I stopped smoking over 15 years ago because the Government had jacked up the taxes yet again. I wasn’t going to pay (I think it was $2.00 a pack)! That was it. I had to stop smoking. <br>
Luck would have it that I wasn’t sitting with my father on the porch discussing fishing, when I noticed that he wasn’t smoking. Here was a man whose cigarettes were so strong and raunchy, that I even refused to borrow them from him. He had been smoking these air pollutants for over 40 years. I asked him why he wasn’t smoking. He informed me that the company he worked for had a program to help smokers quit smoking. He had taken it and he had smoked for over a month.<br>
I asked my father for a summary of how he quit. It was really quite simple. They were handed out a book “How to Quit Smoking” (the author escapes me), he gave me the book. Whenever I had a cigarette, I would read the book. The book revealed how much smoking controlled my life. I would go out in the middle of the night to get cigarettes, or even something simple like matches. Or I would wait until I had finished having a cigarrette before I entered a building. The worst was when I moved to the North-east and I had to smoke outside in an artic squall. It was so cold. It became unbearable.<br>
When the break bell ran at work I would jog to the nearest exit to have a cigarette, and if I was lucky enough I could quickly inhale 2 cigarettes. During lunch break I would wolf down my lunch and jog outside into an artic squall, have two cigarettes. It was quite pathetic when I look back on it. <br>
I had tried everything to quit smoking, I was even dumb enough to take the advice of a dear friend. He suggested that I should smoke a pipe or cigar. The logic was that I would smoke a cigar or pipe instead of a cigarette. This would replace the cigarette which was worse because you inhaled the cigarette, but not the pipe or cigar. What a great idea.<br>
Shortly, after I started this stop smoking program, I was smoking a cigarette, a cigar, and a pipe. I was smoking so much, I didn’t even have time to breathe oxygen. I smelt like an incinerator. People would turn the fire extinguishers on me. <br>
I chose a long weekend to quit smoking. I purchased 5 lbs of peanuts, this would help when I felt the urge to inhale. I made it through the weekend. I would still have an urge to smoke, but I would resist. Now 15 years later, I am one of those self-righteous non-smokers. Unfortunately, I think if I can quit a pack and half day, plus the cigars, and pipe smoking, everybody can. <br>
It is tough at the beginning, but if you can quit, the urges will pass. There are now so many inexpensive aids to help you, like the patches, the pills, hypnosis, etc. it can be done.
Richard McDuff has been selling full-time on the internet for seven years He has a blog at and you can read more about how to quit smoking at