Quitting smoking?

I love smoking and I wish people would just stop it with all the negative vibes. Its like telling a gay person that they shouldn't be gay because its bad for their health. Fuck off already.My doctor told me that my smoking habit was going to kill me and I explained to him that his job was not to get me to quit smoking but to help me live longer so I could smoke more. I had to remind him that he was a consultant and not a director. I also pointed out that the majority of the obese sick people in his waiting room were not smokers but instead were sedentary soda pop drinkers.A good cigar and a glass of whiskey or a joint and a beer are among the true pleasures in life. As Rumpole of the Bailey said 'I would trade 5 yrs in the geriatric ward for a good cigar any day.'

If there were health hazards associated with being gay would we encourage people to not be gay? Or would we come up with a healthier way to be gay? If there are dangers associated with driving a car do we encourage people to not drive cars? Or do we come up with safer cars? Or be promiscuous or jump out of a plane? Why is smoking so different from any other behaviour be it chosen or inherent? (I would bet you a dollar that there is a genetic component to the reason that I smoke)How is the way that our societies treat smokers not discrimination?

No I was being serious. My points were that I actually do enjoy smoking and that smokers are excessively demonised.I have no problem with being told that I can not smoke beside you while you are eating your salad but being told that I can not smoke in the park or on the patio or in my office has nothing to do with any danger to the health of others. The looming restrictions on vaping are a good sign that there is something else at play.Imagine if we reacted the same way for all of the other hazards that result from our choices. Big signs that remind us how many people were killed by cars every time we go for a drive or pictures of clogged arteries on every bag of potato chips. We could have pictures of a cow being slaughtered on the menu beside the cheeseburgers and reminders of how intelligent a pig is beside the breakfast special. How about giant billboards of dead children in front of the munitions factory, oiled birds by every gas station and videos of working conditions in the garment factory when you go to buy your clothes.I am aware that there is an element of cognitive dissonance and that I am bitching about having it continuously pointed out to me. I appreciate that I am on the wrong side of the argument and I certainly appreciate how difficult it is to stop. I applaud your decision and ability to quit and I empathize with subbie. I just think that the dissonance doesn't belong only to the smokers.

I think that vaping might be a good alternative. I went looking for some yesterday but couldn't find any that had nicotine. Apparently the good people of Ontario have decided to restrict them. I have to look some more. I didn't mean to bad mouth him here and he didn't take it that way at the time. He acknowledged my argument and then pointed out that it didn't make a damn bit of difference. He said something like ' Smoking as much as you do is stupid and no amount of philosophy is going to stop a heart attack.' I disagreed about that as well but left feeling thoroughly chastised. He did say that he wouldn't mind if I smoked 4 or 5 cigarettes a day which I thought was a much better approach than telling me that I was about to die a horrible death.

Oh you have to use rationalized math otherwise it wouldn't be worth it.

Just that one's state of mind has a lot to do with whether or not you have a heart attack.

Yes, it is my shield against all unpleasant information. Please refrain form disturbing it as it is fragile and prone to withering under the weight of reason. It has to be complete denial or it doesn't work at all. You know that scene from Apocolypse Now where Robert Duval declares the beach safe for surfing? More like that.Seriously though I do not deny anything that my doctor told me and I am fully aware that it is a foul habit and a tenacious addiction. It is a difficult thing to convince yourself that you do not want to do something that you thought you wanted to do. I managed to smoke 20 cigarettes fewer than usual yesterday as a result of having it brought to the fore of my attention once again.I maintain that there are not many of us that do not behave in the same manner when it comes to using electricity from coal fired power plants or burning gasoline or buying clothes from sweat shops or buying cheap shit from China that is overly packaged or enjoying the income from selling guns. Where does your dissonance show up?

I bought a vaping machine and I have to say that I am impressed. It cost me about $80 which is what I would normally spend every week. So I went from 30 — 40 smokes a day down to 0 with nary a twitch.I think the real problem will be the govt getting over their addiction to my tax dollars that they wont be getting anymore.

Yes, everybody knows that. My point is that there is plenty of cognitive dissonance displayed by people regarding many other activities such as burning gasoline or dumping raw sewage into our drinking water supply.So are you going to stop burning gas because it is logically decent.

I bought 2 eGo-t batteries, 2 tanks, and 30ml of juice all wrapped up in a handsome leatherette carrying case. The tanks were only $5 ea and I guess are semi-disposable. Apparently the 30ml of juice with 12% nicotine should last me 2-3 wks at a cost of $16. Wow. This will save me about $200/mth but yeah money wasn't the motivating factor. I already feel dramatically different after only a few days. Food is a little tastier but my socks are beginning to smell worse. Its nice too that my addiction has suddenly become almost rational.Its an absolutely brilliant device and a shame that it was shelved in 1967. I agree. We should be subsidizing the cost of them with tobacco tax revenues. [edit if we wanted to be logically decent]Edited by ProtoTypical, : No reason given.

Yes.I recall that it used to say 1.2mg of nic on my cig packs yrs ago. I dont know if that was per smoke or per pack. Do you know how to equate ml of juice to cigarettes?I do seem to be reaching for it a lot and I will try the heavier mix. I think the guy sold me the 12mg in anticipation of an overdose which is pretty easy to do. I think that I must have an addiction to the nicotine and an addiction to the process. I have had almost no withdrawal problems at all which makes sense given that I haven't really interrupted my addiction but only changed the delivery method.I am an accomplished drinker but that doesn't seem to be a problem. I was smoking between 15 and 20 cigs from morning to evening while working and then another 20 when I sit reading or writing. I have found the greatest urge to light a cigarette when I am writing. I know. How could anybody be so stupid?I already find myself having to bite my tongue so as to avoid being that obnoxious hypocritical reformed self righteous asshole.

I just meant overdosing to the point of getting a headache.

I have always enjoyed pretty good health. Mostly by the luck of the draw I think. My bp at my last visit to the doc was 112/68 and heart rate of 65. I am 47 and have been smoking since I was about 15 but much heavier in the last 10 yrs.After 5 days of vaping I notice that I breath easier and that my smokers cough is fading fast. Food is tasting more intense and my sense of smell is getting stronger. I had been developing a general sense of congestion and that is falling off. My sinuses are substantially clearer.On the down side I do notice a slight dryness in my eyes and throat but that is diminishing. I had sore lips for the first 2 days but that is gone now. Maybe a bit of increased flatulence but they smell like antifreeze now instead of a dead animal.All things considered so far I would have to say that it is an absolute improvement over smoking in every way.

It is going very well. My kids were fascinated for a bit but then seemed pretty much indifferent. They did say that it smells better than smoke. It is nice that I dont have to shoo them out of my smoke filled office. I can vape like a fiend and the air stays clear.It has been a process of trial and error testing flavours and strength and hardware. I guess the whole thing is more finicky than smoking. The equipment and vials remind me of syringes and medicine which is a bit off putting but no big deal. I bought a dry leaf atomizer that is pretty sweet too.In ten days I have used about 25ml of juice at a cost of 50 cents/ml so the economics are fantastic.Health wise I find a continued improvement in my breathing with clearer sinuses being the most noticeable. The only down side is that my lips will get sore if I use it too much.I smoked 3 cigs on the day that I bought it and then I tried to smoke one yesterday and didn't get past the first drag. Absolutely phenomenal. Edited by ProtoTypical, : No reason given.

So how you making out subbie? Any back sliding going on there?After 45 days of vaping I find that I am still at risk of picking it up again. I had said earlier that I could hardly smoke a cigarette but that has changed a bit. My machine broke on me one day and after about 5 hrs I smoked a cig without much difficulty although it didn't taste as good as they used to. Since then I have smoked about 5 cigs of Drum rolling tobacco and they still taste good. Tenacious habit.What really shakes my head though is the thought that previously in that time I would have smoked some 1800 cigarettes. Lungs are freakin amazing.