The Way Forward


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Hello Everyone! It's been a while. I'm back to tell you I've figured out how I'm going to stop smoking cigarettes after 38 years. The motivation is that I need my lungs back for bicycling, and this is a better motivator even than not dying prematurely. (And, of course, I will never mature.) However, I turned 58 a few weeks ago, and decided the sounds I make when climbing steep hills are undignified. So I considered alternative nicotine-delivery systems such as gels and patches, or pharmaceuticals designed to replace nicotine at the acetylcholine receptors of the brain. I even contemplated those "e-cigs", but they were altogether too weird. Therefore, my choice of delivery system is obvious: Cigars.

Here's how it seems to be working: I have a goodly stash of non-Cubans that have aged undisturbed for years and seem neither the worse nor the better for it. There are many double coronas among them. One of these is lit in lieu of the first cigarette I've smoked every morning since March 1976. A couple of puffs, not too much, just to even out the thinking, so to speak. Then I purge it and let it go out. In the subsequent course of the day, whenever that ridiculous craving strikes, I have another few puffs on that cigar. And that's how I've been getting through these first few days of the rest of my life, so to speak.

So now it's time to take it up a notch. Instead of recourse to an increasingly wretched stogie being shamefully abused in the course of a day to cure (or at least reorient) an addiction, I have consulted El Presidente on the best little cigars I can have in addition to the Por Larranaga Petit Corona, to become my daily companions for life. He's giving me invaluable assistance. Now it's your turn. The Trinidad Coloniales or Reyes? Ooh, pricey. What else?

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Quintero Panetela

Troya Coronas Club (These might be perfect, they come in a tube and only the first half is smokeable but that first half is pure Ramon Allones stewed fruit)

I tried the Quintero Puritos last night and they are actually halfway decent if you smoke slow enough, better than the Party chicos smile.png

all cheap enough to have no guilt about pitching

Good luck!

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Best of wishes on successfully quitting the cigarette habit. I smoked up to a couple packs a day for almost 20 years.

Quit a couple of times for a few months. Last time I quit was in 1997.

Of course I do have a cigar every now and again........

Here's a few options for quickies:

Bolívar Bolívar Tubos No.3

Cohiba Exquisitos

Cohiba Panetelas

El Rey del Mundo Demi Tasse

H. Upmann Coronas Junior

H. Upmann Epicures

Hoyo de Monterrey Le Hoyo du Maire

Montecristo Joyitas

Montecristo Junior

Por Larrañaga Panetelas

Rafael González Panetelas Extra

Romeo y Julieta Julieta

Romeo y Julieta Petit Julietas

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Not intending to dissuade the interest to move exclusively to cigars... But as far as alternate nicotine delivery - have you considered snuff or chewing tobacco?

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Thank you all, you lovely fellows. Short filler? That hadn't crossed my mind, but this may be just what they're for. Several of the suggestions here are tantalizing; perhaps there's scope to "begin again" with the sampler approach. Not up to snuff, though, so to speak - the essence of this whole effort is to spare my lungs any further cloggage. Air is all I wish henceforth to inhale; cigars, I retrohale.

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I quit cigarettes 4 years ago by switching to cigars... hope it works for you too. Here are some of my favorite small smokes:

Partagas Shorts

Bolivar P C

H Upmann Half Corona

Cheers!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

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Some good suggestions so far. My favorites have all been listed. Party Shorts and Bolivar PCs are remarkably consistent. Trinidad Reyes is one I don't smoke enough of but have always enjoyed. PLPC is closely behind. For the money, you really can't beat the Party Short though. They are great young and better with a few years. Stock up!

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Y'know, when it comes to quitting cigarettes, it's all about why you would want to.

I've dumped girlfriends who nagged me about smoking, so smoking is obviously better than sex. Neither have all those "health warnings" had any effect - if anything, who would want to live forever in a world ruled by scolds, bullies and finger-wagging nannies? As life is ultimately pointless, meaningless, futile and costs money (so thank God for religion, if you must), doing anything merely to prolong it is a further drain on finite natural resources, unless you find something somewhat useful to do with it. (I'm curious to know what that might be.) All things considered, then, the best thing to do with being alive (for which you cannot be blamed, for it wasn't your fault) is to ENJOY it. Insofar as possible. That comes first. Then, see if you can be of any use to anyone or anything - but be careful about that; altruism can backfire in alarming ways.

In these my later years, detached from society and the economy, I like riding my bike. A lot. Over the past couple of years I've spent almost as much money on my bike and smoking it as I have on my cigars and smoking them. After seeing what a two-pack-a-day cigarette smoker can do on a bicycle - the thousands of miles traversed and mountains climbed; the weight lost and fitness gained; the demons fled and the angels of my better nature fed - how could I not want to see what I might do with clearer lungs? When pro cyclists cheat, they do so to raise the oxygen-carrying capacity of their blood. For me, quitting cigarettes should have the same effect. Now that's motivation. And cigars are helping me do this. They have evolved in my usage from a revelation to an obsession to an indulgent luxury to a simple pleasure, and now they are a means to hopefully better living.

Which would mean, I suppose, that I love cigars more than life.

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Lately, I can't get enough of the Ramon Allones Small Club Corona.

Incredibly complex RA flavor in an awfully little package. And at a fantastic price.

I'm slowly working my way through two boxes with 2012 box codes. They're fine now, but a bit rough around the edges. A little more time certainly won't hurt.

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