Day 16 NO SNUS -- Going to Succeed this time

[Montovon]

Falcon, you are doing great. I kept my last unopened tin of Kodiak for almost two weeks before I scrapped it. It was really hard for me too after 17 years of the Wintergreen Bear. I am not sure why I held on to it for so long. I never opened it or anything, but every once in a while I would open my glove box and just look at it. It is an odd feeling to get rid of something that you spent almost half of your life with. Just remember that every craving will pass. Every crazy thought that is trying to convince you to buy more is just the nicotine addiciton kicking in. Remember how you have felt the last few weeks, and remember, that even one SNUS will cause you to have to go through all of it again. Stay strong, and congrats on your quit.

[Falcon67]

Tough day at work -- lots of long boring meetings -- this would have been prime SNUS time for me to keep alert. They were conference calls so I just stood up at my desk everytime I started to loose focus. Oregon Mint in my upper lip keeping me satisfied. Posting to my group every day reminds me I would be letting a lot of people down if I caved -- Not to mention going back on my promise. Thanks for the support.

[Falcon67]

Family party today at a nice restaurant - drinking, dancing, great food. Snus would have played a huge part today. Brought my Oregon Mint and stayed the course. Even kept the drinking down to one beer.

It was a really nice steak house that boasted primo cigars in a smoking room - geez let's really pile the temptations on. Stayed away from it despite people asking why I was not jumping on it. Kept you the Mint packs in my lip - drank lots of seltzer and made it through the event.

Another day down - I see now this will be a day at a time, event at a time approach.

[worktowin]

Received both Oregon Mint and Smokey Mountain pouches today. Thank you so much for the tip - they are both really good as substitutes for portion snus. I would place them as white portions - almost mini size. The Oregon were smaller and dryer - both are great. Easy to placenta in upper lip and flavor is great.

Only drawback is the can - doesn't not have an empty spot for used pouches. That is sooooo handy to stay discreet - most Swedish Snus cans have them. I can handle discarding them in a napkin.

These really hit the mark on the physical habit and of lipping a pouch. Another day down thanks to the help from this group.

Thanks again!

Nice turn of events. I read your initial posts and thought... oh boy... here we go again... but you've listened and learned. Keep doing what you are doing. It gets easier... how you feel now isn't your new normal.

[Falcon67]

Received both Oregon Mint and Smokey Mountain pouches today. Thank you so much for the tip - they are both really good as substitutes for portion snus. I would place them as white portions - almost mini size. The Oregon were smaller and dryer - both are great. Easy to placenta in upper lip and flavor is great.

Only drawback is the can - doesn't not have an empty spot for used pouches. That is sooooo handy to stay discreet - most Swedish Snus cans have them. I can handle discarding them in a napkin.

These really hit the mark on the physical habit and of lipping a pouch. Another day down thanks to the help from this group.

Thanks again!

[Falcon67]

Update - last can from dresser thrown out.

First time in over 12 plus years I will go to sleep without one in the house.

Thanks again - going to kick this for good.

[Falcon67]

Thanks for the tip on the Smokey Mountain pouches -- ordered a few cans to try.

Thanks for all of the pushing -- all of the new cans are gone -- trashed -- dumped them into a trash can on the opposite side of the building from where I work. That is a really busy area and the trash bins will be filled and dumped within the next hour. I feel that shaky panic feeling but am posting this to show my resolve and have a 2 hour meeting coming up to keep my mind off of running back over there.

I will dump the open can tonight when I get home. Take it out of the dresser -- walk outside and down to the dumpster and toss.

No going back now -- looking forward to trying some of these substitute items as soon as they come.

Thanks for all of the good advice and support.

[69franx]

The Smokey Mountain Snuff Wintergreen pouches were terribly small compared to my old favorite Grizzly pouches, but not as small as the snus I had sampled years ago when they hit the market hard here in the states. Its just another option for you to check out. I highly recommend ditching everything you have on hand: get it gone, dump it, flush it, whatever you have to do. As was stated, having an available supply that you are essentially "trying not to use" can only cause problems for your quit. I was quite unhappy the other day at about day 35 to find an old dead can of those grizzly pouches under my bed, next to the bedside garbage can (that was only really ever there for empty cans.) I think I am on the path to hating nicotine, and I want this site to be my only reminder of what I used to do to myself all day every damn day.

[jeffw]

by keeping them you are setting yourself up for a certain cave...ditch the snus tins and keep the quit open. flush them down the toilet now.

[Falcon67]

Thank you for the tip on the Oregon Mint -- just ordered a few cans -- lets see how well they work.

I will ditch the trophy can soon -- I am in the process of ditching all of the unopened cans that I have.

I locked them in a container at work -- so I could not grab any at night / mornings or on weekends. The nicotine is still controlling the part of my brain that reminds me how much money I spent on them -- what a waste. I have trashed all of the "get me by" brands that I bought in the past -- now down to my favorite mainstay snus. I have a dozen unopened cans of that. That nicotine riddled brain wave is yelling at me that I should have planned the quit out better and finishing these last ones up will not do anything. I know better and just have to dump them. One step at a time I guess.

The really crazy part is that the tins themselves were such a big part of me. They are very unique looking -- nothing like dip cans. I never left home without one in my pocket for years. In some ways throwing them all out is like throwing out a part of my identity. I know really crazy talk -- I guess I just have to get this out in writing to see that. That is a great reason for this forum.

Thanks again -- will keep you posted on my progress.

[Tiswritten]

Welcome Falcon. Oregon Mint has pouches that are rather small, so that may be more comparable in size to the snus.

I would advise pitching the "trophy tin" you have there... you have been able to reject it so far, but what happens in 2 weeks (or whenever) when you have a really bad day?

[Falcon67]

So day 16 -- feeling A LOT better than this time 2 weeks ago.

Cravings are still whispering in the background but not yelling like they were last week -- which was an improvement over the screaming the first week.

I read a lot of the site -- thanks for the advise. Since I WAS (I am no longer engaging in this behavior) a snus user there is not a lot of support for that. I have been looking specifically for nicotine free products to help with the behaviors and mouth feels. I found a lot of suggestions on this however they miss the mark for a Snus user. I bought and am using the Jakes Mint pouches -- however they are really large and not very comfortable for upper lip use. The other probelm is I was a mini portion Snus user this LARGE pouch is really out of my comfort zone. I am making it work -- and the taste is terrific -- just large and clunky. I would appreciate ANY suggestions from Ex-Snusers out on the forum.

Missing the energy kick and alertness boost before meetings -- that was a HUGE part of my use of snus. Again any suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated.

I never believed I was an addict while I used snus -- but that was becoming more and more apparent as I would panic and loose my mind when I could not order my snus (Swedish brand Northerner dry mini wintermint) because it was on back order. I would panic and get crazy -- stretching out what I still had and checking the website every 3 hours to see when they got it back in. This happened many times over the past year when I refilled -- and I had to admit to myself that I was a slave to this stuff. I started to let myself get really low -- intending to quit -- then chicken out when I got too low and order. The panic REALLY set in when they were on back order -- I was down to next to nothing and sometimes ordered other Swedish Snus to "get me by" until mine was back in stock.

So Monday August 28th I used my last snus late at night. I honestly had no plans on quitting the next day -- something just snapped the next morning when I went to pop my first snus for the day. I just said -- NO. I put the case in my pocket and went to work. I bought a pack of strong gum (Dentine ICE) and popped them. The day was LONG and DRAGGED and I grabbed at the tin in my pocket all day. So after going through 2 packs of gum I congratulated myself on making it through work with no snus. The next day I left the tin in the house -- this would have made me PANIC in the past -- but I did it.

So here I am a few weeks later -- tin is still in my dresser drawer -- I see it every morning -- I even open it to sniff some mornings -- but I leave it there and it still has 11 pieces -- same as was there that Monday night.

Thanks for this website -- really has helped. VERY informational