Paid Members Gus Mears Posted February 9 Paid Members Posted February 9 Eh! Who remembers smoking? That were great, weren't it? Been two and a bit years since I smoked at all and I don't half miss it. It's gutting that, even by the standard of stuff that kills you, cigarettes are lethal. It's probably a damning indictment of my life that I'm not sure it has ever gotten much better than a beer and a first straight from a pack while sat in a pub garden. What was/is your brand of choice and why? What are your favourite smoking memories? Which one of the many, many, many compelling reasons to stop (boooooo) caused you to stop? Quote
Paid Members JLM Posted February 9 Paid Members Posted February 9 (edited) Three years nicotine free for me. Vaping didn’t work for me at all. Ended up gong cold turkey in the end as none of the half measures worked. My quitting was bundled in with a general “OK I’m actually heading towards 40 now what the fuck am I doing” lifestyle overhaul. Committed to 10,000 steps per day, lost a couple of stone, stopped smoking. I’m 5’9 and was only ever about 12 and a half stone at my most out of shape, but I am naturally very skinny so for my frame that is very overweight. Also had to stop smoking weed as it goes hand in hand with cigs and junk food for me. I can now do a very occasional bit of vaporiser weed on special occasions and not feel the need to smoke or binge eat, but it has to be occasional as I turn into a depressed full time stoner very easily. I used to just do Marlboro menthols and those gimmicky ones with the ball in the filter you have to crush. Also roll ups with this delightful cherry and vanilla tobacco from a speciality shop in Leeds. That stuff being banned definitely made quitting easier as I bloody loved it. I miss them after meals, I REALLY miss them the handful of times a year I use party drugs. Getting through my first NYE without having one was a massive milestone for me. I also miss the community aspect. I still carry a lighter with me and I will still frequent the smoking area on nights out as they were some of the best parts of it. I really hate those places that are not quite a bar and not quite a club, so it’s not a drunk dancing scenario but it’s too loud to properly chat. Going out for a smoke when we ended up at one of those was always the best bit of the night. I don’t go out drinking nearly as often as I used to now either, again only for special occasions really, so that temptation has reduced massively. Also if there’s a good smoking scene in a movie where someone is decompressing with a long, luxurious drag, maaan do I want one then. I was addicted and they are awful things but god damn did I enjoy them. Edited February 9 by JLM Quote
Paid Members ReturnOfTheMack Posted February 9 Paid Members Posted February 9 Quit in 2003 (I think) and now and then I still feel like I could happily spark up. I was a fan of banana rolling tobacco from.a shop in the town centre. Quote
Tamura Posted February 9 Posted February 9 (edited) Smoked too much for way too long, with many failed attempts to stop along the way. Then I decided to see what help the NHS could give me in stopping in 2012. Decided patches or gum weren't really the way for me, so went with Champix (now called Varenicline) which reduces cravings and blocks the effect of nicotine on the brain. Takes a while to build up to your stopping date, but on the day I'd chosen I was down to my last few cigs and didn't get any nicotine hit from them at all, so figured the tablets were definitely working. With the money I've saved I'm been loads of places - Sweden (about twenty times), San Francisco, Vienna (twice), The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany (five times), Paris, Lithuania, Ireland (four times), Oslo, plus a bunch of places in the UK (mostly Scotland). Doing something constructive with the money definitely stops me thinking starting smoking again would be a good idea, haven't touched nicotine since I gave up. Considering the price these days I'm very glad though, I remember being able to buy 20 Mayfair for £2.59 from shops! Edited February 9 by Tamura Quote
Vegeta Posted February 9 Posted February 9 Still smoking now Malboro reds are all I will touch though. I don't drink alcohol anymore so enjoy my cigarettes. Quote
King Coconut Posted February 9 Posted February 9 I loved fags me. I first quit when the then-wife got pregnant in 2007. About 6 months later her brother passed me a joint and I thought I'd be ok but I wasn't ok. That sweet, sweet tobacco had me at hello. About a year later I managed to quit again with the Allen Car "Easy Way". It was so fucking easy that a week or so later I thought I could handle a single tasty tab and, worst case scenario, I'd read the book again. Fast forward to 2017 and I hadn't had the urge to quit for a while but with my 40th approaching and my boy getting older I knew I didn't want to die anytime soon so I smoked my almost-last fag* on my 40th birthday and switched to an e-fag and gradually reduced the nicotine level until I was off it. I haven't looked cool since that day in 2017. I still enjoy a good old smell of someone smoking a tasty fag in my vicinity but I don't think I'd ever fall for her charms again. *The battery of my e-fag died while on holiday so I bought a pack of fags a week later but they tasted like shit and gave me absolutely no extra hit, so I was officially un-hooked. Quote
Members SuperBacon Posted February 9 Members Posted February 9 Started on Sovereigns (grim), then at college Richmond Superkings (GRIM!) as no one would ask for one as they were rank, then Marlboro Lights for years when I starter working, quit twice when we had our kids but I'd still sneakily smoke, then on to menthols (my loves) and then when they banned those Sterling Green superkings. That's for the last probably 5 years. I do smoke but I can go weeks without one when I don't feel like it. I'll give up when life is less stressful, which is never. I'll never vape, as that's for nonces. Quote
Paid Members hallicks Posted February 9 Paid Members Posted February 9 I knew as a teenager I was painfully uncool, so once I was at Uni, I knew that I could become cool by smoking, as that’s what cool people did. Unfortunately I remained uncool but with a nicotine addiction. Went for Richmond Smooth at first as they were cheapest, but moved onto Marlborough lights after a year or two. I thought it would be a good idea to quit when I moved in with my gf (now wife), as she didn’t smoke. Never had any pressure off her or anything, just seemed like the right time. Didn’t want to make it a New Years Resolution so my official quit date was Jan 2nd, 2011. I did slip up a few times in the early days. After a few pints, the willpower just evaporated. But we moved away, had kids, and then nights out weren’t really a thing anymore. Last one I had was a work Christmas party in 2015, it was a Silk Cut. Apart from the first drag, a total disappointment, and then I developed an awful hacking cough that I couldn’t shake for 6 weeks. Never forgotten that, never had one since. Quote
Members SuperBacon Posted February 9 Members Posted February 9 1 minute ago, hallicks said: Last one I had was a work Christmas party in 2015, it was a Silk Cut. Apart from the first drag, a total disappointment, Obviously Silk Cut are like puffing air, only good for spliffs. Quote
Paid Members hallicks Posted February 9 Paid Members Posted February 9 8 minutes ago, SuperBacon said: Obviously Silk Cut are like puffing air, only good for spliffs. I only knew that anecdotally until that moment, and then the truth hit (or failed to, sadly) Quote
Paid Members Gus Mears Posted February 9 Author Paid Members Posted February 9 (edited) 57 minutes ago, SuperBacon said: no one would ask for one as they were rank Top tactics this. One of the main reasons I smoked Drum Blue for 4 years as a teenager while everyone else fannied about with Golden V and Amber Leaf. Edited February 9 by Gus Mears Quote
Members SuperBacon Posted February 9 Members Posted February 9 17 minutes ago, Gus Mears said: Top tactics this. One of the main reasons I smoked Drum Blue for 4 years as a teenager while everyone else fannied about with Golden V and Amber Leaf. I can't remember who their parent brand were (maybe JPS?) but the rumour was that Richmonds contained all the shit they wouldn't put in their superior brands. Honestly you could sometimes smoke one and a massive splinter of wood would just be burning in your grout* This has all reminded me as well, that when I worked for a social housing provider, we used to receive some funding from projects from JTI (Japanese Tobacco) but obviously couldn't tell anyone and they would donate anonymously (fucked that haven't I?) I once went to their offices in Weybridge and on the tables were just big glass bowls of packets of fags...for free. As I was there in a professional capacity, I only took 3 packets. *I suppose we better talk about names for cigarettes. Around our way it was grout/snout, a brown (no idea) and my Dad always referred to them as oily rags. It always reminds me of my sister, bless her, and her insistence of a twos on every fag. Her favourite saying when she wanted one of mine was "flash your ash" In fact, I only started smoking cigarettes as she was a massive weed smoker and introduced me to it when I was about 15 and I started smoking cigarettes when I'd run out of weed and wanted to smoke something, so I'd nick a cigarette off my Mum or sister. Then I was hooked. Quote
Paid Members gmoney Posted February 9 Paid Members Posted February 9 14 - 16: Sovereign ---> 16 - 17: Mayfair Lights ---> 17 - 30: Cutters Choice ---> 30 - 32: Marlboro Touch ---> 32 - 40 (now): Give up for good I gave up twice, for about a year each somewhere in there as well. It's a lot easier to not smoke if you're not drinking too. That spiral is pretty well trod and easy to get caught in. You can go from "I'll just ponce one" to "I'll buy a pack of my own so I'm not nicking smokes all night" to being back on thirty a day in no time at all. I don't miss fags enough to want to actually smoke them again, but I do often think about how nice the idea of sitting in pub garden having a tab is. Just goes to show how insidious the addiction is really. Mmmm, lovely insidious fags. Quote
Moderators Chest Rockwell Posted February 9 Moderators Posted February 9 (edited) 4 hours ago, Gus Mears said: Top tactics this. One of the main reasons I smoked Drum Blue for 4 years as a teenager while everyone else fannied about with Golden V and Amber Leaf. Oof..drum was so rank! It tasted like the smell of a barn. I just naturally went off the taste of cigarettes the less often I smoked so didn't have a difficult time quitting, but I still really like the idea of smoking sometimes. I just know I won't actually enjoy the cigarette itself so I don't. The biggest trigger for me was always driving. Loved having a smoke whilst driving. Smoking areas were always a mixed bag for me. Loved the atmosphere of a smoking area at a club or bar. But always resented having to sit outside at the pub when it was cold. And you could never just go out for a fag and then come back in because so many of us smoked there always be someone who was rolling or had lit another by the time others finished their first, or not enough people to leave inside to hold the table anyway. Edited February 9 by Chest Rockwell Quote
simonworden Posted February 10 Posted February 10 I finally gave up properly in November last year. Pleased I've quit, feel good and less smelly but I do miss sitting outside the pub late afternoon with the dog or a coffee shop in the morning with a couple of death sticks. Both experiences just don't hit the same without a couple. I was a casual smoker from around 18 until 25 who could puff on a few while out with mates then not think about it for weeks after. Then life got tough in 2012 and it turned out a big bag of tobacco made life a lot more bearable. Smoked about 6-10 thin rollies a day until moving to Vietnam. Unfortunately, moving to a cheap country is killer if you want to quit and I was a 20+ a day smoker for a couple of year. Back in 2013 you could smoke inside everywhere even fancy restaurants would have an ash tray on the table, it was just the done thing. Can't lie really enjoyed being sat at a bar with a mate drinking a cold beer and a fag. So many people smoke that you weren't thought of as a stinky bastard. Plus it hid the BO. Packs of Marlboro reds were 25,000 VND which is under a pound, local brands were about 20p. By the middle of 2015 I was having awful coughing fits and my now wife wasn't too happy, so I gave up cold turkey for just under a year but then got bored living alone in my new job and started smoking 2-6 a day which has been an on/off thing until this year. I tried the vaping too which shamefully I did enjoy but that got banned last year. Vaping is nasty stuff though, so much nicotine and far more addictive. Anyway, never mind fat loss drugs, low card beer, I would pay any asking price for a supply of "healthy" fags. Quote
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