I am trying to quit dipping, I know I need to but the problem is I really don't want to. I have been dipping since I was 10 so that's 15 years. I am not having any health problems from it but I need to stop before I do. I was just wondering what motivated some of you to quit and also how long it took to be able to handle not having it. Every one I know who has quit smoking for a long time has said they could light up right now. I don't know anyone who has quit dipping or chewing. What did ya'll do to help ease the tension so to speak? I am not someone who wakes up craving snuff but I find that I can't work without it. If I am shoeing horses I have a pinch , if I am sawmilling, working at the forge, logging, turning wrenches, baling hay, working cattle, I always have a pinch. Advice PLEASE and thank you.
Do a google search on lip cancer and view some of the photos of before and after. I chewed for 8 or so years and after meeting a guy that had half of his face removed due to lip cancer I gave it more thought. Did I want to look like my sons dad or did I want to want to look like some monster and scare the hell out of em every time they looked at me. I chose to quit and be a dad and not a monster. I quit cold turkey and havent had a craving sine the day I put it down. January 1 2005 was the day I quit. Hope this helps ya find it easy to quit.
Good advice Adaminmo. I too dipped and chewed since around 12 on a regular basis. First chewed, then dipped copenhagen. Quite the dipping and chewed up until ten years ago. I quit because I wanted to be around for my kids. And I bought some life insurance. I quit cold turkey.
Also, you will find life insurance costs about twice as much for people who use tobacco products. There IS a reason for that. I am not sure if your twice as likely to die early or not but the insurance companies know something.
I also, had a friend that had alot of his face removed and died in his mid thirties. He had dipped since a small boy. It was very, very sad.
Fishpharmer and Adaminmo beat me to it but I knew a guy that had half of his tongue cut off from cancer of the mouth. We joked that he had always spoke with a forked tongue but it really wasn't funny. You do not want to go there.
Ditto! to the lip and mouth cancers caused from tobacco chewing. I also know a few foresters, loggers, and miners who wish they hadn't had the chewing habit. Chew gum instead. ;)
Also to help you quit, buy one of those huge bags of the hard starlite mint candies. When the urge gets real bad, pop one of those instead of taking a dip. I went through an entire one of those huge bags when I quit smoking and dipping. Had to use the patch at the lowest level for about a week, too.
Get a jar of those Pickled Pigs Lips that Dan has been showing around and put them on the truck seat. Keep reminding yourself that they are better'n snuff and not near as dusty. :D
When i quit i used the gum that comes in the pouch and stuffed that in my lip.
The hard part was when my lip was empty. Just not having the wad there.
Just like when i take out my wallet and set it down somewhere it dont feal right.
The gum was big leauge chew bubble gum.
Thanks Alot Mr Mom
I only smoked,but had a hard time quitting.Like I tell people,I bet I tired 100 times to quit.It just finally all came together and I have not looked back for 15 years,I guess.Yes,you do need something to takes it's place.If you don't succeed this time try again.Good luck to you and don't give up trying.
The longest I ever made it was about 4 days and that was a little over a year ago . I went out and got a roll of Smokey Mountain Snuff. I hate mint anything and they have a "natural" flavor. It's made of corn silks and ginseng ground together, no tobacco or nicotine. I got the last pinch out of my last can of copenhagen this morning so I guess I just won't buy anymore and stick to the herbal snuff.
If you are strong enough to kick the addiction, why not kick the habit?
Good point Tom, the habit I think is the tougher of the two. The constant associating a habit with doing things is the hard thing to break.
It helps to break the addiction and the habit at separate times, Tom.
I certainly didn't find that true in my case.
An old friend told me one time, "Everybody wants to quit smoking, But you can't quit until you don't want to smoke anymore".
It sounds like just a play on words, but think on it, it's true.
When Lloyd tried to quit all he really did was quit buying, he would still take a dip out of anyone's can.
After about a year of that some of the boys figured he needed a wake-up so they ground up a dried horse apple and mixed it in a can. Of course he took a dip. Everyone at the rodeo was watching out of the corner of their eye as he munched - and when he spat and said "This snuff tastes like S&*T" the whole place roared :D :D :D
I had to break them separately but we're all different. :)
I started snuff so I could quit smoking. Bad decision. Snuff is worse than smoking. After trying to quit several times, I got the herbal stuff in a can. That got me over the hump. Something about being able to grab and feel the can, and put something in the mouth. I carried a can of it long after I quit dipping. Guess it was kind of like a security blanket.
I smoked and dipped for 40 years. Gave up the smokes 4 months ago. When I did I bought 10 cans of snuff. I'm dowm to 2 left. When they are gone that's it. I'm done. I really don't know why I dip anyway. The only place I do it is at work and never at home so I quit for a month at at time anyway and don't even think about it till I get back to work.
I had it much easier than Y'all did. What with not being overburdened with all of the modern confusions, stress and all. Addictions and habits weren't the anchor that y'all have to carry. :)
Quitting boils down to one thing and that is making your mind up to quit and to stay quit.
I chewed and dipped for around thirty years. Quit 6 times for upwards of 2 - 3 months a stretch. Went back to it five times. I used gum, candy, tooth picks, kitchen matches, patches, and the little plastic stir sticks for coffee. Chewed on about everything to keep from using the snuff. At different times through all this, had the wife, kids and folks at work avoiding me. One big old boy at work going whup me if I didn't go back to dipping. Guess I may have got on his nerves a little bit. Anyway, like the line from the movie "you gotta get your mind right". Until you really want to, you ain't gonna.
Good luck.
Tom is exactly right. You're not going to do it until you want to stop (dipping,smoking) more than you want to continue. The mind has to be right. The first 5 times I quit I finished the pack first. The last time I threw the pack out the window. Unfortunately, I was also dipping at the time, so I just dipped more. Quitting that was much worse than quitting smoking for me. I would have dreams where I was dipping, and they were so real I could smell it and taste it. I would be so mad at myself for falling off the wagon, then I would wake up and sometimes it would take me several minutes to realize I really hadn't fallen off the wagon. What a relief then. Unfortunately, the dreams continued for about 3 years, with the frequency diminishing until they stopped altogether.
The last thing I want to do is discourage you, just being realistic about what to expect. You MUST get your mind right before you do it.
gluck
I have been on the herbal stuff since yesterday mornin. I have went through two cans which is about what I noemally do. The good thing is the herbal stuff is cheaper than copenhagen. Another good thing is I am not around as many people that dip as I used to be so the temptation to have one when everybody else does is not as bad.
Good luck everyone has given all the advice I would have ! It's up to you now how bad do you want it ! How bad do you need it ! We are all behind you , maybe this idea will help . Get yourself a calculator and multiply what you spend daily by 365 day for the year , a lot of money . Now there must be something you want more than dip ! Simple every time you think about it , think about what you really want or need !
Good luck my friend ,and I will be praying for you to have the strength you need to quit .
Kind regards Scott
Quote from: LeeB on December 08, 2009, 05:09:24 PM
I smoked and dipped for 40 years. Gave up the smokes 4 months ago. When I did I bought 10 cans of snuff. I'm dowm to 2 left. When they are gone that's it. I'm done. I really don't know why I dip anyway. The only place I do it is at work and never at home so I quit for a month at at time anyway and don't even think about it till I get back to work.
I'm back at work now and have been carrying an unopened can in my pocket for five days now. Got two more in my travel bag. Me thinks it is time to through them away.
LeeB
I hope you toss them "overboard" if'n you are out on a rig sommers. 8)
Good luck. In the pocket is too close, me thinks. :)
I'm on the rig but we are still in the shipyard. I'll just toss them in the trash. In today's oilfield we don't toss trash in the water. ;) I wanted to test my resolve by carrying it in my pocket for a few days. For sure when I do toss it there will be none available here.
Quote from: LeeB on December 17, 2009, 05:26:42 PM
I'm on the rig but we are still in the shipyard. I'll just toss them in the trash. In today's oilfield we don't toss trash in the water. ;) I wanted to test my resolve by carrying it in my pocket for a few days. For sure when I do toss it there will be none available here.
You will do fine Lee , and be careful out there ! We want you to come home safely !
Regards Scott
Threw the cans I had out this morning. Shortly after that I had a realy big craving for nicotine but I fought it off. Strange how the mind works. I haven't wanted a dip or smoke for a long time.
LeeB
That was a brave move, and DanG smart one, in my book. ;D
At least the subconcious mind can't take over your hand now and open that can. It will have to find something else to do. ;D
Take up wood whittlin, maybe that would work.
Quote from: beenthere on December 18, 2009, 02:08:16 PM
Take up wood whittlin, maybe that would work.
Can't do that at work. In this new world order of work safety we aren't allowed to have knives any more. >:(
Hang in there Brother! It's a tough road quitting the tobacco demons. I never dipped but sure smoked my share of cigs.
Well I fell off the wagon the other mornin when I had to put Nitro my stud horse down. I was mad enough to take a sledge hammer to anything that was handy so I had to have something to calm me down. I am kinda mad about buying another can but I did go through half of it and through the rest away this morning. so starting over. Day 1
Understandable set back. Try again and you'll make it. I'm still doing good. It's actually been about a month and a half. I just thrrew out the last 4 cans I had a couple days ago.
Sorry to hear of your horse.Glad to see you are trying again.Just keep on trying to kick the habit.It will happen.Have to keep trying.I'm in your corner.
Quote from: LeeB on December 18, 2009, 02:31:44 PM
Quote from: beenthere on December 18, 2009, 02:08:16 PM
Take up wood whittlin, maybe that would work.
Can't do that at work. In this new world order of work safety we aren't allowed to have knives any more. >:(
What?! you can't carry a knife on the platform?! What kind of asinine rule is that?? How about a Leatherman with a blade. It's technically a "multitool", right?
We haven't been able to carry a knife for years. It seems that the younger generation doesn't know how to use them and were getting too many injuries. Truth is most of them were from horseplay. About the closest thing we can have is a self retracting utility knife with the blade guard. I still carry a knife for emergency use but keep it in my pocket.
Thats kinda funny lee. I carried a pocket knife all through school and all the teachers new it and most borrowed it from time to time. It is still not against the rules to carry a knife at school here but I doubt if many kids carry one now. We also all had a deer rifle or shotgun hanging in the back window of our pickups. I always said it would be hard for someone to bring a gun into my old high school to hurt anybody because everybody else would go get thiers out of the truck and take care of the problem. I have a friend who's son just started high school and they have a gun safety club they can be in as an extra class. I was so proud to hear that.
two months down and noproblems. Had a full can setting on my desk at work for a month and never touched it.
Good Show!!
I just knew you were bigger than that little can. :)
Well done!
another thing you could try is that beef jerky its only 99 cents a can. i jsut like havin sumthin in my mouth and spittin that herbal stuff.. ohh man that cured me forever. my pap chewed redseal wintergreen fine cut mostly and skoal timberwolf husky and readseal wintergreen long cut.. i often wondered what redseal was like between that and tryin that herbal stuff i have no desire to put chew in my mouth ever again.. ill stick to the beef jerky packed in my lip. alot cheaper to plus it helps me make it till lunch break ;D