Smoked throughout my 20s in the 1990s. Was off-and-on throughout my 30s in the 2000s. By the time I reached my 40s in the 2010s I was just over it. That said, I have picked it up two or three times since then (I’m 56 now) but put it down after one to three months. Always pick it back up during times of great depression and financial hardship - the worst time to smoke ironically. My husband is similar but gets hooked much more often and much more severely. Smokes for a month or two and then transitions to vaping for three to six months, lowering the nicotine until he’s eventually vaping no nicotine. Goes a couple of years and then rinse and repeat.
heroic dose of mushrooms made it not even enjoyable and made me feel too guilty like i was willfully killing myself for no reason so it was easy to stop after that
I used to smoke, and then switched to vaping. I realized I was more addicted to nicotine than I was to cigarettes, but didn’t have a reason to quit. I was feeling mentally and physically well.
Anyway, one sunday about a year ago I was really lazy, and didn’t get up from the couch for the whole day, playing games or something. In the afternoon I realized I hadn’t vaped for the whole day and thought hmm, might as well quit now. Haven’t vaped since. I still smoke the occasional pipe (monthly or so).
Having a reason to give up gave me willpower.
My wife at the time was pregnant with our first child. I decided that if the kid wanted to smoke, he could make that choice when he was old enough, but I didn’t want him to grow up seeing that smoking was normal and usual. So I quit cold turkey, Easter Sunday, 1996.
Was a smoker for over thirty years. Switched to vaping thinking it would help me quit- it made it worse.
By this time I feared I was destined to die painfully of lung cancer. So…. Nothing to loose, right? It was here that I came up with my ridiculous plan- a Hail Mary of sorts-
My plan, was that I would switch back to analogs for about 6 months to ensure I was over the vape, and deeply back in the comfort-zone of my addiction, then I would pull the rug out from under it by getting on the Wellbutrin smoking cessation program.
Basically, it went like this:
For goo and comfy with my pack-a-day habit, then picked my start date to quit. In this day, per instructions, I started taking one pill every morning while still smoking. Then, after three or four days- it goes up to two pills a day. But you’re still okay to continue smoking a week later. Meaning, don’t worry if you are still smoking this deep in- it’s part of it and is totally fine.
After about a week and a half. I would wake up and forget that I usually needed a smoke. So I’d smoke- many hours later. After a few days of this, it became a chore. Also, it was kinda gross and did nothing at all for me, so I just…. stopped.
Essentially, this is how it works as it was explained to me:
Before you smoked, your body created the joy endorphins (whatever they’re called) and all was fine. However, after a while and enough nicotine, you stop making this naturally and just get it from the nicotine.
And this is why quitting is a BITCH!
In the first few weeks of quitting, your body hasn’t re-learned how to start creating the joy juice yet. So you’re going without. This is the anxiety, anger, jitters, etc… in a word:
WITHDRAWL.
This is where Wellbutrin comes in. It helps the body create the serotonin or whatever until your body can keep up on its own.
I was able to stop the Wellbutrin after about a month and a half.
Since then, I have lost my best friend of thirty years to an overdose, our 15 year old dog died in my lap, and my mother ended up in a coma 3,000 miles away while I had a massive sinus infection and was told under no circumstances could I fly to her.
Not a single urge to smoke through any of that.
Lastly, and for the record, I HATE typing this much, so- I REALLY hope this helps at least someone. And I’ll be glad to answer any questions for anyone wanting to try this themselves.
YOU can quit. You CAN quit.
Me quitting smoking was a side effect of an anti-depressant I was on called Wellbutrin. One day I just didn’t smoke and that was 580 days ago. I stopped Wellbutrin a year ago and just never had the urge to go back to either.
I was curious. Apparently this is a known phenomenon, and that drug is also prescribed specifically for that purpose.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bupropion
Bupropion, formerly called amfebutamone,[15] and sold under the brand name Wellbutrin among others, is an atypical antidepressant that is indicated in the treatment of major depressive disorder and seasonal affective disorder and to support smoking cessation.
Prescribed as an aid for smoking cessation, bupropion reduces the severity of craving for nicotine and withdrawal symptoms[53][54][55] such as depressed mood, irritability, difficulty concentrating, and increased appetite.[56] Initially, bupropion slows the weight gain that often occurs in the first weeks after quitting smoking. With time, however, this effect becomes negligible.[56]
The bupropion treatment course lasts for seven to twelve weeks, with the patient halting the use of tobacco about ten days into the course.[56][9] After the course, the effectiveness of bupropion for maintaining abstinence from smoking declines over time, from 37% of tobacco abstinence at three months to 20% at one year.[57] It is unclear whether extending bupropion treatment helps to prevent relapse of smoking.[58]
Overall, six months after the therapy, bupropion increases the likelihood of quitting smoking approximately 1.6-fold as compared to placebo. In this respect, bupropion is as effective as nicotine replacement therapy but inferior to varenicline. Combining bupropion and nicotine replacement therapy does not improve the quitting rate.[59]
In children and adolescents, the use of bupropion for smoking cessation does not appear to offer any significant benefits.[60] The evidence for its use to aid smoking cessation in pregnant women is insufficient.[61]
I had no intentions of quitting but I have a high stress job, was going through a nasty divorce, and was having unhealthy thoughts, so I went to therapy and started anti-depressants. The quitting smoking part was literally a side effect I wasn’t aware of at the time, and I just realized one day I hadn’t had a smoke in like 3 days. It surprised the hell out of me.
…and yes, smokers STINK. If anything, get your sense of taste and smell back. It’s awesome. After smoking for 20 years, I had no idea how stinky I was all the time.
I can vouch for this word for word. Wellbutrin killed my desire for nicotine. Stopped the wellbutrin 6 months ago, and still no cravings whatsoever.
Nice work. :3
This helped me as well. ZERO cravings
I got tired of breathing like shit. I quit using a vape. I found that vape was more addictive, however, easier to quit. I could vape inside unlike cigarettes. One thing that helps is getting fruit, for me it was apples.
I would eat one when I was jonesing. It may take a few times to fully quit, so be aware of that and don’t beat yourself up if you slip. Exercise helps too, it releases endorphins and is a great distraction.
I used to smoke, i stopped by starting to vape. Its a great trade off health wise
I progressively vaped lower and lower nicotine percentages until I was vaping 0% nic. Still did that for a couple weeks and then I quit vaping altogether.
It’s nice to be able to separately quit nicotine and vaping, since they’re both addictive.
Used vape to quit analog cigs, but NOT being around my friends who smoked analogs helped a shit ton.
I need to quit vape but just not ready yet. It’ll happen, maybe in 2026 sometime
Honestly, I only started it out of boredom, and ended up quitting after about four years because I didn’t care for how it made me feel. Sure, the buzz was fun at first, but after a while, you just smoke to curb the cravings, and by that point, I was happy to start cutting back. Switched to snus for a bit as I reached the end point, but that didn’t hit the same, so I just ended up quitting altogether.
I was homeless and scrounged cigarettes sometimes, one time I found one in a field that seemed good, but the smoke tasted and smelled like rotting fish. I quit right then and there. Maybe get some putrescine or cadaverine to put on your cigarettes. Or both.
What an excellent Halloween themed suggestion! Love it.
Similarly, the same method, of using a foul tasting liquid, is used for stopping fingernail-biting.
Was admitted to hospital with a life threatening but unrelated health issue. Knew it would involve several weeks in hospital on intravenous medication and refused to be that person stood at the hospital entrance with a vape and a portable IV. So I went cold turkey whilst in hospital, I haven’t had cravings since
I smoked for 20 years, 20ish cigs a day on average. For me quitting was all mental, using logic. Every time I tried and failed was the same thing: “I feel like I’m finally ready to quit”, then back at it a few days/weeks later. I was always waiting for the day I was ready for it and kept telling myself that day was coming.
4 years ago I was finally honest with myself. I’m never going to be ready. I like it too much, that magic day is just never gonna come. That’s when I realized that if I quit, the only way I would quit is when I wasn’t ready for it, and if I quit when I’m not ready, today’s just as good a day as any other. Logically I’d never be any more ready than I was that day, and if I didn’t quit the day I realized that then I never would.
Haven’t touched a cig in 4 years. Crave it every day though haha.
I find that the cravings get less frequent. When I just quit I’d yearn for a fag every hour. After a year it was about every day. Now it’s every couple of days.
Sometimes though I’m surprised I didn’t crave one for about a week. Pretty cool.
Started smoking cigarettes around 12 years old, was addicted by 14, and at my worst I was chain smoking a pack of 20 Djarum Black Grande a day (those are the Camel Wides of clove cigarettes, btw).
At the end of 2019 and coming up on 40 years old, I finally made the decision to quit (2020 was gonna be my year! lmao). I started switching to an ecig for the last few months of the year, then only the vape after 2020 hit.
After a few years of vaping the lowest strength of VUSE pods, I switched to a vape pen that uses refillable pods and vape juice. I had my suspicions that I was more addicted to the act of inhaling smoke/vapor than the nicotine itself and switched to 0% nicotine juice as a test. No issues at all there, didn’t miss the nicotine at all.
My health is way better, I spend a fraction of what I used to on my habit (one bottle of juice costs under$ 20 lasts a couple weeks), and I no longer stink like an ashtray…
BUT…
My addiction is absolutely still there - even without the nicotine. I still get irritable and cranky if I can’t take a few puffs off my vape when I want. I do plan to quit vaping entirely at some point if I live that long.
