Ditching the cigs...

yes,write down the words (free at last)put your note in a picture frame and the date your stopped under the three words.it will give you great strength.And hang it on the wall.you will live up to your forum name and be that starr.

Is giving up really that difficult....

I mean if someone offered a cheque for 1 million pounds to stop smoking for a year....would it really be that much of a struggle.

You're either lucky or you're not.

I stopped smoking ciggies in 1987 with no problems at all.
Been smoking cigars ever since.

My nan and grandad used to smoke 'Olivier' cigarettes. On the day he retired he said to her 'Dolly, we're pensioners now, we can't afford it any more.' and threw the last few ciggies and the packet on to the fire.  Sadly, she only lived another few years, and the grim reaper took her on her first heart attack. He lived for another 16 years, died from complications following a fall when he was 81.

Mrs CMATs gran was an 80 a day smoker, and she packed up when she was 70. She died a two and a half years ago, aged 92.

One of my friends, Jimmy Pollard, used to run half marathons for charity. He used to play darts, but the most he drank was a pint all night, resorting to orange juice most of the time. He popped in the pub one Saturday lunchtime to speak to his wife, who was a barmaid, then went home to watch racing on the telly. He had a heart attack and she found him dead on the sofa when she got home. He never smoked. He was 42.   

Work colleague, Barry Fenn, a small bloke, no taller than 5-5, weighed about 8 stones soaked through. Got married, just over a year later they had a child. Saturday morning at home, the baby started to cry. His wife had been up twice to feed the baby during the night, so Barry told her to go back to sleep and he would feed him. She woke two hours later, at roughly 9 o'clock, to the sound of the baby crying. She called Barry but there was no answer. She went downstairs, Barry was holding the baby in his arms sitting in an armchair. He had died of a heart attack after feeding the baby, while watching television. He didn't smoke. He didn't drink, and iirc he was 33.

Live every day the way you want to live, because one day, tomorrow won't come.

You're right about being lucky or not.  Lots of people live with enlarged hearts or other defects that go undiagnosed until they drop dead in their prime, like your mates.

patrick starr

Anybody have any stories to tell?

So yeah, my story is: e-cigs have made this relatively easy.  If stress (in my case setback-induced) is a factor, walk away from what's stressing you.

I will not smoke again

Give up..(cough)... smoking.. (splutter)...ffs..(wheeze), its the...(cough)...only pleasure..(spit out a lump of phlegm)...I've got.

E-cigs are not taxed (they will be, count on it) and they're losing fortunes in revenue by new smokers and switchers. 

Tax the nicotine not the tobacco.  That's where the government went wrong.

many tries and fails recently...then I upped sticks and moved to asia about a month ago. took a days travel between airports where you just cant have one, and now I don't even think about them. all I can learn from that is you need to change your whole way of life. break all sorts of routines. infinitely harder if still at home though. but when your mindset aligns, it is ridiculously easy.