Ya know - After 3+ decades of smoking

[haele]

21. Spouse stopped smoking 20 years ago - cold turkey, with the help of Tic-tacs and jerky.

He used to smoke pipes at home and cigarettes on the road. Got rid of them all when his daughter told him she didn't like the smell of smoking while they were on the long drive to his mom's home for his weekends with her.

He takes Wellbutrin now for his bipolar/depression (which he had been "self treating" with the smoking in the first place) and that is basically a low dosage of Chantix. So there isn't a trigger urge to smoke anymore, and the smell of heavy smokers rather makes him sick, and he's unhappy that his daughter and son in law are both using smoking instead of seeing a therapist or psychiatrist to deal with their personal stresses in life. As he says, $20 for a doctor's visit every three months, a $35 scrip for three months of Wellbutrin while on MediCal and being honest with oneself - accepting and learning to deal with day to day stress - is far less expensive than a pack a day habit to cope and not just shut down when faced with situations that make one unhappy.

He says what he really misses is the feeling of ritual smoking gave him- he identified smoking with the excitement of the ability to control and manipulate fire, the first smell of the smoke, and the feeling of release the first drag gave him. Smoking the pipe gave him more of a feeling of ritual in the care and display of the pipes.
But, Tic-Tacs and Beef Jerky got him through the year of no smoking before they finally figured out he was bipolar and put him on his meds to help him function in life better.

Haele