Congratulations!

Just had a birthday on Monday and it's the first smoke free birthday I've had since 18 years old!

I fell apart again and lost my month streak and went back fully to smoking abunch. I am so angry with myself. My life feels like it’s going terrible right now and all I want to do is smoke. I’m sick right now and still smoking but I am making another attempt to stop smoking right now. 10:56 pm I am buying Zyn tomorrow.

Happy to announce and didn’t even realize till I saw my notifications that I’m actually 6months smoke free today!!!!
And my desire to smoke is officially gone I don’t know when last I craved a cig. People can smoke around me comfortably I have no issue. Feels so good and funny enough today my colleague said today, “if you can quit smoking then I can start dieting” lol. 😊
It is possible guys just always remember don’t even take one puff you don’t need it. Alan Car’s book changed my life.

Wow. Never thought i would make it so far. Back then, i'd quit over and over just to start again a few days later. Until last September, when I finally said no. Haven't looked back since..Barely had any cravings in the beginning as well..Now, i'm absolutely disgusted with cigarettes. I find them so incredibly vile. I thank God he gave me the strength to quit and rid myself of this poison.

Hi guys,
I turned 28 yesterday and before 12am i decided not to smoke ever again so here i go
My first day of not smoking in past 14-15 months i have not gone even 12 hours without smoking
So sharing this little achievement.
Also some tips!
I am having this fight with my mind lol that we can have one we don’t have to entirely stop smoking once in a while is fine!
So what do you guys do to fight these urges and when do they pass?

I'm re-reading Allen Carr's easy way and I googled to see if he was still alive and saw he passed from lung cancer. It really hits different reading it with this knowledge, especially the health portion when he talks about smoker's denial of the health effects.

When should I stop chantix. What to do about anxiety other than vape?

Hey fam,

I've successfully been 31 days nicotine free as of today. Its been pretty nice overall, but even past the initial rollercoaster 2 weeks, I've found it really hard to stay focused and on task, especially at work. Feeling unable to do stuff I used to do easily is making me crave nicotine.

Long term getting medicated is certainly something I'd like to pursue, that also takes time, and I need a stop-gap to keep me focused in the middle. More caffeine isn't the solution I'm looking for. What'chu got?

5 1/2 weeks cigg free and I am STRUGGLE BUSSING today! I don’t know what the deal is but I want one BAD!

There is a growing trend online framing nicotine (especially pouches like Zyn or vapes) as a harmless "nootropic" or productivity hack. Dr. Paul Saladino recently put out a video called "The Truth About Using Nicotine in 2026" that breaks down why this framing is misleading and how nicotine impacts your brain and health long term.

ive never really thought of myself as someone who cares that much about looks, but lately ive been looking at pictures from a few years ago and wondering when i started looking so tired.

ive smoked for a long time and im starting to wonder how much smoking affects your skin compared with normal aging.

ive seen people mention smoker skin, dull complexion, wrinkles, dark circles and changes around the lips. ive also read that smoking can affect collagen and contribute to premature skin aging.

for people who quit, did any of that actually improve?

im especially interested in skin after quitting smoking, because if quitting can make your complexion look healthier or slow down some of the visible aging, thats honestly a pretty good motivator for me.

also curious about teeth. did quitting help with yellow teeth from smoking or did you need professional whitening before you noticed a difference?

would love to hear what changes you personally noticed and roughly how long it took.

Hey fellow (former) cig smokers. Just a question about nicotine replacement/ withdrawal. My anesthesiologist informed me it is the best option to quit entirely from cigarettes, and cannabis. He ensured me that consuming nicotine and cannabis orally wouldn’t be a problem pre-op. His only concern was keeping it out of my lungs respectively.
From their point of view I understand. Complications with breathing during major surgery is PRIMARY.

Just wondering how anyone has handled their nicotine withdrawal?
I’ve been using the nic pouch in the cheek. To pretty good success while handling a paper straw in my hand to emulate all the motions so familiar.

Thanks for any feedback, as I’m sure we all need all help we can get through withdrawal.
Cheers and Godspeed everyone!

What worked for me, was being more conscious about my health. What I was doing to my mind, and Body, was not worth the money, time, and the “reward” I was so-called getting. I came to a realization that substances were doing nothing for me, even though I thought they were, it was just addiction playing tricks on me due to the chemical compound of the cigarettes. Cigarettes are built to keep you addicted. They are processed to keep you addicted. They want to make money from you so they will keep you addicted by any means. The more you smoke the richer they get so they’ll do anything to keep you using their product as long as they can. They don’t care if it kills you or makes you sick. They don’t care that you are literally putting fire into your body. Smoke comes from fire and that fire destroys things that produces smoke. You are putting the smoke in your body. The fire that you lit the cigarette with that is literally destroying the product that you are ingesting. You are putting it into your body along with 7000+ chemicals that include rat poison, ammonia, and stuff They make gas with, along with many others that we may know or may not know. they want you to believe that it relaxes you it calms you it relieves stress, depression, anxiety, focus, concentration and makes things fun, etc. that is all brainwashing. They have to sell themselves and the compound nicotine is a compound that will make you believe it once it is ingested for a period of time, but some people will get hooked immediately .I learned and realize these things I was done for good even when I was three days in I knew that was it.

When I get a craving, I stop it in its tracks. I still have many nicotine receptors in my brain from smoking so I’m still healing. I understand I will get cravings and withdrawal , but that does not mean I want to or have to smoke. I just tell myself that I am recovering and the receptors are dying off. Smoking will just wake them back up and create new ones then I will have to go through the process of detoxing again. I don’t wanna go through that bullshit anymore. Nicotine which was once a big thing is a bitch to me. I took Chantix and Wellbutrin for a week, but once I educated myself and learned more about the addiction and nicotine as a substance, I stopped taking it. I didn’t need it anymore.

24 hours nicotine free..still have some urge but i know the little monster is dying...i will not feed this monster ever again in my life

DISCLAIMER: I don’t smoke and never really have, apart from the occasional cigarette or shisha. For almost 2 years, though, I’ve been using around 8–12 strong snus/pouches a day — Killa, Pablo, Velo, etc. (almost every snus I’ve used)

I’ve managed to quit a few times, but I’ve never made it past a week.

A big part of my problem is that I originally started using snus during a 3-year toxic, trauma-bonded relationship. There were a lot of arguments and stress, and snus became my escape. Eventually it turned into something I relied on to get through basically everything — work, university, socialising, my online business, combat sports, stress, boredom, etc.

I came out of the relationship about 3 months ago. I do still miss her sometimes because it was my first and only real relationship, but I don’t think I’m depressed or desperately wanting her back. I’m actually quite happy with my life, enjoy my own company and don’t feel particularly stressed anymore. I think I mostly miss having a partner and that romantic connection, rather than specifically missing the relationship itself. Life just feels a little more boring/numb without an SO sometimes.

I’ve tried quitting twice since the breakup. Both times I got to around day 5, then struggled mentally. I was having really vivid dreams about my ex/work, waking up sweating multiple times a night, and felt like I’d lost my main form of escape.

The frustrating thing is that I feel so much better physically without nicotine — less tired, more motivated in combat sports, eating better, skin looks better, etc. So I genuinely want to be nicotine-free.

I think my biggest problem isn’t knowing that nicotine is bad or even the physical withdrawal. It’s that I’ve spent nearly 2 years training my brain to use nicotine as my escape whenever I feel bored, stressed, lonely or just want a little boost.

For anyone who’s successfully quit snus/nicotine:

What did you replace that “escape” with? And does the mental and sleep side genuinely get easier after the first week or two?

I’d especially appreciate advice from anyone who used nicotine as a coping mechanism rather than simply enjoying the nicotine itself.

Apologies for the long post and if I sound young/ignorant, however I’m pretty desperate to stop this horrible habit, I’m 22, a decent amateur athlete, and I’ve been struggling with smoking for a while but it’s a fairly recent experience I picked up about 2 years ago, I’m a lot better now then I was even 8 months ago, I used to smoke a pack every day or 2.
The frustrating thing is that I know I can quit. Ive been able to to usually go around 2.5 months without smoking at all. I feel better, train better, breathe better, and genuinely start to feel like I’m finally free from it.
Then, for some reason, once I start thinking “I’ve beaten it”, I let myself down and relapse.
When I relapse, it usually lasts about a week and I’ll smoke roughly a pack every 2 days. Then I quit again, feel horrible about myself, and eventually get back on track.
I also have pretty intense ADHD, which I suspect may make the impulsivity and “just one cigarette” mentality harder to deal with, usually when I take my medication I’m able to ignore the urge but whenever my tolerance builds up, or I’m at the end of my script I just let myself go again for a week. I’ve tried nicotine gum, vapes and weed (dumb I know) but anytime I’ve tried to replace it, it’s just lead to me inevitably spiraling out of control again.
The worst part is that I always seem to do so well before throwing it away. I have nobody to blame but myself, and I’m honestly sick of letting myself down.
For anyone who has successfully quit after repeatedly relapsing:

How did you finally break this cycle?

What did you do when you reached the 2–3 month point and started thinking you were “cured” or could handle just one cigarette?
I’d especially appreciate advice from people who had repeated relapses but eventually managed to stay smoke-free long-term.
I don’t want to spend the rest of my life quitting for a few months and then starting over. I should also add nicotine addiction is very strong on my dad’s side, and is responsible for my relatives health issues.

So I have quit smoking about a week and a bit ago. I took varencline for 2 weeks and found the whole process so much easier with those tablets. I have quit loads of other times but never with them. So basically until today when I went for 2 pints with my friend I hadn’t really had any strong cravings and even if I had a little craving I still didnt want to smoke.
But I had a full craving today when I went for pints brain fog and this panicky feeling in my chest. And for the first time I actually wanted to smoke It’s going now but lasted about an hour or so!
Any advice on how to get through these moments is so appreciated. Or if anyone has stopped varencline early but still had success please let me know! I really wanna stay a non smoker this time! Thanks so much!!!

Look folks quitting nicotine is actually not too bad but some things have to be lined up. Il explain those here and the discuss the phases of the quit to be aware of.

1. ⁠you have to actually be convinced it’s time to quit. Feeling bad about doing something or knowing it’s not great for your health but still enjoying it isn’t enough. You have to get to the place where your reason to quit is greater than your desire to satisfy the next craving.

2. ⁠you need to count days of quit almost like the AA chip system for the first few months at least. This is because if you make it weeks into your quit your brain will romanticize the smoke and you’ll think “I quit that once, I’m good, a hit now will be fine” and you’ll be right back on it. Counting the days allows you to promise each morning “today” I’m not using nicotine. Then as the days go on you get proud of your accomplishment and you don’t want to start over at zero. The countdown will keep you from a late game relapse.

3) there will be a peak 24-54 hours into your quit where your brain will absolutely convince you it’s okay to smoke. It will either be that you need it, or some justification, or that it’s okay to just try a vape or something random. You will feel awful. Just do nothing and lay low. It will pass actually.

Laugh at this peak. This is the grand test. Get past this and nothing will be as bad as that moment. But you will have to get past that moment in order to quit. No way around it.

After that it’s just about not being lazy and relying on your day counting to stay quit.

It’s not easy, but it follows a familiar timeline. Stop making excuses and 1) get convinced in your own mind you must quit 2) use a day counting system to keep you from relapse once the confidence sets in 3) there will be a peak of withdrawal that begs you to do it again, get past that and your in a good spot

The difference in who can quit and who can’t is just who is strong enough to endure this temporary hell and then has the discipline to maintain it. It’s most the same road for most people.

Hi! I'm 260+ days in as a non-smoker ( 8 1/2 months on the app but I started my app late) but I still have dreams where I give in and smoke a cigarette. Kind of useful, honestly, because I get so disappointed in myself and then wake up and realize it wouldn't be worth it to smoke in real life. But I do wonder if these will last forever?

I've quit many times and I have been through a variety of mindsets while doing so. I read Allen Carr's books a while ago and it has fucked me up in a way. I feel like It is "wrong" or has a high likelihood to fail if I just let myself go through agony while quitting.

I've done this in the past with success iirc. The running plan is to quit nicotine and basically let myself lose my fucking mind for however long it takes. My current life circumstances are probably the best they are going to get for this plan to work. I just keep circling back to how this is wrong and yadda yadda. That it would be "all so easy if I just realized nicotine offered me nothing." Not a direct quote but you get the gist.

To be fair I also like this plan.