I was a heavy smoker in the Navy....like 2-3 packs of Camels a day. I started chewing when I was forced into places on the ship where smoking wasn’t allowed. These were places like reactor compartments and grade A QC areas.

I quit smoking in 1974 when I got married. I stopped cold turkey.

Fast forward about 15 years and nothing tasted better than a chew when I was on a horse. Soon I was at about a half can a day. I quit cold turkey about 10 years later at the advice from my dentist.

That was 10 days of hell. My wife didn’t know I’d quit and thought the marriage was over. My golf game suffered and the weight started to go on.

I sure don’t miss the junk and still carry about 40 pounds but I feel much better.

Good luck to you and keep us posted.

Mike

I used to dip three logs a week


I would go up to the PX and buy a log of Kodiak, a log of Copey and a log of skoal cherry.


I would mix the Copenhagen and the cherry and I got to where I would keep a tin of the mix in my uniform sock and I could just swallow it so I could dip in uniform. The kodiak was for when I was in social situations or in my room or in the field

I was boxing and chipped a tooth and had to go to the dentist

He put up s mirror and just by touching my gums they would bleed

The gums around my teeth on the left side were totally gone. He told I’d lose my bottom teeth before I was 25 at the rate of loss

I quit cold turkey. It was a miserable week. I drank enough caffeine in that week to kill an elephant because it was the only thing that let me keep up with the shakes and remotely function


But it worked

On Valentine’s Day 3 years later my fiancée dumped me

6 months later I was headed home after a 20 hour work day and stopped for gas. It had been a rough day and I bought a tin of kodiak and put it in the car to help me get through the next 20 hour day

The next morning someone knocked on my door really fucking early and I was pissed because everyone knew I hadn’t gotten home until 4

I opened the door and it was the ex fiancée. Hadn’t seen her or talked to her in 6 months but there she was


We went out to dinner that night and then for a drive on skyline drive

When we stopped to get some drinks I threw the tin of kodiak away, unopened

Thst was 22 years ago

My 20th wedding anniversary to thst woman is Wednesday

You can do it

Find your motivation

And do it

It’s not easy.

But I’ll be rooting for you



(Even if you hate Tom Brady and my Patriots . )

What are you going to replace it with?
Look at the benefits of using Copenhagen. What do you get out of its use and what will you do instead?
A co-worker got the nicotine patch when it firs came out. It worked, he stopped smoking. However, he had a hard time dealing with the benefits. A couple of times a day he'd leave work, go outside, meet with friends and smoked. Took 20-30 minutes each Tim. He had a very hard time giving up the social connections and getting time off from work.
Maslow talked about positive addiction. What positive addiction with you select?

I never dipped worm dirt unless I was bumming. I did however dip and buy Skoal long cut for 10 out of 11 years between ages 20-31. I too had a spell of dip free for 1 year between ages 23.5-24.5.

When I was 31 my Fiancee (now Wife) showed me pictures of lip and oral cancer. I made a deal that I would dip on Army NG drill weekends but not at any other time. I had 10 drills left before I separated.

I had tried to quit roughly 10 times in the entire 11 year period and failed each time. This time I needed it to be different. My gums were reeceding and I had a healthy fear of pre-cancer signs being next.


I went through a shit ton of altiods, peppermint patties (Wintergreen Skoal was my poison of choice) and lemon eclipse gum. It worked. The fear of oral cancer and my desire not to be Skoals bitch anymore got me through the withdrawl period.

The worst was from day one to month three.My drill weekends I was having maybe 1 or 2 dips max and my interest in it was waning. My last drill weekend I did not have any dip because I was no longer craving it despite having the opportunity. I did not want it in my system.

I am not casual about dip. I have not had any in 13 years. I am either all in or all out with nicotine. I am happy to be out. I can be next to a dipper and 9 out of 10 I will not get any cravings. The 1 time out of 10 my rememberance about how much fun I had quitting keeps me from bumming.

Permenantly quitting is attainable. You can do it if you want to be Cope-free bad enough.

After a few failed attempts, I was able to quit back in 2002 after about 20 years of using tobacco. What helped me smooth the edges off was the nicotine patch. Started with 21mg for 2 weeks, then 14mg for 2 weeks, then 7mg for about a week.

Good luck.

This may sound flippant , but just stop using it. I stopped one day after 15 years of on and off use. I haven’t thought about it in years

Try Grinds. It’s a coffee pouch, I stopped after ten years..Grinds kept some people alive
A few flavors I use the Black Coffee

Thanks for all the responses, guys. Really some insightful stuff. I appreciate it.

I stopped drinking almost 9 months ago. Cold turkey, with my doctors “ok”. It was tough. And took a lot out of me. But I’m still clean and sober and absolutely enjoying the hell out of it.

No cravings. Zero desire. I’m a much better person now.

If you told me a year ago that I wouldn’t be drinking right now I’da laughed out loud. Never in a million years did I think that’d happen. Impossible.

That rings true with dip, too. It’s hard to imagine life without it ... even though life without it sounds so much better.

It’s time to tackle the nicotine now. I’ve gotta pick my date and stick to it.

It’s amazing how having a couple kids and settling down a bit will change you.

Working on 4 months right now and getting a little easier every day. Fishing season coming up and will make it a little more difficult. Made a deal with my wife to start a Keto diet at the same time. She wants to lose some pounds and I can be a few lighter too. This way I don't worry about calories and am down 10 lbs. Throw it away and go cold turkey, ask for support from loved ones. Put cash in a jar every day what you were spending. Have a goal to spend it on something you normally wouldn't. I am saving up to take family on a beach vacation. Best of luck!

quote:

Originally posted by Turbo216:
I dipped Copenhagen for 18 years. I was supposed to quit when I got married and lasted for 9 months. I hid it for years (like almost 8) and dipped at work or hid in the bathroom (pathetic,I know) at home to sneak a pinch.

I started having issues with my sinuses and lost my sense of smell for almost 6 years. Not a good situation to be in for a patrolman. After my third sinus surgery I finally told myself I was done. I blamed my sinus issues on the Copenhagen and used that for my motivation to quit (I have no idea if it was the cause) and I’ve not had a single grain in my mouth in over 3 years. Coincidentally my sinus issues have not returned and I regained my sense of smell.

Quitting was hard and I still crave it sometimes. I used Grinds pouches to get through a few tough times but I pretty much went cold turkey. I still miss it, but at this point I’m not going to give up the health improvements and go back to it again, especially now that it’s over $9 a can.

When I quit smoking over 25 yrs ago I considered smokeless tobacco but never touched it. You might just as well go out to the pasture and pick up horse shit to chew; smoking was no better! At almost 10.00 bucks a can ($3,650) a year Just think of the nice gun you could buy and have a darn good vacation to boot. That is a no brainer!



-

I had the habit for 17 years. Progressed to the point where I didn't have to spit. I'd go through a can in a weeks time. It took a good case of pneumonia for me to quit. I was on some sort of drug where I basically did a lot of sleeping for three days. Started on a Monday. On Thursday I realized I hadn't had a dip. Looked at it as a gift from God and went cold turkey from that point on. That was 21 years ago. I would have dreams about going through my normal routine and suddenly realize I had a dip in and feverishly claw it out of my face. Those dreams lasted for about 10 years after I quit.

quote:

Originally posted by chansen92:
When I quit smoking over 25 yrs ago I considered smokeless tobacco but never touched it. You might just as well go out to the pasture and pick up horse shit to chew;
-

Now why would you post something like that?

So last night before bed I dumped a full can of Copenhagen and a full can of Smokey Mountain (fake dip) into a gallon zip lock bag and shook it all together.

I was left with two cans of 50/50 mix.

I haven’t had a pure Copenhagen dip all day. I’ve only had the 50/50 mix. And I’ve had like 3/4 of a can worth of it today.

So I’ve ingested like 40% of my normal nicotine intake today. And boy can I feel it! I’m loopy as can be. Spaced out, foggy, irritated, confused, pissed ... I’m all over the place.

I read earlier that a can of Copenhagen has 80 cigarettes worth of nicotine. Instead of smoking my normal 80 cigarettes today, I’ve had like 35. Man. This sucks.

My plan tomorrow is to go completely nicotine free.

First I need to see if I can get any sleep.

Look up pic's of oral cancer, then look at your kids.

I quit cold about 9 years ago, that first weekend was terrible, I stayed in bed and had the strangest nightmares and felt physically sick.

It got easier the next week and progressively was no problem. Now I gag if I smell it, or see someone else's spit jar/cup.

Everyone is different, and I'm not saying this will work for you or anyone else...

For me, after smoking for 10 years, the only way I was able to kick it was mentally first. I basically came to the realization that every time I was about to have the "perfect cigarette" was the lie.

- Amazing steak dinner. The cigarette still tasted like dog shit and made me feel terrible.

- Amazing beer and good times with buddies. The cigarettes were still nasty no matter how much I anticipated that they wouldn't be.

Any scenario where I thought, "Man, I can't wait to have a smoke after this..." I realized was me giving in. As soon as I recognized that, I was able to head off that thought process where I'd essentially give in and buy a pack, or bum one from a friend. Don't get me wrong, I can still smell them 2 blocks away and want to lick the ground in front of the person smoking, but I've been smoke free for 13 years now. I know for some people they start to smell terrible, and for some guys the dip starts to taste nasty if they make it "over the quit hump" so to speak.

Not the case for me.

Still though, you can do it. You HAVE to find what works for you and do that. It'll be easier if you find what works for you. Not necessarily easy, but if it works for you, you'll be more willing to work at it. If that makes sense.

Good luck. Check back in whenever you need encouragement. I'm sure there are tons of us here that would love to help a brother get free of addiction, whatever that is.

Good for you. Praying you can break the habit.

Try to eliminate the triggers at least for awhile. Vary your routine to avoid the times when you would always go have a dip. If you purchased a can every morning at the gas station, do something different. Go get gas at a different station, at a different time. Or ask your wife to fill your truck up. Anything you can do to stay away from the familiar for a little while.

Jeebus, a can a day over the past 15 years, compounding interest until you retire, is literally a fortune.

If you quit today and put that $7 a day away into an investment at 8%, you'd have $319,437.85 in 30 years.

If you had started saving in 2003, and presumed that the average cost for a can of dip from 2003 to 2018 was $3.65, you'd have $538,152.44 30 years from now.

quote:

Originally posted by Copefree:
So last night before bed I dumped a full can of Copenhagen and a full can of Smokey Mountain (fake dip) into a gallon zip lock bag and shook it all together.

I was left with two cans of 50/50 mix.

I haven’t had a pure Copenhagen dip all day. I’ve only had the 50/50 mix. And I’ve had like 3/4 of a can worth of it today.

So I’ve ingested like 40% of my normal nicotine intake today. And boy can I feel it! I’m loopy as can be. Spaced out, foggy, irritated, confused, pissed ... I’m all over the place.

I read earlier that a can of Copenhagen has 80 cigarettes worth of nicotine. Instead of smoking my normal 80 cigarettes today, I’ve had like 35. Man. This sucks.

My plan tomorrow is to go completely nicotine free.

First I need to see if I can get any sleep.

A can a day is a lot of nicotine. It will be hard. BUT YOU WILL DO IT! Just think of your kids every time you want a dip.