It might be a late answer to this post but I just needed to post this comment. My wife has managed to quite smoking these days (but she decided to for it a year ago) and struggled hard to succeed, but she did it. She used some acupuncture, so called quit smoking acupuncture by Hoa Soyung, also went to a group of self-help hynotherapy and meditated a lot.

The new 2009 is comming soon a we got a smokeless family now :)
Thanks to all those who are helping others with useful information and good luck to all those who are just starting to think about quitting.

Cheers,
CR

Until the day I die, I will never understand why anyone lights up in the first place.  It's simply the most revolting habit anyone could possibly have.  There are simply no good points at all.  I mean, you get sick and it costs a lot of money too.  I could never be attracted to anyone who smokes.  And I know that I'm not the only one!

April

4 months ago. For good. This is why.

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Troll Baby | Motherless | Troll Baby Graphics | BlogHer |

Well, that just made me want to start smoking again. Oh wait, I had a cigarette a couple of hours ago. Darn, I can't blame you! LOL.

I am not nor was I ever a lower life form simply because I chose (and occasionally still choose) to smoke.

When you enter a relationship, if you're thinking about the medical bills you may end up with then you are not ready for a relationship. There's a darn good chance that you're going to end up with medical bills yourself, and you don't smoke. You do, however, have other lifestyle habits and other potential health risks - all of which are going to bring in the bills later on. We all have those issues to face as we age. Sure, smoking probably means lung cancer, emphysema, heart disease or some combo of those. But the odds are good that non-smokers are going to face some pretty similar issues.

And, while I'm annoyed, people do all sorts of things that are killing them. Like drinking. Like eating. Like stressing their lives away. Like not taking medication or taking their prescribed medication incorrectly. How one person chooses to live her life (or end her life), really is not anyone's business but her own.

(Karen - way to go! I'm totally happy for you, though I'll miss smoking with you at Blogher - if I'm on a smoking jag at the time.)

OK OK, it's time for me to get a nap before I have to officially start my day - but first, low-life that I am, I'm going to smoke and enjoy every drag! Cheers! ;-)

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High

"though I'll miss smoking with you..."

My mother-in-law said it. Friends have said it. BlogHers have said it - 3 to be exact.

I'm curious: I didn't dump you, I dumped cigarettes. I will still stand near you. I will still talk to you. I'll even breathe it in - it can't be helped in certain situations.

It's like when you decide you're going to lose weight - eating and smoking (and drinking) are all social activities, at least partially, but because I'm giving up cheesecake/cigarettes/booze, doesn't mean we're breaking up. Why do people get upset about this?

Anyone? (Sorry Denise for calling you out - no disrespect, I'm just trying to figure out why people are the way they are.)

Karen

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Troll Baby | Motherless | Troll Baby Graphics | BlogHer |

I don't think the comment about a lower life form was meant as a slam. I think it's more about being better than the addiction and being worth more than what's left after the damage is done.

I am approaching 5 years without a cigarette after about 10 years smoking. Quitting was miserable, but ultimately liberating. On the other side of the addiction I can say that it did impact more than just my health and my bank account. It informed people's perception of me, because yes, smoking can suggest weakness, apathy, and if not "lower life form" status, poor judgement to be sure. It defined me in some ways as I was bound by the need to go outside and have a smoke, to make sure that I had enough to get me through the day. And it put such a chip on my shoulder about the holier than thou non-smokers.

I think it is a really difficult lifestyle choice to defend despite it being each person's right to smoke or not smoke. Unfortunately, its impact in public places and the second hand implication make it the business of non-smokers.

One little thing on the dating smoker front and I'll zip it, my husband fell for me despite my being a smoker. He was indispensable in my successful bid to quit. I'm glad he gave me the chance.

I've dated smokers in the past, but I'd have to say that I'd be a lot more selective about it now. Such a gross, stinky habit -- and you're right, a person's decision to smoke doesn't just impact that person, it impacts their loved-ones, too.

Personal blog: Keep Up With Me
BlogHer blog: Life - Singles

More than anything else you can do, smoking affects and poisons those around you as well as yourself. My point with the lower life form comment - which was harsh, yes - is that it's becoming truly absurd to be a smoker, even an occasional one. I myself have smoked a cigarette before, and I myself can enjoy a cigarette with a beer, but it's just seeming more and more insane to smoke, particularly after the August 2006 report on secondhand smoke.

Denise is right. I don't go around calling smokers lower life forms, and certainly I don't consider Denise a lower life form. I'm going to stand up right here and call "blogger" on myself in the sense that, yes, I am absolutely writing this here, on the Internet, because you can't be stringent with the smokers polluting the air right outside your office building in person without being a freak that everyone hates. And yet, it is starting to feel crazier and crazier to me that I have to walk through poisonous fumes to get to my car. And the fact that friends and acquaintances smoke is becoming more and more disturbing to me, and while I do say something about it, at least once and then let it go, I desperately wish anyone could get through to them. Do we really need to let smoking die off (literally)? Can't we at some point nip it?

And yeah, I agree with Mir - when I consider dating someone I accept that either of us could get in a car accident or come down with a terminal illness, but it's different if they are inhaling poison regularly, thereby virtually guaranteeing this outcome for themselves and others. I mean, I wouldn't start a relationship with a drug addict either.

Thank you, everyone, for sharing their opinions and perceptions!

Denise, I would love it if you would address the addiction angle in a post sometime, because it is definitely something I'd like to learn more about.

Liz Rizzo

I blog at Everyday Goddess, The SexySmart Blog, and On The Lot.

a person who's never grappled with the stranglehold that addiction to nicotine can have over your every waking moment...

I appreciate your message, Liz, but the delivery? Not so much. As someone who smoked for over twenty years before I quit (whilst watching my mother die of lung cancer & emphysema), your 'tough-love' approach does more to rile a smoker than a gentler touch.

I'm glad I quit 20+ months ago, for if I hadn't, your post surely would have spurred me to light up--just to spite you.

Peg
Peggy, As She Is...

Yes, I agree we should make smoking socially unacceptable so that fewer and fewer people smoke. It's clearly a nasty, unhealthy habit, and it should be eradicated.

But I'm supposed to add 'smoking' to the list of things that aren't acceptable in a potential mate? Nope. Sorry. Not gonna happen. I'll date a smoker, as long as he/she is respectful of my breathing space and their smoking habits.

Maybe I'm too cynical about the dating scene, but adding one more thing to the list simply makes my dating options shrink. And if I'm ok if they go outside occasionally for a smoke, then so be it.

ann
www.annattitude.com

My husband smokes (outside), and he's overweight. He also doesn't exercise a lot.

But don't feel sorry for my kids because of it. He's a LOT healthier than I am. A LOT. I quit smoking while pregnat with my first, and it was hard - very hard, even with that as a motivator. He has quit 3-4 times, and is cutting down now in preparation for another try at quitting.

I'm glad I didn't eliminate him from my dating prospects or divorce him because of it - I'm chronically ill, and he is lovingly supporting me through the horrors of chronic pain & chronic illness.

I like the idea of your message, but I don't agree with the ton.

Rachel - a Gaggle of girls and sites
blog, recipes, and book reviews

As years go by, I find myself becoming less and less tolerant of smokers, I am fed up with having to walk behind them when I'm walking to my local store, I am furious when I see smokers throwing half smoked cigarette ends out of car windows, Why do they do it? If this is not affecting my life in some way or form, what is?
I vote for 1000% increase in taxes on cigarettes so that it prices everybody out of the addiction, then perhaps we can ALL start living healthier lives!!
Marcia
A member of the Dreambodynow team
http://www.dreambodynow.com

I do take issue with what smoking is, and I also take issue with people dictating what other people ought to do, I do get offended when people refer to smokers like they're lepers, and for the latter to be segregated in some way (which I don't see as being any different from racial segregation, it's still has the same features). Yes it's a terrible, life threatening habit, and it's too easy a generalisation to make, to say that all smokers litter with butts, are inconsiderate and blow smoke in the direction of non smokers, and so on.

Nicotine addiction isn't fun, and I know. I've fallen off the wagon countless times, but that doesn't make me a disgusting person to know, nor does it make me inconsiderate. It's not like I sit there waiting for someone to walk by so I can light up and blow smoke in their direction to get my rocks off.

Here's a suggestion, how about you target your disgust at tobacco companies? Try the Altria Group, the corporate umbrella that owns Kraft (foods), and other companies, including Phillip Morris.

I personally think that cigarettes shouldn't be legal products, but if they were illegal, they'd go blackmarket. But they're legal.

All the anti-smoking ranting tends to carry on the notion or insinuation that 'People' who smoke are unnacceptable, filthy, disgusting, when many of them work, pay their taxes, help their fellow human being, and so on.

I am really tired of reading about these types of opinions, usually from those who have never experienced an addiction, but what I've found is that those who sprout off their invective against one group of people, namely smokers, have their own skeletons in their own closets, other addictions: they may gamble, they may eat too much, and on it goes.

I guess all the above comment translates to me being offended by this post because of its other implications as per the following:

"Come on, that is insane behavior at this point. Not to mention, completely unkissable."

In other words smokers are 'insane' or mentally unbalanced, and they're repulsive and/or disgusting, like we've never heard of toothpaste?

Thank you for your 'perceptive' post. I can glean the same information (regarding the health risks) from the Phillip Morris website, and the plethora of books that are out there.

by the way, my above comment is in response to the original post, not the reply above. I have no desire in getting involved in any squabbles

You're right, it's gross! I tried to get my mom to quit from the time I could talk, but she never did. A little over a year ago she was diagnosed with Emphysema and now lives on oxygen; at that time, she was only 64 years old! She carries an oxygen tank everywhere, she's tethered to a 100 ft. cord in the house, she can't really travel and can't even walk through Target without getting winded. I wish it was illegal!