After a stressful divorce in 1972, I've been smoking for 51 years, I have decided to quit... finally. It gradually crept up on me. I started out smoking (1972) maybe 1/2 pack per day, then up to a carton / week and finally 2+ packs/day. I'm quitting not so much for health reasons, but because of the outrageous cost. I've tried to quit 3 or 4 times in the past by going "cold turkey". Once I tried hypnosis and it actually did help for a few days, but soon I was feeling like a nervous wreak. this time I'm going to use the "step down" method". Early last week I was consuming 42-45 cigs/day with an occasional day of 50 cigs. Last Thursday, I set the upper limit of 42 cigs/day and I was smoking one cig every 21 minutes. I use a cooking timer. Yesterday, I smoked only 35 cigs. I have noticed that IF I CAN STAY BUSY COOKING, WASHING DISHES, ETC. , I don't mind going passed 21 minutes. When that happens, and I start feeling a need, I just restart my timer and go on from there. Tomorrow, I'll increase the time to 22 minutes. I figure that my body and mind will eventually get used to it without going crazy. Each week I'll increase the time between cigs. I have set my quit day at August 31st.
I went through that many years ago. Thinking that I could quit on my own, I tried four or five times. Each time seemed successful, but, eventually, I would decide I could have just one cigarette a day, and within a month I was smoking as much as I had been before I quit. Finally, I went through a stop-smoking program and now, nearly fifty years later, I have not had another cigarette since. Today, I facilitate an addiction recovery program known as SMART Recovery that works with all sorts of addictions, including addictions to shopping, gambling, smoking, drinking, drugs, and others. I wish you well in your efforts.
You might wish to buy Allen Carr’s book, “Easy Way To Stop Smoking”. It’s an easy read, the reviews are tremendous and even though you reach your date with success, the book might help you stay successful. I think it’s about $12 or so on Amazon. Note: Robert Reynolds’s of the R.J. Reynolds’s Tobacco Co. (Camels) used to sell watches to those who wanted to quit smoking that were based on what you are doing with your timer.
@Richard Whiting - let me tell you how I quit after over 40 years. Dec. 2017 I landed in the hospital with CHF, and other related issues when your own your way to meeting the Master. Nurse had put a patch on my back, I did not know this until after i got home. At the time was on 8 different meds then the patch. Bought a box, but never used more than one. That is because I ripped that sucker off and said this is going to stop. I remembered what a woman I know did to quit so I used her method. Use any color,but I used red, the power color- rubber band. On my wrist,not to tight. Anytime I reached for a cig I popped myself lightly. Several times I popped to dang hard and it hurt. What I learned was this- my smoking was force of habit, not craving. Within two weeks I was done. That was 5 1/2 years ago. I also told a grand kid, if they saw me even holding a cigarette for someone, they were allowed to kick me in the knees without any repercussions to them. My husband still smokes-outside, and when he comes in the smell is nauseating fro a few minutes. I do not buy cigarettes for him either. My point is this Richard never stop trying, and when you stop - it is the most liberating,feeling you will ever encounter. I tried 8 times in life.
I quit drinking in 1990 and decided I "deserved" a vice, so I starter smoking cigars. "Just one" after dinner grew over time until I was smoking them with my morning coffee, on my way to work, during lunch, on my drive home, and in the evenings. I had a harder time quitting those than I did alcohol, because I could smoke at more times and in more places that I could (or would) drink. And the house I lived in was a knock-down (meaning when I sold it it would be demolished for a larger house), so I didn't care if I stank the place up. That made it even worse, since I did not have to incur the inconvenience of going outside to smoke. I moved to my current home (I did not smoke inside here), and not long after got a bad case of strep/laryngitis/plaque on my vocal chords. That scared me. I started chewing Nicorette gum, and picked up that habit. Then I switched to regular gum (even buying the old school Beechnut, Clove and Teaberry flavors online) to get off the Nicorette. It took me a while to get off of the gum. It's like a stupid joke. That was 11 years ago.
Yes, I'm well aware about the "force of habit". Many, many times I have reached for a cigarette and was smoking it before I was aware of what I was doing. It's like my hands have a mind of their own.
Do whatever you have to do to quit. You'll live longer and smell a lot better. My son has a lady friend who chain smokes. If he spends as much as an hour in her house, he reeks of stale tobacco smoke. It's enough to gag a buzzard.
Don't take this the wrong way, but it serves us right. Remember your first cigarette? Your body tried to reject it, yet your forced it in. The nasty taste of the gum might mean you'll only use it as long as is absolutely required. Maybe you need a reward system. When I quit drinking, I would go to the high-end chocolate stores in the mall and drop $20. I cost me less than the alcohol. Figure out how much you're saving and after a number of days/weeks, go by yourself something. Maybe stuff the cash into a jar every day...it will give you a visual incentive.
Interesting that people today complain about the stale smoke smell. In years past, smoking was allowed on airplanes and non-smokers didn't make a big deal about it. A few years ago, at my medical clinic my PCP transfered and I was assigned a new doc. She complained bitterly about the smell of stale smoke. She said she has an allergy to smoke smell. I doubt that is true. She refused to see me. Personally, I believe that today's people are making much more of a big deal about it than it warrants. Back before I smoked, I never even noticed smoke smell on others. Nor did I complain when a smoker smoked in my car.
Good luck, Richard. I hope you're successful and I wish my husband would quit, too. He only smokes outside on our patio; never in the house or in our vehicles. I don't notice any stale smoke smell but maybe I'm just used to it. My grandpa was a pipe smoker and I absolutely loved that smell.
I managed a large staff when No Smoking laws went into effect in office buildings in Virginia. It was a nightmare. Half the staff smoked, the other half did not. When one smoker went outside to light up, they always took a buddy with them. Then the non-smokers would complain that the smokers were taking all these breaks during the day. The insane thing is that these people were negotiating significant distribution agreements with Apple, Microsoft, WordPerfect, AST, HP, Epson, Leading Edge, etc etc etc...and they were acting like children. I agree that a large number of people get indignant for the sake of getting indignant. It is the ideal divisive issue. Government gave them permission to rag on smokers. I believe that others honestly did not like it, but a big chunk is fabricated (vapors from gas stoves is the new secondhand smoke.) This illustrates my point:
Yes, good luck Richard. I quit for the last time decades ago. It wasn't easy but the thing that finally worked was going cold turkey.
The book I mentioned explains that the intake of nicotine is not a habit but an addiction. He goes around the block explaining what he means by that but the statement is founded upon some very good facts but the point is that the addiction can easily be beaten.