"Bob Martin" wrote in message
...
in 1492032 20110218 181537 Larry Blanchard wrote:
On Fri, 18 Feb 2011 07:41:58 -0500, Upscale wrote:

Not good enough. We all know someone who has quit something somewhere
sometime, even someone as close as your wife. Perhaps if you had more
than a vague second hand experience with being seriously addicted, then
you might just possibly be a little more understanding.

OK, how about some personal experience.

I smoked almost a carton a week from the time I was 18 until almost 60.
I did switch from unfiltered to filtered about the middle of that.

Just before my 60th birthday I had a heart attack - luckily not a massive
one. When I got out of intensive care I went outside, pushing my IV
holder, and had my last cigarette. I noticed no physical withdrawal
symptoms, just my hand having a reflex action of reaching for my shirt
pocket every now and then. That went away in a week or two.

I did tell my cardiologist that I missed it and wondered if one cigar a
month was admissible. He reluctantly agreed. I adhered to that regimen
for 10 years. When I reached 70 I unilaterally decided to let myself
have one a week. Been doing that for 4 years. Surely if smoking was
addictive to me I would have been rapidly increasing my cigar smoking
until it was a constant thing.

I don't know if smoking is addictive to other people or not. But it does
not seem to be addictive to me.

Smoking is a habit, not an addiction.
I stopped dead at the end of 1975, after 20 years of 30-40 per day, and
haven't
had one since.


Some, like anything else, don't get addicted but those are in the minority.
I smoked for many years then switched to Copenhagen for about ten years.
Chewed at work and always found those that walked around spitting in a can
disgusting. I swallowed it. When I quit, I had serious withdrawal symptoms.