Resolution No. 1: Really Quit Smoking

To Brian, Re: Snus

Okay, so isn't this just another form of using the same drug? Yep. Isn't it potentially habit forming? Yep. Does it have the same risk of lung cancer? Not hardly, actually not at all. Does it risk mouth cancers? Yep, if you plan on using it the rest of your life. It contains the same amount of tobacco as a standard cigarette. However the body ingests a fraction of the nicotine of a standard cigarette.

This is wrong. There have been widescale studies in Sweden about the impact of snus. There is no increased risk of getting lung cancer (obviously) OR oral cancer through using snus. Snus helped me quit smoking too. I don't use snus very often, but every real study on it suggests moderate (even heavy usage) is rather benign. Considering I don't even use it once a day, I don't feel the urge to "quit." I would argue that, the amount I use, it is no more detrimental to my health than a cup of coffee.

Also, the amount of nicotine in snus (1 normal strength portion) is about 2 to 3 cigareetes.

As far as nicotine is concerned, though, I have found no reports suggesting that it is especially bad for you. It's not considered a carcinogen, and has not been found to cause the formation of any disease. On the contrary, there are a lot of studies out there that link nicotine usage to decreasing the risk of getting Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. I think it was a rather large effect as well (risk was 50% that of non-nicotine use).

I just quit smoking a month ago after smoking for 8 years. I find it ironic that a free can of Camel SNUS helped me quit smoking Camel cigarettes. Especially because soon after I found real Swedish snus and have never even purchased the Camel SNUS. I guess sometimes big tobacco does help you out (although unintentionally).

SNUS

I am now 3 months past my 33rd birthday. Rather than procrastinate and make quitting my New Year's resolution I decided "kicking the habit" would be my 33rd birthday present to myself. I started smoking my freshmen year of college. I was very easily a pack a day smoker, and sometimes multiple packs. I started with Camel Lights. I moved to Marlboro lights. The past 4 years I've smoked Djaram Black's exclusively. Yes, a pack of those per day! Ick!

Just before my birthday I wasn't feeling well. I had a cough. I was reading a magazine. In it was an ad for something called SNUS. For the unknowing it is very similar to little chewing tobacco packages called Bandits, however SNUS is pasteurized. Camel had just launched this product in the US. So what is the difference? With SNUS you don't spit. There is not a need to do so. SNUS hails from Sweden, which has the highest percentage of tobacco users and the lowest rate of cancer deaths in Europe. This is because while 1/5 of the population uses tobacco, almost all of that use is SNUS.

Okay, so isn't this just another form of using the same drug? Yep. Isn't it potentially habit forming? Yep. Does it have the same risk of lung cancer? Not hardly, actually not at all. Does it risk mouth cancers? Yep, if you plan on using it the rest of your life. It contains the same amount of tobacco as a standard cigarette. However the body ingests a fraction of the nicotine of a standard cigarette. In fact the amount when I compared the two was equivalent to the use of nicorette gum. (incidentally another draw down from smoking method of using less and less nicotine) The ends justify the means. It doesn't matter how you quit...if you quit the spoils are the same.

On October 1 2008 I had my last Black. It was a great moment for many reasons. Several hours later I used my first SNUS dose. I tried to keep my use of SNUS to 4 tins per week (20 doses per tin). I was successful. I went on like that until November. In november I dropped that down to a budget of 2 tins per week. What I found was by the time November finished I only purchased 3 tins the entire month. By that time I was over the cravings of Cigarettes. I wasn't really enjoying SNUS (though it was so nice and discreet on a couple cross country flights) The smell of cigarettes to me now is horrendous. As of my writing this I've not had a SNUS in over a month and not a single cigarette since my birthday. I'm confident I have this licked.

I thought I'd pass along my bit of magic. There are tons of books. Tons of marketed solutions. No one way is better than another way. Find what works for you. So long as you quit that's all the matters.

72 hours

thats how long the withdrawal from nicotine lasts. 72 hours, after that its all mental and you can do that. i smoked up to two packs a day for 35 yrs, i quit six months ago and the 72 hours were the toughest of my life, but when i got past them. it was a battle i could win. good luck to all that are trying to quit

Good book, I read it and quit for a week, but then started smoking again. This was a longest time I didn't smoke within the last 15 years.

Allen Carr's Easy Way

I stopped smoking after reading Allen Carr's book "The Easy Way To Stop Smoking." Look it up on amazon and read the reviews there. Search for Allen Carr on youtube and watch a few videos with him. He is a genius!

I smoked from age 13 until about a month before my 33rd birthday. I was smoking 1 1/2 packs to 2 packs a day.

This is probably the most successful stop smoking program there is. And you don't have to worry about any side effects from drugs, or using a nicotine patch to quit nicotine... does that even make any sense? It's just prolonged withdrawal(suffering).

With Allen Carr's method you can stop smoking easily, and the withdrawal won't make you relapse, rather it can be used as a driving force to help you stop! Read the book and you'll understand! Good Luck!