Disclaimer: This may be long.
24 y/o Male.
I've "only" been dipping on a daily basis for two years. However, what started as a thing once in a while quickly became two tins a day. For the last few months it's been three tins a day. Until this Sunday....
My roommate introduced me to dip in college. He used Grizzly mint. Couldn't stand the flavor. The green tin of WG enticed me. Out of what I approximate to be around 1500 tins of dip that i've gone through (2 tins a day x 720 days) only around 5 have NOT been Grizzly WG. I adored/adore it. Little did I know, but found out later, that Grizzly WG is some of the "strongest" dip you can buy.
I had been a pack a day smoker for a couple years before I started dipping. However, cigs never gave me a buzz like dip did. Once I figured out how to put in a lip it was no looking back. I still smoked cigs occasionally when it wasn't appropriate to put in a lip (read: bars) but would always look forward to my tin.
I ended up putting in a half-tin per lip. more than some, less than others I'm sure. However, this became annoying as I would go through a tin in a couple hours. the local gas station ended up trying to stop selling me the grizz because I was running through their stock like crazy.
So, im rambling. Let me try and focus this...I visited a friend this weekend and smoked three packs of cigs in two days plus a couple tins. I didnt' even have some great "realization" or anything. Enough was enough with tobacco. It had always been a crutch for extreme anxiety issues. Feel uncomfortable? pack a lip, light a cig, etc. However, dip pervaded everything. I would sit and play video games for hours with lips in. I would dip at my office, where, if i got caught, it'd probably cost me my job.
A real issue is, and excuse me for introducing something not exactly pertinent to this board, that I'm clinically diagnosed as bipolar. Tobacco always served to regulate my otherwise fluctuating moods. It was a constant when I was never consisent in mood.
Granted ive been stable for a couple years, but I believe i've always had a dual diagnosis with an addictive personality. (lots of substance history)
So, on Sunday night I found this site and it changed my life. The testimonial about being an "addict" and not jsut "addicted" really hit a chord along with others. I've had a stash of generic nicotine gum so i've been chewing that like crazy for a solid 4ish days. But, I jsut had a beer. Almost caved. Had keys in hand ready to go buy a black and mild or a tin. Instead, I decided to go upstairs and write my introduction.
I'm an addict, but I'm working on living with it.
Thanks for reading,
HatetheGrizz
