A man who quit smoking in 1984 at 37 after 24 years shares what worked for him: removing visual temptations, confronting cravings head-on, and waiting for the sensory payoff. He tells Boheme the first month is brutal but worth it.
Hey Boheme, man, I just watched your Day 1 No Smoking video and man, it brought back some very powerful memories. January 3rd, 1984, my last cigarette after— let's see, 1984, that would have been when I was 37 years old. I started smoking, grew up in the Bronx where everybody, anybody who was cool smoked. You know, started when I was 13 and smoked until I was 37. And man, I know what you're going through. The first month sucks. First month sucks, man. But after the first month, I mean, I know it's better after the first day than it was the day before. But the first month, for me, the first month really sucked. Stick with it. Everybody develops their own tricks. Don't, you know, people will help you and things that any of us say who've been through it will help you some, but you gotta figure out your own thing. I did weird stuff, you know. I used to smoke Kools at that point. I started smoking Camels when I was a kid, but at that point I had a pack of Kools on my nightstand. So the first thing I would see every morning was a pack of Kools staring me in the face so I could never say, "Oh man, if I had a cigarette now." No, I wanted to have the cigarettes there. That was just me. That, and I got into the pain. I got into the lung need of smoking. You're gonna know what the lung need is here before too long where your lungs just wanna have smoke in the worst possible way. But man, stick with it. You're gonna feel great. And a month from now, give yourself a present. And have your favorite cola. Coke, Pepsi, whatever. Have your favorite cola. You've never tasted it before until you— the way you're gonna taste it after a month of not smoking. So stay strong, brother. It's gonna work. Take it easy.
