Former smokers, can you ever become occasional smokers?

No, OP, sooner or later that pack will call to me and I'll answer.

I'm a smoker. I love to smoke and I'd smoke to this day if it were safe. Even unsafe I still want it. I can't casually keep a pack around without smoking it.

I'll never say never but at this time (it's been years) I still wouldn't take the chance of keeping them around but I totally sympathize. It's just a trick of the mind, OP.

No, OP. I have known alcoholics who after a few years can have an occasional drink- very occasional- but smoking is a totally different animal. I believe it is because the tobacco company has loaded cigarettes with so many different addicting chemicals that people have no clue what they are even withdrawing from.

R2- Just to add that I do not have an addiction to either, but if I had to pick one I would choose alcohol addiction every time. My uncle was diagnosed with late stage lung cancer. He smoked until his last breath, literally.

Take up snuff instead

OP, I slipped up a couple times, but the ciggie tasted so horrible both times the temptation evaporated completely. The idea of smoking is far more than tantalizing than the reality, into experience. Maybe Alan Carr did it — I convinced myself that I liked something terrible for me and quitting the eliminated that illusion.

Recommend the book by the way, which is a very short read. I didn't quit for a couple years after I read it, but the concepts in there are what got me through when I finally did. I could see it even helping you in your situation, OP.

Into experience = in my experience*

Damned autocorrect!

I quit for 4 years, then again for 2 years. But it all re-started with the dumb idea that I could just have one or a hit of someone's vape. Next time never again.

You eat beef Wellington on Wednesday, OP?

I smoke when I drink and then it tapers off to nothing, then starts up if I drink again. If I didn't drink at all, I probably wouldn't smoke at all.

Wearing a Fitbit and seeing instantly what drinking does toy body greatly decreased my consumption. It fucks up your stats worse than weed does, and for a longer period. I'm sure it's the same with smoking tobacco + additives.

R8 LOL, yes. It’s from this company. I’ve had one in my freezer for a couple of weeks and couldn’t come up with anything else for dinner tonight.

Also, now I’m sort of embarrassed that I had Beef Wellington on a Wednesday and I want to explain. I live in the SF Bay Area and have been ordering from Shop Locale, which delivers restaurant/bakery/farmer’s market stuff once a week. About two weeks ago they changed their business model and are delivering individual meals, that for reasons I won’t go into, I’m not interested in. They had to clear out their old inventory and I got Beef Wellingtons for like 2/3 off list price, among other things.

Having said all that, I still want a cigarette, but I appreciate all the replies.

-OP

My grandfather smoked unfiltered Philip Morris and lived to 84. My grandmother smoked unfiltered Pall Mall and lived to 82. My great grandmother smoked unfiltered Chesterfield and lived to 91.

Fuck it. I have great genes. I'll just keep sucking on my Parliaments.

That's quite a gamble, R13. Bon courage.

And WTF with being embarrassed about having Beef Wellington on a Wednesday?

r15 It's our wonderful eldergays with archaic Catholic shit.

r14 you wish you could be as brave

I actually don't. How about you try caregiving for dying smokers. I've done two.

Good for you r18. You are a wonderful person.

Life isn't America

R16 Honestly, nailed it.

-OP

I'm not in America. Let's keep going. You're 0 for 0 so far.

No.

I have seen many smokers who were admitted to the hospital for one or two weeks. In that time they had completely detoxed physically from cigarettes only to light up before they even reached their vehicle or ride. It was mind boggling to me so I asked them why they did that. They explained that after two or three days in the hospital they didn't really think about smoking any longer but the minute they were discharged they suddenly had an overwhelming craving to smoke. Smoking is evil and insidious.

[quote]Smoking is evil and insidious.

If you have the right genes it's WONDERFUL

I'll never love this Virginia Slims Menthol this way again

Yeah, I was like the 'right genes' troll when I smoked, too.

r26 is posing for a PORTRAIT SESSION

r26 can't even get one finger up there, never mind two.

I quit for 10 years, then picked up again because I resented all my coworkers were having so much fun on their smoking breaks. It was much more difficulty to quit, and I agree, they put lots more chemicals in them to keep you hooked.

I lived with an old lady that could watch “Mad Men” for years because it triggered her so badly.

Just smoke. It's an appendage, nothing serious.

R29 ESL?

R31 = my question too.

I was a smoker. However, when I am in Europe and if my hotel has a terrace, I buy cigarettes and when I come back to the US I do not smoke anymore. I am probably in Europe six or seven times a year, and only if I have a terrace in the hotel room. I do not need to smoke when I am back and I do not smoke that much while in Europe but having coffee on the terrace with a cig still feels wonderful. I also do not smoke socially when I am out with friends in Europe, not many (of my friends) smoke though.

If you are a true nicotine addict I don’t think you can. I quit 13 years ago and I cannot have even one puff.

R33 That sounds like a dream.

Do cigarettes list their ingredients on the pack....don't all foods have to?

I don't think I could become "an occasional smoker." I smoked for decades, did what others have written - quit, started again, quit. My only "successful" quits were through hypnosis.

I finally put them behind me in 2020 and thought I was finally past wanting to smoke. And yet... earlier this summer I was at a gay, nude beach, enjoying the day. Took a stroll and crossed paths with a guy I know casually. He was with a friend. Guy I know pulls out a pack of cigarettes (a brand I once smoked). His friend takes one, he offers me the pack.

Oh the temptation! My mind is saying, yea, do it! Grab a beer from your pack, light up the smoke, hang with these sexy naked men... but I declined. And man it stuck with me... have a cigarette, have a cigarette.

Pleased I didn't, but oh so tempted.

I smoked in my 20s and quit 12 years ago, but every so often -- maybe a few times a year -- I have a dream that I'm smoking and enjoying it.

I also used blow regularly in my 20s, and that's when I really smoked a lot. Booze, coke, and cigarettes are a magical combination. I don't use any of them anymore, though.

Nope. Fell down this rabbit hole twice before (once after 3 years, once after 5). Now haven't smoked since April 14, 2011 BUT I know 100% for sure that I can never so much as have a puff or I'll be back to smoking and every time it's harder to quit.

I smoked for 25 years and gave it up about 8 years ago. I’m one of the very few who can smoke one or two when I’m with friends who still smoke and we’re drinking. I have no desire to take it up again after that and have never bought a packet since quitting.

So I’m proof that it’s possible.

Won't be all stalker-y and get into details, but it turned out blocking R17 was a very wise decision after seeing their post history. What a twat.

Just hang out with some wheezing gray faced old people who stink of rotten cigarettes. That will cure the urge

I smoke while on vacation. It’s fabulous. The high cost of cigarettes where I live prevents me from picking up again once I’ve returned.

Former regular smoker. I quit a few times. Each time I started again I thought, I’ll just have this one cigarette. It was not possible. At least for me it wasn’t. Quit for good in 1989.

I don’t miss the taste or the smell. But I sometimes miss the act. Lighting up, inhaling, holding the cigarette, blowing the smoke slowly out of my mouth. But now that urge is satisfied by smoking a joint, which for me is not addictive at all. I do it once or twice a month.

Nicotine is powerfully addictive. It has re-wired your brain to succumb to the slightest trace.

It's been 22 years since I quit smoking cigarettes. I had a cigar at a restaurant in St Petersburg in 2005.

That's been it since 2001.

It is a slippery slope. You have it after a big meal, then hey can I bum one when you are out. Then only when I am drinking, then smoke breaks then boom you are smoking again. Just no.

A friend of mine (who has also quit drinking) allows herself a single cigarette on "bank holidays." She doesn't keep any in the house, but at her Christmas party she does find someone with an extra.

I quit cigs in 1999 but a few years later started up with my grandfathers old tobacco pipe. I tell myself that at least I don't inhale so I have that going for me. On the plus side, I ALWAYS get compliments from passersby when my vanilla pipe tobacco smoke wafts through some public outdoor space.

It depends. Apparently, it's a feature of your genetic makeup to what degree you become addicted to nicotine. I was incredibly addicted. When I would be able to sneak out for a smoke would literally be what my day revolved around. I could not be an occasional smoker. I know people though who are, who are not particularly addicted, and for whom occasionally smoking works. People are different. If you feel you cannot quit or cannot go a day without a cigarette: Clearly, no, you cannot become an occasional smoker.

OP, I tried this. What happened was I kept getting re-hooked. "One cigarette" becomes two. "I'll just smoke at ---- time" becomes more fluid. Once in a while becomes once a day, then 2-3 times, and so on. I'd wind up having to quit all over again. I "quit smoking" in 2008 but I was still flirting with this shit for 5 years after. I really didn't quit for good until 2015. I still get cravings and I definitely get triggered in certain situations or settings, but I just resist it.

Just don't do it. It's not worth it, especially after all the work you put in to quit.

If you smoked a pack a day, you can't dial it back. (I smoked a pack to 25 per day, depending on whether I was drinking.)

Once you've been a pickle, you can't go back to being a cucumber.

Also, don't smoke other things, like marijuana. I quit smoking cigarettes at ~ age 26. Then, I picked up MJ, which led me back to tobacco. Ugh! I quit tobacco, again, at age 29.

Since age 29, I have taken exactly one puff of a cigarette, at a party.

I stopped and started numerous times over the years before I eventually stopped for good 21 years ago. I honestly don’t miss it but I know for sure that if I ever had one cigarette, say whilst out drinking, I would be back on a pack a day within a month.

How much does a pack cost where you are OP? Here in the UK they are over £16, so that’s just over $20 a pack.

You might be surprised OP. I quit after decades of smoking. When in Las Vegas , I bought a pack ($20 fucking dollars), and they did nothing for me. I had two then tossed the pack. I was actually really surprised.

More importantly, how was the Wellington? I’m looking through their website and am really tempted to order.

For me, the cost alone will prohibit ever going back.

I used to smoke Dunhills. They were $9 a pack 20 years ago when I quit. No idea what they cost now, but it's got to be plenty.

Like any other addictive drug, nicotine seems to say to you C'mon, you can just have a little every now and then. It's lying to you because it wants you back full on.

The answer is NO.

I let myself have a cig or two in Vegas. Usually can’t finish it and have a hangover the next day. I quit in 2005 and have smoked maybe 5 cigs. Just make sure it’s only one.

No. Quit back in 2006 and haven’t looked back.

[quote] She doesn't keep any in the house, but at her Christmas party she does find someone with an extra.

People who don't have their own cigs and bum off of everybody else all fucking night can die in a grease fire.

OP, if you had a smoke after every time you had an unhealthy, fatty meal sure to help you extend your massive girth, you'd have perished from the cancer by now.

R13

Parliaments ? I have never heard of anyone admitting to smoking Parliaments.

I smoked from when I was 20 to shortly before my 41st birthday. I created a three month schedule to cut down smoking, and eventually get to zero. I used e cigarettes to help, and once I transitioned off of regular cigarettes, I started cutting the nicotine levels in the e-liquid down to zero. That took over a year. I haven't smoked a real cigarette in 12.5 years. I have two old cigarettes in the freezer, and as long as I keep them there I am choosing not to smoke, I am not out of cigarettes.

About 7 years ago I went out and bought two packs of cigarettes. I rode my bike to the store, and by the time I got home I regretted the decision, and gave them to my neighbor, who smoked at the time.

I still frequently get the desire to have a cigarette, and I believe that if I smoked one I would start smoking again. I frequently have dreams about smoking. I smoked 1.5-2 packs a day for the most part.

r62 Parliaments are the cig of choice in the Northeast.

NY Metro area is big on Parliaments

Former smoker here and, uh no. Not because I think smoking an occasional cigarette will automatically become addicted again, but because I found that I enjoyed smoking the most when I was the most addicted to it. I tapered of my cigarettes when I quit fairly slowly and it took me about 6 months to fully quit, but towards the last coupke of months when my addiction had much less of a stronghold on me, I realized I enjoyed the habbit far less. So I feel if I smoked again, even occasionally, it would be pointless because I wouldnt enjoy it anyway near as much as I did.

That said there are people that are occasional smokers or smoke a cigarette 2/3 times a week, my best friend is one of those people, and they might fare better, but I was a dedicated smoker...if I ran out if cigs at 1 am, I'd go get them.

My dear grandma kept a pack of Carlton’s in a kitchen drawer. Every night after dinner was done and dishes were washed and put away, she’d open the kitchen window, winter or summer, sit down, and smoke one cigarette. That was her little “treat”. My cousins and I are in our 50s and we still reminisce about it, in a comforting way.

That said, as a former smoker I’ve tried this “Yeah But Grandma Did It” method many years ago and it doesn’t work. Immediately found excuses to smoke again, so I quit cold turkey and haven’t touched them ever again.

No

R67 I always envied people that could do that but nope, I can't. I'm all or nothing when it comes to cigarettes.

This December 31 it'll be 30 years that I categorically quit cigarettes after years of going back and forth and mostly back. It's one of my life's greatest accomplishments and I'm as proud of it as I am of my college degree because in a way it was harder. Nothing comes close to being free from nicotine. Nothing.

R70:

" I'm as proud of it as I am of my college degree"

As well you should be. Well done! 👏👏👏👏

I've always found the Goop, "I have one cigarette per week" type smokers to be completely full of shit

I'm a former smoker and now I only smoke when I drink outdoors, which is about once a month.

R54 The Wellington was pretty good, but not great. I made them from scratch last Christmas and they were much better.

And wow, cigarettes cost $20 now? I had no idea!

Thanks to everyone for the responses. You all convinced me to stay cigarette-free.

-OP

R72 I know people where its true...my mom was a social smoker and only occasionally smoked in a non special occasion, usually when she was very stressed. My best friend is similar. Not all people are addicted to the same degree. But I would say, if you're the kind of person that is putting their coat on over their pijamas to buy cigs at 1 am then that will probably not work for you.

I love Fran Lebowitz's take on this

R76 well they do call them "fags" in Britain...

I had quit for 15 years, got drunk with an old smoker friend, smoked two cigarettes and got the worst headache an hour later. That was 25 years ago. Nevah Again!

YMMV is your answer, OP, given the wide spectrum of answers here. Seems to me.tjebonly sure bet is not 🚭.

The only sure bet*

Nicotine is a very powerful, addictive drug. Stay away.

It's interesting to see all the different ways that people have struggled and finally stopped. Or haven't. I don't agree with the "cigarettes are evil" crowd -- their effects are certainly, but it's like saying a plane is evil because it crashes. (Weak analogy, but whatever.)

That said, I quit in 2005 and I'm glad I did. I have mooched a few cigarettes over the years, usually when a bonfire and wine was involved. I did buy a pack in Amsterdam just to sit once again at a cafe table and watch the world go by. I enjoyed the vibe and not being harassed. I left the pack with the bartender when I left and haven't had one since (2018).

In 2017 I had CABG x3. The minute I got into the hospital, I quit. I actually did not even miss it. Post-surgery, over the next 3 years, I had a total of 6 cigarettes (they were delicious) and was absolutely fine and not wanting any more. I had to bum those smokes.

Fast forward to March 2022, I had some drinks with some friends, and craved a ciggie. Swung by 7-11 and bought a pack....that was my downfall. I am now in the process of TRYING to quit again. Nicotine patches, lozenges etc. I think if I were able to buy "loosies" it would be easier to quit. Buying an entire pack seems to be key to recidivistic behavior. I kinda hate myself. LOL

I have one occasionally when I’m drinking outside. I then feel crappy the next day and don’t do it again for a few months or a year.

Woman friend cannot do her (now once or twice weekly) hour-plus commute without two cigs in each direction. And four the days she doesn't go in to the office, so pack lasts her a week and a half.

I quit thanks to IV antibiotics. Something they gave me (Gentamicin?) made the taste and smell of cigarettes so nauseating that quitting felt better than continuing.

[quote]Woman friend cannot do her (now once or twice weekly) hour-plus commute without two cigs in each direction. And four the days she doesn't go in to the office, so pack lasts her a week and a half.

So, she smokes four cigarettes a day? That means a pack should last her five days, not ten days (a week and a half).

R72: " I've always found the Goop, "I have one cigarette per week" type smokers to be completely full of shit ."

Very much full of shit. Her face tells another story. The damage is obvious.

My brother and a female friend could smoke 1 or 2 cigarettes per day.

My brother smoked Marlboro reds, IIRC. He didn't like the habit, even if it was only 1-2 per day. He has some other addictive behaviors, though, so I guess he saw it as a problem.

My female friend smoked Merit cigarettes, 1 every night. She kept her pack in the freezer. I'm not sure if she still does this.

You're right, R86

R82 if I smoked a cig with wine again after 6 years of quitting, I dont think I'd be able to stop again. I admire your willpower.

I wonder if former smokers and occasional smokers can be friends and lovers?

As a former smoker, I'd say it depends on what "occasional" means.

No way I could live with an active smoker who smoked every day.

Smoking is linked to between 80% and 90%Trusted Source of all cancer deaths in the United States. About 10% to 20% of lifelong smokers develop lung cancer.

[quote] About 10% to 20% of lifelong smokers develop lung cancer.

That statistic doesn't sound so bad, actually. 80% to 90% of smokers can get away with it.

That said, the cardiovascular ravaging is nastier and far more extensive. Just we're afraid more of the cancer.

Being free from nicotine addiction is awesome. You never ask yourself, Could I just have one? because the answer is now so deep in your bones you don't even go there. You smell other people's smoking and there's NOTHING attractive about it like there used to be. You never for one second miss it, not when you see others smoking or when you get anxious or angry or anything. You never again connect other activities like sex or eating or drinking to smoking again like you used to. Awesome.

I quit once for eight years, then grabbed a cigarette at a funeral and smoked five, end to end, using the last to light the next.

My friend cut me off and said, "You're scaring me."

It took me another 12 years to stop. That was 18 years ago. I cannot have even one.

Glad you did R97. Stay here.

I used to only smoke when I drank. Eventually developed a drinking problem that went on for years until I realized I actually had a smoking problem. Once I quit cigarettes I had no problems with over drinking. In fact when I was drinking and craved a cigarette that was finally my brain’s signal that I had enough.

Yes, same as R33, when traveling to Europe I buy a pack of cigarettes. No trouble quitting when I get home. It’s easy in a way because my building is non-smoking as are most places. I like to relax and have a cigarette with w/ a glass of wine or coffee. Smoking on the sidewalk doesn’t have the same appeal.

With me, smoking was not only an addiction, but also an obsession. I was constantly occupied by the thought of my next cigarette.

After being loyal to a number of brands over those years, when I finally hit rock bottom, I was smoking...Parliaments!

I can't stand to be in the home of a smoker. Everything is coated with that ugly, depressing nicotine. It ruins everything in their home.

I remember once we moved into an apartment during university that needed cleaning. I was in the kitchen on a step ladder, with a wet sponge in hand, when I lost balance and threw my hand up to the ceiling to steady. The wet sponge left a clean streak in the. middle of the nictoine and smoke stains. Bit of a shock.

Why would anyone want to smoke even "occasionally"?

Reading this thread makes me want to smoke r104.

Or this clip, R104. 🤣

Oops, I meant R105.