War On Smoking

The War has taken to Facebook now

2011-12-19T10:43:00.001+08:00

Join the War On Smoking on Facebook! Click here to 'like' us - like they often say - if you can't beat them, join them!

Ex-smoker's diary

2011-05-11T14:46:00.004+08:00

I take pride in the achievements of others, especially when it pertains to kicking the nicotine cancer stick. Here's a piece from DG (Usman), a good friend, eccentric colleague and a hard-willed geek.

DG (Usman)'s Quit Smoking Story:

You wake up with a shiver, the darkness takes it time to set in. You take a deep breath, smack your lips and get out of the sheets. You sit on the edge for the longest time waiting for the ringing in your head to stop. You try to breathe, only one lung seems functional, electric fucking jolts in your chest. FUCK. Breathe slow, breathe.

And so it begins. Today is the tomorrow of yesterday. And you fucking hate it.

Getting up, dressing up, going to wherever.

Greet people, meet people, put up a smile, wince at them, whisper vulgarities and the day is still young.

Go to the “smoking room”. Pat your pockets, feel the crisp packet of Davidoff’s, the lighter and a packet of supari, to kill the smell after the cigarette.

Comfortable on a sofa, pull the table close, the ash tray closer. Pull out a cigarette, pull out the lighter, fire it up, light it up.

Inhale. Deep.

Bitter smoke, bitter taste and you try to smile. Nicotine will make everything alright.

Tilt your head back and close your eyes.

NO!

You fall off a cliff, plunge hard into a black pool of filth, lungs fill up with acid and your attempts to scream are muffled by smoke.

Open your eyes again, pay attention to the chatter, try to smile, try to talk.

The bitterness seeps in from the bottom of your stomach and boils up like a volcano trying to lift the 10 ton iron block in your stomach. It fails.

You try to be fair, you try to be kind, you try to be nice to people. But you can’t. The chatter grows louder in your ears and the filth finds every vein, every nerve, every muscle and starts to strain it. An old unfamiliar pain. A blind man taking a walk in the forest, midnight unpleasantness.

Stub it finally. End it. Stop feeling like a 70 year old impotent douche bag.

Get back to whatever you were doing, smelling like a chimney, everyone maintains a distance. Utilize the supari, munch it, chew it, roll it around for a long time without purpose or intent. Swallow the sickly paste and drink a glass of water.

Water. Burns through the gums, a stream of glass shards down the neck.

The phone rings and you jump. Blood fades away from your veins and the hammers knock on the heartbeat. So scared that you don’t even want to close your eyes. You can’t even close your eyes if you wanted to. Coz you’re just scared. Your eyes burn with pain. But you won’t give in. Coz you’re scared.
And then you go back “outside”, you go to the “smoking room”. You go anyfuckingplace where you would supposedly find peace and solace for the 6 minutes you smoke.

But you don’t want to smoke. You know you will feel like shit. You know you will tumble into the filth pit and you know you the 10 ton block will fall hard at the bottom of your stomach.

But you can’t stop. You want to smoke. You don’t want to quit. WHY? Why the fuck would you torture yourself? Is this self injury? Is this rebellion? Is this hate? Is this an escape?
NO! NO! Please NO!

But you light up one anyway. Feels like kissing a shotgun. Get shot down with every puff. Every inhale fucks you up a bit more. Inch by inch, bit by bit an anxiety builds up and washes over you like a panic attack you don’t deserve.

Eyes swell up, throat tightens and the world seems to have come to an end.

Stub it. You’re done. Repeat this ritual 6 times a day. One after every meal, one after every cup of tea.

Better living through a Nine Inch Nails song. Better living being a Nine Inch Nails song.

I got my head but my head is unraveling
Can't keep control can't keep track of where it's traveling
I got my heart but my heart's no good
You're the only one that's understood
I come along but I don't know where you're taking me
I shouldn't go but you reaching back and shaking me
Turn off the sun pull the stars from the sky
The more I give to you the more I die!

But I don’t want to die. I just want to live.

So you stop. Don’t smoke. Just stop. Don’t smoke. Stay away from smokers.

Does it work?

You wake up with a shiver, the darkness takes it time to set in. You take a deep breath, smack your lips and get out of the sheets. You sit on the edge for the longest time waiting for the ringing in your head to stop. You try to breathe. Your lungs fill up with sweet cool air, every inch of your lungs comforts the air that goes in. and you let out. Feels good. This is going to be a good day. Lets go!

Obama kicked off his smoking habit, maybe I should too

2010-12-11T23:48:00.002+08:00

Well, not really. But I made a promise to myself on this very blog many times over - to quit before I get married. And that gives me two months now... So here's what I've done so far...

I bought a carton of cigarettes. Yes, yes, I did. It doesn't make sense but it does to me. I'm a smoker. Maybe another smoker understands this. Apart from the obvious cost savings, my thought process said, "Okay, you wanna quit right? So let this be your last carton. You can start cutting back with a plan, with this last carton. OR! You can smoke all you want, and once the carton finishes, you can stop buying cigarettes. Either ways, when you finish your carton, you can't buy cigarettes. You can beg/borrow/steal but not buy. And then let's take it from there."

(Wow, I didn't know my 'thought process' had a personality!)

My oldest and closest friend is also in town, and he's as religious as I am not. And because he gives the Islamic month of Moharram a lot of significance, he told me he was going to quit starting the 1st of Moharram. Have yet to check on him to see how he's doing. But it's cool that I have a partner to quit with.

Anyway, so I'm down to my last two packets, and it's Saturday night. Every Saturday morning, I always leave home with two packs of cigarettes, because it's usually a long night, and I always run out of cigarettes. So what now? I didn't cut down at all ever since I bought the carton, but my consumption did vary (on an hourly basis, depending on my mood). And now these are my last two packets.

Sure, these aren't exactly the ideal conditions for me to quit smoking, but still, why NOT take the chance if I can?

What will happen next? Let's find out. Stay tuned.

Btw, click here to read about Barack's latest quit attempt (he's been at it since 9 months and going strong!)

Why the War on Smoking Will Fail

2010-10-14T03:26:00.002+08:00

Steven Yates

Why the War on Smoking Will Fail

July 2000 • Volume: 50 • Issue: 7 • Print This Post • 0 comments

Steven Yates has a Ph.D. in philosophy and recently received a master’s in health promotion and education.

Everyone knows that smoking is a risky business, health-wise. Cigarettes have been linked to many diseases and conditions, from lung cancer and heart problems on down. One of the first bits of advice a doctor gives a patient who smokes is to quit. Although not everyone suffers ill health from smoking—there are cases of people who chain-smoke for decades with few if any apparent health problems—the preponderance of the evidence is that cigarette smoking damages one’s health over the long run.

Does it follow from this that governments ought to declare war on smoking? Should those who manufacture and sell cigarettes to willing customers in an open market be sued for billions of dollars?

Before answering this question straightaway, let us make an obvious point. If smoking damages one’s health, then it does make sense to work at encouraging smokers to quit and to discourage teenagers from starting. How do we do this?

The first thing to note is that no one ever kicked the habit permanently who was forced to do so. This is equivalent to attacking the symptoms of a disease while leaving the disease’s causes untouched. Government- suppressed behaviors will simply go underground where their dangers actually increase, not decrease (the situation with illegal recreational drugs in America). Making smoking illegal is obviously not a live option, as it would provoke a mass rebellion: the Prohibition-era crime wave would look tame by comparison! But expanded government can use the legal system in other ways. The most popular at present is to file suit, ostensibly to cover the costs of treating smoking-related health problems. Hence the “tobacco war.”

If the aim of this “war” is less smoking, it is likely to fail.

The person who successfully quits must want to quit. No one can be forced to quit. Not really. Quitting smoking can be hard even for those who want to kick the habit. Many people try to quit many times. A number of approaches are currently used in smoking-cessation programs. The best involve carefully planned, systematic behavior-change efforts that make use of devices such as careful self-observation, diary-keeping, and so on. The would-be quitter may be asked to record the circumstances in which he smokes, or the moods that tempt him to smoke, the people he tends to be around, where he is when he smokes, and so on. The point is to understand as thoroughly as possible the situations that prompt him to smoke and then to address those situations. He may be encouraged to arrange new situations that don’t involve smoking, find new friends if all his friends smoke, avoid the establishments where he smokes. He may be told to get rid of ashtrays and all other visible reminders of his habit. There may be actions he can take that are incompatible with smoking and can substitute for it. He may be asked to record his successes in his journal and what led to them. If he lapses—as most who quit cigarette smoking will do from time to time—he may be asked to record as many details as he can remember of what prompted the lapse. Where was he? Who was he with? What was he thinking about? And so on. In this way people can learn to control their behaviors instead of allowing their behaviors to control them. To be sure, there are people who quit “cold turkey” and never look back. But this is not the norm. Millions of people have quit smoking once they learned the health risks. For most, the process was arduous and strewn with lapses into the old patterns of behavior.

People Are Different

What makes serious smoking-cessation efforts more complex is that what is needed for success differs somewhat from person to person, because people are different. A technique that works well for one person might be totally ineffective for someone else.

Moreover, while millions have quit, millions more have also started during the same period. Despite government-imposed warning labels on every cigarette pack, cigarettes continue to sell briskly. Despite age limits for legally purchasing cigarettes, they continue to fall into the hands of teenagers who want them, whether they believe it will make them more “adult,” more acceptable to their peers, or for whatever other reasons, which again vary from case to case. They aren’t thinking about the long-term health risks. Although everyone knows about these, they just aren’t a priority for everyone.

Many libertarians openly defend a person’s right to smoke if that is their informed choice. The challenge is to the unstated premise that if X is unhealthy behavior, then X ought to be fought by the government to the greatest extent possible, and banned if possible. Accepting this premise is what separates “health nazis” from genuine health promoters. The latter have some insight into human complexity. They know that many factors can motivate people to smoke, and that quitting is rarely a matter of sheer will power. They also recognize that laws, lawsuits, and top-down mandates have a poor track record.

Reforming Oneself

All the science we have on smoking cessation points in a single direction: it must begin at the bottom—where the individual smoker is, in the situations the person actually confronts in life—and proceed upward. It must begin with the person’s sincere desire to quit and willingness to do, on a personal level, whatever it takes.

Force doesn’t work. It will only exacerbate the problem by encouraging resentment and rebellion, and not addressing those factors that lead people to smoke or doing what needs to be done for them to quit. Ironic as it sounds, the government’s war on smoking may well be a stumbling block to serious anti-smoking efforts.

The message (lest there be any doubt) is sound: don’t smoke! If you don’t smoke now, don’t start. If you do, consider quitting. But this message can’t be forced on anyone. It cannot be the basis of a workable and effective top-down policy. It is remarkable that the best findings in scientific health promotion are very much in line with the conclusions of those who believe that decisions, transactions, and so on, within society should be voluntary and not coerced.

'R' rating for movies with characters smoking?

2010-08-25T23:15:00.002+08:00

*crisp sarcasm oozing out of this post*

Knowing that nothing turns kids into pleasure seeking, nicotine craving, carcinogenic-sucking zombies more than seeing a film character light up, the good folks at the Centers for Disease Control are suggesting that film makers give an R rating to all films that depict tobacco imagery.

Fortunately kids don't find gunplay, martial arts, explosions, car chases, dirty jokes, and laying some length to a hot babe cool, or we would have quite a quandary on our hands. Then again, the CDC could be onto something.

A Man's Weakest Moment

2010-08-16T20:30:00.003+08:00

Seeing a man in his weakest moment is not a sight most of us would want to witness. It has been a typical Monday work-day, and I was taking my second smoke break of the day around 5 pm when a co-worker from another department joined me in the empty smoke room. He was wearing sneakers, dark blue denims and a striped shirt. He must be in his early 20s, with long hair and a beard – typical rockstar look. We shook frail hands and he asked me for a light. He sat down and lit his cigarette. I took my lighter back and secured it in my pocket.

Me: So how was the weekend?

Him: *silence*

A few seconds passed, so I said, “never mind,” and smiled at him warmly. He took a deep puff and shook his head. At this point I assumed he must be having one of those days, and decided it was best not to pay any attention to him. Just then, I heard a slight whimpering sound coming from his direction. I opened my eyes and raised my head to look at him.

I saw no tears, but I could tell he was crying or about to cry.

Crying, as I could tell by his voice and facial expressions, he wailed, “I b-broke my fast… be-because I needed to smoke so bad!”

Not sure what to say, I stayed silent. He stopped after a few long moments.

This person was addicted to nicotine – perhaps even more than I have ever been. And his faith required him to fast in the month of Ramadan, and he was trying – but he was weak, perhaps. Or maybe his nicotine urge was stronger than his will power. I can relate to him though. Working a 9am to 5pm shift and fasting from 4am to 7pm must be tough.

As I try to categorize, I ask myself, what is the problem here? What is the lesson? Addiction is bad? Nicotine is bad? Or faith is not faith unless it is strong enough to pass the qualification of being faithful? Or maybe it is lack of ‘knowing thyself’? He should be able to assess if he is fit to fast in order to make sure he doesn’t end up breaking it mid-way.

Whatever the case, I saw a man in his weakest moment today, and it was no pleasant.

I’ve been thinking that it has been a while since my last attempt, and I have made a promise to myself that I will quit smoking before my marriage, and marriage prospects loom in the air these days, so I decided I need to pick one of these days when I won’t smoke a single cigarette – the whole 24 hours. Let’s see if I can do it. I’ve been smoking way too much these days.

Smoking toddler in Indonesia cuts back to 15-a-day

2010-06-10T12:46:00.000+08:00

JAKARTA: A chain-smoking Indonesian toddler has cut back to 15 cigarettes a day thanks to “therapy focused on playing”, a child welfare official said .

Two-year-old Ardi Rizal shocked the world when a video of him smoking a cigarette appeared on the Internet last month and drew attention to Indonesia’s failure to regulate the tobacco industry. Six months after his father gave him his first cigarette, the overweight boy from Sumatra island was smoking 40 a day and threw violent tantrums if his addiction was not satisfied.

Child welfare officials called in to try to wean the toddler off cigarettes said that when they played with him he did not smoke as much. “The boy has been able to reduce his cigarette intake significantly, very quickly, after the treatment,” National Commission for Child Protection chairman Seto Mulyadi said.

“The therapy focused on playing — we occupied him with toys so that he forgets cigarettes,” he said. Ardi developed his nicotine addiction while spending his days at a traditional market where both of his parents worked, Mulyadi said. Simple toys and someone to play with were enough to take his mind off cigarettes, at least for a while. The therapists also encouraged Ardi to associate cigarettes with bad things. “The boy likes singing songs so we tell him that if he continues smoking, he won’t be able to be a singer one day, and it works,” Mulyadi said.

Ardi’s case has highlighted the tobacco industry’s aggressive marketing to women and children in developing countries like Indonesia, where regulations are weak and many people do not know that smoking is dangerous.

Cigarette consumption in the Southeast Asian archipelago of some 240 million people soared 47 percent in the 1990s, according to the World Health Organization. Indonesia’s biggest cigarette manufacturer, PT HM Sampoerna, is an affiliate of Philip Morris International.

Third-hand smoke? WTF.

2010-03-09T23:46:00.000+08:00

We are exposed daily to a form of air pollution that causes twice as many deaths as all other types of air pollution put together. This is known as Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS), which is actually the smoke from other people's cigarettes.

What is ETS?

Also referred to as second-hand smoke, about 85% to 90% of the smoke from every cigarette ends up in the air as ETS. A lighted cigarette produces two types of smoke that a non-smoker breathes in:

Mainstream Smoke which is inhaled by the smoker through the filter tip of the cigarette, and then exhaled.
Sidestream Smoke from the burning tip of the cigarette which goes straight into the air that we breathe.

ETS consists of around 85% sidestream smoke and 15% mainstream smoke. Sidestream smoke has a higher temperature than mainstream smoke and does not pass through the cigarette's filter tip. The concentration of chemicals in sidestream smoke is thus higher than in mainstream smoke.

This does not mean that smoking is less dangerous. The smoker inhales far more smoke than the people around him because unlike ETS, mainstream smoke does not get mixed with the surrounding air before reaching his lungs.

Why is ETS dangerous?

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 different chemicals, of which at least 400 are poisonous to man. The World Health Organization reports that at least sixty cancer-causing chemicals have been identified in secondhand smoke. Research on ETS has shown that living with, working with or just being around a smoker can harm your health. When you breathe in ETS, your health is affected adversely.

A person exposed to ETS is at risk of developing health conditions similar to those faced by the smoker, which include:

eye, nose and throat irritations
respiratory tract infections, with worsening of pre-existing respiratory problems such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema
heart disease and cancers.

Recent studies have estimated that non-smokers exposed to ETS at home or in their workplace have their risk of lung cancer raised about a quarter, while heavy exposure at work doubles the risk of lung cancer.

How are children affected by ETS?

There is evidence to suggest that babies and children are particularly susceptible to the health effects of ETS. When parents or other caregivers like grandparents smoke, their children suffer as well.

Some examples of the harmful effects on children include:

more coughs and cold.
higher chance of irritation of the eyes and nose
reduced lung growth and function
increased susceptibility to coughs, wheezing and asthma. Children who have never had asthma before are more likely to develop it if one of their parents smokes. Continued exposure to ETS can cause asthma attacks to be more severe and occur more often.
higher risk of suffering ear and chest infections. Younger children who are especially sensitive to cigarette smoke are more likely to develop lung diseases such as pneumonia and bronchitis. Children are more likely to miss school and are less likely to do well in studies as a result of falling sick more often.
or infants - increased risk of sudden death.

Risks during pregnancy

According to the Surgeon General Report, women who smoke while they are pregnant or are exposed to ETS are more likely to suffer a miscarriage or stillbirth. Their babies may be born prematurely or have a lower than normal birth weight.

More likely to pick up smoking

Children whose parents smoke are also likely to pick up smoking, as seen in the Student Health Survey 20064 where 6 in 10 youth smokers have at least one parent who is also a smoker.

Third-hand smoke - additional danger after secondhand smoke

An additional danger remains even after a cigarette has been stubbed out. Third-hand smoke refers to cigarette residual particles that remain in the environment after a cigarette is extinguished. These particles linger on a smoker's hair, clothing, household fabrics such as carpets, curtains, rugs and surfaces like floors and windows. Young children and infants are especially susceptible to these toxins as they crawl on, play on, touch and inhale particles from these contaminated surfaces. This shows that the adverse impact of lighting a cigarette goes a long way.

Smoking has many harmful effects on health and ETS is one of them. Not lighting up a cigarette marks the beginning of a healthier lifestyle for you and your loved ones. Breathe in the fresh air by going smoke free today!

Barack Obama

2010-03-08T10:35:00.002+08:00

New excuse: "But mommy, why can't I smoke if President Almighty Obama does? Can I just have one puff!"

An image gone up in smoke
by Paul Gilfeather 05:55 AM Mar 08, 2010

THE fact that United States President Barack Obama smokes genuinely bothers me.

This might surprise you when I tell you that I am myself a smoker.

Let me explain.

I know for many political and cultural giants of the past 100 years, smoking was very much part of the image.

Film actors James Dean and Marlon Brando, with cigarette draped casually from their lips, were the epitome of celluloid cool. And British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and revolutionary Che Guevara might have lacked charisma were it not for the omnipresent cigar.

But it is now 2010 and even children know that smoking makes people dead, not cool.

No one is more aware of the negative connotations surrounding smoking than the leader of the Free World.

He is, after all, President of a nation where one in every five people die from smoking-related illnesses and should know better.

The problem is that he is well and truly hooked, but - as a role model for millions - he would surely give up if he could.

The guilt and shame he feels over the dreaded weed is all too apparent. Just examine the lengths he will go to hide it from the public.

He has repeatedly attempted to pull-the-wool, mislead and deflect the public's gaze away from the subject since details of his 30-year habit emerged during the US presidential election.

In a recent interview he tried to create the impression that he had kicked cigarettes for good.

It was only when he was grilled more intensely did he admit that he was some way from nailing the habit.

He was caught red-handed again last week having a puff behind the bike sheds.

Okay, I accept, the fibs may not carry the same kind of implications were he playing fast and loose with the truth over the war in Afghanistan, his country's two-tier health-care system or policy on greenhouse gases.

But he's displaying some pretty dodgy behaviour over his problem, nonetheless.

Unfortunately, in trying to cover up his addiction, President Obama has displayed some of the character traits which make him appear, to me at least, a little untrustworthy.

For many it was a shock to learn that President Obama had not kicked the habit as he swore to do on taking the oath of office in 2009.

His wife, Michelle, revealed in an interview that she made his move towards a healthier lifestyle a pre-condition of her supporting his run for the White House.

In demonstrating how seriously he views his problem, President Obama, whose White House physician has expressed concern over the nicotine addiction during an annual medical checkup, has elevated the problem to that facing an alcoholic or drug addict.

He describes his addiction as a "struggle" similar to the one that challenges "members of Alcoholics Anonymous".

I actually knew a smoker who freed himself from a 25-year cigarette habit after joining an AA group and successfully employing a 12-step programme.

It made perfect sense since "the steps" have been used by more than 1 million alcoholics and drug addicts to beat their addictions, and can pretty much be applied to any condition.

I also had a friend who, in order to give up the cancer sticks, stopped boozing altogether, because he would only light up after sinking a couple of pints. As long as he stayed out of the pub he could trust himself not to smoke.

As a smoker, I sympathise with President Obama's plight.

I just wish President Obama would show some mettle and grow up about dealing with his problem.

Ditch the nicotine gum and patches and take some real affirmative action like those people I mentioned earlier - or carry on with your habit unabashed.

I find the duplicity over it a little troubling, and the pouring of emotion when he is busted a little less than manly.

Dilly-the-dally, My cigarelly

2010-02-01T13:20:00.003+08:00

So I quit successfully for another two months in Singapore and started smoking again in Sri Lanka while I was staying there en route to Pakistan. And it has been three months or so since I've been an avid smoker, postponing quitting again.

Excuses? I was weak. Cigarettes are so cheap in Pakistan. I will quit soon. Etcetera.

Right now I say I will stop once I begin my post-graduation job. After all, it's easier to burn my mother's money than my own. Or wait, is it easier to burn my own money? I can't decide.

Bleagh.

My ultimate deadline to quit remains the same though: the day I get married.

2010-02-01T13:07:00.001+08:00

You don't always die from tobacco

2009-12-19T15:17:00.001+08:00

"Over 8.5 million Americans live with tobacco-related illnesses."

2009-10-19T22:04:00.000+08:00

Started again

2009-10-19T21:34:00.003+08:00

Faced with a transitionary period, I started smoking again (RATHER regularly) since September 30th. But I've promised myself this is just temporary dissolution, and I am posting this brain scan to prove this point.

I've quit too many times now to NOT be able to quit. So I will quit again. This just can't go on.

(Why do I get the feeling of being a villain like the Joker or something - as if the non-smoker in me is one, haha!)

Current Status and Nicorette

2009-09-24T16:27:00.009+08:00

I took this questionnaire kind of thing while I was at a clinic earlier today. It's based on those few puffs I continue taking randomly, so this is what my current status is like. Not bad. BUT.

You notice how it REALLY doesn't help someone who is quitting because of reasons like mine? I hate the addiction, and what Nicorette does is, it just gives me another avenue to continue being addicted to nicotine! I mean, fine, it's a decent product and it may actually help people quit smoking. But if this was really a social product rather than a for-profit one, their questionnaire (and other such publications) would also advise NOT shifting to Nicorette at all in certain cases.

For example, my score is 0 (zero) and if I take the Nicorette replacement therapy, even the one with the lowest dosage, I would end up consuming more nicotine than I already take, effectively reversing the process of quitting smoking. It is NOT advisable for me to use Nicorette. The least a corporation can do is be honest when trying to sell their product.

I wonder why there isn't any NGO that works on quitting smoking without any support from tobacco corporations or states/governments.

I guess there is a lot of money to be made from people's helpless addiction. Is that why?

Voidance

2009-09-15T09:52:00.004+08:00

These days I feel empty; I feel purposeless; and I feel like there is never anything to look forward to any more. Can you give me a puff? I've quit, but I just miss the feeling. I'm not addicted any more - I promise!

At this point I am not completely certain what it is that I have quit, but whatever it was it had a compelling force on me. Without it, I'm left with multiple voids in my day - in my life. The voids occur mostly after meals, or late at night, while watching movies, hanging out with friends, while having drinks or playing poker.

Smokers, as I define them, are nicotine slaves, or addicts. (I think 'addict' is a rather gentle term, generally speaking.) I wouldn't call the occasional lighter a smoker. Hell, who says menthol cigarettes are real cigarettes? A real smoker doesn't smoke lights either. And if he does, it would be extremely stupid as (s)he would go through twice as many packs as he would have to smoke if (s)he smoked regulars. (And yes, they measure in packs, not sticks.) My point is, a smoker is one who 'smoke(s) a lot' and can't live if (s)he had to smoke any less. But of course, that is not entirely true.

All my life (basically the last 14 years since I started smoking) I have dealt with non-smokers who do not understand smokers or the act (of smoking). They don't understand the addiction. They don't understand the feeling. They could never understand it, try as I might've. I'm sure the feelings were mutual. But now I have to deal with a new kind of people. Their advice, opinions, and assertions are anything but homogenous.

They are smokers and non-smokers, and not to mention: the ex-smokers.

At the present juncture, I am not a smoker. Put up against how I defined a smoker above, I don't even compare. Those occasional puffs I take probably amount to somewhere between zero puffs a day to a maximum of four cigarettes in a week. On average, I like to believe it isn't more than two puffs a day. At the same time, I am not an ex-smoker either, since I still do take these occasional puffs. (Mind you, a 'puff' is a couple of drags based on my definition - enough for the smoke to reach your belly.)

I agree that a smoker can be defined as some one who smokes with some regularity. Indeed, I can feel it now. After dealing with some really annoying assertive smokers, I feel that my urge has returned. (Not to panic though, that doesn't mean the quit attempt is down the drain!)

What do I mean by 'assertive smokers'? Well, these are people I request the occasional puff from, but owing to perhaps some kind of jealousy at my will power, they refuse, challenging me to resist the urge. They are die-hard hypocritical. A smoker should be the best person to understand the smoker's urge - whether it is physical, psychological or habitual (and there aren't more than three kinds).

The problem with this urge-not-met situation is that the urge for one puff could result in me smoking down a whole cigarette by myself, or worse, buying an entire packet of cigarettes! (The latter scenario is more likely in more 'developed' countries where loose cigarettes are not sold.) This could take me back to being a smoker, as it happened in the past, more than two years ago, when I returned to smoking after having quit for more than two months.

I think the quitting process is really tricky and there is no one way to go about it. But one thing is certain - it has to be a desire to quit from within - not asserted. You can force any smoker to quit smoking but they can always return to it and the effort will be in vain. Instead, this is a desire that needs to be inbred.

Based on my own evaluation, I think my physical urge has been down to zero, although in the past few days I did have whole cigarettes one too many times and I feel this biological urge may have returned. I think it is very important for me to stray away from buying cigarettes completely, and to drink water whenever I feel the urge to smoke. A drag here and a puff there is something that shouldn't happen more than once in a day. It's a bodily craving that needs to die so it's best to reduce it rather than challenge it.

My habitual urge, I feel, is also down to zero, since there are always other things for me to do and I hardly find myself missing the un-empty hand while having a long debate with a friend. The only time I miss the cigarette in my hand is when I'm in the loo, and this point onwards, I will try to make a conscious effort to take a book with me when I have to take a dump, as I used to when I was a kid.

The psychological dependence on smoking has had the most effect on me. The numerous puffs I took in the past few weeks (that only increased dramatically in the past week when I stayed at Commonwealth and smoked perhaps 10!) are a consequence of my psychological dependence on smoking. Smoking never solves real-life problems. Smoking never makes me feel better or less nervous before, in or after a stressful situation. Smoking does not have to be a part of my persona. We can exist separately. These are things that will take me some time to embrace. I'm certain most smokers struggle with these, and thoughts such as these are the main reason why many successful quit-smoking attempts fail after some months or even some years. This is how I justify that one puff I take after three clean days, as it can help me refrain from returning to smoking a few weeks, months or years later.

I've come so far in my current quit-smoking attempt. It has been four weeks (less two days) since I bought my last pack of cigarettes. Even that I mostly gave away. I am still strong, with just some areas of weakness. It would be best for the assertive smokers to handle with care since this is a delicate bridge as I walk on to no-smoking-hood. Don't pull the bridge from under me. This is a genuine attempt on my part to quit smoking and your support is much appreciated.

(I am certain I will keep it to less than one-puff-a-day today onwards, but if it is about the money, I can pay you for the puffs I take in cigarette packs six months from now. What do you say?)

2009-08-28T20:52:00.001+08:00

I like Marc Anthony's song playing in the background. Gives a different dimension to the slideshow...

2009-08-28T20:40:00.001+08:00

Quitplan

2009-08-23T01:51:00.002+08:00

It's day 7 and my craving right now is driving me insane. I know if I head down to 7-11 to buy a pack of cigarettes or tobacco, all that I went through in the past 7 days will be wasted. I want something sour instead. Something like tamarind (imli), or sour plum bubble tea (without the pearls). Or bharri bhindi (lady fingers filled with Pakistani spices). Or just SOMETHING. I licked a lemon but it didn't help. I want SOMETHING.

Quit Attempt #45645

2009-08-20T04:46:00.003+08:00

Today is day four since I quit smoking. After two days, I had immense withdrawal symptoms, such as persistent coughing and chest pains, body ache, a mind-throbbing headache, loss of appetite and well, cravings of course. I felt like I was dying. I ended up having a fever and intense weakness - and those are terrible things to go through in the middle of the night in a foreign country when there is no one to look out for you.

A smoker buddy came over yesterday and I ended up buying a whole pack for him, stealing two cigarettes from it in the process. These two I shared with two people who spent some time with me in the past two days, puff by puff, to help stop me from going back to smoking (by being forced to buy a whole pack when I can just do with a loose cigarette to fight the urge).

I think my appetite just returned today as I had my fourth meal a while back.

Actually, most people would suggest (and rightly so) that I phrase it as "an attempt to quit smoking" (in the first line of this post) rather than "I quit smoking". When it has been nine years since you've been trying to quit, it's quite normal for people to be uber skeptical.

But it's nice to have a person or two who believes in you. *smiles*

2009-08-20T04:33:00.000+08:00

2009-07-18T07:42:00.000+08:00

2009-06-27T01:52:00.002+08:00

Lies

2009-04-10T00:15:00.002+08:00

Ideal Conditions for Quitting Smoking

2008-06-20T02:10:00.004+08:00

If you really must quit, as I'm sure you reconsider often, you need the following conditions to make it happen:

1. You're out of cigarettes completely. This means you have checked all possibilities of finding some tobacco, some cigarettes or any form of nicotine in your house. (Beware: This exercise can involve going through hundreds of empty cigarette packs lying in the corner of your room to find that one cigarette.)

2. You have absolutely no money to buy cigarettes. Yes, that means you have no cash, no money in your bank account, and all your credit cards are maxed out. Oh, and you can't borrow either (all your friends are broke).

3. You can't bum a cigarette off of a friend. That may be because you're in a foreign land with no friends, or because all your friends have gone to visit foreign lands. Or worst case scenario - you have lost all your friends. Whatever the case, getting a cigarette (or any form of nicotine) from any friend is just not an option for you.

4. You have a girlfriend or wife or mother or father or brother or sister or daughter or son or a good friend - just ANY loved one who can give you moral support as you whine about your endless nicotine cravings and withdrawal symptoms day and night. (This blog does that work for me - haha!)

5. You are able to become excessively busy with useless or useful activities (it doesn't really matter). That way, you get minimal time to 'miss' smoking. Of course the urges are still there.

Wanna Be a Non-Smoker Smoker?

2008-05-27T12:20:00.006+08:00

When I realized I could finish a 25g pack of Drum tobacco in just three days, I thought I deserved the title of "SuperSmoker". But it seems that title is being used for something else - something much more advanced and healthier too!

SuperSmoker is actually a cigarette look-alike which doesn't have any tobacco, doesn't light, doesn't burn, doesn't have tar or any cancerous substances, doesn't require ashtrays and doesn't pollute the environment (no CO² emitted). Compared to a standard cigarette with 40 over cancerous substances, it has zero.

So what does it do then?

It is an alternative cigarette that looks like the real thing, tastes like the real thing and even smokes like the real thing. The nicotine that you receive can be varied in terms of the strength you desire, as it uses a high-tech invention of evaporation and computer technology. Basically the nicotine 'shot' you get comes from a cartridge containing liquidized food that gets vaporized in a chamber. But to cover-up the mechanical functions taking place, SuperSmoker has a tobacco-like flavour and even emits tobacco-like aroma! This means no real smoke being emitted and no harmful passive smoking. It comes with replaceable filters and works electronically on batteries that need to be recharged from time to time.

If you buy SuperSmoker Ultimo, you get four test cartridges of varying strengths, along with the 'atomizer' (that is what they call the stick!), a lithium battery with a charger, a cable and a manual. It might sound like a lot of work but compared to rolling your own cigarettes it still beats the time taken.

Their site has a disclaimer that says:

SuperSmoker is not designed for smokers who want to quit.

What I'm thinking is, if you keep taking lower and lower strengths of cartridges, you could actually use it to quit smoking. Either way, if you're just hooked on to the nicotine and not 'smoking' any real smoke, you aren't a smoker any more. (Talk about breakthroughs!)

The most interesting thing I would like to try out in Singapore would be to visit clubs and public areas where smoking is banned and to take out my SuperSmoker. What a funny scene would it be when they try to fine me and they realize (after many arguments from me of course) that it's not a real cigarette and that they can't fine me. Haha!

Whatever the case, £79.00 (S$213.12) is not affordable for me right now, and the additional cartridges that cost £7.95 (S$21.45), which include 6 cartridges and 12 filters only, are also very expensive. The website promises 65% savings on our smoking budgets, which is possible if each cartridge lasts very long, but the "down payments" for these are quite high.

But what if the taste is very bad! What a waste of money would it be then - if I revert to smoking normal cigarettes later on?

If I quit smoking right now...

2007-12-07T09:10:00.000+08:00

Just as the deadline got closer, I found a cheaper way to get cigarettes in Singapore.

Last new year's eve I promised myself that I would quit smoking this year (2007). I made a couple of attempts with varied successes but now the 'deadline' is drawing closer. 31st December is just a breath away, considering I have just 4 days left in Singapore before I go home, after which time will just fly. What's more, you can get cigarettes so cheap in Pakistan that it's nearly impossible to quit. Plus, you can buy loose cigarettes - so even if you are virtually penniless, you can still get a couple of cigarettes.

The discovery was made by my friend Don [not his real name] when he got his hands on Drum, a popular brand of fine-cut hand-rolling tobacco - or 'shag'. Don had been on student exchange to Europe where he discovered the bliss of shags and their low cost. Plus, the added joy of rolling cigarettes yourself was priceless.

When he arrived in Singapore, he was hit by the S$ 11.80 price of just one pack of cigarettes (thanks to "sin taxes" in Singapore). One packet of Drum costs S$ 12.90 plus 50 cents for 50 rolling papers. The packet itself can be used to make about 75 cigarettes - that is about 4 packs of regular cigarettes! The only issue is that you have to smoke without filters, which seems a little too hazardous for even the most eager smoker.

He searched and finally found Zig-Zags, a brand more commonly known as 'ziggies', available at a couple of news-stands in Holland Village. One packet of Zig-Zags filters costs just S$ 1.50 and has 150 filters - good to last for two packs of Drum! The discovery quickly made its way around many Pakistanis and many of them smoke Drum or Butterfly [another brand] now.

Why I started to discover the joy of rolling was primarily because I thought to myself, "I will need to put in so much work into making each cigarette, and with the added benefit of low cost, I am bound to reduce smoking."

Wrong.

I started smoking even more. From 10 cigarettes a day I went up to smoking 25 on average. Quitting smoking seems like a distant dream to me now.

But who knows what transformation awaits me upon arrival at my beloved city?

Quitting smoking is really hard, but with family around most of the time, it would definitely reduce my intake. That is certainly a healthy start, right?

I already know all there is to know about quitting, and if I am just in the right frame of mind, I just might do it before the 'deadline' - December 31, 2007.

Here's a graphic image I got from here about what would happen to my body if I quit smoking right now:

Random thought: I wondered why would they name a brand of tobacco "Drum"!? I guess Google Image Search gave me the answer - you can also buy a drum of Drum!

Quitters collect here...

2007-10-14T19:38:00.000+08:00

I remember I got a random email in January this year. I had made an attempt to quit smoking around that time and I blogged about how I had quit. Apparently someone read that post and thought I had quit smoking successfully then when I really hadn't. So I was never able to answer the email. To be perfectly honest, I don't think I am currently in a position to advise on how to quit smoking, since my most successful attempt was also in vain. I intend to try to quit again (and I will never quit trying); till then, I will just share the email here.

Hey man,

You don't know me, and I dont know you. This is a fake email address, and that ain't my real name.

But I need your help. You quit smoking right. Its in that vein.

The guys I hang around with smoke, and till last semester, I was staunch against not smoking, but this sem, I dunno what happened, but I started, (half cos of the insanely cheap duty free cigs these guys had got). I thought that as long as I dont start buying packs, I wont start smoking 'proper'. Well, the duty free ones are over and I bought a pack today.

I cant even give a reason to why I started. Absolutely no explanation. Last week I decided that it was not worth it and that I wont smoke.

Apparently, that dint work, and 3 days later, I was smoking again. Today I bought a pack. Weekend, I smoked enough. (6 in a day is more than enough for me!)

I feel that Im getting hooked onto em, that too just for a few minutes of kick that the cigarette gives.

Fuck man, really, what do I do... Its tough being around these guys who smoke, my best friends.... but will power is something that's failed me, quite a few times now.

A month of smoking, i doubt its done any real harm to me yet, and I seriously dont wanna get hooked.. but I feel im getting hooked..

Please dude, if u can take some time out, and reply to this mail... ill be grateful..

Thanks a lot dude...

Marcos

P.S.: like i said, that aint my real name. This email isn't even how I type. Identity secrecy is a must.

Thinking...

2007-10-11T15:57:00.000+08:00

I am somewhere in the middle of either deciding to stop buying more cigarettes or to quit. I have yet to make my final decision.

After all, I am able to quit during the day when I'm fasting. But the thing is, all day long I am looking forward to that smoke I have right after I open my fast. Hmmph...

The cigarette century

2007-10-01T13:04:00.000+08:00

A new book argues that chemical waste causes cancer. - By Barron H. Lerner - Slate Magazine

Devra Davis wants chemical waste to become the new cigarette, an object that generates reflexive loathing from most Americans. And the pieces of the puzzle seem to be there: exposure-related cancers, decades of incriminating research, and cover-ups by the...

There you have it - something that is equally bad as cigarettes or smoking, yet no one chooses to look at it. These people who think they are 'enlightened' just because they think they know something smokers don't are not so enlightened after all. I mean, of course all smokers know smoking is bad for them. What sort of a comment is "Don't you know smoking is bad for you?"

Hello? A person who was born yesterday knows that. Here's some advice to all you people out there who think you're better than us just because you don't smoke:

Get a book on lung cancer. The odds that you get it are as high as any smoker getting it. Maybe even more.

Chimeral Desires

2007-09-21T07:23:00.001+08:00

Wednesday night, in an attempt to reduce cost and amount smoked, I went half and half on a cigarette pack with a friend.

The result of having company while smoking: each of us smokers finished 10 cigarettes in two hours. (There are 20 in one pack.)

So far I haven't purchased any more cigarettes since then. I did, however, try to acquire cigarettes from friends around Sehri time, as the deadline to start fasting approached earlier in the morning today - but without any luck. I smoked Sheesha instead (which has almost zero percent nicotine).

Right now I am feeling more thirsty than I'm craving a smoke. Maybe I'll quit now?

To burn or not to burn

2007-09-18T02:14:00.001+08:00

My previous attempt to quit smoking was quite successful (7.5 weeks!) until the time I got my hands on a carton of cigarettes - a generous gift from my sister. This is the fourth week since I started to smoke again.

Now, try as I might, I know that I can not blame my sister for this unsuccessful attempt. My self-control comes to be the culprit. After all, I did avoid smoking in spite of having a full carton under my nose for one whole week - until I smoked that 'fatal' cigarette. And then another. And another. And...

The holy month of Ramadan has arrived, which means I can't eat, drink or smoke from dawn till dusk everyday. In a way, it's like quitting smoking every day for a good number of hours (14).

On one hand I could use my belief in Islam and this holy month to help me try to quit smoking once again. But on the other hand what gets me through the day is the dream of smoking that one cigarette after Iftar or 'breaking fast' when the nicotine level in my blood is at its lowest.

So now I sit here in my room writing this at 2 am, when the deadline to eat, drink and smoke as much as I want approaches in a little more than two hours.

I am contemplating if I should go and burn another $11.60 to buy a pack or not.

And you know what, I think I'll buy just one more pack.

Damnit.

No Smoking

2007-09-17T07:54:00.000+08:00

Ruminations: No Smoking

Quit smoking date: June 16th (Shubhangi's birthday)
Today's date: July 21st
Time elapsed: Exactly 5 weeks (more than a month!)

Have I made it this time? Have I really quit? My last attempt to quit was not successful. I quit quitting 9 days after my quit date. However, this is my second-most successful attempt to quit smoking cigarettes since the time I started smoking 13 years ago.

Goofy animation "No Smoking" explains smoking as experienced by smokers and quitting smoking as experienced by "quitters". (Thank you Omer for sharing this with me!)

[YouTube link]

"It's a Phylis Morrison!"

"Give the smoker enough room, and he will hang on to his habit."

Not this time.

Cold Turkey Day

2007-09-17T07:31:00.001+08:00

Ruminations: Day 1/The Day/The Big Day/Cold Turkey Day/Quit Day

(Sunday, October 1, 2006)

My real age is 23 [on paper its 22]. The first time when I smoked was when I was 12. The first time I inhaled a cigarette [instead of just puffing] was the same year - 12. I would buy a couple of Gold Leaf cigarettes, and cycle away in some fields close to my residence area. Each day I bought a new pack of matches [Rs.1] and threw them away. For me there was no peer pressure to smoke. I guess I just wanted to do "something bad". It was the same time when I had developed that annoying little moustache, and of course, my voicebox grew in size so that it became an Adam's apple.

The first time I was suspected of smoking was when I was 14. My mother found a cigarette in a cassette cover and a smashed matchbox in my school bag's pocket that I had forgotten to throw away. I always had a pack of mint candies [HOEST] and in time my mother realised what the purpose of these candies was.

When I was 16, my being a smoker was no secret in the house. For one, the bathroom always smelt of smoke [I didn't bother going to the fields by then]. In school, I had classfellows who wouldn't stand next to me because I smelt of smoke. Of course, I used the school washrooms to smoke. One day I got late for my English class and my teacher, Hasan Shikoh, came after me and found me on the way. He detected the smoke immediately. Thank goodness he didn't make too much of a fuss. That was my closest call to being caught smoking in school.

The same year, my mother, upon realising I was becoming a hardcore smoker, got really upset. She came to my room and lit up a cigarette and said, "If you continue to smoke, I will take up smoking as well." I snatched the cigarette from her and promised her I would quit. That was the first time I tried to quit. It was also the most successful attempt because I stayed clean for a good 3 months.

The reason why I started smoking again was extremely stupid, but hey, I was a teenager with raging hormones! I used to work part-time everyday after school and there was this girl who was my age, did charity work in the same hospital, was filthy rich, and had taken up smoking very recently. Indeed, she was of the opinion that smoking is really cool. So when I got my first chance to be in a locked room with her, it was to smoke. She smoked Dunhills, so I had to get a Marlboro pack for me. There it was. I was a smoker again.

I didn't bother to be secretive about it. I made my peace with my mother, a caffeine addict, by telling her "I would quit smoking if you can stop being addicted to tea." She usually needs two huge mugs of tea every morning to get out of bed.

So its been 11 years since I've been a smoker. My lifestyle includes cigarettes in everything. And the biggest reason for me to stay a smoker: nicotine addiction. Most non-smokers don't understand nicotine addiction. Every human being has a certain level of nicotine in their blood - even people who don't smoke. When a person smokes, he or she actually increases the level of nicotine required in their blood. Now each time when the nicotine goes lower than that level he has become accustomed to, he craves cigarettes. Its what they call a physical [or biological] dependence [not just psychological].

And its been 7 years since I've been trying to quit. Most smokers plan to quit at one time or another, but they keep postponing. I've done that a lot, but I've also tried to set a Quit Day and quit smoking a number of times. Hardly any time did I go beyond 2 weeks without lighting up again.

The fact is, I'm HEAVILY addicted to nicotine. I can get rid of cigarettes and all psychological reasons for smoking [eg. talking over the phone and nothing to hold in my hand], but the moment I stop using Nicotine gum [Nicorette] or Nicotine lozenges [Nicotinell], I go back to smoking.

Despite all this, I'm trying to quit smoking again. And today is the Day 1 where I go cold turkey - cutting off cigarettes completely. I had three cigarettes the day before, in an attempt to cut down before the Quit Day. I don't have any reason why this attempt would be successful, especially because all my close friends here are smokers - 6 people : all smokers. The first week is the hardest, and then each day is hard - any setback could throw me back at smoking. And with the semester taking its toll with assignments, projects, group meetings for research papers etc., I really have to learn how to use my will power efficiently. But quitting smoking is something that needs to be done. And for now, I'm determined to make it happen.

I am driven to this point...

2007-09-17T07:00:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone! So you have it! A journal of a smoker's ambitions to quit smoking... This may not be a very unique blog but if you are interested to see what happens to a smoker who wants to quit, check out this place. Happy reading!

PS. I'll be exporting some of my previous posts of when I tried to quit, so you know where I'm coming from.