Several weeks ago my basement flooded during an intense weather event. I spent much of the following week emptying the room and cleaning causing me to breathe alot of damp moldy air consequently contracting bronchitis. During my sickness I got nicotine gum to reduce my smoking because I was coughing so much.

Then I noticed that my senses of smell and taste returned after a couple weeks and that's encouraged me to finally just quit smoking for once and for all.

Currently I'm down to roughly 4 cigarettes per day plus the gum in between.
Problem spots now are morning coffee and after work beer. Can't chew the gum with either and it's habitual for me to smoke during these activities.
How do I break these rituals?
Any substitutes for either coffee or beer I can try?
What have other quitters tried?

You’re gonna hate me. You can do this ! It is mind over tobacco , a wrestling match in your mind. You will be victorious. But you must without a doubt you must stop drinking any alcohol ! For awhile anyways ! 2 drinks and you’ll be bumming a smoke from someone. My heart attack was a direct cause of my smoking. Coffee is ok but NO alcohol ! You  rule your mind , when the craving hits you do anything else walk ,read ,eat ,ride ,eat carrot & celery sticks while driving. You must get right in your head that you own you destiny. Destiny being the rest of your life without smoking. Its been 1 1/2 years and I still want to buy a pack and go hide in some city park and smoke all 20; but I won’t cause as phucked up as I am  , I rule my mind On this one.

When I go to heaven I gonna have a cocktail vodka & gingerale and smoke a cigarette 9 miles long.
John Prine

You will Win Mike !

Yea Mike

When I quit I replaced the erge to smoke with something else.   I took up "Iron Turkey Shooting"  ... every time I wanted to smoke I'd go out the the front yard and practice on the 22LR Iron Turkey targets .    Come to find out a box of 22LR shells are cheaper than a pack of smokes !   Now I have a really accurate air rifle ($$$) and don't even think of smoking .  Its really shocking how much a years worth of smoking cost !  

So , Replace smoking with ????        New Motorcycle Payments ?  

Philthymike:

You have my support.....and prayers that you can beat this.

I am not a smoker, and the company I retired from in 2017 only had 1 employee that smoked.  Every morning he would come in and it sounded like he was coughing up a lung.  He would cough and hack and wheeze from the moment he arrived until he got into the truck to go out in the field.......I am not sure how long that went on each morning.

I always wanted to ask him if he noticed that he was the only one that had those coughing fits in the morning....and maybe his health was at risk.  He was a young man in his thirties, he had a wife and a young child he was trying to support.  (I did keep my mouth shut as I never thought he would respond in a positive manner).

Give it up!  I am sure you will feel much better....the cigarettes are a toxin! I do understand that the nicotine is addictive, and that your body currently has a need for it - you also may have to alter some of your lifestyle to change your habits that are triggers.

Dave

Thank you all for the support! And advice.
When I joined the Navy in 03 I had to quit. No smoking in basic training. I actually snuck in nicotine patches hidden down my underwear lol. But they ran out and training ran long because of the holidays so instead of getting out by X-mas they held us until New Year's Eve. Jerks.
Upon graduation I was smoke free and ran to the arms of my ex wife. Who smelled like cigarette smoke. You can see where this is headed...

Two years ago I had oblation to rid me of the heart palpitations that I had all my life which also were partially to blame for the end of my military career. At that time the cardiologist ordered me to quit smoking. So I need to do as he says.

I got some energy drinks so tomorrow I will try those in place of morning coffee. I tried Maté once at a friend's place after a night of drinking and that seemed to wake me up pretty good. I'll give it another try I guess.
I was thinking of maybe replacing beer with wine. Or hard cider. But it is likely I'll need to just stop drinking alcohol. That will be a tall order considering current circumstances and the extra stress from the epidemic. However it may take finding a new job for me to quit drinking. My current job is extremely stressful with way too much responsibility and narcissistic sociopath for a boss.
Just saw a great job in Louisville KY I think I'll apply for.

Today's goal is no beer. And the cigarette that goes with it too.

Hey Mike,
Big gung-hos on this project. Seems that over the years sometimes most of the guys I worked with smoked, sometimes none did. Luckily, I never did. Had a few buds tell me that it was easier for them to quit heroin than cigarettes. Pretty scary. Gotta remember all those people doing research all those decades on how to make cigarettes as addictive as possible. And all the decades the government subsidized tobacco farming. Unconcionable.
Cigarettes kill more Americans than any war ever did.
Every part of your life will be better.
Hope you can do it.
And if you fall off the wagon, take a step back, take a breath, and quit again. Even cutting down is better than not doing anything.
Good on you!

You might not believe this, but I brought a sack of apples and ate them, when I stopped just over thirty years ago. Admittedly I smoked a pipe and I had to destroy the craftsmanship of the men that made my pipes, had I kept them I would have never stopped. Do try a large quantity of apples, no side effects, except you might fart like a brewers drayhorse.

I quit in 1990. I used to smoke on a schedule while I felt I had to , like 1 every 4 hours. Then cut back from there using a watch with a chime. As long as I knew I didn't have to quit altogether, I maintained that for quite a while. finally weaned off altogether. Good luck!!