Music Rox, before we get to the issue of getting hooked, let's look at what you are actually inhaling. Smoking another persons partially smoked cigarettes or cigars actually poses a special risk. You see, each puff the other person took drew roughly 4,000 chemicals threw the remaining unsmoked portion of the cigar, depositing it on the unsmoked tobacco. The remaining tobacco acted as a filter and the second half of the unsmoked cigar is coated in tars and is more concentrated in chemicals than the first half.
This effect would be obvious to any one who opens up an un-smoked cigarette
and smells the tobacco and then opens up a half smoked cigarette and smells
its tobacco. the partially smoked cigar or cigarette will smell horrible in contrast.
As for becoming addicted to smoking nicotine, if you truly are having craves then you are already showing signs that you are losing your freedom or autonomy to simply turn and walk away. It only took me smoking 5 cigarettes over 3 days while trying to impress a girl who smoked before I was alone in my room and my brain issued that first crave command telling me to find and smoke another. Oh how I wish I'd never taken that first puff.
The following chart of addiction warning signs is from a 2002 youth smoking study:
Nicotine Addiction's 10 Warning Signs HONC - Hooked On Nicotine Checklist
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| 1. | Have you ever tried to quit but couldn't? |
| 2. | Do you smoke now because it is really hard to quit? |
| 3. | Have you ever felt like you were addicted to tobacco? |
| 4. | Do you ever have strong cravings to smoke? |
| 5. | Have you ever felt like you really needed a cigarette? |
| 6. | Is it hard to keep from smoking in places where you are not supposed to, like school? |
In answering the last four questions, when you tried to stop
smoking, or when you have not used tobacco for a while ...
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| 7. | Did you find it hard to concentrate? |
| 8. | Did you feel more irritable? |
| 9. | Did you feel a strong need or urge to smoke? |
| 10. | Did you feel nervous, restless or anxious because you couldn't smoke? |
Answering " yes " to any one of the above ten questions indicates that you may already be hooked on nicotine and are chemically dependent. Your "yes" answer is your own honest self assessment that you have already lost the freedom and ability to simply and effortlessly walk away. Two-thirds of all teens who you see smoking regularily will spend their entire life as slaves to nicotine. If you HONC we'll help - WhyQuit.com
Source: HONC - (Hooked on Nicotine Checklist), Tobacco Control, Sept. 2002 Created by www.WhyQuit.com - Join us for motivation, education and support! |
Music Rox, I want you to meet some of the students I've worked with and we're going to do your best to help you break free to.. Click on their photos to read their stories and then follow the arrows:
Music Rox, I've got some bad news and good news. If you are addicted to nicotine the condition is as permanent as alcoholism. Your brain has physically rewired itself trying to protect against the nicotine that keeps arriving. The good news is that if you quit now things will quickly return to normal but you will only arrest your addiction not kill it. You'll remain wired for nicotine addiction for life and just one powerful puff of nicotine and you'll again face the craves.
Picture a jail cell Music Rox with you behind the bars and your chemical dependency upon smoking nicotine the jailor. Quitting is a matter of trading places with your addiction and locking it up, and the key to the cell is just one powerful puff.
Music Rox, at this link you'll find a free 8 page quitting tips booklet entitled Nicotine Dependency Recovery. I recommend you print it and read it twice from beginning to end.
You and I now share a common bond, Music Rox, we're both nicotine addicts. The only difference is that I'm on one side of the bars and you're on the other. The rule to getting on this side may not always be easy but it is simple ... no nicotine just one day at a time, Never Take Another Puff! We're here if you need us Music Rox and we're with you in spirit.
Breathe deep, hug hard, live long,
John R. Polito
Nicotine Cessation Educator
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