Do you miss it?

[nvbirdman]

Expanding on the thread of seven years sober (and we'll let this apply to tobacco too), do you miss it?

I quit drinking nine years ago, and quit cigarettes thirty seven years ago and I don't miss either one. I missed them for about a week or two, and now I couldn't imagine smoking a cigarette, and as far as a beer goes, it's simply "No thanks, I don't drink".

[Rick Hodges]

Smoking...I quit on 7-7-06...still have the occasional craving...but I don't dare slip up even once.

[farmerjim]

Quit smoking 20 years ago, I still crave a cigarette after every meal. I know that if I have even one it will be all over.

[Hickok]

Been about 15 years since I quit beer, I give all the credit to my Lord Jesus for delivering me.

[starnbar]

I got a bad case of the flu in 88 and I woke up in bed rolled over got my Marlboros off the night stand lit one up took a deep pull started coughing my lungs out jammed the cigarette in the ashtray and never picked up another one.

[high standard 40]

I've never smoked in my 64 years, not even once. I did take a drink though in my younger years, often to excess. I put that vice down in 1976 and have not touched a drop since. I can't say I miss. Whiskey does still smells good to me but I will not indulge.

[Moonie]

One day at a time guys, not me but my father, he had 16 years sober and had to pick up a new starter chip last year. I don't drink but not because I've ever had a problem, I learned from my fathers mistake.

Anyone can fall off, we do however have a loving and forgiving savior who ministered to sinners not to saints.

[turmech]

I smoked for over 20 years which is half my life. Chewed tobacco prior to that. I quit like a previous poster said while sick this summer. Still miss it every day. Sadly I really enjoyed it. Glad I quit however an hope I never relapse.

[Jeff82]

I've never smoked. For health reasons I quite drinking three years ago. The only time I miss it is when we dine out.

[tomme boy]

Smoked from when I was 14 to when I was 36. Now 42. Most of that time it was 3+ packs a day. I stil reach for my shirt pocket after a meal or while I am out fishing or shooting. My old lady makes fun of me when she sees me patting my self down looking for my smokes.

Alcohol is has been since I was about 31 when the last drink was.

[blackthorn]

Started smoking @ 14 (drinking too). Got married @20 and stopped all but the odd social drinking (couldn't afford it). Smoked to age 38 and quit (1977). Quit craving a smoke about 10 years ago. The cravings just seemed to taper off over time. I did not notice any real change in the way I felt for about a year. I quit right after hunting season and the next year I found I could go a lot farther uphill than the year before without stopping to rest. I hate to be teased over something I said I would do and then do not follow through, so a few weeks prior to hunting season I told all my friends I would quit after season. We got back (with a couple of moose) and the next morning I had "just one more" and went to my friends place to help get the moose ready for the butcher. One of the guys asked if I had had a smoke and I said yes. He said OK then you won't quit! Have not touched one since!!

[ShooterAZ]

I smoked since I was a teenager. 11 years ago I quit for 6 years. I went deep sea fishing with some buddies, and made the foolish mistake of indulging in some cigars. Nicotine is nicotine, and sadly I was hooked again. For those who do quit and have quit...don't make the same mistake I did.

[Bzcraig]

Consumed my last drop of alcohol 27 years ago and smoked my last cigarette 15 years ago and don't miss anything about either one of them.

[flylot]

I'm still a cigar smoker, I quit smoking cigarettes in the 1972. Cigarettes are a habit and for some reasons cigars are not, and I'm not exactly sure why. When I was smoking cigarettes "I HAD to have one". But cigars are not a habit but an event. The atmosphere has to be right, I dunno, it just has to be. I have gone months without a cigar, and other times maybe I smoke one or two a week. I don't "carve" a cigar like I used to "crave" cigarettes. People tell me it is because one doesn't inhale, but the nicotine is still absorbed by the tongue and mouth, so I tend to dispute that claim.

I don't miss cigarettes at all and even though I haven't had a cigar in over a week, I don't miss it either. Maybe someone with more perspective can explain why the difference......

[big bore 99]

Quit the drinking 26 years ago and don't miss it a bit. Really need to stop smoking, but having a hard time with it. It really is a dirty, disgusting and expensive addiction. Am phsycing my self out to do it this time.

[leadman]

I tried smoking in high school but I was into sports and a pretty decent runner. The effect on my running was immediate so I never took up the habit.
My parents were heavy smokers almost all their lives. My Dad quit when the doctor told him he had lung cancer, about 4 years before he died from brain cancer. My Mom's last cigarette was about 3 or 4 days before she died from the effects of smoking.

I never did like hard liquor but did drink beer, until I got allergies that included hops. One beer and my eyes would be red and my nose would be running so haven't had a beer in about 20 years.

Kudos to those that have quit and encouragement to those that want to. It will change your life.

[mold maker]

Except for an occasional beer, I never liked drinking. Cigarettes are another story. I totally enjoyed smokes for well over 40 years. I lit one on the way out the door, and put one out shortly before going to bed. It's been about 20 years since I noticed shortness of breath and decided to quit cold turkey.
I still remember the assumed pleasure of cigarettes whenever I smell someone else light up. To this day the taste of a fresh smoke after a meal is implanted in my memory.
It just the Devil trying to be the boss, and I don't work for him.

[dragon813gt]

Never taken a drag of a cigarette in my life. My parents told me constantly that they quit smoking for me when my Mom became pregnant. Never understood what the draw is.

Alcohol, regret it every time I take a drink. All it does is make me a tired *****. I've never been a big drinker and never felt the need for it. I had my first child in June and up until the Holidays I had maybe two beers in that span. The holidays reminded me why I really don't like alcohol. Only touch it on the rare occasion and I never miss it.

[1989toddm]

I'm still a cigar smoker, I quit smoking cigarettes in the 1972. Cigarettes are a habit and for some reasons cigars are not, and I'm not exactly sure why. When I was smoking cigarettes "I HAD to have one". But cigars are not a habit but an event. The atmosphere has to be right, I dunno, it just has to be. I have gone months without a cigar, and other times maybe I smoke one or two a week. I don't "carve" a cigar like I used to "crave" cigarettes. People tell me it is because one doesn't inhale, but the nicotine is still absorbed by the tongue and mouth, so I tend to dispute that claim.

I don't miss cigarettes at all and even though I haven't had a cigar in over a week, I don't miss it either. Maybe someone with more perspective can explain why the difference......

While I didnt smoke cigarettes for long(3-4) years, I agree it is a habit, but cigars and pipe have always been like you said, an event. Its been months since I lit my pipe, Havent had a cig in 3+ years and dont miss it except for have something to occupy my hands and mouth. Usually doesnt bother me at all. I never was a heavy drinker, used to drink whiskey now and then, but overendulged one time on an empty stomach and to this day, a small sip of anything stronger than wine just about makes me gag.

Now my habits are coffee and boolits:bigsmyl2::Fire:

[Kent Fowler]

I pretty much quit smoking when it was banned at my work place in 1997. Took up Skoal and was happy for a few years until in 2000 when my wife ratted me off to the heart surgeon who had just completed a quad heart bypass on me. Got an informative 15 minute lecture on what nicotine does to your arteries by the doc when he came in to check on me. I quit, but I still miss that stuff.

[Recluse]

I learned to smoke in basic training, which in looking back really disgusts me. Up until then, I'd been a competitive swimmer since I was five and a pretty decent baseball catcher--lettered in both in high school.

But in boot camp during that era (late 70's), it was a reg that smokers had to have smoke breaks--even in basic training. I watched all the smokers fall out into the bullpen, light up and have a good ten/fifteen minute social time while those of us non-smokers standing at parade-rest were at the mercy of any sergeant who happened to stroll by and was in a foul or sadistic mood.

I learned to smoke my second week into basic training. After basic, I had ten-plus weeks of pure physical hell that involved running, lots of swimming (which was easy for me), telephone poles, more exercises than I ever thought existed, etc. For the duration of my service, we maintained near Olympic-class fitness. We had to as the job required it.

During college, I continued to smoke--to "stay awake," I rationalized since I was working one full-time job and a part-time job in addition to my GI bill benefits that only paid for tuition and not rent or groceries or utilities. But I noticed by my senior year I would occasionally get winded walking across the campus. Damn cigarettes!

Smoked during the law enforcement years--to "stay awake" on stakeouts and to combat the boredom that came with the job. Noticed my PT scores began to droop. When I finished grad school and went into the world of ad agencies, continued to smoke--to keep my mind "alert and agile for coming up with great creative ideas and concepts." Not sure why I continued to smoke after I retired from the industry.

Several years ago I was in a store and another customer walked past me and literally just REEKED of cigarettes. On my way out of the store, I reached in my pocket and took out the pack and tossed it in the trash and never looked back. Have zero cravings and can't stand to be around the smell of cigarette smoke now.

Whiskey? Been sober for 30 years as of last November 1, 2014.

Miss it every day. But I am simply not capable of having only one shot or one drink. Beer and wine is no problem, but the distilled spirits. . . can't do it. Admitting that was the hardest thing and it's still hard. But facts are facts, whether we like them or not.

:coffee:

[MT Gianni]

Occasionally I miss alcohol but the folks around me don't seem to mind me being sober at all. They did notice when I was a problem drinker.

[geargnasher]

I quit cigarettes finally about 3-4 years ago, not sure when to tell the truth. I try not to think about it because I still miss them every day though it's been quite a while since I frisked my shirt pocket for a Camel. The "habit" is long gone but the craving is not. I've heard many recovered alcoholics say that booze was the thing they always wanted but didn't know what it was until they found it, I'll say the same thing for tobacco, guess I craved it all my life. All I know is the first time I loaded up a corn cob pipe with Borkum Riff and lit it off, I thought "THAT is the stuff!". I even keep a glass dish of Sail in the gun room to this day just for the smell.

Gear

[tryNto]

Gave up the smokes in 1982 after 16 years. 3+ packs a day Pall Mall reds. Took another 21 years to break the Alchol addiction. Don't miss either one...

[375supermag]

Hi...

Never smoked.

Used to drink alcohol...some said I was a professional drinker. Maybe... I drank a lot for a few years between marriages. Never had a hangover...never missed work and never was a "bad drunk".

My current wife got pregnant in 1993 and I stopped drinking that day. Children need a sober respectable father. I have an occasional beer when we go out for dinner and maybe a couple at a ball game or some other social setting...never more than that. I never drink and drive, even if I only have one beer with dinner.

[xs11jack]

I quit smoking in 1982 after a 20 year 2 pack a day habit. 32 years hasn't protected me from the effect however. I have COPD.
Ole Jack

[Rick N Bama]

I quit smoking on 10-23-2000 at approx 5:30PM while waiting for an Ambulance to pick me up for the Heart Attack I was having. I don't miss them a bit! I do take a shot of a nice Bourbon from time to time.

[Wayne Smith]

Fourty years ago this coming June I gave my pipes to LOML as a wedding present. I still want one now and again.

[farmerjim]

Gear: " All I know is the first time I loaded up a corn cob pipe with Borkum Riff and lit it off, I thought "THAT is the stuff!"
Borkum Riff Wiskey, I can still taste it after 20+ years!

[ErikO]

I only drink hard cider and expensive bourbon. I'm too cheap to buy bourbon and none of the places we go to serves cider. I buy a six pack and it lasts me about six weeks. On the 15th my wife and I are restarting our smoking quit. All I will say is that the reduced anxiety of not living in Ferguson, MO these days should make it a bit easier, so glad we moved.

[jcwit]

I only ever drank the hard stuff, do I miss it after 16 years, not at all.

Last number of years that I smoked I rolled my own, miss it? Not really, but I do miss my pipe, but then they do not even make the pipe tobacco I smoked.

[leeggen]

To those that try to quit drinking and or smoking, keep trying til you succeed. Quit smoking in Dec. 1980, quit drinking in Oct. 1992. Missed it at first but now It is a fleeting moment of thought. More power to those trying to stop.
CD