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.