Exceptional report. Surprised to see that much of a confusion on HN about why it is there. MH17 posts with forensics did not seem to be offtopic when they were posted. This fits.
For me smoking was always a social thing, smoke breaks were spent with my schoolmates, friends and colleagues. It was a nice ritual to have. Go out, walk to a smoking spot, chat, smoke one, chat, maybe two, head back, get back to work. This aspect made quitting easier, in a way. Once at work i switched from a tightly knit team that was spending every moment of the day together, to a different smaller team where everyone had their own track and there was no such esprit de corps, and no one was smoking. My breaks became much less enjoyable.
I got frustrated with myself hanging onto a habit like that. I quit cold turkey from half a pack a day because i felt like tapering down was just an excuse to continue smoking while still doing "something" about my addiction. I had weird nightmares for a few weeks, that i do not remember that well but i remember that the main theme was the embarrassment of finding myself smoking again.
It was 9 years since my last cigarette and i still think about smoking daily. I understand that mainly it is not the tobacco that i am missing, but the fun that i had and people i had around me.
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