My gradual quit

Further to my last post about planning to quit, I bought 3 different extra mild brands so far, and found to my surprise I am not smoking more or craving more. They are just fine since the main thing I like is lighting them, and they have about 1/3 of the tar of my brand. They are also shorter, since I was wasting the ends of the king size anyway. I have gotten over the automatic brand loyalty now which was a very important hurdle. I am reprogramming my brain that I am not really a smoker anymore, I don't buy cartons, I buy the weakest ones they have, and I read and study the warning inserts now. In fact I am breaking all the automatic habits associated with it. I have a new car and have decided I will never spoil it by smoking in it; I am going to malls a lot just to walk around where smoking isn't allowed; that kind of thing.

I frequently calculate how much money I will be saving the less I smoke and when I buy the pack I admit to myself what else I could have bought with that $8 instead of just acting like it's a normal thing. Coincidentally or not my lungs feel better; for some reason I used to smoke a brand that was quite strong though I never really thought it was.

I looked at the Nicorette on the shelves and read the warning that it shoudn't be used by someone with thyroid condition and since I have that, I won't be trying it or the patch.

I read an old thread somewhere in google about a person who "accidentally" quit by switching to low tar brands and that inspired me since the dependence was so strong that I felt I could not just suddenly stop.

However this seems to be working because instead of cherishing my pack of smokes and reaching for them all the time I am seeing them as something wrong which I am not going to be doing much longer. The other thing is seeing how long I can go between smokes, exercising more and drinking more juice. I expect soon to be smoke-free!

I'd definetly agree with that Paula. In Oz the actually mg or tar is written on each pack plus they are labled like Mild, Extra Mild, ultra Mild etc. I weaned myself down to 1mg cigs ( the lowest here) I was smoking a hell of a lot more though and like your article said I was dragging the hell out of each puff trying to get every bit of that nicotine from it. 6 months before
I quit we bought some "chop chop - I think they call it" Its black market tobacco. You could buy it by the ounce like buying pot. Anyway this stuff is fresh. We bought a roller machine and each day I'd sit down and roll 20 - 40 cigs. I am sure I was getting heaps of nicotine in my blood stream from handling it as I never felt like a smoke for up to a hour after which was very unlike me!! Anyway these things were so strong I was smoking 1/2 at a time. I cut my smoking by at least 2/3's They tasted like shit but they were riddled with pure nicotine so my addiction was satisfied. I honestly think I felt much healthier smoking them though rather than 3 times as many of the
1mg low tar smokes I had been on. Other thing is they were much cheaper. I know all smokes are very very bad but if I did ever smoke again I would be buying the heaviest smokes avaliable.

Thats my experience and opinion.

The research also shows that most of the smokers who go to lighter cigs, do actually inhale more deeply and keep the smoke in for longer time ... thus hurting more.

Hope you're not doing that.

I've been reducing by timing my cigs .. initially had 1 hr between any 2 cigs .. then after few days, increased the gap to 1hr 15 min ..
Now, am at 2 hr gap .. and it's quite smooth till now.
Am planning to keep doing this until I reach 1 per day .. then make it 1 in 2 days etc.
hope this works.

It seems to me that you are on the right track in a lot of ways. I don't think that the 23rd is too far away for a quit date. When I set my date, it was a little more than a month away. It took me that full amount of time to do some research, psych myself up, and in general get ready to quit.

In fact, the night before my quit, early on in the evening, I just stopped smoking even though I hadn't planned to quit until the next morning. That might sound silly to a non-smoker, but I'm sure that everyone here can relate to puffing down cig after cig on the night before, as if somehow, you could fill your system with a lifetimes worth of nicotine to take the pain out of your quit.

As my quit date was approaching I couldn't wait. I couldn't wait to quit. I was ready. I did the research, I gave myself the time that I needed. I did the things I had to do to get ready, and when I had the "opportunity" to chain smoke three packs before hitting the sack, but chose to not even smoke one, I knew that this quit would lead to real success.

I hope that everything goes well with your tests. Best of luck to you!

I switched brands three or four times in the two weeks before my quit, basically I tried to find ciggs that tasted really bad (which weren't hard to find). It helped me a lot, I think. The damn things tasted so bad,
"enjoying the taste" was no longer a reason for me to light up.

Regarding whether the low-this and low-that cigs are better or worse doesn't matter, since you're going to quit soon anyway, no? Have you set a quit date?

I haven't set an exact date. But you know, that would be a good idea. I realized it has been 20 years since I quit in September, 1983, the last real time, and I remember, I kept the last partial pack for some months with the date on it, and finally threw it away. I don't remember the date anymore but i think it was the 23rd. I don't want to wait that long though. I am working gently on psyching myself into not wanting to smoke anymore. I know
I can't just stop having any cigarettes around; I already tried that and it made me smoke more out of some weird kind of desperation or rebellion, or something. I know this method doesn't seem right to some people, but I have to do something I can handle. My husband said the right way is to get the strongest ones you can, but my point was not to make myself sick, it was to go from strong to light to none at all, which seems logical to me.

I smoked strong cigarettes, now they are weak, but since I mostly care about lighting one about ten times a day, I am not suffering. This is reassuring to me, that when I do stop, the cold turkey will not be horrendous. I have cut down the amount by half, and they are 1/3 the strength, so that is part way there already. I am not inhaling more but less deliberately; and since the nicotine content is 1/3 of the stronger ones, that means I have already weaned myself down (it's been about 5 days). To me the step from these bland cigarettes to none at all is a shorter step than just quitting my regular brand and having nothing. And I really have less lung congestion.

For me the main key was to stop doing it automatically, but to think about each pack I buy and each puff I takeIt's the mindless intake that has harmed me, not just my health but a total waste of money. All these things are spurring me on to just stop buying them VERY SOON.

I also am analyzing why I "need" a smoke. What is the feeling that makes me think I have to light up; how does it help when I do have a smoke, etc. The

I did. Now it seems repulsive to blow smoke out of my mouth, while thinking about all the toxins in the smoke.

I am very hopeful that when I have my lung function test in 2 days they will not find something terrible; that when I quit this time a lot of my health will be restored and that it was not too late. I am feeling good about this thing I am doing. Each day I feel stronger in myself until the day when I am free of them.

comforting, and supportive to me.

good luck Steff!

I am 57 and a 35 year smoker before I quit 3 months ago - if I had quit when
I was your age I would not have the permanent lung damage I've got now, so I hope that encourages you a bit!

Best wishes

I have chosen not to smoke for 3 Months 3 Weeks 4 Days 21 Hours 59 Minutes
58 Seconds. Cigarettes not smoked: 1179. Money saved: £147.40.

<." That might sound silly to a non-smoker, but I'm sure that everyone here can

ROFLMAO! Hi all, I'm a lurker here...I recently found this site when I decided it was time to quit. I'm 33, a 7 year smoker at usually 1-3 packs/day depending upon the stress level, thankfully no health problems/coughing/wheezing etc...yet!...It's just time to drop a gross/unhealthful habit. I wasn't going to post anything until I actually started my "quit".
I have 9 packs left and am "gearing up" for the quit on 10/1...I have nicorette gum and meter all ready to go and it's on the countdown!
I had to respond to the above however, because that's exactly what I'm doing right now..
smoking like a fiend as if I'm gonna get it all out of my system....If I don't make myself sick puffing away first.

I have to say that reading the NG is really giving me a boost...I'm actually getting excited for the day to come, however, I'm not looking forward to some of the withdrawl that's going to come with it, hence the reason I searched out a NG for support.

I look forward to being able to post my stats and getting your encouragement, which I know I'm definitely going to need.

Just one word of warning...I don't normally post here but this post of yours struck a chord. Research here in New Zealand just recently has shown that the "extra mild" brands of cigarettes are actually far more toxic than the regular strength. It may be different where you are...but is worth keeping in mind.

Here is the link... http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/sundaystartimes/0,2106,2644006a6442,00.html

Best to you.