Day 5 now ciggy free (?) after 50 years of paying someone a fortune to kill me.
Clearly, they have not quite succeeded so far.
Tried before a few times…wimped out.
Taking N.R.T.s does NOT help much at all.
Day 1… Not too bad.
Day 2. Worse than day 1
Day 3. Worse than days 1 & 2 put together.
Day 4. No sleep as such for 26 hours…maybe 20/30 mins cat naps.
Went to bed 8-ish last night ( I think)
Day 5 today.
Woke at 5.45 this morning.
Mmm… No shakes or nausea of the teen-hangover pavement pizza variety.
Looked in mirror. Wish I had not. Anyway, shower 'n shave…quite sunny out.
7 am now…all quiet.
Get Mk1 out, drop the roof, drive, and fed swans in peace at Linlithgow Loch.
Seems a Mk1 is a decent antidote to “drug abuse” tool.
Oh…and I figure I’ll be around £100.00 a month wealthier.
Or, if you prefer around 600 miles of Mk1-ing.
Dunno how many ciggies a day you smoke Rob, but when I gave up I was on about 30 a day. My method to break the habit was as follows:-
I carried a new, sealed pack of 20 around in my pocket and when I got the “urge” to have a smoke I’d take it out, look at it and think to myself, by the time I’ve taken off the cellophane wrapping, opened the box, removed the foil insert, taken a ciggy out and stuck it between my lips, put the box back in my pocket, fumbled around for my lighter and got that out, I wouldn’t want the ciggy at all. It worked!
20 generally lasted me 2 days. Maybe 2 or 3 left in pack on day 3.
Still 200 cigs a month too many for me though.
Suffice to say, I had a wake up call “incident” a few days back (I was on my own) 127 miles away in Easdale in the Mk1. Just started coughing & spluttering out of the blue.
Wakey wakey time…
I could do a lot out my pensions saving circa £1200 P/a…for the Mk1!
Anyway…appetite sort of coming back so I’ll try an excellent slow cooked beef & ale stew soon.
The added bonus was that I got my senses of taste and smell back. It really made a remarkable, welcome difference. Being able to appreciate the smell and taste of freshly baked bread, roasted and ground coffee, fried bacon again, sheer heaven! 
So you’ve gained around 2 stones instead? 
Funnily enough, I never did put on any additional weight, throughout my adult life (21 - 77yoa) I’ve remained around 10 - 10.5 stones (140-147 lbs), weird innit!
You Sir…are a legend!
Lucky genes?
Or just careful?
Lucky genes, I’ve never been really careful! What an admission!
Think you just need a good reason to stop, for me it was having kids so told my wife I’d give up when our son was born and I smoked 20 a day. Well my son is 28 this year and I was good to my word, gave up 2 months before he was born so not only saved a huge amount of cash but hopefully should make it well into old age.
Well done for giving up and stick with it.
Agreed, kids are a great motivator. When I say ‘kids’ I really mean ‘the prohibitive cost of having kids’.
My Dad died nine years ago and i was sat with my Mum at his wake, then my Brother gave me the nod to sneak out for a ciggy.
When i returned back to Mums side she said two words…‘you stink’…and l’ve never touched a cig since.
Those two words hurt me for hurting my Mother.
Stay with it, it gets easier just smell the soap on your fingers it’s nicer than nicotine.
A fellow I met a while back who was in marketing for a tobacco company some many years before (like the 1960s) said the company were trying put a set of adverts to portray smoking as not damaging, and had identified a smoker who was well over eighty and had been a heavy smoker all his life.
They arranged to come down and film him early in the day when he had his first smoke. They wanted to come at seven in the morning to catch the sunrise, but he said he could not make it before midday.
When asked why so late, he said he cannot stop coughing before midday. They cancelled the project.
You will soon feel your chest freeing-up, and once you do, you won’t look back.
I used Champix to help me quit smoking. Worked a treat.
But I still had 2 months of cold turkey: every night was a mix of insomnia and nightmares.
Did not gain weight. Instead I got into cycling. Gaining new physical strength was a great motivator.
Keep at it, no one needs tobacco.
Cheers chaps.
I took a look at Champix & Zyban, but the contra-indications for me looked dodgy so Cold Turkey it is.
So far so good insofar 1st wake up “instinct” is not lighting up the “First Figgy of the Day” while waiting for the kettle to boil. To non smokers reading these comments, believe me nicotine is extremely addictive and for some, the very devil to get out the system. Oddly, my mindset is more robust than the physical side as there have been periods of nausea…the sort you get just seconds before you actually chunder up…that I’ve dealt with drinking ice cold water & lemon juice of all things.
All in all. do feel much better over last couple of days. Going for a hood-downer to Callander this morning to force feed some fresh country air into me lungs.
At least I can buy a coffee there as well now…for the timebeing anyway.
All “paid for” from 3 packets of John Players I’ve not bought… 
Could be worse!
I’ve never been a smoker myself, and from the sounds of what you’re going through, I’m glad I never started! Enjoy your drive today, hopefully the weather’s good to you. It’s just started spitting with rain in Paisley!
I applaud the change you’re making, pal. My Gran smoked for 60 years, ended up with oxygen tanks in the house and still continued to smoke twice as much as before. I’m sure you can imagine the rest! It’s tough right now but keep going- your health will thank you in the long run and your sense of achievement will be more than worth it! Enjoy Callander, it’s a lovely spot! The wee corner bakery is an excellent place for a black pudding rolll 
Well done & keep it up, your health is far more important than any money you may be saving. It’s a subject very close to me. I got diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer with a 6 month life expectancy over 3 years ago. Apart from a break last year due to covid have been on chemotherapy ever since. Fortunately that has kept it stable but it could kick off at any time & that is on your mind, always.
Well done. Keep it up, we’ll worth the effort.
I stopped by using the nicotine gum, when desperate I could have some gum and it took away the craving. Tried patches, but like you think the constant nicotine release was not helping break the addiction.
But also, keep an idea of the cost saving in your head, and mentally associate the cost of a single cigarette with that rising figure. When you are in a beer garden with a smoking friend who offers you one, in your head he is not giving you “just one” he is asking you to set fire to a new tyre, or in a years time, a whole car, and so on.
I got cravings for years, purely psychological memory associations, it was the monetary figure that made it a complete “no way” decision not to smoke again. Sobering thought how much money I have saved over the years.
Funny you mentioned money.
In “Old Money” 1 single ciggy now equals…
“When I were but lad at Xmas …10-Bob note from Nan made me a squillionaire”