I know I should wrote and posted this at the end of June. I apologize for the delay. I’m not the best in the west at putting things like this together and wish I could have done a better job.
Below is my HOF Speech.
Why I gave up nicotine and the road I traveled to get here.
I smoked my first cigarette when I was 13 years old in 1966.
It was a menthol cigarette, and it was the best thing I had ever put in my mouth. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the next one.
So, the addiction begins. I’m an old guy now, but smoking was cool back in my younger days. I remember the Marlboro Man, the doctors on TV telling us which cigarettes were the best, from Camels, Lucky Strikes to menthols. Just about everyone I knew smoked.
We had a small variety of smokeless products available to us compared to today. We had leaf tobacco in pouches, plug tobacco, and the old fasioned snuff, the brown powder in a can.
I tried and tested all of them, switching back and forth from one to the other, and still smoking my favorite, Marlboro Reds.
As the years went by and the truth started coming out about the harmful effects of smoking, some of us started finding other means to support our nicotine habit, while others, ‘the smart ones” quit. I dumped the Marlboro Reds around 1974 for various types of smokeless tobacco and continued with my nicotine addiction. I enjoyed nicotine in any form I could get.
Then, in the mid 70’s or so, I discovered Skoal Wintergreen. I was a Skoal guy for years, finally trying other products due to price and or taste.
By this time, I’m getting older. I’ve got grown kids. The people I knew, or most of them who dipped or smoked, had quit. I was becoming more aware of the health risks associated with smokeless tobacco.
I’m a desk jockey for a large company and having a spittoon on the desk was embarrassing. The stinking cups in the truck. My wife constantly complains about me leaving spit cups lying around.
Then I found ZYN. A product that I could get my nicotine from and leave all the nastiness behind, plus not have to worry about the harmful effects of tobacco.
There was one fact that had bothered me for a while, and it was gnawing at me more and more. Nicotine had dominion over me. Somewhere during the past time period, I became a Christian. Any dominion over me other than Christ was off-limits. In the past, I had a severe drinking problem that lasted several decades. The Lord gave me that one. He took the desire away.
It was past time for me to deal with my final addiction and say, “I QUIT” and mean it. Oh, I had numerous pauses throughout my nicotine addiction, some lasting for weeks, maybe months, I don’t remember. I had been here at KTC a couple of times before. I got my butt really reamed out on that from the big dogs here, but they decided I finally meant to quit and allowed me to join the June 26 group.
But this time it had to be different. I had to go into this quit with a mindset I had never used but very little in life. This time, this quit, there is no return no matter the price or the pain. This quit is to the death.
On March 21st of 2026, I spit the last dip out of my mouth and said, it’s over.
I’m 73 years old as of March, so I quit a 60 year addiction cold turkey, and I can say the first 100 days was rough.
For someone who is considering quitting or has just quit. Through the first 100 days it gets easier. The first few days are the worst, then the first week. But each week gets better. So, hang in there. Presevere to victory.
