I have done both in the past, relapsed, and am now doing both again.
My motivations have always been simple. I quit drinking when they said I had 3 to 6 months left to live and carry on drinking. I quit smoking when they said it would add 40% to the chance of my operation being successful.
I started drinking moderately when my blood results came back as heavy alcoholic rather than terminal ill. That was partly caused by the pain drugs I was given for the various operations, etc., not just alcohol. I smoked the cigars again because I actually liked them and I wasn't having the operations.
I'm now facing another big operation or set of operations, so I'm stopping smoking and realise I'm sweating way more than other people in this hot weather, which is probably liver failure.
I'd be interested here for others who've given up either smoking or drinking from a background of fairly heavy use to see what they thought was hardest.
Smoking seemed hardest in the first 10 days. Drinking for the longer term possibly because alcohol-free beer tastes rubbish. Yes, I know there's lots of alcohol-free beer, and some of it is almost good. But it's so rubbish.
Drinking for me.
I enjoy a beer or a glass of wine. I'm the first to admit that I drink too much. Ended up with kidney stones aged 38.... Advice of my doctor was to start the day with a Weißbier rather than a lager. 🫤.... I was in Bavaria, mind.
I'll drink socially and alone. It's rare that I'll put the cork back in a bottle of red.
I'll only smoke socially. If no one else is smoking I'm happy not to. If there's another someone there smoking then I'll join in.
I also like the tactile process of rolling a snout.
WRT weed or hash. If I've got it, I'll smoke it till it's gone. Happy enough without it, but if it's there I'll smoke it.
Smoking I'd say. I usually only drink once a week nowadays and don't feel the need for it more often but when I smoked in my 20s it was hellish to quit. And I was playing footie then. Quit 30 years ago.
Good luck.
I think smoking is much more difficult. "Quit" for 8 years then started smoking again.
I don't drink that much as I don't really enjoy drinking because it gives me the stomach pain or heart burn, probably due to low alcohol tolerance.
My friend started drinking a little wine during dinner, then progressed to nearly 4 bottles a week and he had to stop after his doctor told him his body couldn't take it.
I think it depends on the individual and the forcing factors.
I smoked socially... then a bit more in my teens and early 20s. Moved to Australia and GF and I decided to quit. Binnned the baccy and haven't touched it since. Easy. I ****ing hate smoking now.
Started drinking as a 12-year-old. As a student and in 20s was a 20-30 pint a weekend drinker. Can't imagine ever quitting but I rarely have more than 2-3 in a night.
Dad was smoking 140 cigs a day at one point (admittedly he worked for a fag company) then quit and "only" smoked cigars and a pipe. Weirdly, long after moving jobs he could easily give up whenever he was on holiday for a fortnight and only smoke when he went back to work. AFAIK he's completely quit now.
He used to share at least one bottle of wine a night, has cut back to almost nothing now.
Sister smoked from the age of 11 until the day she found out she was pregnant.
I just stopped alcohol. It seemed easy but I was getting tight anxiety chest from even just a couple (dad's dementia was another driver) I was a pretty heavy drinker for pushing 30years eased down a fair bit then stopped. AFs are reasonable but it's for the "refreshing" cold beer effect and also I don't really like soft drinks. When I worked pubs I used to drink fizzy water with a dash of lime and a couple of drops of angostura bitters but pubs always load the lime too much for me.
Fags can't comment.
But I do have an issue with sugar/chocolate just can't cut it down enough for my own liking I'm concerned that I'm going towards diabetes.
Personally I found giving up smoking was pretty easy. But; I wanted to, I was in the right mental state, and I counted every day as a mini celebration. I gave up booze for quite a while, and I think I could probably do it again, but I quite enjoy the small glass of wine I have, so not quite willing to give that up as well just yet.
Smoking for me. It was an actual addiction whereas drink has always been a habit (i.e. I was never an alcoholic, I drank a LOT when young but could easily go days without drinking without even thinking about it)
I'd say smoking is harder to do in the moment, drinking is harder to maintain over time. It always feels like the risk of having just one drink is far less than having one smoke.
Vaping on the other hand, dear god, never again.
I've never been a big drinker so it wouldn't bother me if I could never drink again. I drink maybe two or three times a year.
Smoking was quite difficult to quit though, and I think I'd struggle to quit vaping. We'll see come October when the governments new fun tax kicks in.
Much easier for smoking to become a physical addiction. Drinking to become physically addicted you are a long way down the road.
Id also say smoking fro ma mental addiction also, you can nip out for a quick smoke at work.. nipping out to the car park for a JD and coke is heavily frowned upon.
So. I'd say if you were a professional smoker, you are likely to get hooked much sooner than a drinker. And therefore that would be inherently harder to quit.
Not diminishing alcohol addiction, it certainly is a thing, buried my best mates little brother a year ago who literally drunk himself into the grave
I gave up smoking really easily about 19 years ago, as soon as my wife became pregnat with our son. I suppose I wanted to anyway, as I never really 'liked' smoking, but having a reason certainly helps.
Don't think I would ever totally give up drinking though, unless for medical reasons, as I enjoy it. I don't drink loads so its ot really something I think about. It'd be better medically for me to give up snacking or sugar or kebabs....
Smoking for me was easier and that was back when it was socially acceptable.
So based on that, for me alcohol would be way harder due to my social life revolving around it.
Never smoked myself but by all accounts nicotine is more addictive.
I’ve stopped drinking for several months a few times, it easy enough to stop but I’ve never quite as always started again. I’ve for months not stuck to my 3 pint limit, while I’m not where I was around 3 years ago I still hit it harder than I should with ease.
I didn't find it too hard to give up smoking. When I started work nobody smoked in the office although it was allowed and none of my work friends smoked. So it became a social, in the pub, type of thing. That reduced more and more as fewer and fewer of my friends smoked. I smoked less and less and then just stopped. After I'd stopped if I ever had any ciggies I always just considered myself a non-smoker who'd just had a smoke and then carried on not smoking.
On the other hand, I think it would be really hard to give up drinking completely though. Firstly, I really like the taste of good beer, wine and whisky; Secondly, so much of our (UK) evening and night-time social culture is centred around venues that primarily serve alcohol; thirdly, all my friends drink and drinking together is part of the group identities; fourthly I sometimes just like to have a beer on a Friday night to relax at the end of the week
All that said , we've (me and Mrs OD) have massively cut down on our drinking. If I don't go out with friends I will maybe have maximum a couple of nice beers and a small single malt over a weekend and nothing during the week. If we ever share a bottle of wine we both lose sleep and have hangovers in the morning. This is from someone who could comfortably drink 10+ pints on a big night out.
I went from smoking to vaping around 2014. Moving to Aus (vape ban) and having a kid was plenty of reason to stop. I thought it would be hard, read Alan Carr, and just stopped. Haven’t been tempted since. Seems mental that I ever did to be honest.
I’m not interested in stopping drinking, but I am taking greater care of my health as I get older which is making me slow down. I think I’d find stopping drinking MUCH harder.
I've given up smoking but still have a tipple or six every week, so I'd vote smoking being easier.
I found smoking easier to give up, it was still bloody hard, but as time passes it gets easier.
Booze is work in progress, I've eased up alot, but wobble either Friday or Saturday, but not bothered after that.
If you have access to audio books, give Allen(?) Carr a go. Other quitting books are available, but they seem to be a variation of a theme.
I would like to point out I have no intention of quitting alcohol.
drinking definitely for me. smoking was p1ss easy in the end although id had a couple of tries before. i just asked myself why i was doing it. started at school like most do to look 'hard', carried on to my early 20s, tried giving up for financial reasons now and then, but it was when i actually got into the zone mentally that i did it just like that. like i said, i just asked myself why. did i think i looked cool? no, not particularly now i was out of my teens. did other people look at me smoking and think i looked cool? no, they probably didnt notice whether i had a fag on or not, all the same to them. was it my body craving a fag for no good reason whatsoever? yes. there wasnt one good reason to light up a fag, cost, health, looks, nothing. so i vowed at that point i wouldnt touch another fag in my life, simple as that.
drinking tho..... id like to also quit that for health/weight reasons, but even though i know i should, and could quite easily if i was on my own with no family or friends, i just cant face the thought of a night out, weddings, parties, general socialising, and being sober when everyone else is getting merry. ive done it the odd night and its grim (for me). plus, theres no drink that i can think of that would replace it. coke all night would bloat me up, id get sick of orange juice, AF beers are sh1te after the first one....... maybe one day.
You make THE decision and then you stop. Completely. Easy.
Until you make THE decision then you can never properly quit (or change anything really). Nobody can make THE decision for you. Phrases like "THEY told me I needed to quit" are pathetic. We all know that any alcohol or smoking is bad for us; we don't need telling.
Make THE decision and stop. Nothing worthwhile is easy. Don't leave THE decision until it's too late.
Personally, I made THE decision around smoking many years ago. I quit the alcohol last year after knowing I should stop for the last few years. After one month I felt no better. After 6 months I felt loads better!
Getting a terminal cancer diagnosis either breaks you or sharpens your focus. Nobody can really help you to stop; only YOU can make THE decision. Please make it today!
AF beers are sh1te after the first one....... maybe one day.
There are good AF beers these days. Guinness Zero for instance.
i used to both drink and smoke heavily (when i had any money) until 2004 when i gave up both cold turkey without any help from anyone else either.
it's one of the few things that i am proud of in my life.
i wish everyone good luck with giving up also i must add
Two very different things.
I stopped smoking for good in my mid-twenties. I found it very hard. I was a very heavy smoker, at least 20 - 30+ a day, partly because of my working environment, (passenger ship), fags were cheap and you could smoke everywhere.
I drink far too much, which never used to bother me as would regularly go offshore for a few weeks at a time into a totally dry environment. So I was basically tee-total for 4 to 6 months a year. However, I no longer do and need to reduce my intake.
Thing is once I realised that I was starting to enjoy the foul tasting Nicorette gum of the 90's, I broke the trick your brain plays on you when you are an addict. Smoking doesn't really give you "pleasure" it's just the relief of the withdrawal symptoms that feels good.
Alcohol, is a different beast, a cold beer on a summer's day can be absolutely delicious. Same with a glass of red with your meal. A sociable pint watching the football. A few beers while cooking. Absolutely love all of them.
I remember after being on a barge for 6 weeks off the coast of Mexico, in 40C heat, getting ashore, off to the 7/11 for a ice cold case of Dos Equis and drinking it while in the shower. Absolutely shite beer but it tasted the best ever.
