Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Last time I recall feeling this way involved cigarettes.
That was 1987.
I use to smoke between one and two packs a day.
Gave it up cold turkey, never to look back.

I am starting to get the same feelings as I had for cigarettes.
Actually, starting is a bad word.
More like I have the same feelings.

I have only smoked three cigars so far this month, with the latest being yesterday. Prior to that, two weeks ago.

For me, that is rare as I can smoke as many as I want as I work from home and have great weather. Up to December, I was averaging between 1 to 2 a day. Suddenly, no mas.

I tried one yesterday. A Boli CE. Truly can say I enjoyed it. Just didn't seem to enjoy me. Spent the night coughing a bit. Feel like I have that bronchitis feeling again from when I was a kid. Just seems that all of a sudden, they don't go well with me.

All this bothers me as I truly enjoy cigars.
I enjoy getting together with folks and sharing cigars.
I enjoy the times when dad, my son and I enjoy a cigar together.
I think I am going to try to avoid them for a while and see how things go.
Maybe my body is telling me to back off and maybe I should listen.

Hope I can handle the St. Valentine's Day/Real Man Herf.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

You can quit on 2/15.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Carlos.. I think it's just your body telling you to slow down a bit. Re-visit later and I'm sure you'll find the enjoyment again.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Patrick,
Honestly, I think I may have already quit.:(

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

I want to be a Real Man.
I suppose I can live vicariously through you, Carlos.:r

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

This is one of the toughest calls I have made in a while Ji but the feeling I had last night and even now is not fun.
I truly hope I can revisit it again in the future.
Hope it is not something permanent to prevent me from lighting up an occasional one.
Only time will tell.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Opens up new doors on what to bomb Carlos with!

http://www.oldtimecandy.com/bubble-gum-cigars.htm

:r:ss

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

:r:r:r

Sure.
Let's give my dentist more business.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Carlos.. If you don't find satisfaction with cigars later.. I'm sure you'll find a suitable substitute. You could probably get that boat now with the money you'd save on cigars.

If it does happen. I hope it doesn't.. it'd be an interesting for sale thread. :].

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Not again....http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1..._Surrender.gif

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

I've only just started up in the last 12 months so I'm not there but I do worry about the health issues but not enough to stop any time soon. Like you, I really enjoy cigars, the hobby and the camaraderie. I've slipped pretty hard down the slope already, surprisingly quickly, so I wouldn't be surprised if one day, like other hobbies I've started up in the past, my passion for it subsides some. Plus, we're having our first kid later in the year so I'm sure I won't have much time for it when Junior Reindeer comes along! Good luck to you and definitley listen to what your bod is tellin' ya. Maybe you do need a little break. Nice thing is if you find you're not really looking forward to that cigar now, you will if it's only once a month or less than that!

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

:r:r:r

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

If you're not smoking, I guess you just saved me $ for not having to check an extra piece of luggage! ;)

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Talk about a timely thread then.
That would have been ugly.

Gotta say it was hard for the first couple of weeks in January.
Yesterday's cigar was a "gee, why not light up a cigar" as opposed to a craving for one based on physical habit/needs.

Believe me, this is a struggle.
Not something I think I want to do but rather something I think I have to.
You know there is no way I can go with you guys on 2/14 and not smoke.
I will be a chain smoker that day but in the back of my mind, that concerns me.
That just may be the last day for good if I do enough of them to multiply the effect of what one did yesterday.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Its still gonna be ugly...

Carlos...smoke a PAM and call me in the morning! :D

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

:tpd: I know I started on the slope the month my son was born and I can tell you that I am down to 2 cigars a week when it's warm and less than that now in ther winter. I had 2 sticks this past Sunday and I loved them because I can't remember the last time I had the opportunity to do it. Take a break, read up on the posts here and the specials on certain sites and you will be craving a cigar like a madman. (At least I do).

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

you can still come to the herfs to enjoy the company of friends.

and maybe after some time you'll start to get back into your old habits and love cigars just as much as you did.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

I assume you're not inhaling.............


I believe the body reboots itself every now and again. People get colds that live in Florida and people who live up north go outside in a soaking wet towel to get the newspaper but don't catch a cold or pnuemonia.

People take vitamins like they're going outta style and get sick and people who smoke cigarettes don't always die from lung cancer......



I just think, you're body is changing the oil. Wait it out bro. :ss

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

I am more likely to give up buying food than give up cigars. Oh wait I already do that now.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

You state you enjoy cigars. If there is not a health issue, why would you stop? No comprendo. Or is the cough you got scaring you? I can see if you didn't enjoy them anymore, or if your doctor said you had to stop, but I am baffled, frankly. Again, unless you are fearing for your health all of a sudden. And, no, I have never thought about quitting- then again I've been smoking for about five years- a great deal less than you, I gather.

You are a person I'd like to herf with, hombre, I hope that your fears are conquered- and are baseless- and you will be able to smoke happily and truly enjoy your stogies!

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

yes

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

For me I don't even care about the health issue. We are all going to die at some point and I am not going to stop doing the only thing I have left to enjoy in my life because it may cause health issues later in life. Look at George Burns, the guy smoked all the time and he lived to be 100 years old.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Thanks Hugh.
You hit the reason(s).
Health.
Not that I fear the future.
Just doesn't feel good the next day.
I have now felt that in my last 6-10 cigars that I can easily recall.
No doubt I enjoy them.
No doubt I sure as heck don't want to give them up.
Just doesn't feel good to get that dry cough at night and the burning like feeling in the upper chest/throat, as if bronchitis symptoms that I recall so well from when I was a kid.
Just wondering if my body is telling me to cut the crap a bit.
I honestly figure I will stop for a few months, see how I feel, light up a cigar then, see how I feel after that and then make a final decision then.

No doubt when friends are in town, no way I cannot light up. That said, on 2/14, I will be a chimney. Just want to see if I can make it three months other than 2/14 as a smoking day.
That is my goal before I re-assess the whole situation and see which way I will go.
I honestly want to eventually go back to that one cigar a week on Sundays.

I am thinking of 4/24/09 as an assessment date, with the hopes I can smoke OK on 2/14 and not long for another one again.
Let's see.
I swear this is not something I can guarantee with the likes of dad and son to try to trip me up but lets see what happens.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

No I havent considered giving up cigars. I dont smoke that much to begin with, as most of its done during the warm months and even then its 1 maybe 2 a day if Im relaxing up at the lake. At the rate Im goin I have enough sticks to last 3 years lol

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

My ultimate goal is one a week or so and eliminate that daily stuff.
Just thinking a break will be good until I can start that regimen.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

I understand you have several boxes of Cohiba Sublimes Carlos....:hm ;)

Seriously though, Herfs wouldn't be the same without you. :salute:

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Appropriate wording would be "use to" have several boxes of Sublimes.
Those days are long gone.
You came along too late.:r

I am not leaving.
No goodbyes damn it!!!

Will smoke up a storm with you guys on 2/14 and then go back to hibernation for a while to give peace a chance.:D
Who knows, in three weeks, I may spend all day smoking on 2/14 and feel completely fine after that.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

I've considered giving it up over the course of 40 years and actually went about 2 years without a cigar,,,but eventually come back because I always enjoyed it and it relaxes me. I figure after this much time if it was going to affect my health it would have already done something. I don't plan on living forever so I will continue my slide and they can stick a cigar in both ends when I go,,,,,talk about goin up in smoke!

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

I've considered giving up buying but never smoking. Hope you get it all straightened out Carlos.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

:r:r:r

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Yep...the first time I tried to run 3 miles after a long long break this year I kept thinking...WTF...I need to stop smoking cigars...then I got home and smacked myself for such blasphemy!

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

:r:r:r

You guys are cracking me up.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

It's even worse that I blamed smoking and not my inability to stop eating fatty foods. :r

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Not really... I generally smoke one or two a week. Exception would be when I get together with other inmates (maybe once a month?) and do 3-5, depending on how long of an evening we have. :ss

Nothing says you have to smoke 3-a-day to be a cigar smoker. Sounds like a little break might be what the doctor ordered - no pun intended. :D

Take care, Carlos - and be healthy. :tu

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

I know what u mean. When I first started I would get little things on the inside of my cheeks. They were like little I dont know how to describe them but were like small skin tags that were filled with blood. I was worried but then I would get them even if I didnt smoke. I think I get them in my sleep and accidentally bite my cheeks. Im good friends with my dentist his family and the other dentists at the office and he smokes cigars. Are they bad for you? Probably but Ive never heard of someone dying due to cigar related cancers, its always lung cancer from cigarettes and jaw/esophagus from chewin tobacco. The one a week thing will be good because you will be able to look forward to the relaxation and everything that goes along with cigar smoking.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

I hope you can smoke again when Smokey and I are coming down to southern Florida.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Not worried about those types of health concerns.
Heck, my primary care physician loves to see me in his office.
I take him Cuban cigars. He is an avid cigar smoker and enjoys the ones I give him.
Needless to say, I never, ever, ever have a problem getting in to see him.:r

When I say "health" I am referring more to the way I seem to be feeling after I have a cigar and this all seems to be in the last month and a half or so.
Perhaps attributed to a cold that both the wife and I have had linger. That may be the real underlying root cause.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

You guys are coming in May.
Need to scratch out that month.:r:r:r
Will write it off to "I don't know what happened", "I was weak".:r

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

My wife will never buy it Ji.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Carlos I think You nailed it right here. The last wave of colds that ran through my house sent everyone to the doctors. Each doctor prescribed an antibiotic and Mucinex. My wife and I still have lingering coughs, remember I started right around when we met Ji in MIami. I have thoroughly enjoyed my last few cigars but have paid the price the next day.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

The reason to smoke cigars is for enjoyment and relaxation. If they no longer give you that pleasure, then it may be time for a break. Take a 30 or 60 day break and see what your body tells you. But attending herf's and seeing old friends hopefully still fit in with your plans. I can imagine stopping smoking(I think I may for Lent) but I cannot see ever not seeing the friends I have made in the past year. They are among my very best friends even though I have only know them for a very short time.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

I’ve never really considered it. I’ve been smoking cigars since the mid 90’s and took a break for several years somewhere in between, but my passion was quickly rekindled. I can go weeks without having a cigar, but I always look forward to the next one. Since this thing of ours is supposed to be pleasurable, I’d take some time off and see where it takes you.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Hey Carlos, no big deal if you decide to quit. I stopped for almost 3 years and simply just lost intrest for a while. I let the humidors die and packed everything away. I would suggest you keep all of your goodies stored in a nice place though "just in case". You never know how you'll feel about it after you've had your time away from the hobby. Rebuilding an existing collection is so much easier than deciding you miss it and have to start from the ground up.

Here's to your health and well-being my friend!

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Maybe it's another kidney stone.
:D

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Only when i look in my wallet lol.

Honestly, not really I find it relaxing it's not anywhere as bad to my wallet as other hobbies. I really enjoy it it's social at times private at others always enjoyable.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Tony,
That may be it for me also then.
The coughing the next day really makes me not want one again for a while.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

Say it ain't so.:r:r:r

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

I gave up cigars for pipes, but I can't see myself giving up my pipe anytime soon. Cigars did seem to affect me more the next day than pipes do. I can smoke 3 or 4 bowls in one day and the next day I feel like 100 dollars. Of course I don't inhale at all, I don't know if you do.

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

I thought about it once or twice, and now that I'm enjoying the pipe so much I don't see myself smoking that much. However, I've realized that every once in a while I desire a cigar or three, and now they'll just be that much older when I get to em :ss

for that reason, I will still pick up a box here and there. That way, when I'm smoking the last cigar from the box, it'll be 15-20 years old

Re: Have you ever considered giving up cigars?
 

I'm not gonna give up cigars ever... Squid® has even made arrangements to be buried with my cigars! <G>