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To all those who would like to stop smoking, let me say this. First there is the chemical addiction, then there is the habital addiction or learned response. If you want to stop smoking, you must WANT to stop. I smoked for almost 30 years and was at a level that some days I'd go through 4 packs, and that was not just watching them burn in the ash tray. The chemical addiction is hardest the first 10-12 days and gets easier with time but will remain with you for several years. There will be times when you could just eat a pack, there will be times when you dream about them and finally there will come a time when the smell of cigarette smoke will be revoiting. I am not around many people who smoke these days, but I have a brother who still does and though I love my brother it is tough being around him and if we visit there we have to wash any unworn clothing that is hung in their house because of the smell. The habit of smoking is a learned response and it has to be un-learned. There are many things you can do to help that. Carry cigarettes in a different place than normal as you go through the quitting process, do things that make you AWARE that you are taking a cigarette, keep a small note pad in your pocket and make note each time you smoke, change brands to a lower tar content cigarette, finally one day you can just put them down and it will be you proudest moment in memory. After a year or so everything will smell better, even yourself, and then the day will come and you will ask yourself, why did I ever smoke in the first place. Lastly, here in texas, the tax on cigarettes will jump by $1.00 per pack on Jan 1st making a pack of premium cigarettes cost about $4.50 and I don't think I would want to burn fifteen or twenty dollars a day.To all of you who wish to stop smoking, try to get in a support group of some kind be it small or big, but get in one. Best of luck to you all, and HAPPY NEW YEAR to all. By the way, my last cigarette was in 1981.
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