I smoked cigarettes for 19 years

[Tobin S.]

I started when I was 16 and quit a little over two years ago when I was 35. One of the factors that got me to quit was that the price of tobacco was really getting up there. I was up to 2 packs a day and I quit when prices got up to $4 a pack for Marlboros. It was costing me over $50 a week to smoke. Here in Ohio smokes are now up to $5.11 a pack for Marlboros.

The thing that really got me to set them down, though, was health concerns. I had just read about a guy who smoked as much as me and got lung cancer when he was 33. He died a short time later.

I think I have done some permanent damage to myself, though. I still get a little bit phlegmy sometimes. Not hacking shit up, but a little bit of a cough. I'm glad I quit when I did.

[DFW]

1. 2 packs a day?

That's 14000 cigarettes a year. I'd say, yeah, you can do some damage to yourself doing that. But if you're
still alive enough to make the decision to quit, then you're alive enough to hope to not die from it.

[One_Life_To_Give]

2. Congrats

Wasn't much older than you when I quit some 10 years ago. Can't say you start feeling much better between 2 and years smober. But you think about it less often, and statistically your chances of heart disease and lung cancer drop through 15yrs quit.

So keep on being a quitter!

[BurtWorm]

3. In New York City, a pack is now over $10.

:o

I quit about five years ago when they were $7.50, and the price has kept me from looking back every since.

Congratulations and good luck. (By the way, I smoked about a pack a day from the time I was 18 until I was 45, with a few years or months off here and there along the way.)

[LynneSin]

5. We see alot of NY Plates at stores by the Del Memorial Bridge

Delaware smokes are still cheaper than any other state in the area so we get alot of business from over the boarder. They have increased prices but always try to keep them just a bit cheaper than the neighboring states.

BTW, I ran into an odd sensation while in Virginia Beach. I was just about ready to get on the Hampton Bay Bridge to head home and I really needed a bathroom plus I was hungry. I found this dive bar/restaurant and though "Why not, dive bars can sometimes have some great food". As soon as I stepped inside I smelled cigarette smoke. I have not smelled indoor smoking in such a long time - I quickly used the rest room and left.

[BurtWorm]

11. I had that experience but I can't remember when or where that was.

It was the strangest sensation. Might have been in Europe actually, though I hear they're clamping down on smoking in closed public spaces too.

[LynneSin]

4. Keep it up and in 8 years your lungs will be back to new

My father was 1-1.5 packs a day since he was 13 and passed away at 41 from Lung Cancer. I'm sure someone will post how their 93 year old grandmother still smokes a pack a day after 80 years but honestly, you never know how smoking-related illnesses will pan out but it is a fact that your risks greatly increase if you are a smoker.

(BTW it takes 10 years for the lungs to heal but the OP said it was 2 years ago when quitting).

[Amaril]

6. Congrats!

Yeah, smokes are over $7.00 in Florida now.

I quit over a year ago -- started again a few months ago when things at my job started going south (we're still in business, but just barely), and quit again the first of last month. I honestly think it's going to stick this time though.

Other times I've quit -- including the last one -- it was because I *knew* I should quit (for all the usual, excellent reasons), but this time it was because I no longer *want* to smoke.......and that probably won't make sense to anyone except other ex-smokers.

They say kicking the cigarette habit is harder than kicking heroin.........so kudos to everyone who has managed to put them down for good.

[Tobin S.]

15. Thanks and welcome to DU.

:toast:

[Arugula Latte]

7. I am curious

Do you remember why you started smoking when you were 16? Did you think it looked cool, didn't think you'd get addicted, etc.? Not trying to be critical, just trying to understand why people start a habit that is obviously unhealthy and expensive and bothersome to other people... :hi:

BTW, congrats on quitting! :bounce:

[Tobin S.]

16. I had been sneaking cigarettes here and there since I was 11

So I may have been addicted before I started smoking regularly when I was 16. I think I tried that first cigarette because my parents smoked and I wanted to see what it was all about. Even though my folks caught me sometimes and punished me, the message that smoking is wrong doesn't really sink in when the punisher is doing it, too.

[closeupready]

8. I was 3 packs a day when I quit in 1991.

These were the days when you could smoke at the office, at your desk, in the elevator, basically wherever you wanted. So that was almost 20 years ago, and I had smoked on and off for 7 years.

[blue neen]

9. I wish my son would quit.

He's 27 and has been smoking for 9 years already. :(

[HopeHoops]

10. I started smoking about '78 and quit cold turkey in '85. I was BEYOND HEAVY!

My main smoke was clove cigarettes, not the wimpy-ass filter things they just banned, but the REAL ones that were hand rolled, had no filter, and burned 25 minutes or more. I smoked at least ten of those a day (250 minutes). Beyond that, Camel unfiltered were the only thing that tasted like anything, so I smoked about two packs of those a day. I'm not even COUNTING the bong hits and joints here. I had something burning from the moment I woke up until I passed out at night (smoking at work was normal). I had an ashtray on the back of the toilet so I could smoke in the shower. On top of that, I drank at least two pots of coffee a day (usually more). I had a resting pulse of 130. Yes, I'm still alive, as evidenced by the fact that I'm typing right now.

Shortly after I met my wife, I asked if she minded that I smoked. Her dad smoked and she said, "No, not at all, but I would like to keep you around a little longer."

That was February of 1985. I drove back 330 miles from where she lived, chain smoking, got out of the car, opened the last pack of cigarettes I had, took one out and before lighting it put it back in the pack. I still have that full pack - which cost like $1.25 from a gas station vending machine (which are ALWAYS expensive).

Good for you for quitting!

[Tobin S.]

17. Clove cigarettes are nasty!

I couldn't even handle the smell of them when I smoked, let alone smoke one.

[azmouse]

12. I'm glad you quit. Your heart and lungs will thank you.

Almost every member of my family that smoked died young.

The two closest examples to me are:

My dad smoked for most of his life and died just one week after his 61st birthday. He had been ill from heart disease for almost 10 years.

My brother died at the age of 51 in 2007... suddenly and in his sleep of a massive heart attack.
He smoked for about 30 years.



I don't smoke.

[UTUSN]

13. 30 yrs. One to two packs per day. Quit 14yrs ago. Chest pains.

Actually, I knew it was bad from the beginning and tried a little trick to make it as unpalatable as possible: In the military, outside of the territorial limits or whatever, we could pay ridiculously little for a whole carton, like $1.10 per carton, and I would purposely NOT buy by the carton, would pay for individual packs.

I both loved smoking and could quit cold turkey. During the 30 yrs I quit one time for a year and another time for two years. The times I started up again it wasn't like a craving, it was, "Why am I punishing myself, why NOT (smoke)."

The quitting (each time) was: Getting past the 2-3 days of intense withdrawal by drinking lots of fluids, especially milk. After the first blush of withdrawal was over, it was easy to stay off.

And because I loved smoking, I never sermonized to others about it. For several years it didn't bother me to be next to a smoker or a crowd of them. Now it does, some.

I sometimes think that if I get to a certain age where it doesn't matter anymore, I might smoke for pleasure, so long as I'm not increasing health care needs.

As for permanent damage, it's not so much the phlegm or sometimes coughing, it's diminished lung capacity. I had a respiratory test once and had to blow five times before the machine could get a reading.

[Tobin S.]

18. I like to smoke, too

and I also don't lecture anyone about it. I'm a trucker and I sometimes have to ride with people who smoke. I tell them it's ok to smoke as long as they roll down the window a bit. That usually doesn't bother me. But I can't handle being in a room full of smokers for a long time.

[WCIL]

14. Congratulations!

My husband is 7 years smoke-free today. He was beyond embarrassed that he couldn't keep up with the kids when he chaperoned my daughter's 8th grade trip to D.C. and vowed that he would be in better shape when my son's turn came the next year. He feels much better, but still wishes he smoked and still smokes in his dreams.

To answer another poster's question, my husband started smoking when he worked at a Motorola assembly plant in early '70's. The smokers got a break and the non-smokers did not.