The Stupidly Easy Way to Quit Smoking

Before Modern Cigarettes

Before the mass production of cigarettes made possible by the invention of the cigarette-rolling machine by James Albert Bonsack in the late 1800's, lung cancer was an extremely rare disease. Before the invention, tobacco was mostly sniffed nasally as snuff, chewed as chewing tobacco, or smoked in pipes. There is no doubt that the using of snuff and chewing tobacco would lead to nasal cancer and oral cancer respectively, but it is interesting to note the lack of prevalence of lung cancer, even in the heyday of pipe-smoking, before the mass production of cigarettes.

One possible reason could be that the pipe-smokers of yesteryear did not smoke nearly as regularly as smokers today. They might have viewed pipe-smoking as a hobby, or tobacco might have been too expensive to smoke on a regular basis.

Another reason could be that pipe-tobacco in the past was more or less in its natural state, free of the additives, poisonous chemicals, and carcinogens that are added to today's cigarettes.

Yet another reason could be that those pipe-smokers did not inhale the smoke into their lungs, but simply blew it out after drawing it into their mouths. With reference to today's pipe-smokers, they were probably smoking for taste and ritual. Smokers of today's cigarettes are indoctrinated to inhale their smoke into their lungs before blowing it out -- to not do so is considered an act of blasphemy by cigarette-smokers.

Inhaling

All three reasons are probable, but I believe that the third one is the one that holds the most water. We can make a reference to modern pipe-smokers. Even today, most pipe-smokers do not inhale the smoke into their lungs. There are some who do, but it is possible that some of them were cigarette-smokers before, or still are, and the tendency to inhale smoke into their lungs has been imbued in them.

In a grand stroke of good luck, I stumbled upon something that put me off cigarettes. I discovered first-hand the terrible harshness of tobacco smoke, and what my lungs are going through as I inhale smoke into them. Below, I will describe how you may do it too.

Discovering the Harshness of Tobacco Smoke

I have always smoked menthol cigarettes, and have been smoking for the last sixteen years. I am definitely not a beginner-smoker with low tolerance to cigarette-smoking. With that, let's get going.

I have tried the below with both the full-flavored, "red" variety and the grape-flavored, menthol variety of a certain brand of cigarettes. I do not wish to mention any commercial brands here, so let's just say, they're toasted. These 2 different varieties brought forth the same effect.

I lit one up, drew the smoke into my mouth, inhaled it into my lungs, and breathed it out. It was business as usual, nothing new. The smoke that came out of my nose was mild and non-irritating. I thought about smoking for the taste, like how pipe-smokers do it. They have a technique known as "retrohaling," whereby you blow part of the smoke out of your nose instead of your mouth after the draw, to better sense the aroma of your smoke. No inhaling into the lungs for this, of course.

I proceeded to "retrohale" and drew smoke from the cigarette into my mouth, and without inhaling it into my lungs, blew it out of my nose. The flow of the hot smoke traveled past the back of my uvula and out of my nose, and it stung terribly. The smoke felt extremely harsh, and the back of my uvula felt burned and wounded.  I had to soothe my uvula by coating it with saliva and spitting. I continued smoking that way for a few puffs; and every puff went out of its way to inflict murder on my sore uvula.

Guess What's Filtering the Smoke's Harshness

I returned to smoking the "normal" way -- inhaling the smoke into my lungs before releasing it. I took a huge draw into my mouth, inhaled it fully into my lungs, and released it all through my nose. It was mild, there was no sting, and there was no murder on my sore uvula. That moment hit me swiftly, I felt like sudden enlightenment had been delivered unto me. All this while, my lungs had been the very filter that cleaned out the harshness of tobacco smoke and allowed me to breathe it out through my nose without having it irritate my sinuses. They have been absorbing such intense harshness on an almost-daily basis for 16 years! It is not difficult to envision myself getting lung cancer should I keep this (smoking) up.

I will summarize in the following steps how you could discover the true harshness of tobacco smoke yourself, and possibly be put off smoking, like I am.

1. Light a cigarette, take a big draw into your mouth, and release it through your nose, without first inhaling it into your lungs. You should feel an intense harshness or sting in your uvula and nasal cavities. Repeat as necessary to really feel and experience the harshness of pre-lung-filtered smoke.

2. Smoke the "normal" way -- Take a big draw into your mouth, inhale it into your lungs completely, and breathe it out through your nose. Notice how mild it is and does not irritate your uvula and nasal cavities compared to the way in the paragraph above. Discover first-hand about the terrible harshness of tobacco smoke that your lungs have been absorbing and filtering all the while as you smoke.

Nicotine Addiction via Cigarettes and Cigars

Nicotine is the main substance in tobacco that causes chemical addiction and dependency. Due to the acidic pH value of cigarette smoke, nicotine is most rapidly and readily-absorbed through the lungs. Ammonia added to cigarettes allows nicotine to be delivered from the lungs to the brain more quickly.  These lead to nicotine-addiction.

Do not think that you could wean yourself off a nicotine-addiction by switching to smoking cigars without inhaling. Cigar smoke has an alkaline pH value, and delivers nicotine best through the oral mucosa, the mucous membrane that lines the inside of the mouth, rather than the lungs.

Changing Your Way of Smoking to Quit Smoking

It may be impossible to change how your body craves nicotine as a smoker, but it is easy to change the way you smoke, and thereby, create a new habit which is a different way to smoke cigarettes -- without inhalation to the lungs. Habits are easy to break and establish -- much easier than trying to forcefully will cigarette cravings out of your mind. Establish a new habit of never inhaling cigarette smoke into your lungs when you smoke. You could "retrohale" to experience the harshness on your uvula and nasal cavities to reinforce your knowledge of the harsh nature of cigarette smoke, but never, ever inhale it into your lungs. If the smoke does not get into your lungs, nicotine will not be delivered in huge quantities to your body. This way, you will be weaned off cigarettes the almost-painless way. You may be tempted to inhale the smoke to get the nicotine hit, but persevere, and do not do it. It is far easier to make never inhaling a habit when you smoke than to never, ever put a cigarette in your mouth again.

As your body gets weaned off nicotine, the chemical addiction will slowly be broken. Your body would know that it is not getting the nicotine fix that it craves when you smoke without inhaling; keep it up, and your brain would eventually cease to associate smoking a cigarette with a nicotine fix, and thus free you from the shackles of being an addicted smoker. In time, the cravings would diminish and disappear.

Everyone says that you should never, ever smoke a cigarette again after you have quit smoking, or you would end up being a full-time smoker again. But as all relapsed smokers can attest to, it is quite a tall order. Instead of trying to abide by this incredibly tall order flawlessly for the rest of your life, go easy on yourself should you ever find yourself in a smoking situation, and simply do not inhale the smoke into your lungs as you smoke. This way, you would not plummet back down to being a hopeless and addicted everyday-smoker again, due to the lack of major nicotine absorption through the lungs.

TL;DR Version

Never inhale cigarette smoke into your lungs ever again when you smoke.

Addictions

The Reward System

Addiction is the physiological or psychological dependency on a substance or an activity that causes an afflicted person to compulsively consume a substance, or carry out an activity. Almost all addictions are a result of the rewiring of the reward system in the brain. The reward system involves the release of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, in the brain. Dopamine causes an individual to seek out rewards, as well as allows one to feel satisfied from pleasurable activities or consumption of substances. A medical article regarding dopamine can be found here. Addictions cause individuals to seek out rewards to experience pleasure compulsively.

The brain has to learn to use a substance or an activity to stimulate the reward system. Once the brain makes the connection between an addictive substance or activity and feeling good, an addiction is potentially established. The addiction is formed in the subconscious brain; the user has no conscious control over it. It can be further reinforced by repeated consumption of the substance or carrying out of the activity. Compulsive behavior stemming from an addiction that is akin to a habit is ingrained on a subconscious level.

The brain seems to make a permanent connection with the object of addiction, especially when it comes to substances. Even if an individual were to break his addiction to a substance for some time, use of the substance in subject is likely to trigger a full blown addiction again.

Substance-addiction

Nicotine

Nicotine and alcohol are examples of substances that can stimulate and eventually alter the reward system. They have different chemical properties, and work in different ways to addict a user. Nicotine seems to have a "please come back" property. If a smoker were to stop smoking for a few days, or even a few hours, he would feel compelled to smoke a cigarette eventually, without having a grasp on what exactly caused that. It might boil down to withdrawal from nicotine. Due to the chemical effects of nicotine, a smoker requires a cigarette to feel satisfied on a constant basis. Periods of going without smoking would cause his level of satisfaction to drop, as the nicotine leaves his body. As his subconscious brain has already established the connection between smoking a cigarette and feeling satisfied from the replenishment of nicotine in his system, he would be compelled to smoke a cigarette to end the aggravation caused by nicotine withdrawal.

Apart from the chemical aspects of nicotine addiction, there exist the psychological aspects to nicotine addiction as well. Smokers are likely to welcome smoking breaks during work, and socializing with other smokers when smoking. Such positive associations with smoking would create and compound psychological addiction to nicotine.

Alcohol

Alcohol numbs the senses and diminishes self-inhibition of a drinker. Due to the numbing effect on the brain, a drinker might feel less of the effects of stress caused by problems in his life. If he continues to consume alcohol as a means of escape from his problems, his brain would make the connection between drinking alcohol and feeling relief from stress, and a psychological addiction would be formed. An addiction to alcohol could also be formed if the drinker were to drink regularly to socialize, or to increase his self-confidence due to diminished self-inhibition. Whatever the case is, prolonged consumption of alcohol would cause chemical and psychological changes to the brain, causing the drinker to be dependent on it.

Activity-addiction

Gambling

Gambling is an example of a potentially addictive activity. It is largely based on the anticipation of pay-outs, as well as the satisfaction and euphoria felt when receiving them. If a gambler has won a bet before, especially a big one, and experienced euphoria, his brain would draw a link between them, leading to addiction.

Every bet a gambler makes has the potential for a pay-out, as well as a loss. A bigger bet brings about a bigger sense of thrill and gets adrenaline pumping. This would compound the gambling addiction further.

Other Activity-addictions

There are many kinds of activity-addictions, for instance, sex, video games, and even Facebook. Like gambling, they involve the anticipation of positive end results that bring good feelings to the addict. It's easy to see that sex is very pleasurable, and the desire of this pleasure could create addicts quite easily.

Certain events in video games, such as leveling up, gaining new skills for your in-game characters, or beating difficult levels or opponents, encourage players positively, and bring about a feeling of achievement. Some players would feel compelled to seek these empowering feelings of achievement again. Some mobile games offer timed events in which players stand to gain better or unique in-game prizes if they were to play harder and more often. This causes players to play the games like they were scheduled jobs.

Some Facebook addicts capture and share their lives' moments online excessively, while some scroll through Facebook feeds mindlessly and compulsively. The former ones have probably developed a self-imposed responsibility upon themselves to keep their online profile updated constantly. Some would do it in anticipation of positive comments or "likes", while some might be doing it because they cannot shake off the self-imposed chore they started due to obsessive compulsive tendencies. The latter ones are probably used to getting regular mental stimulation from their phones, and can no longer handle some down-time of having nothing to occupy themselves, and thus, reach for their phones and scroll through Facebook to relief themselves of idleness.

Ending of Addictions

Addictions can never truly be broken, as the brain is always capable of re-establishing them. However, they can be weakened, as long as we stop consuming the addictive substance or performing the addictive activity for a period of time. It is difficult to see when our point of addiction is at its strongest, but our brains would stop remembering and triggering the addiction so much, after a period of abstinence, if we allow ourselves this period. The longer this period goes on, the weaker the addiction becomes, and so, the triggers lessen and eventually disappear. 

One strategy we can employ to bring forth the period of abstinence is by responding to triggers of addictions with positive habits or thought patterns. For instance, when tempted to scroll through Facebook or fire up a mobile game on the phone in a bored moment, welcome the opportunity to allow your mind to take a break, take deep breaths, and relax. It would take more effort to abstain from addictive substances due to their chemical effects on the brain. When receiving a trigger to smoke a cigarette or drink alcohol, one has to respond to it by remembering the fact that if he chooses not to indulge in the addiction at that point of time, it will only get easier as time draws out, as the memory of the addiction and the frequency of the triggers will be diminished. One can also form a positive obsession about being healthy, by eating healthy, natural foods and exercising regularly. This will steer one away from unhealthy substance-addiction.

When a long period of abstinence has passed, the addiction will lie dormant. However, in some situations, one might be reminded of the rewards they experienced before upon witnessing other people indulging in his former addiction, and be tempted to indulge in it, even if it is just once. Doing so holds a high risk of re-establishing the addiction, which will get full-blown eventually. Once an addiction is arrested and lying dormant, do not entertain the thought of indulging in it ever again, for doing so will most likely cause it to wake up in full force eventually.

Unnatural Modern Life

Modern humans have drifted far away from their roots, in terms of lifestyle. Humans developed tools, systems, culture, and rules unique to different societies. However, some of them cause more harm than good.

We live our lives, bound by rules dictated by the law or culture of the society we live in. We sit in chairs with backrests for long periods of time, hurting our postures, causing us chronic back pain problems. Some of us lead sedentary lives. We set the alarm clock to wake us up for work instead of allowing our bodies to wake up naturally. We turn on electrical lights at night so that we can work or play longer, instead of getting much-needed sleep. We cook animal-based foods that release harmful carcinogens. We enslave animals and subject them to immense cruelty for the sake of our taste buds. We manufacture processed foods in the name of convenience and cost-saving, at the expense of our health.

Societies begin accepting what is wrong as right eventually. In some societies, squatting in public is looked upon as uncouth, when squatting is the natural resting state of humans, and sitting on man-made chairs with backrests that give rise to a multitude of back problems is not. Raw vegan or fruit-based diets are looked upon as crazy or extreme. There should be nothing extreme about choosing to eat a natural diet, free from processing or cooking. No other animals in the natural world cook their food. We acquire and hoard things that provide little or no value to our lives in our homes. We get bogged down and distracted by these clutter, and yet, clutter would almost always find their way into our homes and lives. The materialistic pursue high-end possessions for the sake of their egos or in an attempt to fill up some void in their lives. No animals of the same species in a natural setting would look vastly different from one another, in terms of physiques, yet, it is extremely common for humans, due to unnatural diets and lifestyles. I am not referring to people with medical issues, like thyroid abnormality, but the mass majority of otherwise healthy people.

To make a change towards natural living means to be a rebel. Being a minimalist, a raw vegan or a fruitarian, a naturalist who goes without clothes, someone who wishes to live in a natural environment, away from big cities and towns, or someone who opts to squat rather than sit to eliminate, means to go against the norm of most societies. There will be obstacles set in place by society to stop one from pursuing these freely. Vegan restaurants are not aplenty, and some restaurants do not have vegan alternatives for the budding vegan. A nudist would get arrested in most countries in the world. There are few places on Earth left suited to humans to live fully or mostly natural lives. Difficulty in traveling and borders and rules set by countries make it even more difficult. One cannot simply get a plane ticket to somewhere remote to lead a reclusive life if one desires that, as there are rules regarding traveling and staying set by countries. In some countries, sitting toilets are the norm. One would not be able to have the option of eliminating naturally, in the squatting position, unless he chooses to squat on the toilet bowl, which frankly, is extremely inconsiderate for other people.

All these obstacles make it difficult for a modern human to seek a fully-natural lifestyle for oneself. One would have to seek natural living to the best of his or her ability, within the constraints of his or her immediate environment.