To ask you for the thing that finally motivated you to stop smoking ...and did it work ?

I had a sneaky idea my then- boyfriend was going to propose and he smoked..Also my dad smoked ( and I already knew he was going to die of lung cancer). So I thought if I gave up then I could say my boyfriend had to as well.

ETA. I wasn't seriously addicted. Probs only say one or two packs a week. Plus some rollups

I smoked for 40+ years and I bloody loved it. Had no desire to give up.

January 2025 I had notification that I'd gone overdrawn earlier in the month than usual. A switch went in my head and I just knew I had to stop as it just isn't financially sustainable, especially as I've got one eye on retirement.

I stopped a couple of weeks later, cold turkey and that was it. To my amazement, I found it really easy.

The only time I missed it was on a subsequent Greek holiday where smoking is practically mandatory! Although we actually hardly saw anyone smoking on that trip.

DH gave up a couple of months later, also successfully.

I quit the day I found out I was pregnant, just after my 30th birthday. I wasn’t smoking masses by then tbh, maybe three/four a day? I started socially smoking again when DS was about 2, which didn’t happen much obv because I was with him most of the time! It crept up a little bit, but still only when he wasn’t around so would maybe have one every couple of days. I completely stopped forever when my mum died, she died of cancer very suddenly and I kept dreaming about having cancer and smoking. So one day, in May 2020 right in the middle of lockdown I quit and haven’t touched one since.

I was 15 when I started in the late 1970s, as it was cool and 'grown up'. I was 37 when I finally managed to give up and haven't smoked for 24 years. My partner is a non smoker and I was getting grief from my 12 year old at the time about smoking. I don't really remember deciding to give up, though I always planned to. I do remember my last fag though, on a Sunday evening after my shower. For nine months,( this was way before vaping was a thing) I used those little plastic sticks that you put a nicotine cartridge in the mouth bit. This really seemed to work for me, because I got the instant 'hit' in the back of my throat. Patches and gum were available but I never used them. Orange juice ice lollies helped and after about nine months I wasn't using either, If I knew I was going to have a drink with friends,I would always carry the plastic stick ' just in case ' , but used it less and less. I tried many times before that to give up, so I don't know why it worked this time. It was strange because I wasn't particularly planning to give up. Obviously glad I did now. I was crazy for cigarettes, practically a chain smoker so if I can do it..... Helps if you aren't going through a stressful time when you give up though.

My ExH smoked. Every time I tried to stop, the smell on him repulsed me, so I kept smoking as a way to stop me getting the ick. I smoked my last cigarette the day he left me.

Then he quit for his AP. Twat.

Patches or lozenges?

I am 36. I smoked on and off from 18 until I met my now wife when I was 29, she hated smoking and it was a bit of a deal breaker for her, so I decided to try and quit. I managed to completely cut it out day to day, but would still occasionally smoke socially but, gradually cut that out and didn't smoke for a year when I was 32-33, but then gradually started again.

A couple of years ago I tried vaping during a stressful period while I was studying for a masters and working full time in a stressful job and ended up getting even more addicted to that, I was doing it constantly and really starting to notice the effect on my breathing. I kept trying to stop cold turkey but struggled to make it much longer than a week.

I ended up quitting last year after I went on holiday and forgot to take any vapes with me and an Instagram video popped up about a car valeting/ detailing company that had been cleaning a vapers car, they were scraping this horrible sticky residue off the windows and it made me feel physically sick. I haven't touched a vape or cigarette since then, and that was August 2025.

I feel physically better, have started long distance running and although I get the occasional craving, I do miss it but know this is purely psychological and the benefits of stopping are huge. I don't see myself starting again.

Pure bloody pettiness..... Chatting to a guy who I didn't like very much and he told me that he thought smokers were weak willed idiots. I was like "shut up...I can stop whenever I want". He told me to prove it so I did. Never smoked again. I suppose I should thank him but I still don't like him 😁

I gave up about 10 years ago. Not health reasons or anything like that. I just got up one morning, went into my garden for a cigarette, took one drag, looked at the cigarette and said out loud ‘I am sick of doing this, it’s disgusting’

To this day, I have no idea what made me think that, at that moment in time. I started vaping and have never had a cigarette since. I gave up vaping about 2 years ago and it was honestly the hardest thing I have done. It’s so much more addictive than smoking.

I quit age 40 when I figured I probably should because it might make me sick eventually. I haven't been well since I stopped though. The nicotine was, unbeknownst to me, helping with my adhd and I quickly fell into clinical depression once it stopped. Been on medication ever since, but it never really works. I also developed sinus issues which I can't get rid of and multiple allergies ? mcas, because I'm audhd.

If there was a safe way of having nicotine I'd totally go back to it because I'm miserable now with untreated adhd, I've also put on weight and crave sugar constantly. I might live longer, but it's not a happy existence and I don't see the point tbh.

I decided to give up before I turned 30 as I'd read you can get back to a health level of someone that has never smoked if you do it then (obviously bullshit)
I stopped the day I turned 30, just stopped.

I'm one of those annoying twats that can pick it up and put it down. I can smoke socially and then not touch it for months.

The only reason I don't touch it even socially any more is because my life insurance quote was so much higher. Need to go 2 years to get it reasonable again 🤣

I’m a bit like you. I ran out and I honestly could not be bothered to go and buy another pack. Never looked back - although I still think I’d like one when I see someone enjoying one in the evening with a drink.

TTC / pregnancy / bf, then never started again because didn’t want dc to smoke / wanted to be a good role model.

It wasn’t easy, for a good 3-4 years after I could have easily restarted, but just had to look at dc to keep going. 22 years stopped now.

I stopped in January this year, after 40 years. In that time I'd never even attempted it.

I gave up for cost (ouch!) and health. Fearful of developing copd and then having no choice but to give up, I'd rather stop now on my own terms.

Feeling the health benefits already, sense of smell and taste returning, sinuses clearer, lack of breathlessness and tiredness. Bowels no longer irritated! I didn't realise how rubbish smoking makes you feel.

Did anyone else's skin get really bad after cessation? Mine became greasy and flaky and I got dandruff for the first time in my life. Apparently sebum production goes a bit nuts for a while.

I stopped when I bought 2 packets of cigs with the kids child tax credits. I worked part time and one month my wages ran out so I dipped in to their money and I felt like a thief afterwards. On the spot I decided no more. Finished the packet then went cold turkey. I had been smoking since I was 14 and stopped at 32. It was hard but stealing the kids money was what made me realise. 46 now and so glad I stopped

I loved it as well. I do miss it

Honestly, that Alan Carr book. He honestly hammered into me that it’s just stupid. It gives us nothing. Once I actually realised that, it clicked. Give it a read. I didn’t even finish it.

I started in uni and finally quit for good two years ago. I thought it was giving me wrinkles and I am vain!

My teeth. I said to myself I’ll get them whitened once I’ve quit for a month. After getting them whitened I got so many compliments and people couldn’t put their finger on what I’d done, but I look so much better.

A chest infection where I coughed up blood. 22yrs ago. If I was still smoking, then recently watching one of my best friends die from lung cancer that spread to her brain would have been the trigger that made me stop. It was horrendous. She was 57.

Varenicline worked for me, years ago now. At the same time, I prepared well, with my reasons written down, and a strategy for managing cravings.

I was a hardened smoker for years, but eventually as I got a bit older I began to notice my circulation suffering, my skin looked grey and I had a permanent cough. My giving up went like this:

• give up coffee too because smoking and coffee were linked for me
• got frightened about ruining my health
• one day I visited my friend and she involuntarily announced 'god, you stink of fags' (actually I did thank her in the end for that)
• became more difficult to smoke in public places, so that helped
• the cost of cigarettes became so expensive
• became less 'cool' to smoke, people thought badly of me for my smoking

I still miss it occasionally but I feel so much better now. Haven't smoked for a decade.

For me it was a bet with DH. He played a lot of online RPGs (like World of Warcraft). I said I bet I could give up smoking before he gave up playing games. I won - didn't have a single cigarette after that. He still plays RPGs, but then so do I now, so it's worked out pretty well in the end.

Honestly when they stopped doing 10 packs and a packet of 20 was nearly a tenner, i did pharmacy cessation, both of us stopped at the same time which helped, but i have blips now and then but in the main i don't smoke, miss it though loved smoking !

A friend of mine stopped after the dentist pointed out it was staining her teeth.

Never a particularly heavy smoker (<10 a day) she had tried everything to give up from patches, electronic cig, hypnotherapy etc but nothing worked.
She has always taken care of her teeth (not so much as a filling at nearly 60) but during a check up, the dentist pointed out that unless she stopped smoking, the staining on her teeth would be permanent.
15yrs ago and she says she hasn't had a drag since (and knowing how much she cares for her teeth, I believe her).