It could be something to do with the flavours, for some reason coffee and smoking do go together very well, I can’t quite put my finger on why, but it goes so much better than a cup of tea or even a beer, well, perhaps with the exception of a really cold lager on a summers day.

So what am I going to do to make myself stop once and for all? Stop drinking coffee? I doubt it. Stop drinking beer? That would certainly help in the short term. Not because I crave them together, but just that my will power goes right out the window once I have a few.

Perhaps I’ll just sit about drinking coffee and smoking until I work out the next plan of attack. There is no point trying again if my heart isn’t really in it.

If however you are more of the mind to try to quit using hypnotherapy, the following video will probably be of more interest. As with anything I say on this blog about how to quit, hypnotherapy and acupuncturists, you must always do your own research into who is good, who isn’t and bear in mind that what works for one person may not for the next.

I would like to add that I don’t know anyone in any of these videos, they just seemed relevant for people who are trying to give up tobacco so added them here. If you are serious about quitting you should probably try to find a local professional who specialises in giving up smoking, so if you live in Southampton have a look for hypnotherapy Southampton on the search engines and see who comes up.  Have a chat with them to make sure they seem to know their stuff, speak to other smokers they have worked for, remember they should be ex-smokers now if they are a good Southampton hypnotherapist, or at the very least have seriously cut down if not given up completely.

It all went wrong when I bought a packet of tobacco for someone, basically because I had sponged the occasional roll up from him when we’d been out drinking sometimes, and I didn’t want to become one of those people who only smokes other peoples. So I thought I would buy him some tobacco (he doesn’t smoke normal cigarettes) and rizlas, anyway, I didn’t end up seeing him that weekend at all, so didn’t think there would be any harm in having a rollie or two when I was down the pub.  That turned in to a couple the next day and then a couple in the evening, the next thing I knew I was having about 10 a day and then when that pack of Golden Virginia ran out, which I don’t even particularly like, I decided to go out and buy some drum, which I do.

So, my next plan of attack is a course of hypnotherapy, I’m not a big fan of alternative remedies really, but if it can help, I’ll give it a go, apparently having a course of treatment is much more effective than just a one hit thing, it does make sense I suppose and really the additional cost shouldn’t be a concern, as once I have managed to stop smoking for good, it will more than pay for itself, several times over.

So I started to wonder how to find a good hypnotherapist, as if I’m going to use hypnotherapy to stop smoking I need to find someone who is reputable and effective, but they obviously need to be local, so my first point of call is the National Smoking Cessation Institute, they have a database of all their members, so I’m going to give a few of them a call first off.  More to follow when I’ve made some decissions.

Anyway all is looking good and I’m hoping that I have it cracked this time!

I went out on Friday night, only to the local pub with a few friends, but they are smokers (as you can tell I still consider myself not to be any more) one in particular smokes roll ups, and not just any old roll ups, with Drum tobacco, my old favorite brand, so when he went outside for one I went with him for just one puff, that’s all I had, well on that one at least.  The next time he went out I followed along and had a couple of puffs, as you can imagine this went on for the whole evening.

The next day, I got back on my Nicorette puffer thingy and didn’t particularly want another ciggie all day, but then went out again in the evening.  This time it was to an outdoor venue to see some bands, who were all local but all pretty good I must say. The problem was being surrounded by smokers again, and once again I caved in, pretty much as expected, although again it was just a puff here and there, mainly just because I still like the taste.

Anyway, Sunday I felt pretty rough again and it reminded me how much worse my hangovers always were before I decided to stop smoking, the difference is actually quite huge, so if you struggle with bad hangovers I would advise quitting.

Anyway, the reason that I say it was to some degree a successful weekend is that I’ve not had one since and don’t really want one either, so would be happy if I just have the odd drag of a weekend, as long as I don’t take it up again.

It must have been a nightmare when you could still smoke in the pubs and everyone around would be stood around with a fag hanging out of their mouth.

Anyway all’s good so far, well with the exception of the extra weight which has started to build up already, but such is life, I’ll address that once I’m over the smoking!

It’s a bit odd, as I actually gave up smoking pretty much by accident. A few of us went to the pub on Saturday evening and it was a bit of a heavy one, I drank at least 10 pints of Area 51, a pretty strong cloudy scrumpy, then back to a mates for more after closing time, I also smoked a fair few fags that evening too. The result? I felt like I had been sleeping with my head laid on the motorway all night, with every passing car running it over.

The reason I managed to quit smoking was down to how bad I felt, I have to go outside for a cigarette, and really couldn’t manage it, so I laid on the sofa all day, then when I did feel up to it, I went out and sparked up, it made me feel sick within 2-3 puffs, so that was it for the day. Today I decided that I wouldn’t have another one.

So I have decided on my strategy this time, it’s combining a number of things I’ve done before along with a lot of willpower and a bit of slightly creative thinking around the subject. So firstly as of today, I’m going to leave it until slightly later in the day each day before I have my first cigarette, usually I wake up and not being allowed to smoke in the main part of the house, I come downstairs, flick the kettle on for my morning cuppa and straight to the back door, fag in mouth as i reach it and lighting up as I pass through the doorway. Today I didn’t, I just made my morning cup of tea and then went out and had my fist smoke, it wasn’t hard at all and probably delayed it by no more than 5 minutes, but I’m breaking the habit, tomorrow I’m planning to drink my tea before I have the first smoke of the day. That will no doubt be harder, as it will add another 10 minutes and give me time to actually think about it, but come on, it’s 10 minutes, if I can’t do that I may as well give up on the idea of giving up right now! So I’m hoping to do this for the next 8 days until my quit day and should be already reaching the middle of the morning before I have my first one, I haven’t decided if I will use a Nicotine Inhaler for this, I don’t really want to as that’s going to be my crutch once I quit fully next week, but I will do if I really need it, although I would much rather just keep pushing it a bit later each day through determination and willpower at this stage.

So the other things I’m going to do are first and foremost using the Nicorette Inhaler, last time I tried, I had one and it really helped me, I suppose because it’s giving that Nicotine blast but also something to do with my hands too,I just have to remember to always keep it and spare cartridges with me, again, last time I kept forgetting, this led me to have a puff on someone else’s sometimes and this could well have been my downfall, so a good supply in all jackets and in the car is the plan this time, I’m going to buy 3 of the small packs and 1 large, so I have plenty of the plastic doohickeys too.

I’m thinking about trying acupuncture too, I’ve never tried it before, but even though I’m a bit sceptical, I’m prepared to give it a try, I did try hypnotherapy to help me stop smoking in the past too, I think it did help, but I didn’t do the practice things afterwards so the effects wore off again. I’ve been looking for a centre but have only found  specialists to help stop smoking Birmingham, stop smoking in Hagley, quit smoking Sutton Coldfield and stop smoking Walsall, Bracknell, stop smoking Maidenhead, stop smoking banbury, henley on thames and oxford so far and they are all a bit further away than I was planning to travel.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t one of those big “I’m cutting down” exercises which is destined to fail from the start (believe me, I know those, I’ve done it enough times before) this is just a kind of “do I really need that cigarette right now” exercises. If I can delay it for 10 minutes without even trying, it will no doubt help to reduce my addiction slightly and gear me towards the day when I do give up properly. I’m toying with making my stop smoking day being the first of June at the moment, but hey, nothing is set in stone lol.

I still have an electric cigarette too which I used in a previous effort to quit, but I have come to the conclusion that they are no good for giving up, although I could imagine that you could just use one of them all the time and at least get the health benefits without all the tar and other nasties, though I did feel a bit of a prat sitting around with it. The problem I believe, is that because the dose of nicotine delivered by them is not measured accurately, and it is so easy to sit there merrily puffing away on it, that you could actually get more nicotine in an evening than you would if you just smoked a normal cigarette, so your addiction is not reduced.

Anyway, I may try some hypnotherapy or acupuncture too this time, I’m not a big believer in these things, but I figured if I just do everything possible to set the odds in my favour, the chances of actually stopping smoking this time around will be increased. The cost of it will also be increased and I will probably find that I spend more on all these alternative medicines and nicotine replacement for a couple of months, but even inside 6 months I should start to see the overall benefit of quitting.  Of course if it doesn’t work, I’ll be well and truly out of pocket, but hopefully this will be another incentive!