Nicotine bingeing

June 20, 2004 9:11 PM

I can go all day without smoking a cigarette if my mind is on something else, but when I have them I go through half a pack to three quarters of a pack a day. Is this normal? I know that some people lack a way to properly break down nicotine in their bodies, requiring less smoking per day. Does this have something to do with it?
posted by Keyser Soze to health & fitness (24 comments total)

How long have you been smoking? It's taken me 10 years to ramp up to a pack a day addiction.
posted by cmonkey at 9:15 PM on June 20, 2004

5 years, about.
posted by Keyser Soze at 9:45 PM on June 20, 2004

Did you know life doesn't have to be so difficult, Keyser? You don't have to keep making choices that harm you.

You'd do well to think about that.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:08 PM on June 20, 2004

Whether you approve of his lifestyle or not, he asked a question that deserves to be answered. Others might also find the answer useful.
posted by interrobang at 10:19 PM on June 20, 2004

Like me. I have the exact same problem. What I find is that if I "binge" one day, smoking half a pack, the next day I can go without smoking. Which makes me feel good about myself. Until the day after that when I start craving again. I imagine, therefore, that it may have to do with a build up of nicotine if you smoke a lot during one day.
posted by Jimbob at 10:25 PM on June 20, 2004

jeers for fff for fingershakingfilter :)

first off, I don't smoke. I tried to start but i just couldn't stand it. that being said, ALL of my friends smoke so i have a little incite here. From their experiences, yes it is pretty normal to not smoke as much if you're thinking of something else the entire day, or you don't have any at the moment (go figure). however, once they have them (which i think is the crux of your question) they go through them like greased lightning. I don't know why, but hey, at least you know you're not alone now huh?

go greased lightning, go greased lightning
posted by bob sarabia at 10:26 PM on June 20, 2004

I always have cigarettes, or have the easy means to get them.

Some days I smoke none.

Some, a pack.

Most, a few.

I'm 31. Been smoking twenty years.

I know stress makes me want to smoke more, faster...

Also, alcohol.

Just my experience.
posted by gai at 10:34 PM on June 20, 2004

dude, you've been smoking since you were 11? that's hardcore!
posted by bob sarabia at 10:38 PM on June 20, 2004

Pretty hardcore, gai. fff, calm down bro. This question is not very important but what I was basically trying to achieve is that I wondered if:

A: Other people had this.
B: If the psychological need for nicotine is stronger than the physiological need in all cases.
posted by Keyser Soze at 10:47 PM on June 20, 2004

I smoke wayyyyyyyy more if I'm not occupied.

Thus, when I try to quit, I try to stay occupied. Geeking in front of the computer, for me, is not occupied. Which is why when I smoke at home now, I smoke outside.

I rarely suffer severe physical withdrawals when I quit, for me it seems to definitely be more psychological. I guess that's why I quit instantaneously when I took Prozac ;-)
posted by WolfDaddy at 10:50 PM on June 20, 2004

how nicotine works

How nicotine affects the reward centers in your brain

Truth in Advertising (old cigarette ads)
posted by Keyser Soze at 10:52 PM on June 20, 2004

I don't know if this directly answers your question but nicotine is not totally addictive. My mom smoked throughout high school and college and then quit smoking because she "got tired of it". And hasn't picked up a cigarette since. She said it wasn't hard at all and she simply stopped buying.

I had a similar experience in that in my formative years it was cool to chew tobacco (you can do it during class, sneak off to the bathroom to chew, etc.) where I'd be like all the other really cool kids and chew when they did. Anyway after I stopped getting the buzz I decided that it was too expensive and just stopped. Everyone else now chain smokes like nicotine's going out of style.
posted by geoff. at 11:25 PM on June 20, 2004

Try this:

Every time you get a craving for a cigarette, just go rub one out. You may want to use a restroom if you are at work, unless you have your own (locking) office.
posted by Kwantsar at 11:55 PM on June 20, 2004

I've tried but it only makes me want to smoke after the act.
posted by Keyser Soze at 11:58 PM on June 20, 2004

...and you'd quite possibly rub it off.
posted by WolfDaddy at 12:02 AM on June 21, 2004

I've been a smoker for years. Recently I took a long flight (11 hours) and, to my great amazement, I was not climbing walls or otherwise severely uncomfortable. I had nicotine gum with me, and felt no reason to use it. Normaly I smoke a pack a day, at least. Yes, I craved one a couple times, but somehow told myself to chill.

Keyser, just quit while the quitting is good. You know you should. Sooner is FAR better than latter.
posted by Goofyy at 12:04 AM on June 21, 2004

The weird thing for me is when I take a journey with a number of breaks. (bus, train, train, bus) I absolutely have to smoke on each of the breaks. Like Goofvy, I recently had a HUGE flight, and despite the fact I had a number of nicotine supplements, felt no need to use them at all. It's strange.

Things that make me want to smoke.
- Boredom
- Walking to work.
- Surfing at Home
- Watching TV at home.
- Alcohol
- Watching other people light up.

I stopped smoking once, and found it easy. (So easy in fact, that six months later, I reckoned that I could just start smoking again.) I do think however, that the degree with which you're addicted changes from person to person. One thing I have noticed though that if people are given the option "Stop smoking, or you'll die in the next six months" invariably stop smoking with little or no effort.

If I was a member of the tin-hat brigade, then I'd assume that nicotine addiction is something that the tobacco companies actually promote in order to convince people that it's a really really difficult habit to break. Adverts which tell people how difficult it is to stop smoking may actually be doing more harm than good.
posted by seanyboy at 4:00 AM on June 21, 2004

My mom smoked for 30 or 40 years but was able to quit in a day. Of course, that was the day the doctors diagnosed her with lung cancer. Which killed her. She was 57.

My father, who smoked Chesterfields for decades, had a much harder time quitting. He was diagnosed with emphysema, but still kept smoking. He tried acupuncture, hypnotism, you name it. He had to go cold turkey though, when he checked into the hospital for a severe case of pneumonia he got because of his weakened respiratory system. He never got the chance to start up again. He was 63.
posted by crunchland at 4:47 AM on June 21, 2004

B: If the psychological need for nicotine is stronger than the physiological need in all cases.

I have the stupidest smoking habit ever. I smoke one cigarette before I go to bed. I tell the doctor I go through a pack and a half a month and he totally doesn't believe me. I used to smoke more, and have definitely gone long times without smoking at all, but the evening cigarette ritual is now firmly entrenched in my routine. This is true to the point where if I'm out of cigarettes, I get that wall-crawling edgy feeling that you get when you really need a cigarette, however I know it's not from nicotine withdrawal because I so rarely have any in my system. The only other time I ever smoke is, rarely, when I'm incredibly stressed out, at which point I'll smoke a half-pack a day but this rarely lasts more than a day or two because so much smoking makes me pretty ill.
posted by jessamyn at 5:24 AM on June 21, 2004

Adverts which tell people how difficult it is to stop smoking may actually be doing more harm than good.

When I quit smoking, nothing made me want a cigarette more than seeing one of those "Stop smoking, you idiot!" public service announcements on TV. It would have been a lot easier to quit if there wasn't someone on the TV talking about cigarettes every seven minutes.

And yes, I think what you're going through is pretty normal. For me, it's always been, "Smoke 'em if you got 'em." Unless I'm too busy to remember to smoke.
posted by hootch at 7:19 AM on June 21, 2004

I'm a non-smoker in college with several friends who do, a few of which wish to quit. My experience seems to indicate that many people are as much, if not more, addicted to the physical act of smoking as opposed to the nicotine. Thus they get edgy/upset when they see others with a cigarette, or find themselves in situations which call for cigarettes - jessamyn and seanyboy's experiences seem to capture how my friends feel about it. I find it strange, but there it is.
posted by cohappy at 7:22 AM on June 21, 2004

Yeah, I think the physical addiction of nicotine thing is way more exaggerated than actual experience would dictate. My sister, half brother and I are all the kind of half-assed smokers you mention. My siblings and I have all at some point or other smoked as much as 1/2 or 3/4 pack a day, but none of us for very long, and none of us had any trouble stopping, or cutting down to a pack a week, or just "one every now and then". If I buy a pack (which I haven't done since my stress-filled exams last december), I will smoke them all, but over the course of usually almost a week; if I don't, I will just not think of it for weeks or months, unless I'm surrounded by people smoking all the time (or images / references on tv or elsewhere, and yes, it really doesn't matter if they're positive or negative references).

Which is why I smoke more in NYC and when I'm in school especially, than otherwise. The air recently hasn't been very clear in NY so I haven't had one in a while, but I don't feel like I've "quit" - or anyway, only in the mark twain sense. There were a couple years where I didn't smoke at all and even then it just seemed like something I didn't want then (like, have you "quit" peach cobbler if you haven't had it in a while? Or what about alcohol - some people drink every day, some people never drink (just completely dislike it), but then some of us like to drink sometimes, but certainly don't get to it every day - I don't drink every week, maybe not even every month, but when I'm in the right mood and setting, I really enjoy alcohol).
posted by mdn at 9:37 AM on June 21, 2004

Hey, y'all, calm down yourselves. Quit projecting. It was a very gentle prod, with unimaginable benefits should it succeed.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:55 AM on June 21, 2004

That was (nice? mean?) fff. Cmon, im not a complete fuckup. This stereotype is getting laid on me a little too thick. People are starting to expect me to fuck up.
posted by Keyser Soze at 12:16 PM on June 21, 2004