Tobacco companies had to own up to the fact that smoking is harmful in the 1960s when undeniable evidence came out. People struggled to quit because it is somewhat addictive, but mainly because they enjoyed it.

Those companies then encouraged the rhetoric about it being more addictive than heroin. It isn’t. In my experience it’s less addictive than caffeine.

Here’s my history with nicotine:

  • Smoked cigarettes from 15 - 26.
  • Quit totally for 14 months
  • My friend who smoked moved back to town and I smoked when I was with them.
  • Switched to vaping 8 years ago.
  • Quit vaping in January this year (2024).

I bought 30 cigars at the start of last month (April 2024) and have smoked 9 of them so far. I normally just have 1 a week if I’m having a beer at home but I went out drinking 2 nights in a row at the start of this month and smoked 6 over that weekend.

Am I addicted? Maybe, but I haven’t had any nicotine this week and don’t plan on having any next week either.

    • RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Personally I was always told quitting was worse than quitting heroin. And when I quit because I wanted to “feel better”, I just did without any of the crazy symptoms they told me about. I think what he is trying to say is craving cigarettes/smoking is not the same as Nicotine addiction.

      I thought I would have to crave cigarettes for the rest of my life, and that simply isn’t true. (I was a very heavy smoker).

      • folkrav@lemmy.ca
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        6 months ago

        Interesting. It’s been like 7-8 years here and I still crave them once in a while, especially in stressful situations. Not the sweats and the likes that I got in the first couple of days, obviously, but I kind of accepted at this point that “cigarette = relaxing” is just how my brain connects the dots, and it’s up to me to rationalize.

        • Aggravationstation@feddit.ukOP
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          6 months ago

          The relaxation element of cigarettes is partly that you have to go and be yourself in the quiet but mainly because you’re stopping and taking a deep breath. Try some breathing exercises and try to associate that with relaxation.

          • folkrav@lemmy.ca
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            6 months ago

            I never really managed to do these things outside really controlled environments, like laying down in bed as I fall asleep. My inner voice/chatter just doesn’t stop going off unless I’m too tired for it apparently lol. It’s easier if I’m medicated obviously, but then I feel like I need it a lot less often.

      • Aggravationstation@feddit.ukOP
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        6 months ago

        I thought I would have to crave cigarettes for the rest of my life, and that simply isn’t true.

        This is what I was trying to get at.

        I also smoked weed most days for about 15 years then quit due to starting a job that drug tests and had no ill effects. I thought this would be more common but reading what people are saying here there are a lot of individuals who have problems quitting even weed which is far less habit forming than nicotine.

        • RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          The problem with weed is it absolutely wrecks sleep for people. Without the high, people don’t fall into deep sleep and end up having vivid nightmares. It can take weeks or months for your brain to adjust.

          Lots of people have trouble quitting cigarettes, but they aren’t having nicotine symptoms.

  • Dasus@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    This is extremely ironic.

    From the several “quittings” to what is at most a few weeks of going without nicotine.

    “It’s less addictive than caffeine”, it isn’t, you just have a poor understanding of it. Nicotine is way morr addicting than caffeine. That’s a scientific fact.

    I hear excuses like yours from smokers all the time. Myself included.

    • Aggravationstation@feddit.ukOP
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      6 months ago

      I didn’t say smoking doesn’t kill, it’s one of the most harmful activities a person can engage in. My point was about the addictiveness of smoking, not the harm.

      But I didn’t read any studies because this is unpopular opinions, not unpopular balanced research.

      • Donut@leminal.space
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        6 months ago

        It was an example of anecdotal evidence. Your post isn’t really an opinion either, unless you count “I think the sky is actually not that blue” as an opinion that should be on this community.

        Not saying you’re not allowed to have your opinions. But at the same time I’m allowed to call you out for being wrong

      • southsamurai@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        Well, I hate to break it to you, but when your opinion is outright ignorant, I don’t think it reasonable to call it unpopular. It’s just wrong. That’s not even word play, it’s just the condition of subjects where there is adequate evidence to work with.

        I suppose you could just call it an empty opinion, if you were wanting a less accurate way of looking at it.

        But the truth is that willful ignorance isn’t an opinion, it’s just stubbornness and stupidity rolled into one.

  • Brkdncr@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Counter point: Smoked over half their life with 2-3 breaks, but claims it’s not that addictive.

    • Thank you.

      I smoked for a decade, 1-2 packs a day. Met my wife; she didn’t smoke, so I quit cold turkey. That was 20 years ago; I’ve smoked 4 cigarettes since I quit, 3 of those in one night about a decade ago.

      I also drank alcohol - like, normal amounts, not day drinking - and abruptly gave that up a couple of years ago. Now, I have maybe a drink a month.

      Quitting this kind of stuff has never been hard for me, but I believe that’s purely genetics, because I have 0 willpower. I am simply not prone to addiction, and thank goodness, because I’d probably already be dead by now otherwise. But I hit the genetic jackpot on that one; many (most?) people haven’t.

      The moral of your story is: don’t extrapolate onto everyone else based on your own experience.

      • folkrav@lemmy.ca
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        6 months ago

        I love this takeaway. So few people seem to follow this line of thinking.

        I was a pack-a-day smoker at my worst, probably a pack every 2-3 days for most of it. I smoked for less than a decade. It took me all my willpower and slowly cutting down on nicotine through vapes over a couple of years, until I couldt kick the habit itself without the physical cravings getting in the way. But I’m on the opposite side of the spectrum, and I think that what I now know to be my ADHD impulsiveness is making me really prone to addiction…

        • slacktoid@lemmy.ml
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          6 months ago

          Its the stimulants your brain craves. It fucking sucks. But now you know where it comes from it at least makes sense why its hard. Addiction is just hard enough with support, and i dont understand why people have a punitive view of rehabilitation. congrats on beating the habit and good luck, that sounded like hell.

          • folkrav@lemmy.ca
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            6 months ago

            That dopamine hit, amirite? Good thing I’m legitimately terrified of hard drugs or I’d probably have been down that path at some point… I seldom do something halfway hehe. Having the right people around and working on that general mental health also helps…

            • slacktoid@lemmy.ml
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              6 months ago

              Its the best lolol. And that fear is understandable. However some really cool research is coming where they use specific drugs as a therapy aid. The results are pretty promising. Though the keyword is therapy aid there. Right people and mental health goes such a long way. That’s just something we all should be more actively doing.

              • There are also drugs available that help curb the urge for some drugs; Naltrexone and Ozempic, for instance. Both make you nauseous pretty quickly if you drink alcohol, and Naltrexone blocks opioid receptors in the bargain. Ozempic has a better mechanism, in that it’s an injection once a week; Naltrexone you have to take daily, which makes it easier for opioid addicts to skip of they’re feeling urges. I don’t know of any that block nicotine.

                I know about these because both of those have secondary uses; low-dose Naltrexone is used to treat auto-immune diseases, and Ozempic is a highly effective diet drug.

                Better living through chemistry!

                • slacktoid@lemmy.ml
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                  6 months ago

                  Wild… Fucking wild. Like this stuff is amazing how when used responsibly it can drastically change a persons life for the better.

                  Ozempic is insane. Its touted as this miracle drug… And I worry if its gonna be the new oxy cause of how its being I guess seemingly over prescribed. I do hope I’m wrong in that regard.

                  I just wish the need for number line go up was split from the need to address these issues we have as a species. That way I don’t have to be skeptical about these advancements.

          • Aggravationstation@feddit.ukOP
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            6 months ago

            I think there could be something to this because I took stimulants like cocaine and amphetamine sulphate when I was younger and never really enjoyed them.

            • slacktoid@lemmy.ml
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              6 months ago

              Everyone’s body chemistry is different… So its very possible something isn’t working for you.

  • Cosmicomical@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    After years of no smoking I still dream of it, I certainly can go months without thinking of cigarettes now, but it’s like being on a diet forever

  • Delphia@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I know its an old post but years ago I saw a therapist who advertised “Quit smoking therapy” where he just encouraged you and talked about the thought processes involved in quitting. Sounded like hokey bullshit but my then girlfriend now wife booked me an appointment after I failed to quit again and this was a topic we covered.

    Im heavily paraphrasing but “They say quitting smoking is really hard, but let me ask you ‘Who benefits the most out of you thinking its really hard?’ The only people who want you to think quitting is really hard is the people selling you cigarettes, because who wants to go do really hard unpleasant shit? I sure as hell dont. So take that “Really hard” mindset and put it aside, its still unpleasant. But we do unpleasant every day, we get up and go to work and thats all quitting smoking is… its work.”

  • loaf@sh.itjust.works
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    6 months ago

    I smoked for years, then woke up one day and realized I didn’t like it anymore. Left half of a pack on my bedside table. Spent three days grinding Neverwinter Nights (yusssss), and was over it.

    I’m lucky as hell, though. Some people simply can’t quit. Plus I have other vices. I basically can’t sleep at night without smoking weed, for instance.

  • Carrolade@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Cigars and beer? Eugh. That’s like a really nice, high percentage dark chocolate and marshmallows. Or a big, beefy red wine paired with chicken breast. A cigar needs something equally strong and complex to punch back against it.

    I mean, maybe like a really good stout at room temp or something might be decent with a mild cigar. Really though, I’d want an oak-ey liquor of some sort.

    • Aggravationstation@feddit.ukOP
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      6 months ago

      Yea when I said beer I meant “alcoholic drink”. Normally it’s Guinness or a whisky based cocktail. Most recently a “Jack Torrance” (bourbon, advocat and bitters).

  • Nicotine addiction can be broken within 3 days of not consuming it.

    The psychological habits, however, are way stronger to break. Your attestation that nicotine addiction isn’t that bad is true; it’s been studied to death and it’s not the chemical addiction that fucks people up. It’s the psychological conditioning stemming from when and how you’re smoking.

    Pretty much anything concerning quitting smoking talks about this. The fact it’s an unpopular opinion is a bit concerning, since it’s not even an opinion. OP: you’re not addicted to nicotine, but the fact you still smoke says you’re addicted to the habit.

  • j4k3@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    It is not a binary subject and different personalities have a range of experiences. The resolution of a person’s self awareness is likely a large factor. Some people really struggle to recognize and shape their own habits and routines. Humans tend to be less in control of their inner animal than the mind leads them to believe. It is why humans are not fully sentient. Even when we recognize a habit as harmful, we still do not act in our personal or collective best interest.

    • Donut@leminal.space
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      6 months ago

      It is why humans are not fully sentient

      I think I understand what you mean, but we are sentient. Unless you’re talking about us from an alien’s perspective