Day 19 of Smoking Cessation...

It seems you people are a suspicious bunch. Because I haven't updated the tens of you who read my blog about how well or terribly wrong my quitting smoking is going, I'm being accused of jumping off the proverbial wagon. Well, doubters, you're wrong! I have successfully managed to not smoke for nearly three weeks now. And for those of you who still doubt me, I haven't chewed tobacco, used a nicotine patch nor chewed nicotine gum either. I haven't even smoked a pipe nor a cigar. And not only can my fiance vouch for me, but also my Loose Talk bandmates who spent an entire weekend with me while we drank beer and wine!

This Chantix stuff is great! The only exception was the first day of not smoking. As I've blogged before, I was a situational smoker. Certain circumstances just dictated to me that I needed to smoke. But once I broke myself of those situations and assimilating them with smoking, I've managed to "just say no".

I know. There will always be doubters and those of you who will hope I fail. To you, I give you the one finger salute just like I did to Marlboro Lights. I even "unsubscribed" to the Marlboro email list which teased me with $4 off coupons for a carton of smokes. I'm guessing I won't get a birthday card this year from Marlboro like I have for the last several years which always said, "Thanks for living another year! Happy Birthday, Craig!"

"Sixty Minutes" did a story recently about Big Tobacco's newest ploy to keep nicotine addicts as long term customers. The latest and greatest form of a delivery system for nicotine is called Snus. It's similar to those "smokeless" tobacco pouches, but according to Leslie Stahl, they smell similar to grass (not pot...the kind in your yard). You simply place the pouch between your cheek and gum and because it's thin, it doesn't give you the look like you have a mouth full of crap in your mouth. In Europe, it's touted as a safe alternative to smoking and since so many places are banning smoking, even outdoors, it gives the nicotine addict another way to get a fix.

But what the story reveals is that some people who use Snus aren't using them as an alternative to firing up a smoke. The Snus are being used IN ADDITION to smoking. One man they interviewed claimed because of Snus, he's only smoking a single pack of cigarettes a day. But he admitted he's also sucking on ten or more Snus per day. The guy's getting the equivalent of about three to four packs of cigarettes a day!

I probably would've smoked three to four packs a day except for one thing - there wasn't enough time in the day! But seriously, that's a lot of nicotine for the body to process. And not only does the smoke destroy your lungs, the nicotine causes your blood vessels to constrict and that's what ultimately leads to heart disease - your heart struggles to push blood through your body because your damned arteries are smaller than they're supposed to be.

I'm glad I'm finally smoke-free and, more importantly, nicotine free. But do me a favor. If you EVER see me light up a cigarette or stick a dip or wad of chewing tobacco in my mouth, just slap the hell out of me and call me an idiot. I'll thank you when I come out of the coma.