On December 13, at 7:00 pm, I poured out my last can of dip, hopefully for the rest of my life. IÂ’m 34, I started dipping when I was 20. Other than an occasional soar throat, IÂ’ve never had any problems from dipping. I dipped Grizzley straight long cut for about 8 years, then switched to Skoal Mint Extra long cut for the last 5 or 6 years.
For the last 10 years or so, I would want a dip for everything IÂ’m doing. Wake up-get a dip, drive to work-get a dip, get to work-get a dip etc... I wanted a dip from sun up to sun down.
I never really tried to quit, I liked dip so much that I was never really serious about quiting so I never “tried” too many times. Well on Dec 13, 2017, I quit cold turkey and will never go back.
What was my big motivation? Well I’m married and have a 2 year old son. He’s enough to need to quit, but he’s not what pushed me over the edge to stop cold turkey. The term “Gator Lip” is what pushed me to quit.
Gator lip is a condition of your cheek when you keep a dip in for extended periods of time. Your cheek will get really rough and peel. You will notice ridges and wrinkles from the snuff constantly sitting in one spot. IÂ’ve had a little touch of this before, but on Dec 13 it was bad. My entire inner cheek was white and torn up from a long day of dipping. I began to read about dip consequences and spent an entire sleepless night reading doom and gloom articles and pictures.
I woke up the next day and scheduled a dentist appointment for the following Friday. By then, after no dipping for a couple of days, my cheek had time to heal and the dentist gave me the “all clear” after 14 years of heavy dipping.
Cold turkey was hell, but to me, itÂ’s the only way. I learned through this site and others, expect the 3 day flu. Nicotine is a drug and you can absolutely expect physical withdrawals if your body is used to a steady stream of nicotine like mine was. I had 2 nights of extreme night sweats and cold shakes, almost identical to the flu. But after 72 hours I was through the withdrawals, and now have to beat the physical addiction.
For me, the physical addiction was easy for the first 5 days because I was running on a clean bill of health from the dentist and the happiness of my cheek healing. Day 6 of 9 I went and bought some Smokey mountain snuff (grape). It was really good and actually gave me the feeling of getting a dip. ItÂ’s 100% herbs so it should be safe, BUT, it tore my lip up like real dip so I dont think its going to be for me either.
In my onion, the key to quitting is knowing what to expect. You know it’s a 72 hour detox from nicotine, if you feel bad you should feel good, that means you’re getting that sh*t out of your body. You’ll want a dip even after the nicotine is gone. Get 3 or 3”4 pieces of gum at once and chew it. Throw it down there like a dip.... just DONT GET A DIP!
Read enough to scare yourself, but also realize that most of us dippers can get out clean with no long term problems. You just have to quit now while you still have a chance.
Good Luck!
