Any ex-smokers miss smoking?

[RFCalifornia]

I haven't smoked a cigarette for over 12 years

Yet every day I wish I could have one...just one!

Anyone else feel this way?

[secondwind]

1. Nope. Gave it up in 1983, and never looked back...

[RFCalifornia]

5. I hope I can do that someday

[Glorfindel]

2. It's been 29 years for me

I still like to smell the smoke from a cigarette, pipe, or cigar. I have always said that if I receive a fatal diagnosis, the first thing I'll do is buy a pack of Salem Lights.

Welcome to DU, by the way!

[RFCalifornia]

6. Thanks! I've been on a number of other progressive sites

But I like this because I am a socialist who is also for democracy

It's hard to find that perfect balance

Many socialist sites are geared around doctrinaire Marxism (completely forgetting socialists like Debs and Goldman)

Or they are bought and paid for by the DNC

I like how this is independent

[zanana1]

40. Hey! We have the same fatal diagnosis dream!

I'd add a six-pack to that, though.

[Glorfindel]

41. Of course, but I've never given up alcohol

A couple of glasses of red wine every evening keep me centered.

[nancy1942]

3. Never.

After watching my husband die of tobacco caused oral cancer I never ever had any desire for another cigarette. We were both heavy smokers who had quit the habit but it was too late for him; the damage had already been done.

[secondwind]

4. Oh, my!

Welcome to DU!!!!!! You're gonna love it here!!

[Mike Nelson]

7. No...

... 12 years seems unusually long. I don't think I wanted one beyond 12 weeks. I recall an ex-smoker friend say it took a couple years, but got much easier along the way. I hope it gets easier for you.

[LakeArenal]

8. Mr Lake quit 20 years ago and joneses for one everyday.

He says when he used to see a whole butt that someone tossed in the sand on the way into an appointment, he always wanted/wants to smoke it.

He was a very polite smoker. Never in house or car.

Pot nor booze has ever satisfied.
He did vape for awhile with no nicotine just so he could feel that nice long satisfying draw.....

[sinkingfeeling]

9. Yep. I still like the smell of cigarette smoke. Haven't smoked in

13 years.

[RFCalifornia]

10. Confession: I smoke a cigar every year

Since my dad died, he left me a box of some really good cigars

Some Cuban, Dominican, Nicaraguan, etc

That was what killed him by the way -- he had a cigar every day

I will smoke one a year

That can't kill me?

It's how I remember my father -- it's like a communion with my deceased father on his terms

(it was always on his terms)

[TreasonousBastard]

11. Every so often something triggers a craving for a cigarette...

Not that often, though.

Smoke free for over 10 years.

[RFCalifornia]

18. Keep it up

But if you have those urges you need to acknowledge them, and then move on

That's the only thing I've done that helped!

[Yonnie3]

12. Smoke free for three years this time

Every once in a while I feel like having one. Not gonna happen.

Many times I "quit" and I just had one after months and ended up smoking regularly again.

[RFCalifornia]

13. Please, stay that way

I smoked for 22+ years

Don't be that

[LeftInTX]

14. Quit 45 years ago, I still like the smell of fresh lit cigarettes

However, I really didn't like smoking them.

[RFCalifornia]

15. THAT'S ME!!!

I tried smoking one a while ago, and it was a non starter for me!

I just had one drag and then started coughing

[Hoyt]

16. 30 years for me. Still embarrassed I ever got hooked. Detest smell now.

[RFCalifornia]

17. It smells horrible when you're smoking it

But the smell of others doing it smells really good to me

[ailsagirl]

32. No offense but, for me, the smell is nauseating

But I am hardly ever around it, since none of my friends smoke.

I had one friend who smoked for over 30 years and just couldn't/wouldn't stop. Until the inevitable happened. She had to have surgery and she's cancer-free, but she still sneaks a cig or two now and then. Which disturbs me. So she's constantly chewing on that nicotine gum.

(I haven't seen her in years but I know she's OK)

[Binkie The Clown]

19. Nope. It's been something like 20 years or so. It never even crosses my mind anymore.

One day I was a smoker for 45 years, and the next day I was a non-smoker. I spent years and years "trying" to quit, and then one day, I stopped "trying" and just quit. And never looked back. It was the day I sat in the doctor's office with my wife and listened as the doctor told her she had terminal lung cancer. It all got very real that day, and I suddenly realized that I had never taken the possible consequences seriously. I always "knew" that smoking was seriously bad for me, I just never KNEW it. That day the truth sank in, and I realized that "the truth will set you free" only works when you KNOW the truth.

[Skittles]

20. me

I still love, LOVE the smell of tobacco

I don't CRAVE nicotine anymore, but I still miss lighting up with that first cup of coffee or with that shot of whiskey

[MLAA]

21. Not until you mentioned it! Haha

Quit 15 or so years ago. Ow the only time I think of it is if I smell the smoke close by, which rarely happens. Then just a slight twinge of interest.

[RFCalifornia]

27. Sorry

In my most "Canadian"

[panader0]

22. Yes. Five years now--I had a pulmonary embolism from a leg blood clot. (DVT)

It wasn't fun, so I quit, after 50 years of Camels, Luckys, and Pall Malls. It was difficult, but I
did it cold turkey. I miss it nearly every day. When I find out what it is that I will die from. I'll
start up again.

[rurallib]

23. I quit about 40 years ago maybe more

and the thing that got rid of my craving was taking about ten really deep breaths when I had a craving.

Cravings were pretty much gone in a couple of months.

I think the price of a pack of smokes would scare me into quitting these days.

[RFCalifornia]

26. Thank you n/t

[Tikki]

24. No, not even.

16 years.


Tikki

[applegrove]

25. After I had quit using meds I bought herbal smokes. Every time I wanted

a smoke I lit up one of them. I hated them. After a month of that I stopped craving. I fooled myself into thinking herbal yucky smokes were cigarettes and my crave was killed off. It has been 13 years without a crave.when I see someone smoking I feel sorry for them. I've completely replaced tabacco cigarette sensation with the gross sensation of herbal cigarettes where there is no kick. I hate thinking about inhaling smoke. I do not want marijuana to smoke today. I never really enjoyed weed but someone lit up beside me at the bus stop today and I though ew. I actively hate smoking anything.

[peacebuzzard]

28. It's been 35 yrs, & last wagon fall was 22 yrs ago.

My failures to remain a non smoker were for extreme circumstances. Failures lasted less than a month and it was not addicting or pleasurable.
But it has now been 22 smoke free of those awful nicotine laced cigs.
Don’t do the funny ones either but think they are useful in many circumstances. Because of sports and my job, I can’t do the funny ones. 🏊🏋🏻?♂️🧘🏼?♂️

[MuseRider]

29. I cannot remember

when I actually quit. I stopped and started so many times that I quit paying attention. Sometime in the early to mid 90's was when I finally managed to do it. Only every once in a while, while sitting and reading or watching TV I will get a craving. Sometimes it is pretty strong but not enough to make me really want one but mostly is just lingers in my mind for awhile. It sucks doesn't it? I wish I could never feel like that again.

Deep breaths and visions of some very rich white man in a cowboy hat sitting in a very large, expensive office reclining in his leather recliner with his big, fancy cowboy boots on the desktop sucking on a cigar and looking out at millions of us coughing and hacking and dying while he smiles and looks at his tobacco portfolio. THAT and the help of lozenges is what finally kept me from having the next one until I was done with it finally.

[ailsagirl]

30. Not in the slightest!!

Really!

I did smoke but, for some odd reason, I was never addicted. I know, I know, you'll say "Oh sure" but it's true.

I never had even one puff since that summer day back in 1993 when I smoked my last one. And never felt I needed one. In fact, I cannot stand the smell so I always look for an escape if ever confronted with the smoke.

My mom and brother are the same way.

BUT whether or not one is addicted doesn't matter, of course, since the damage to the body happens regardless.

Forgot to mention that back when I did smoke, I never smoked when I was alone. I know-- weird. It was only when I went out with friends that I did.

[Xoan]

31. Never.

Only thing that worked for me was Chantix. Lost the desire.

[dickthegrouch]

33. Not this time.

I quit about 32 years ago when it was still possible to smoke on airplanes. I flew a great deal for work, but circumstances stopped me flying around the same time as I quit smoking for about a year. It was a huge surprise how much I wanted one in a 10 hour flight sitting in the row in front of the smokers. Smelled horrible and I couldn’t get out of my clothes fast enough on arrival. Managed to resist the temptation though.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

34. Once in a while.

Like if I get a whiff of a really good cigar or a strong menthol.

[3catwoman3]

35. This is a very interesting thread.

I am a never-smoker. My mom smoked when I was little, and I hated the smell. Still do. Never tried one; never even touched one. Never dated a smoker.

It surprises me how penetrating the smell is. If I am stopped at a traffic light and the first car in line is 5 cars ahead, windows open and the driver is smoking, the smell is still powerful enough and noxious enough to make me want to gag. Some pipe tobaccos have a pleasant aroma, but regular cigarettes -

Congratulations to all the former smokers here!

[twin_ghost]

36. I haven't smoked in twenty years.

I would have the urge to smoke when I got stressed for up to 3 years after I quit, but I no longer do. I don't miss the hacking & coughing it caused me.

[a kennedy]

37. I quit May 2nd 2005.......I do like that trace of smoke with the first puff though from someone

else’s cigarette. If I EVER have just one drag, it would be back to smoking for me, I can NEVER have that first drag EVER AGAIN.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

38. Quit in 76. I still dream that I'm smoking!

[Raven]

39. I miss snoking and I haven't quit yet. :-(

[MustLoveBeagles]

42. I quit again in March

The first month or two was really rough. I craved cigarettes constantly but didn't give in. The following months to the present day have been much better. I hardly think about smoking and don't miss it at all.

[left-of-center2012]

43. No

I missed it for the first year.
It'll be 30 years next year.