I figured it would be interesting to read about how we "smokers"wound up dropping the habit.Since I am the guena pig of this subject I figured I'd start things of with a short story of how I wound up quitting.

Living on the beach sounds fun doesn't it.There's only one real issue with it Hurricane season.I lived around the gulf coast during the big hurricanes(Katrina, Dennis etc).There was only one question after everyone of these monsters came through.Will my house and job still be there when I get back?

Mount a Lackluster of a lovelife with a deadbeat of a girlfriend and,add a mother in law into the mix and you soon realize my reason for smoking.!!!STRESS!!!

Well after losing the house and the job for the third time and,other things I dont care to talk about publically.I just got so mad I finally Pitched the pack I had on me into a nearby swamp as hard as I could.I was literally so mad I could barly see strait at the time.This anger lasted for days.

Afterwards I finally moved to atlanta with some friend's.During a doctor visit I asked him this.How long does it take for the physical addiction of smoking to wear off?He replied usually about 3 days.How true this is I question but,It does bring a curious question.If this is true are you addicted to the smokes or are you addicted to the habit of smoking?

I just quit,stopped dead, christmas eve 1999 during my first and last heart attack,never smoked since.

It took me another 7 years of nagging and  a serious illness,to get my wife to quit.

It took another 2 years of 'advice' to get my daughter to quit.

We are trying to get the grandchildren to pack it in now.

None of us are any healthier for quitting, but we sure are a lot richer!  

very interesting, thanks..

I think this kind of topics will also help others to quit and some people won't start, thanks again!!!!

You say you're not healthier but tell me this.Have you not noticed that youre since of smell got much sharper?Has food started tasting better?or worse depending on how it was prepared?Have you not noticed an easier time breathing?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then you are getting a little healthier and,at 5$ a pack here and 50$ a carten I am alot richer.

you can really check how much you can save from smoking for each month..you can do it as follows...you get a box and put the money you buy sigars and in one month you check it, I think that's a good way to see, how much money you are really waisting for these things that also effects not only your health, it also effects other people's health around you,so to get treatments for these conditions you spend more money and it keeps building up, that's what I think...

Long Smoking = losing yr money + losing yr health =         speedy death 

There is a lot of support available for those people who decide to give up smoking. Willpower and determination are the most important aspects when giving up, but GPs, practice nurses, or pharmacists can provide help, information, encouragement, and tips on stopping smoking. 

Also, many parts of the country now have specialist NHS 'Stop Smoking Clinics' which have a good success in helping people to stop smoking. Your doctor may refer you to one if you are keen to stop smoking but are finding it difficult to do so. 

Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) can help with withdrawal symptoms. Nicotine gum, sprays, patches, tablets, lozenges, and inhalers are available. Using one of these roughly doubles your chance of stopping smoking if you really want to stop. A pharmacist, GP, practice nurse, or Stop Smoking Clinic can advise about NRT.

As well as traditional willpower and NRT there are a number of alternative therapies that have proved highly effective in helping to give up smoking; Acupuncture and Hypnotherapy being the most successful of these. Many Health Cash Plans and Hospital Plans offer help with the costs of these treatments; click here to read more about smoking :

http://www.chess.com/news/be-keen-to-stop-smoking-5998 

We do NOT need this sort of post here,we are already NON SMOKERS,go and post this in the smokers group if you can find one.

That's a no to all 3.

I piled on the pounds after quitting,Have arthritus so exercise is impossible,so I get out of breath easy.

I always had a great sense of smell.

I am getting older,your taste buds change when you get older.

This is a group for non smokers! Not a group for trying to be non smokers.

Post it where it will do some good!

I would appriciate it if we didn't have any posts of ppl trying to convince ppl to quit here.

I did this to read some interesting stories and spark conversation among former smokers.Not attempt to make this group a walking billboard advertizing quitting smoking.

If the author would be kind enough to remove this post it would be greatly appriciated.

the gaining of weight I thought was natural when you quit smoking though im sorry to hear about the arthritus.I have to deal with a mild case of it im my fingers.

I wouldn't know about the tastebuds changing when you get older because im rather young myself.Mind telling me about it?How does your taste change when you get older?

ok our members here are not smoking But can you prevent any smokers in another groups to read what we post and comment ?

All comments about smoking is shown by all the people of chess.com community.

( smokers and non-smokers )

yet the approach of the ppl is what make the difference.I am just looking for the real talk between ex smokers and to find what really worked and what caused them to quit.Not the latest and greatest adds.Sadly seeing a bunch of stop smoking adds on this forum is annoying to some of the former smokers from sharing their story.which counteracts what im trying to do here.

Regarding hazeleyes' paragraph at the beginning of this forum:

Afterwards I finally moved to atlanta with some friend's.During a doctor visit I asked him this.How long does it take for the physical addiction of smoking to wear off?He replied usually about 3 days.How true this is I question but,It does bring a curious question.If this is true are you addicted to the smokes or are you addicted to the habit of smoking?

I just wanted to add that I'd heard the three-day theory, too. After three days, the nicotine is supposedly out of your body. However, the psychological addiction is much, much stronger. I have never been a smoker (oh, yes, I did try in my teenage years -- it was SO COOL! -- but thank goodness it never stuck), but my husband has smoked since his college days (we are now in our mid-60's) and is still smoking. He has tried several times to give it up, but says it is an addiction worse than heroin (which, too, I'd heard from others). He actually did give it up for FIVE YEARS, but couldn't shake his desire for that cigarette. Once, after those five years, he gave in to it -- "just this one" -- and, boom!, he was back to smoking.

Admittedly, it is more difficult for some than others. Some people have been able to quit cold turkey and never go back to smoking, ever. Others, like my husband, have struggled with this all their lives, wanting to give up, but not being able to.

I've heard that hypnotism has worked for some people, but my husband has not tried that.

It is a horrible, dreadful -- and expensive -- habit. But I don't need to tell you that, do I?

Well I dont need to be told about the habit.Come to think of it I dont think anyone here does.I had heard of quitting by hypnotism but,wandered about its effectiveness if its psychological though it might be the way to go.Personally id ask a doctor and do some research.

thanks for the interesting input.May I ask what made it so cool back then?

I really don't know, but almost all young people in my day thought it was so very cool to smoke. I, too, had my bouts with the cigarettes in front of the mirror. Thank goodness I hated the smoke so much I couldn't breathe it in, but just kept it in my mouth for a few seconds, then blew it out. I don't think ANYONE likes smoking the very first time he/she tries it, but after a couple attempts, not only is the liking there, but the addiction begins to form.

What shocks me is that there STILL are young people taking up smoking these days, even with all the information available about its addictiveness and horrible side effects, and in spite of the tremendous price of cigarettes, and despite having fewer and fewer places where one CAN smoke! What a shame that such a horrible habit can attract new future addicts.