Fuck.  Part of me knew this day would come at some point, and I'll be honest:  I kind of hate it.  I've always been the guy to say "I'll be smoking until the day I die", and that goal seemed to be perfectly in sight for the longest time.  As of this week, it seems that outlook is no longer valid. 
 
I've been a smoker since I was twelve years old.  I remember my first cigarette being rolled by my friend.  There was no peer pressure, no necessity for cool, nothing of the sort.  I was curious.  I wanted to try a cigarette.  It turned out that I liked it...a lot.  Have I been addicted for the last sixteen years of my life?  Well, duh.  However, it's not just the chemical addiction that everyone is always so quick to bring up.  It's part of me, who I am, my identity.  I'm known as a smoker, and so it's very weird to think of what the world will be like now that I'm not a smoker.  Moreover, it's even weirder thinking about how I can approach the world as a non-smoker. 
 
It almost feels filthy to say that:  "I'm a non-smoker".  Okay, well, I'm not a total non-smoker yet.  I still have to keep my willpower in check, and I'm sure that I'll end up sneaking one or two in here and there.  However, for a guy that usually smokes at least a pack a day...going down to two cigarettes total in a 24 hour period...yeah, I'd say there's a marked improvement there.  It's not easy to quit, and I have no problem owning up to that or admitting it.  However, there is so much else that's killing me right now with it: 

• I only smoke outside, so it's weird not having that "break time" now.
• The oral fixation is being replaced by chewing gum, and that's only mildly helping.
• The physical addiction of holding a cigarette, twiddling it in between my fingers, flicking the ash...there's nothing to replace it, and it's driving me a bit bonkers.

You really won't regret smoking all your life if you die of lung/throat cancer at say age 50 or even younger? That can't be possible. Sure if you die of lung cancer at the age of 87 while smoking 20 a day then that probably isn't too bad but you gotta realise you can die much earlier then that. Your life can be cut short decades sometimes, from smoking.

Oh, man. I don't smoke, and never have, so I don't know what kind of advice I can give you. I hope you can accomplish it though.

I only occasionally smoked hookah and used snus. I quit about a month ago but have started developing an addiction to refined sugar.

Quitting smoking is essential. My friend started smoking around the age that you say you started, and at the age of 21, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and is not expected to live past 35. I know that it's extremely rare for that to happen, but it's a scary thought that you have no control of your life when you decide to become a slave towards cigarettes... 
 
Good Luck. 
 
  

" @Scooper: Well aware of it.  I've never really been a big fan of going past 50, but again, that's a selfish ideal that I'm trying to move away from. "

I don't know what to say. I live day to day and moment by moment. But it always feels good to get it out. I wish you the best of luck Josh.

Good luck. I have never really understood the melodrama behind quitting cigarettes, having myself been able to simply walk away for months at a time without the slightest sense of withdrawal. But the fact is you are quitting, and that's definitely a positive. Apparently that shit is bad for you? 
 
 
Oh and by the way: 

 it won't be a cancer regretted.  

I wish you luck in your endeavor. Smoking never appealed to me so I can't give tips or talk from personal experience, but watching my mom attempt to quit and fail several times leads me to believe that you could have your work cut out for you. 
 
Good luck!!

Quitter

You can still experience the pleasure of smoking with a smoking pipe, it doesn't generate addiction because you don't inhale the smoke and you end up also smoking a lot less because you have kind of a ritual to light the pipe and keep it clean, it's not as convenient as lighting a cigarette, if you find hard to quit cigarettes you could first try replacing it with a pipe, I know some dudes that started that way and then they also quited the pipe because they didn't have the time to sit down and enjoy it. The only bad thing is the effect of the smoke on your tongue and lips, which is also present with cigarettes but at least you keep your lungs and heart ouf the deadly equation

I wish you the best of luck, jakob. Hope you're on the mend after your hospital visit, too.

Good luck to you,

Good Luck. Never smoked myself, but I've seen three people in my family quit to varying degrees of success.

Good on you for at least trying to quit, man. Hope it works out for you.

Just a tip I got from a person who quit smoking, put a pencil in where you would a cigarette. he said his life changed forever that day

I understand this addiction stuff, I liken it to eating crappy food and having unhealthy habits in general, a barrier which I destroyed about 6 months ago and haven't been looking back since. I wish you luck, sir!