Howdy. 43-yo dip fiend here. First experience with dip was a friend brining a can of Hawken to our fort when we were 9-10. Got hooked for good around age 15 after puking my way through a can of mint Happy Days. Since then I've been a tin/1.5 day guy aside from "quitting" for a 4 year stretch that mostly included cigs, and then one or two more 6-month stretches. Otherwise, I've had a dip in within 30 seconds of waking up for the past 30 years. I quit two Fridays ago after I wasted a half hour trying to find a c-store that wasn't out of Skoal LC wintergreen. Settled for Kodiak, which I hadn't had in over a decade, and figured it sucked bad enough that I didn't need to build up that "final dip" that usually lasts me about 2 hrs, like a long goodbye to an old friend.
I've always found the quitting timeline on this site helpful to give me something to look forward to. Today's my 10th day of being clean. If I didn't have 3 young kids, I'm not sure I'd care enough to ever quit at this point but I was looking through our holiday photos and thought how pathetic it was that I had a dip in for most of the pics with the family around the tree.
Anyway, I'm familiar with most of the phases of quitting since I've gone through it before. At day 10 and I can finally feel the fog lifting. It was rough this time around. Got through a week of my usual triggers and cravings are starting to fade. Staying more active this time around so as to avoid putting on 10 lbs right away. Toughest task for quitting with me hasn't been caving in and buying a can, but avoiding bumming a cig from someone. I could bum one cig and after not having one for a year and be up to a half pack by the next day. I'll usually go through a few weeks of that - getting sick, losing my voice, and having to go for "walks" every hour when I'm home - and then just go back to dip to get the same rush without the death feeling that comes with smoking.
Oh well, that's my story. I know I can never do just one more like my friends can do each year at a camping trip. I look at it like the next dip I take is me giving up on life and my family. Hope I make it and hope I can finally use this forum to help.