Quitting smoking is very difficult, and sometimes even unacceptable, because the habit of smoking when talking or watching tv, or just during a break from work is just as addictive as nicotine.
In order to quit smoking both addictions have to be removed. While by gradually giving up nicotine (with gum or plaster), the only way to get rid of the need of a cigarette in your hand is by will power or, for those who don`t succeed, tobacco free medical cigarettes. Still, one can become addicted to nicotine cigarettes just as well.
A program designed to solve both problems would include a few products as follows : product 1 : only 80 % tobacco (or combination of tobacco and other herbs, such as found in regular cigarettes), 20% harmless, bad tasting herb product 2 : 60 % tobacco, 40 % bad tasting herb product 3: 40% tobacco, 60% bad tasting herb product 4: 20 % tobacco, 80 % bad tasting herb product 5: 100 % bad tasting herb
The 5 products will each be used for about 2 weeks.
The point of this is to destroy neural pattern which associate smoking with pleasure, while providing the body with a decreasing quantity of nicotine. The smoker will not feel dicomfort because of lacking nicotine, but will slowly notice the bad taste of cigarettes. The brain will eventually associate smoking with the bad taste of the additional herb, and the habit will disappear.-- white_dwarf, Oct 10 2006 Okay .. maybe that`s a little far fetched .. you are right about that, i didn`t really think about the getting caught issue .. think i`ll remove that part ..-- white_dwarf, Oct 10 2006 Um, this only solves one problem, nicotine addiction. The oral fixation is not addressed by continuing to smoke and it will still be there when (assuming) the smoker quits due to bad taste.-- Shz, Oct 10 2006 I will offer a parallel: my wife and I drink caffeine-free tea (me due to a heart condition, my wife because she drinks so much diet Coke in the first place, any more she'd be bouncing off the walls). It is most amusing when visitors come, and we forget to tell them about the tea. We see them drinking cup after cup, their bodies anxiously questing for the missing caffeine.
Anyway, since nicotine is also a physical dependency, I think you'll get the same effect here. Once you start reducing the tobacco content, you'll see the smokers *increasing* their smoking, as their bodies seek the missing nicotine.-- DrCurry, Oct 10 2006 //20% harmless, bad tasting herb product 2// Such as? I'll think you find that if you inhale smoke from anything you burn then it will do you some degree of harm.-- DrBob, Oct 10 2006 OK, how's this? The attraction of smoking is that it's cool. If you want to reduce smoking on a large scale, you need a social change to de-valorize cool.-- pertinax, Oct 12 2006 [bigsleep] makes a very valid point. Smokers (at least in the US and UK) have a distinct and inclusive culture. It has its morays and rituals. Regular social gatherings and private clubhouses. Even a set of greeting and departure actions.
The draw of belonging to a tribe is a powerful one. I feel some of that as a new(ish) dog owner.
Leaving all that behind would be difficult. Non-smokers don't get together to not light up. We don't meet every three hours in the non-smoking zone outside the office. We don't have a way way to strike up a conversation with a stranger as non threatening as "got a light?" We don't have an instantly accepted, low cost gift that we can offer another person. All that interaction becomes more difficult.-- Galbinus_Caeli, Oct 12 2006 DrBob : ingesting any kind of smoke is potentially harmful. The point is that the herb in question woud not be addictive, just have bad taste. The opposite of eucalyptus in medical cigarettes which tastes rather good.-- white_dwarf, Oct 12 2006 random, halfbakery