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Comment by tinus_hn | Hacker News Reader

Quitting smoking is pretty easy, all you need to do is whatever you were doing already, except smoking cigarettes. Not allowing people to smoke is not cruel and not harmful. In fact, allowing people to smoke is cruel and harmful. The only debatable part is if people should be allowed to harm themselves by smoking.

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Hesitant to reply because your comment seems borderline trolling to me. But as someone who quit smoking after a many years habbit Ive personally never done anything harder.

So do you think you would have been harmed if actions had been taken to prevent you from starting in the first place? Do you think you’re harming yourself or being cruel to yourself now by not smoking anymore?

Perhaps not but that point of view is a dramatic over simplification of the situation. I used nicotine as a cruch while dealing with mental health issues. Part of the time I was smoking I really did _need_ it. Taking it away from me then would have been cruel.

I quit tobacco and moved to vaping, and it still took me about six months to totally quit. Once I did, my body decided to punish me.

It started with crazy canker sores all over my tongue and a few pimples. The timelines I read were fairly accurate (e.g. tastebuds coming back, etc), but the biggest struggle was breaking the pattern.

Vaping just wasn't the same from the ritual side, but I'm glad I quit tobacco itself. Unlike many, I have no plans to quit nicotine. For me it takes the edge off -- and I think a lot of people with depression and anxiety are in the same boat.

People who haven't quit smoking will never understand what its like to quit smoking -- but the same goes for any addiction.

I've never personally had a problem with smoking, but I am a food addict so I know what addiction feels like. It seems easy to deal with in concept only because you've vastly oversimplified the mechanisms involved.

As with most things, saying is significantly easier than doing.

Hey you solved addiction, bravo.

Well, many addictions have withdrawal effects that are serious or even life threatening. Nicotine withdrawal effects are mild discomforts that go away after a few days.

I've known people who quit heroin and struggled to quit cigs. Which one is "harder" to quit is probably subjective and depends on the person, but there is a lot more going on than physical withdrawal symptoms.

I commented earlier in this thread, but I think one of the toughest aspects of quitting smoking is breaking the ritual.

I had so many friends who smoked, and our independent desires to quit were definitely not in sync. I don't doubt that this was one of the major factors in me drawing out my quitting process.

I quit smoking. I'm pretty sure you have never done it.

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