Paddler

I don't smoke. I used to be the guy that would bum cigarettes from friends while drinking but never developed a dependency on them. They actually were just kinda fun and relaxing to me.

I really have rarely smoked outside of drinking...

I do dip. I know, it's gross. Disgusting. Awful... But, I've dipped since I was 17 or so. I've had success in quitting... going a year or so at a time without it... but have found myself dipping more and more as I've drank less and less... Now that I'm not drinking it's been harder to not buy a can of SKOAL and justify putting that poison in my lip. It will be even harder in the spring/summer when I'm outdoors a lot.

Lately I've used the excuse "I'm not drinking and this will really help calm my nerves should things get stressful..." and I deal with a lot of stress.
I'm hoping to use this journey to rid my body of all things bad for it (other than fried foods and oreo's) and could really use some pointers from those who quit drinking then quit tobacco.

How did you do it? Cold turkey? How did you get through the initial "this is going to be stressful and you aren't drinking... go ahead" voice?

I know the withdrawal will be much more manageable than alcohol withdrawal... so that's a motivating start. Thanks all.

Dee74

some people quit both at once - I did (I was a smoker - dippings not big here)
others find thats too much at once.

see how you feel

D

Northlander

Hey Paddler

Actually, I quit smoking 47 days ago (cold turkey) which inspired me to get sober (17 days now). Out of the two (I was a pack or more a day for a long time), the cigarettes were harder to quit.... Sorry.

Read all you can about nicotine addiction so you know what to expect and how to prepare for it. Remember that the urge to smoke (or dip) goes away whether you smoke or not. After 3 days the nicotine should be out of your system. You will need to ride the urges like you do for alcohol, so stopping the booze is good prep for giving up tobacco.

All best

Booniecat

Hey paddler, I dipped for 30 years and absolutely love it. I totally quit tobacco in any for 8 weeks ago and my success with that helped me quit drinking one month ago.

I quit using nicotine gum but if I had to do it over again, I would go cold turkey. The gum is expensive, messed up my mouth and feeds the nicotine addiction. Now I am trying to quit the gum.

Good luck with your goal.

Paddler

Thanks... yeah, I love it too. Grizzly to Copenhagen. Guess I have about 15 years going now... off and on. Mostly on. And, nothing calms my nerves quicker than a pinch.

I looked at the gum and couldn't justify the cost.

I guess I may have to just bite the bullet and either decide to quit right now or not. And if I do... go at it without hesitation cold turkey.

It's interesting. Coming off alcohol I'm shaky, anxious, feel ill, you know the drill.

Coming off dip I'm just an ass. An ass that when stressed out wants to put his fist through drywall and has little patience for bad drivers. =)

trachemys

I swapped cigarettes for a vaporiser over two years ago. I quit drinking early this month. No way I'm going to try dropping nicotene right now. I'd be done shot somebody.

ScottFromWI

Paddler:

I dipped Copenhagen early on in life, then quit when I got engaged,and picked it back up again around 1999. Switched to Skoal long cut and went through a can every couple days until May 15, 2010 which is the day I quit cold turkey and haven't had a dip since. No gum, patch or anything else. It seemed like hell at the time, but in hindsight it was a piece of cake compared to quitting beer. I'd recommend cold turkey if you can do it.

SoberSilvia

Hi,

I quit smoking long ago (maybe 30 years) and went on to actually teach smoking cessation classes... and then eventually started drinking too much, and haven't done so now in 7 months.

The smoking cessation classes the I taught were developed by the American Cancer Society, and I had to go through training at a local hospital in order to teach them -- so they were based on research. I have tried to apply some of the same principles to not drinking. Ought to work, but I think drinking is more socially acceptable.... with quitting (at least for me) maybe a little harder in the long run because it will be harder to avoid being around people who are drinking versus people who are smoking...

But anyway, I will share some of the stop-smoking approach in the event that you might find something of value. Research findings may have changed since then, but here's what I was taught -- and then went on to teach.

Basically, you're battling three things, but they do overlap, so it's not always clear which is which, but still...
1) Physical addition: e.g. the physical symptoms (craving) as your body learns to adjust to the absence of nicotine. This part should be over in about three days, but the other two parts continue on.
2) Habit: This is just the act of reaching for a cig (or the chew, I guess) without thinking about it. It's more about the physical act of doing it... finding yourself doing it without realizing that you have decided to do it. Sort of like someone who twirls her hair w/o thinking about it or drums his fingers on the table while cogitating.... Not really about keep psychological needs, it's just about being used to doing it.
3) The psychological addiction: After you get past what can be the agony of the physical withdrawal, this is often the most difficult challenge because it addresses all the reasons (triggers) that we use cigs to meet psychologically. A cig (whether it's for the nicotine or folded in with the habit part of it) can be used as a reward, to relieve stress, or other things that you can probably figure out. Eventually, successful quitters (and it may take several tries) disassociate meeting those psychological needs with the act of smoking/tobacco use. That just happens over time the longer you avoid tobacco. However, a helpful strategy in the beginning can be to identify your triggers ahead of time.

Common triggers are situations and emotions...e.g. getting up in the morning, drinking coffee, finishing a meal, relaxing with friends, reading the newspaper, after sex... You have your own. The strategy is to identify your strongest triggers and then come up with an "instead of smoking, I will ________" when that trigger happens.

The insidious thing about triggers is that they can hit you unexpectedly out of the blue even after you are over the physical and habit aspects -- AND they can actually feel like physical cravings. It can be a battle for a long time. Maybe a year or so for me -- before being around cigarette smoke started to bother me. Wish I felt that way about alcohol. Oh well... in time, maybe.

Good luck!

hypochondriac

There are loads of options for quitting smoking, Nicotine replacement therapy, Eciggs, Champix, Allen Carr's books (The last one is worthwhile whatever method you use). I don't know what it's like where you are but in the UK there are even support groups ran by the NHS, or you can see a nurse for up to 3 months using NRT while you quit. Maybe you could talk to your doctor about it. I found it really hard to give up smoking but the only way I could even attempt it was to get into a really positive frame of mind which the Allen Carr book helped to do. But then I also used NRT a bit too because I quit when I gave up drinking and I didn't want to lapse in that. Good luck x

TryingHarder

I will deal with the smoking demon down the road. I've got a 40 year habit that will need it's own attention. No way could I deal with that right now. One thing at a time for me.

Audrey1

I'm afraid I don't know what "dipping" is, but in my opinion the best way to quit is to go cold turkey, like quitting drinking.

I quit smoking cold turkey over six years ago, during possibly the most stressful period of my life. My then partner had just been admitted to palliative care as he was losing his battle with cancer. I had never really accepted that he would die, so when it became clear he would the stress was excruciating. The smokers in his family were puffing away like there was no tomorrow due to the sheer stress of the situation, but something changed in me that forced me to quit instead. There was no rhyme or reason really. I just got to the point where smoking seemed so ridiculous and I was so disgusted with myself, that I literally couldn't think of smoking anymore, even though I was heavily addicted.

Again, I guess this is like quitting drinking. You are either completely ready, or you're not. I think if I had quit any other way it wouldn't have taken and I would have doubted my ability to quit later on, so I waited until it all came together. Interestingly enough, despite the boundless pressure and despair of the situation, I don't remember craving cigarettes, going through withdrawal, thinking about caving and having a puff to help deal with the stress.... I was done.

Paddler

Thank you all for your advice. Helps a great deal. I think I'll give it one more week and make a plan to go cold turkey. I usually put down the can sometime after fall and pick it up again in the spring. As I said it has been a little different since putting down the bottle. I wouldn't say I was a heavy user... maybe a can every 4 days... dipping 3 - 4 times/day. But I've found myself dipping every time I would normally drink. Which, in it's own way, has shown me just how much I was popping beers to handle both stress, working, and enjoyable outdoor activities. Sheesh...

I think I'll give it one more week as I'm not prepared to put it down today. I'll make a plan to quit cold turkey. Thanks for all the advice. Just what I was hoping for.

I should have listened to my mom at 18 when she told me I would become addicted to nicotine and should give it up. Should have listened to her again at 23 when she told me alcoholism ran in my family and I should give it up.

Audrey,
Dipping is smokeless tobacco. It is finely ground and sold usually in a small circular can. It's flavored as wintergreen, mint, straight tobacco flavor, and all the flavors kids would like. It is placed between your gum line and you spit out the tobacco juice as the nicotine absorbs into your bloodstream. It gives the same sensation as smoking a cigarette but absorbs rather slowly and the sensation is usually much more powerful the longer you keep it in.

Audrey1

Ahah. Thanks, Paddler. Now I know!

Don't be hard on yourself. We all should have listened to our parents and our instincts not to smoke in the first place, but the main point is that you are doing something about it now. My partner has also quit drinking and wants to quit smoking as well too, so I have a bit of insight into your situation (albeit only indirectly). Don't underestimate how amazing it is that you have quit drinking. That's a huge step. Well done.

shauninspain

A couple of years ago I quit cold turkey. I had gotten to the point where I would wake up with a chest that felt like a cheese grater. After 4 months I picked up again when I was going through a stressful time with my relationship. I am still smoking now.

I have to say though that for me it wasn´t all that hard. I think it was because I had completely and utterly arrived at the point of being sick and fed up of it all. Something inside me snapped and from that moment I hardly thought of a cigarrette, and had very few cravings!

I started to smoke nicotine free tobacco. That was a big mistake, as I got in to the habbit of rolling them again. I know I really must stop again, and soon. I get a real feeling of fear when I smoke. Fear is one of the main reasons why I drank, so I believe that quitting both would be very wise for me.

Aborigine

I plan on quitting when my tobacco runs out. I just can't afford it anymore and I know going out back to smoke is another habit that takes me away from my family.

You're on the right track. I wish I was astute as you when I was younger. Keep at it.