[Only One Man]

When I was in high school playing football, it was a rite of passage to take a dip. The football team would go eat hot wings after practice once a week and then go hang out at a park and chew and the upperclassmen would make the freshman and sophomores take a fat dip if they didn't already chew. Same thing with the baseball team.

I chewed on and off during high school and for the next couple years. The last two years, though, I've been going through a can about every two days and I've decided I need to quit because obviously it's not a good thing to do and I've heard stories about young guys losing their bottom jaw and even dying from this shit.

Has anyone here chewed for a long time and quit? I'm trying but it's pretty damn hard and there's nothing quite like taking a fatty after a hard workout.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Hades]

I'm in the same boat with smoking. I started out early in college with an occasional drunken cigarette, bought a pack since I was kind of curious, and after a year of on and off again I'm up to roughly half a pack a day. I have bought an e cig so I can get my fix and not get slayed in the weight room or on the rugby field.

Only thing I found that worked when I quit for ~6 months was to get rid of your stressors for a week or two. Take a vacation so you can kick the habit and not "treat" the world to your symptoms. I was an irritable dickhead for about a week, had really bad insomnia and brain fog. Then you have to figure out how to avoid it forever (which I didn't do at the time). I could probably kick the habit now since I work out regularly, which is a good way to get rid of stress.

[durangotang]

Here is some good advice that helped me quit smoking - I made it for a while keeping this in mind and only started again because I got bored, saw an actor smoking in a movie, and thought I could "just have one." I have a friend who is a psychology professor at our local college. He was telling me about a study when he discovered I wanted to quit smoking, and the study found the following information:

The intensity of your desire, the urge, how strong it is, will never diminish. That's the reality.

The duration of your desire, your craving for nicotine, however, will keep getting shorter and shorter. What may be a 30 minute nic-fit on day one will be a 5 minute nic-fit in one week.

The frequency of your desire will also diminish through time. That means on day one you many have 30 cravings in a day, but in one week it may only be 10.

In a year, your craving may come out of the blue and just last for a flash. Not too hard to handle.

That is pretty good news. The first couple of days the dependency upon nicotine is physical. I am not sure about the timeframe, but I think it's like 48 hours to get over that hump and it's not too hard. Most people have the will power to out resolve two days of desire. Once that is done, just keep in mind that each craving will get easier - and by that I mean they won't last as long and won't happen as frequently. If you know that, in my opinion it helps.

One other thing to remember is that when you were a kid, things were pretty exiting and amazing. Probably more so than now, and you didn't even think about needing a cigarette or a dip back then to enjoy life. That thought helps me.

Good luck.

[germanico]

I found out the hard way that the only way to end a tobacco addiction is cold turkey.

Do it one day at a time. Dont have any today. Then dont have any tomorrow. Then the day after that.

[The_CEO]

You'll have to tough it out but it's doable. Throw out the cans. If you need it there are fake chewing tobacco's you can get to replace the physical habit. That are just mint leaves. Look at photos online of people with mouth cancer.
You'll relapse and look at those photos again. Eventually you'll forget about it. Then one day while you're drinking you'll have a craving. Eventually you'll be over it...

[flyfreshandyoung]

^Throwing out the cans is always best.

Cold turkey is the only way to go. I've made it for awhile cold turkey, but honestly it all comes down to willpower- and you have to really want to. Deep in your bones. Like you're fucking over it, period.

I've quit dipping about 200+ times, but because I don't *actually* want to quit I don't get very far.

If you really want to quit, you will. I've had more than a few friends up and do it one day and never look back

[klosck]

(02-17-2012 02:16 AM)Only One Man Wrote:  

When I was in high school playing football, it was a rite of passage to take a dip. The football team would go eat hot wings after practice once a week and then go hang out at a park and chew and the upperclassmen would make the freshman and sophomores take a fat dip if they didn't already chew. Same thing with the baseball team.

I chewed on and off during high school and for the next couple years. The last two years, though, I've been going through a can about every two days and I've decided I need to quit because obviously it's not a good thing to do and I've heard stories about young guys losing their bottom jaw and even dying from this shit.

Has anyone here chewed for a long time and quit? I'm trying but it's pretty damn hard and there's nothing quite like taking a fatty after a hard workout.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Im like you brother. I grew up in Iowa playing football..it was what everybody did...Here I am now, almost 20 years later and still haven't quit. My advice for the short term...alternate sides of your mouth each week...this helps offset the cancer.. (I'm on the right this week)....

When you decide that you had enough, buy an e-Cigarette, and set a date to quit (its easiest to start on a Monday). Plan it so you have no cans left and commit yourself to the e-Cigarrette. With the c-Cigarette, it wont be the same, but at least you wont have the crazy mood swings or headaches.

Your biggest stumbling block will be alcohol. So many times have I broken down and bought a can after being buzzed. ...Then the can lasts until Tuesday, and I'm hooked again. But at least you'll have offset the damage to your mouth for a couple weeks or so.

I live in Europe now. Chew isn't readily available. However I have ready access to it through the American bases, so it doesn't help my situation. I do know people that do Snuss (which is supposedly healthier) and they seem to like it. I've tried it a few times and found it not too bad compared to Skoal.

The bottom line is, .... nicotine is a bitch...and just like with other chemical addictions, there is no easy way out. You will either have to go cold turkey...with intense discomfort .or find a suitable alternative to slowly wean you off. Either way, its not easy, and if you are serious about quitting, you will need to be ready for some pain.

[Hades]

I now have an e cig and notice that there's a definite and immediate benefit. I recommend it since you can cheaply get your nicotine fix with no real issues.

[Timoteo]

Tony Gwynn, one of the greatest hitters in Major League history, just had surgery for mouth cancer. Another former major leaguer, Brett Butler, had surgery for cancer in his neck many years ago. Others have lost parts of their jaws, etc. due to cancer from chewing tobacco. PLEASE, find a way to quit using it.

[mofo]

This may help you to quit...

http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2009...-14-09.txt

Good luck on quitting!

[Hali902]

The shock pics will never help anybody quit smoking. They are plastered on every pack and it never stops anyone. Why worry about something that 'might' happen to you? The commercial ads don't work either. Nicotine gum and patches has something like a 5% success rate as well.

Hm. Can't post a link until I have 10 posts....but look up Allen Carr's "Easy Way to Stop Smoking" on Amazon.

Read this book. It explains the physiology of nicotine dependance, proves how completely minor the physical withdrawal symptoms are, and shows you why it's 90% psychological reasons why most people can't quit.

I read the book in one sitting, had one last smoke, and tossed half a pack in the trash. That was almost 4 months ago now. No cravings whatsoever, no withdrawal, no weight gain.

The only weird part for me was finding things to do when I would 'usually' smoke instead. That lasted about two weeks or so. Now it seems like a long distant memory, I never even think about smoking and I can be in a car with smoker friends with zero cravings.

If you are serious about quitting, I can't recommend that book enough.