Any advice for a pilot who wants to kick the cigs?

Just quit. Plan on wanting to smoke ALL THE TIME. Get used to living craving a cig. Inhale AIR, feel that crave. THAT crave is LIFE! It means you GET TO LIVE! Smoke, you cant find a job, wont have friends and wont be able to get a date. Dont smoke, you get to LIVE! Good luck and dont stop trying to quit!
 
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I smoked for 10 years. Peaked out at 3 packs a day for a while. Cold turkey is the way to go but replace it with something. I exercised more and always had a pencil in my pocket because I felt like my "muscle memory" was equally addicted to just the act of holding a cig. It's been almost 20 years now.

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I smoked for 35 years. There is no magic bullet... I can tell you that I quit twice... The first time lasted about a year...the second time (this one) has lasted for 17 years. The secret number is 3 days. Stay off of them for 3 days and your physical need will be almost nil. The rest is left totally to your desire to quit... If you really do, then you are pretty much off of them at that point. I felt a twinge of an urge for the next 2 years once in a while, but it passed quickly and I never faltered. So basically, here's the bottom line: If you want to quit, really want to. It's not that hard...
 
Both of my parents smoked. They both quit.

Mom smoked for about 30 years, 2 packs a day. She was about 50 when she had a cancer scare, leukoplakia that she was afraid would turn into mouth cancer. So she quit cold turkey, never looked back.

Dad smoked for closer to 60 years. He quit several times but could never seem to shake the habit. He developed hypertension, advanced carotid atherosclerosis, inoperable coronary disease. Finally at 80, looking at deteriorating lungs, he quit for good and spent the last 13 years of his life smoke-free. He claimed a professor friend of his inspired him to really do it.

He finally passed at 93 from a massive heart attack. I often wonder if he could have lived to 100 if he hadn't been addicted to nicotine for such a large part of his life. Maybe, maybe not. But if he could quit after 60 years of addiction, anyone can.
 
I wanna be able to fly for as many hours as I need without feeling the urge to smoke.

I quit 9 years ago and got a lot of help from a gentleman that I met out on the road. He had not smoked in almost 20 years so I asked him when his cravings finally went away and his response surprised me. He said they never did go away, just had to get used to getting past that feeling and it always sucked. That was the key for me! I accepted that I would always want a cigarette and just focus on how to get past that initial craving. What worked for me was exercise, striking up a conversation with someone or getting involved in a task that requires concentration. It was hard and just like the gentleman told me, the cravings continued. What I've noticed in the last few years is that the cravings are getting further and further apart though.
 
Join a gym. Start running. Invest time and effort into your cardiovascular health and smoking will be easy to quit.
 
Join a gym. Start running. Invest time and effort into your cardiovascular health and smoking will be easy to quit.
This is how a buddy of mine quit, and I'm going with him to the gym today!
 
Really? In the 21st Century? Compared to my day, I thought smoking was very frowned-upon and greatly reduced % of kids getting into the habit.

Have you looked into hypnosis?
Haha! I went to school in a bad area, lots of underage drinking, drugs and other issues. I'm actually very happy cigs is all I tried In school...
 
I quit cold turkey 20 years ago. All it took was my 3 yr old standing upwind of me while I smoked, pretending to cough like she was dying.

You really want to quit? Add up how much you actually spend on cigarettes each month, and then calculate how many more hours of flying you could afford with that money. What are they up to now? Like $10/pack?
 
California just passed a law which raises the taxes on a pack of cigarettes from $.87 to $2.87.

I think cigarettes are around $7.00 a pack in NY.

Unfortunately, the poor smoke more than middle/upper income groups and thus suffer disproportionately from increased taxes.
 
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The only people I've known that successfully quit smoking steeled themselves to quit cold turkey. One guy, a long-time heavy smoker, carried a pack of cigarettes in his front shirt pocket as he'd done for many years, but he didn't touch them. Kind of like I've heard of recovering alcoholics keeping one beer in the fridge.
 
California just passed a law which raises the taxes on a pack of cigarettes from $.87 to $2.87.

I think cigarettes are around $7.00 a pack in NY.

Unfortunately, the poor smoke more than middle/upper income groups and thus suffer disproportionately from increased taxes.

If they can't afford it, they should quit. It is that simple.
 
Cigarettes in Anchorage are over $10 a pack for the big brands. Liquor is heavily sin taxed as well. The homeless panhandlers that every city has seem to find the money to buy both. Priorities, I guess.
 
California just passed a law which raises the taxes on a pack of cigarettes from $.87 to $2.87.

I think cigarettes are around $7.00 a pack in NY.

Unfortunately, the poor smoke more than middle/upper income groups and thus suffer disproportionately from increased taxes.

It depends on where in New York and what kind of cigarettes. The last time I was in The City, the "better" cigarettes, for lack of a better word, were ~ $14.00 / pack.

For my part, I stopped smoking paper cigarettes years ago when someone I helped get out of a jam bought me an e-cig kit. I was pretty much a chain smoker at the time. Since then I've upgraded my works and haven't smoked paper cigarettes in a very long time.

I've noticed some odd things about e-cigs. One is that it took quite a while for me to stop craving paper cigarettes after I started vaping. I suspect there are some other addictive chemicals in tobacco other than nicotine.

The other thing I've noticed is that except for during the initial switch, it's become a lot easier to go without e-cigs than it was to go without paper cigarettes. If I'm in some place that bans e-cigs (which I think is pretty dopey and is more about control issues than second-hand water vapor, but that's neither here nor there), I almost never step out to vape unless I'm talking to someone who goes out to smoke. I can go for eight hours without vaping with no trouble. When I was smoking paper cigarettes, on the other hand, it was tough to go more than half an hour.

I also have noticed that even in my own home, I vape much less these days. The same 250ml bottle of e-liquid that used to last me a month now lasts for three or four months. I mainly vape after meals and in the evening after work, and even then only if I'm at home. A few times when I was traveling and forgot my works, I've gone for a few days without vaping. I've also lowered the concentration from 2.4 percent to 1.8 percent nicotine.

Of course, this all begs the question of why I don't stop completely. The reason is because I don't want to. I like vaping a few drops of e-liquid in the evening while I'm watching the news. Some people quaff bourbon. I vape 555 e-liquid. To each his own, I say.

The irony is that e-cigs are explicitly not a smoking-cessation device. And yet based on my own experience and those of other people I know who use them, they're the most effective smoking-cessation ever invented. I don't know a single person who stuck with e-cigs past the initial two weeks who's gone back to paper cigarettes. Most also seem to "lose" the addiction after a while, and many just stop vaping without really giving it much thought. They just vape less and less, and then one day they realized that they've stopped altogether. I've heard it again and again.

As I said, the best I can come up with is that maybe nicotine's not quite as addictive as we think it is. Maybe there's something else in paper cigarettes that makes them more addictive than nicotine alone is. Otherwise it would stand to reason that doing without e-cigs should be as difficult as doing without paper cigarettes. But it's not. It's much easier.

As for the health effects, one of my doctors told me privately that assuming that the e-liquid labels are honest and correct, e-cigs shouldn't be any more dangerous than nicotine patches or gums. But he also said that he'd deny he'd ever said that if he were ever asked. The closest I've heard to an "on-the-record" endorsement of e-cigs by a doctor was that if one simply must vape, to stick to American-made e-liquids and to avoid the exotic flavors.

Rich
 
Ok I just got in for the night, that's day #2 down. I went to the gym with a buddy, was worried I was going be the worst out of shape guy there, that seems pretty silly now seeing as I was far from it. Turning in for the night, my head is screaming, but that's All, it's actually not so bad, I keep telling myself.
 
Someone told me when I quit smoking (8 years ago, smoked 10 years 2 packs a day), that 7th year is the hardest, it gets easier after that. And he was right. You'll see the first week is pretty bad, but after that the physical withdrawal symptoms are pretty much done. It's the habit, that takes years to get rid of. After a few weeks it's so easy to come up with excuses why to smoke. You don't need the nicotine, you need the break. When you learn how to control that, it gets very easy.
Even after a few years I sometimes came up with a weird craving. I was thinking "heck, I can have one, I've been without a cigarette for years so what bad can one cigarette do". That's the worst thing you can do. After a week or so, you're clear of the actual physical withdrawal symptoms. It's the habit that takes years to get rid of.
 
Someone told me when I quit smoking (8 years ago, smoked 10 years 2 packs a day), that 7th year is the hardest, it gets easier after that. And he was right. You'll see the first week is pretty bad, but after that the physical withdrawal symptoms are pretty much done. It's the habit, that takes years to get rid of. After a few weeks it's so easy to come up with excuses why to smoke. You don't need the nicotine, you need the break. When you learn how to control that, it gets very easy.
Even after a few years I sometimes came up with a weird craving. I was thinking "heck, I can have one, I've been without a cigarette for years so what bad can one cigarette do". That's the worst thing you can do. After a week or so, you're clear of the actual physical withdrawal symptoms. It's the habit that takes years to get rid of.
That's good to know. I've never quit before, this is the first and only time I will. I'll be sure to think of that in the years to come
 
hi everybody! I'm 21 years old, 4 mounths ago I got my private pilots license, and I've been practicing regularly for my instrument rating since then. I only have one issue, I smoke, ciggerettes, and I hate it. I know an airline/ commercial pilot can't take his/her smokes into the cockpit and even if they could, I hate being a smoker, I hate it. I've tried a lot of different things, patches, gum, looking at pictures of lungs with emphysema... I can't free myself from it, and I know I need to. Does anybody have any ideas that might help me here, I'm down to 1 whole cig over the course of a day, a huge improvement from where i was, but not where I wanna be. Any info or tips are greatly appreciated.

Start with a change in attitude. You said in your first post. I CAN'T. As long as you keep that perspective, you won't.

Take it from an ex-smoker (40 yrs of cigarettes), you can if, and when, you REALLY want. It's not easy and no one can do it for you. Everyone is giving you good advise, but it all comes down to you.
 
Start with a change in attitude. You said in your first post. I CAN'T. As long as you keep that perspective, you won't.

Take it from an ex-smoker (40 yrs of cigarettes), you can if, and when, you REALLY want. It's not easy and no one can do it for you. Everyone is giving you good advise, but it all comes down to you.
I really do appreciate the tough love man, I'm on day three now of cold turkey, I'm done with this B.S. and it's really stressful, but when I can go a whole day without THINKING about a ciggerette, I know it will be worth it
 
The urge to smoke will stay with you for a while. It gets easier to ignore as time goes by. Then one day you realize you hadn't thought about it at all. Best thing I ever did for myself.

Quitting was what got me into flying. Everyday I would put aside the money I saved on cigarettes that day. The intent was to reward myself for the effort. It was used to take and introductory flight at the local airport. I replace the nicotine addiction with a flying addiction. More expensive, but much more healthy.
 
Jim, day 4 is here. We're pulling for you.
If you are honest, and tell us you had a smoke today, we'll collectively kick your butt.
Come on, you can do this!
 
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Jim, day 4 is here. We're pulling for you.
If you are honest, and tell us you had a smoke today, we'll collectively kick your butt.
Come on, you can do this!
Nope, day three is down! i'm actually feeling better. Keeping my mind busy with other things has been a huge help.
 
Alright, turning in for the night. Tomorrow, day 4 is here. This actually is getting a bit easier. I have a lot to spend time on though.
 
4 days! Keep it going Bassman!

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4 days! Keep it going Bassman!

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Haha nice! Jims father here, i use his profile to browse info here on this site, by far the best pilot fourm on the net. He's doing really well with it, he's been irritable, but always apologetic about it afterwards. He's a good kid. He found a few lose cigs laying in his droor last night, and went and ran water over them in the sink, I'm proud of him. I never smoked, I couldn't tell you how hard it is. Alcohol was my vice, I quit drinking when he was born, never looked back.
 
Good to Jim's father! He told me you're an old GFR fan, like me, too.
Oh heck yes, got him into them too at an early age,but he might be "too cool" to admit he likes an old band like them ;)
 
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