes up to them in a dancehall.

The hardest part for me when quitting was while in the truck. I always had my spit bottle and tobacco handy in the truck. I calmed the cravings by chewing on toothpicks, which I still do to this day.

I am all in favor of the smoking bans and the majority of smokers I know have no problem with it either, as they do not want to breathe secondhand smoke all night long either. It has made going out dancing much more enjoyable for everyone. One dance hall has a separate smokers aquarium inside, with its own ventilation system. That is the ideal way to allow the drug addicts to still enjoy their habit inside, yet not force the rest of us to breathe their stinkin smoke. Everyone I have talked to at that place loves the setup. it was done voluntarily, by the owners because they wanted to please everyone. The place was disgustingly smoky before and they wanted to please the majority of their patrons without running off the third or so that choose to smoke.

Having a "smoking section" and "non smoking" section in a restaurant or dance club is like having a p1ssing and non p1ssing section in a swimming pool! I am not a fan of more government and more laws, but when it involves public health, such as smoking inside an enclosed space does, it makes sense to do the right thing and allow the majority of the population, who do not smoke, right to breathe clean air, while giving the drug addicts the option of going out on a patio or to a separate room to enjoy their nasty habit.

Again, congratulations on quitting your tobacco addiction. It is not easy but it IS highly rewarding!

 

[DennyDay]

Quit smokin' ten years ago this month for the second time. First time it was almost two years, when I ran into an old buddy sitting in a Texas bar sucking on a Pall Mall, my brand, said something nasty about him still smoking, two beers later I bummed one, half an hour later bought a pack from the machine and was hooked again. Stopped on the way home and bought a carton. Six years later I quit again, it was tough, but when I walked into a store in New York State to buy a carton and the guy said $54. 00 I decided it was time again and after a month I never looked back. Did I smoke? Yep - - three to four packs a day depending to the legnth of the work day.



Good luck YOU CAN DO IT!