I don't mind at all Gabe.
DH can use all the help he can get & he would agree to that.
Gabe, I read your post that says the same the same basic thing over on WTM to DH & it makes sense to both of us.
One of the easiest ways to quite smoking is to smoke things that do not have the
ammonia base that most commercially available cigarettes, cigars, tobaccos, have.
The best way to do this is to buy high grade tobacco and roll your own. You might want to buy
filters, and (this is from observation, not experience) I think that it helps to smoke a number of different types of tobacco. For instance, buy a pipe and pipe tobacco that is additive free. Buy American Spirit or Santa Fe Natural cigarettes and smoke with a filter, and buy some other organic additive free tobacco and roll your own... also smoke with a filter.
Most studies focus on the levels of nicotine and presume (rightfully so in a limited respect) that plasma nicotine levels are the addictive factor in cigarette smoking. However I would disagree. I think that tobacco is not naturally addicting, it is the additives (reference needed here).
I know pipe smokers that smoke once a day, or once a week depending on how much time they have to smoke. The nicotine may be the pleasure in smoking, but it is not addictive in their case. I also know a lot of Navajo and Pueblo indians... and I have never known a full blood indian that is a chain smoker. Why? I am not sure about this, but I think that it is because their culture commonly uses smoke, incense, and actual smoking of various herbs for ceremonial and therapeutic purposes. In other words, back to the idea that smoking a variety of things allows you to understand the negative craving that cigarettes induce. I think they "know how to smoke" and are thus not addicted. I am not sure I can expand on that idea much... but here is a relevant story:
I worked on many construction sites with Native Americans, and when it came to break-time, commonly one of them would ask for a cigarette from a chain smoking white co-worker. Once lit, he would take a drag and pass it to another Native American worker who would do the same. Maybe five guys would share the same cigarette, the first usually finishing it after it "went around" once, or after smoking as much as he desired offering the rest to whomever wanted it. That was it. That was the only cigarette that any of them would smoke that day.
Once you have understood the way regular cigarettes effect you physiologically and mentally you will be able to put them away, and smoke something less addictive when the craving arises. After a short while (maybe a month or two) I believe that most addicted smokers will be able to completely put the habit away, or smoke at will.
So, just to clarify, when I say smoke a variety of things I am not talking about Marijuana or other illegal drugs, I am talking about cloves or additive free cigarette tobacco, or pipe tobacco, or if you can handle it, additive free cigars or "cigar-ettes" so called
.
Use
quality Cedar Incense in the house, and realise that the addiction is not in "smoking"... it is in smoking the cheap, commonly available, additive laden stuff that almost every cigarette smoker uses.
--gabe
PS: I don't smoke and never have. I even tried to smoke cigars once, but... I just couldn't. Nevertheless I think my observations are correct and would like to hear results of such an experiment.
The problem I run into with getting DH to do this is the $$$. Just before he got the nicotine gum we bought a second hand roller with the idea of at least lowering the cost then he bought American Spirit organic tobacco with the idea of getting him off the reg cigs & pesticides. The price of the American Spirit organic tobacco was $13.?? with tax for 40g- about 1 1/2 ounces. It only made about 1 1/2 packs (a pack is 20 cigs) although likely part of the problem was that he was learning how to use the roller & it takes some getting used to. I just looked on line & that amount of tobacco is supposed to do about 60 cigs (3 packs) although I think that is probably for hand rolled, smaller cigs. So between tobacco & tubes (our roller takes tubes) it would work out to between $4.50 to $6.75 a pack- closer to $6.75 b/c I still don't see getting 60 cigs out of that amount of tobacco- more likely 40. We're tight on money now & the $3.70 a pack he pays now (generic cigs in Colorado) is a money crunch when he's up to almost 1 1/2 packs a day. At $4.50 to $6.75 a pack price it would really add up.
I don't know though, I also read where someone that smoked reg cigs smoked a large pack (25 ct- at least 1 brand comes in that pack size) per day & when he switched to American Spirit pre rolled he went down to a reg pack (20 cigs) per day. So maybe it does somewhat balance out if you smoke less per day. Makes sense that you would smoke less of them since they don't add the addicting chemicals or the stuff to make the tobacco burn faster.
I don't know what's going to be the best route for DH right now. The reason he has the gum is b/c he had to go into the VA to get a script filled for an eye infection & the last 2 times he had been in they had asked him if he wanted to quit & he had said he was thinking about it so when he went for the script they asked again. He finally agreed to get the gum & they gave him a script for gum with lots of refills. I was VERY surprised when he came home with that- he can't say that the gum is too expensive now which he has said before.
Considering the org script he went in to get filled was for an eye infection he didn't even know he had-
see here- I think maybe God's hand was in all of this.
So far at first he used lots of the gum while smoking maybe a few cigs a day, then cut back on the gum b/c he really doesn't like it & went back up to about 1/2 pack a day & now he's back to more gum & just bumming a few a day from co workers so he doesn't have them in his pocket to be easy to get. (Most of his coworkers are also heavy smokers)
So we'll see how it works out. He really would like to quit for good. Prayers would be appreciated. Blessings ~herbalmom
