I started to smoke cigarettes in 1936 when I was 16. It was a very sophisticated
thing to do in those days. My Father smoked
"Park Drive", I started with "Players Weights" which were more popular in London,
where we lived then, I used to buy a
packet of 5 for 2d. I suppose I smoked two packets a week at that time.
By the time I was 17 I was smoking about 10 "Players Navy Cut" a day and once a week
My friend and I would by a packet
of Murry's assorted. In that packet were two Egyptian, two Turkish, two Russian,
two Havana and two Virginia. Between 17
and 19 was a time of experimenting during which I tried "Passing Cloud" Egyptian,
( which were sold by weight!) Three Castles,
Craven "A" etc. and pipe smoking which I never really got on with but it "looked good",
finally settling on "Kensitas" which,, on
a packet of twenty, had an extra little packet attached in which were four cigarettes
"for your friends". A packet of twenty
cigarettes cost One shilling then (5p in modern currency and 20c American)
My "consumption" stayed pretty stable at twenty a day during my war service though as the
war progressed cigarettes got
harder to obtain and you were glad to get any brand you could. My cousin Bill who lived in
Leicester used to buy any
cigarettes he could get hold of and cycle over to Wittering, where I was stationed and about
twenty miles from Leicester where
he lived, on a Sunday to bring them to me.
About that time a new brand came out which I think the government organised, called "Pasha".
They were awful and contained
a lot of Egyptian tobacco. However as we were desperate we would make do with them. They
became the butt of comedians
jokes. Another Wartime brand were "Walters" Which were not quite so bad as "Pasha" but still
pretty awful.
I carried on smoking after the war at about 20 a day, by now I had change my brand to
Senior Service. About 1953 the
budget increased the price to I think about 2/6d for 20 so decided to cut down and
reduced my consumption to about 10 a
day. this lasted a few days and gradually increased again to 25 a day, so I tried again
to cut down and after a few days climbed
back to 35 a day! I therefore gave up cutting down and with that experience I cannot
recommend a cutting down process of
weaning yourselves of them in such a manner.
In 1957 I moved to Jersey in the Channel Islands where cigarettes were only 20 for 1/-
I continued to smoke but in 1970 I developed a cough and found a stronger brand of
cigarettes helped to stop this but only for
while. By 1974 I was smoking 45 French cigarettes (Gaulois Disc Blue) a day and started
to wake up at 3:00am coughing and
would take a Cough sweet to stop the coughing. These gradually got stronger until
they ceased to work and I found myself
having a cigarette which did stop me coughing!
This continued until 1975 when I said to myself "this is ridiculous" toyed with the idea of
giving up altogether
The final decision was made in the middle of November.
This was caused by an incident which
happened in Guernsey one Monday morning. I used to travel to Guernsey for three days for
a Jersey Wholesaler and sell
supplies to the Guernsey hairdressers. I called on "Davide Hair Salon" who had that
morning moved his salon from a back
street to a smart new shop on the main street ("THe Bridge"). He had divided the shop in two
the Salon
being at the back of the shop and the
front he had made a good class leather goods Sales area.
We stood talking at the division between the two areas and I said "Congratulations David,
you've done a lovely Job and I wish
you every success." and the lighted end dropped off the cigarette and burnt a hole in his
new carpet!. I put my foot on it and
pretended nothing had happened.
When I got back to the office on Thursday the office clerk said "David rang up and told me
to tell you 'You might think he
hadn't noticed you had burnt a hole in his carpet, but he did!'". Well that was the final
straw. I made up my mind to give myself
6 weeks notice and finish smoking on Dec 31st 1975
So the great day came and I remember it well "New Year's Eve 1975". I was in the "Side Door"
bar in St.Helier and at
11.45pm I took the last cigarette out of the packet, threw the empty packet on the table
and said to myself "That's the last fag
I'll ever smoke." And after 25 years it still holds true. So how did I do it? Here's how:-
PREPARATION.
To prepare yourself give yourself plenty of notice to condition your brain that
you intend
to give up. You must be completely committed to giving up, otherwise you will
fail.
Set a date for giving up, one you will always remember, e.g. a birthday
or the 1st of a month. This is important.
When you get to the day before you have set for giving up, have your last smoke,
make a
note of the time, destroy
any cigarettes left in the packed but make sure you have an unopened packet in a
cupboard
and tell yourself that they will remain unopened for ever. I still have my unopened
packet
of "Disc Bleu 25 years after I stopped.
THE
GREAT DAY HAS ARRIVED
Now when you wake up, instead of reaching for your cigarettes, look at the clock and
work out
how long it is since you smoked your last fag, and say to your self "It's x-hours since I
had a smoke,
if I don't smoke for another 30 minutes it will be X½-hours since I had a smoke. and
carry on like
this, gradually building up the hours, for the rest of the day. By giving yourself small
targets
it makes it easier to resist
temptation.
From now on consider yourself a Non-Smoker, You don't smoke, NOT I'VE GIVEN
UP SMOKING. Face
up to it and do NOT avoid places where people are smoking, such as bars etc. Go in
and DEFY it, Meet it head on. This will give you strength.You cannot expect
the whole world to give up smokingbecause you have.
Do NOT tell people you
have
given up, YOU ARE A NON SMOKER. Someone offers you a cigarette say "Sorry -
I don't smoke"
not "I've given up", this would encourage them to say "Oh, go on, it won't hurt you"
saying
You don't smoke ends the argument!
Now you will wake up the second day and say "I've not smoked for 32 hours so if I
don't smoke for the next hour it will
be 33hours", and continue with this target until you reach 72 hours, then increase you
target to half days. Continue this until you
have completed your first week. Now extend your target to days ("Haven't smoked for
7 days, so if I don't smoke today it will
be 8 days")
You are now well on the way. after you reach two weeks extend your target to one
week. after four weeks you can then use
your own judgement.
Be aware that, particularly with chronic smokers like me, there can be Some side
effects. These include bowel movements being
looser than normal as nicotine is constipating and the body will have compensated for
this and will have to readjust, also your
sleep pattern may be affected. If these things occur do not hesitate to seek advice from
your Doctor. I had excellent support
from mine.
If you give it a go, good luck and I wish you all success, and let me know your story.
This is Brian's Story