Huckleberries Online

Stebbijo: I Like Smokers

Posted by DFO

Feb. 4, 2012 12:32 a.m. • 11 comments

Stebbijo: I like smokers, they are fun people. My mother was a smoker and suffered from emphysema. She finally quit to prolong her life and I swear she would have been a happier woman with a smoke or two during her last days. She absolutely hated the grass burners and blamed them for everything. My Dad smoked and quit. My husband is a smoker, and began his addiction at the age of eleven which takes over 40 years of his life. I love him, dearly. He has tried and tried to quit, came close and then failed again. He hates the smell, the ball and chain effect, ect. more than anyone. He smokes outside, but if we are in the car, he rolls down the window and I still gag. However,my lungs are still the best part of me. I just have to work on that deep fat frying addiction.

Question: Have you ever beaten an addiction — smoking, fat-frying, reading HucksOnline? Anything?

11 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

kamm on February 04 at 8:29 a.m.
I’d been smoking 2 ppd for years. My Mom was coming to visit and had lung problems so I decided not to smoke while she stayed with me. I got an rX for Nicoret gum to get me through the 2 weeks and I never smoked again.
I wonder if I was successful because I wasn’t trying to quit forever, just for a shot time. I got through withdrawal without really trying.
Stickman on February 04 at 9:26 a.m.
And hear I thought you were a smoker. I apologize for assuming that. You seem to get your share of second hand smoke though. I gave up the habit many years ago and never looked back. Just put them down one day and that was it. That was twenty years ago. Best thing I ever did for myself.
Stickman on February 04 at 9:28 a.m.
I also gave up all meat about 8 years ago, that seems like a sort of addiction to some.
stebbijo on February 04 at 10:00 a.m.
Stickmen, the second hand smoke has not hurt me at all and you are right, I have been around it most of my life.

When a smoker starts at an early age, I think it is much more difficult to quit.

“Researchers have long suspected that nicotine addiction happens, in part, because nicotine changes the brain with repeated use. Those changes might be why some smokers find it hard to quit, because the brain adapts to nicotine use in a way that produces pleasurable feelings.”

http://century.yale.edu/news/brunzell.htm

It is no big secret that it is an addiction, but we continue to pounce on some of these people like it is all of their fault. Until the states take them off the shelves in order to protect the children as they claim is the reason to raise taxes (they are not supposed to buy them anyway), the state enables the addiction. Period. At the same time, this LEGAL addiction produces a stigma and discrimination. This will change when a smart attorney(s) and some smokers decide they have had enough.
Phaedrus on February 04 at 11:26 a.m.
multiples.
Wes on February 04 at 12:03 p.m.
I smoked for thirty eight years and developed
throat cancer. The treatment process nearly
killed me. KMC saved me three years ago, but
I have a 40% chance the cancer will return, with
only a 10% chance of survival if it does.

No up side to smoking.
CdAHumanist on February 04 at 12:07 p.m.
I picked up a chewing tobacco addiction playing high school sports and that nasty habbit stuck with me for 15 years. One day, I said to myself that enough was enough and I quit cold turkey. Haven’t done it since.
Aaron on February 04 at 6:25 p.m.
I swear by the nicotine replacement systems (patch/gum/lozenge). I smoked cigarettes thru high school and my college years, tried to kick the habit a few times and relapsed after a while. After a rough relationship I needed a change, threw my last pack of smokes out the window and promised to never smoke cigarettes again. I spent a small fortune on nicotine lozenges for 16 weeks, and havent looked back since. I’m going on 10 years now-nicotine free :0)
Escapee on February 04 at 11:45 p.m.
My parents always tried to quit at the same time, which of course, made for a very adversarial conditions around the house for a while. They were trying to beat the smoking habit with “Nicoban” (one of the first try-to-quit remedies); the tablets were about the size of a Necco Wafer. Allegedly, Nicoban was supposed to mimic the sensations one experienced when smoking. I was curious about the whole thing, so Dad gave me a Nicoban; I popped it in my mouth, and immediately my throat felt like someone had shoved hot coals down my esophagus. Hack ack arrgh pfft yech hack hack hack. You get the idea.
greenlibertarian on February 04 at 11:51 p.m.
Busting a gut, Idaho-Escapee dave. My parents did the same thing, it wasn’t pretty. not those wafers tho, too funny man. See what you get for being curious? Killed the cat ya know….
Charlie on February 05 at 2:33 p.m.
Quit smoking 15 years ago, cold turkey, a heart attack helped me make that decision. Just came back from visiting some friends, they still smoke, didn’t get preachy but couldn’t wait for clean air. A hard habit to quit!

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.