How I Quit Smoking (Licorice & Other Tips)

I am not going to claim this works for everyone. But I got up there and I was definitely addicted. So I understand addiction now, and I also understand cold turkey. I didn't go cold turkey though. I did it differently. I was up to at least 6 cigarettes a day. In the last month and a half I've smoked a total of 3 cigarettes, and during migraine periods only although last night I had 3 or 4 puffs just for the hell of it. And I noticed the effects on my skin this morning! It's really bad for your skin.

So, I went cold turkey for 2 days to start. Then I smoked a half a cigarette for several days. I didn't give up when I couldn't go cold turkey. I just tapered down. So I went about 2 weeks smoking a half a cigarette if I really had to, and just smoked less and less and then tried cold turkey again and it was hard but it worked.

I had to figure out triggers and my only one was coffee because I had smoked with coffee before. I didn't drink alcohol with smoking though. So I used a little liquor to taper off of smoking and it worked.

I also found anything and everything I could to mimic the hand to mouth feeling that I was attached to. So I ate chips, one by one hand to mouth, and what really helped me for some reason, was licorice allsorts.

I am not sure why I craved licorice but I know that both licorice and nicotine affect blood pressure. I had thought nicotine lowers it but I don't know. At any rate, real licorice with real extract, raises bp. But it helped me.

I also drank tea, hand to mouth instead of coffee for awhile. Licorice tea and other kinds but mainly licorice.

I have definitely put on weight but I think I look better not worse and my skin is getting better too and I do feel much better.

Alcohol really helped me when I had the most craving for nicotine, but if you're addictive type maybe it's not a good idea.

I just used a combination of methods.

Now, I can smoke a half of one or a whole one even, to try to alleviate a migraine or on rare occasion and it's not tempting to go back to it all the time.

Good luck quitting if you're trying! It will save a lot of money.

UPDATE! HEY! I just found something out!!! I just looked up blood pressure and nicotine and I had thought it might lower bp but it actually RAISES bp! So, when I was eating licorice, which also raises bp, it may have mimicked something my body was still craving or needed, in order to alleviate the addiction!

Hey. Cool.

I wonder if I'm the first to use licorice as one way to get off of nicotine? Probably not. But try it, if you can tolerate black licorice. It has to have the natural licorice though, the real thing in it, not just the flavoring, or it won't do anything. You have to be careful not to overdo it though, because people have actually been hospitalized for licorice OD. Seriously, ER for licorice OD. In England, mainly, where I guess they love their allsorts.

Maybe our bodies, when we quit nicotine, plunge even farther into lower bp levels which creates an imbalance or anxiety or something and makes it harder to get back to where we were, I don't know, so taking something to increase it again helps resolve some of the body's dilemna.??

Oh, I'm not the first. Darn it. I guess there is a lot of support for licorice as a home remedy for quitting smoking. Here's the link for the search sites: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1T4ACAW_enUS325US325&q=licorice+for+smoking&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

If only I had been born centuries ago, I might have had a dozen original patents. Sigh.