July 1st marks one year since I put out my last cigarette, so on this fine occasion I thought I’d interview myself about life after smoking.
Were you a heavy smoker?
Not really. I smoked a pack a day for about ten years, but the later years were spent puffing on those incredibly light 1mg menthol things.
Why did you quit smoking?
Good question. It wasn’t for health or financial reasons. I decided to kick the habit because I was about to become a dad, and didn’t want to be smoking around a baby.
How did you quit?
10 weeks worth of nicotine patches did the trick. I had to get my Net Buddy 4 Life to bring them over from Canada because in Japan (until very recently), you had to see a doctor if you wanted patches.
Was it easy quitting?
The first few days were pretty tough, but after that, with the help of the patches it was easier than I thought. I should say that it was my third serious attempt at giving up, so I knew what to expect. Even a year later, I get the occasional urge for a cigarette, but have resisted so far.
Do you feel any healthier?
I was expecting to feel a lot healthier by now, but it hasn’t worked out that way. I’m not as short of breath as I used to be, and I don’t have much of a cough these days, but I don’t really feel all that different, which is kind of disappointing.
Was it worth it?
Although there’s the possibility of cigarettes tripling in price very soon, smoking in Japan is a very affordable habit, so I haven’t really benefited financially. However, saying that, being smoke free for a year did get me a discount on my life insurance payments.
As for my health, well it’s hard to judge how much I’ve extended my life. Smoking was a great pleasure, and I tend to think living a little less as a smoker would be more enjoyable than living a little longer as a non-smoker. For something as wonderful as smoking, I’m surprised companies aren’t falling over themselves to manufacture healthy cigarettes. They did it with coffee (decaf), chocolate (low fat) and cola (diet), but rather than people accepting low tar cigarettes, they ban smoking altogether! Go figure!
I would be very interested to see a peer reviewed study that proves secondhand smoke from a 1mg cigarette causes lung cancer. I just cannot believe it’s possible! Anyway…
Will you ever smoke again?
I really hope so. Either when I’m so old it won’t matter, or when the cost is so high that getting addicted again would be impossible. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy a wonderful side effect of not smoking… a belly! Yes, can you believe it? For the first time since puberty, I’ve actually gained some weight! I’ve tried in vein for nearly two decades to gain weight and at last, I have a whopping 62kgs hanging off my 6ft frame!
If you are in Japan, you have probably already seen the bright yellow notices plastered all over the country’s cigarette vending machines. At first, I thought it was some fancy advertising campaign, but instead, they are announcing the launch of “taspo”, an ID card embedded with an IC (integrated circuit) chip containing information proving the owner is at least 20 years old (the legal age for purchasing cigarettes).
Apparently the restaurant is affiliated with a health clinic, so within the restaurant you can give a blood sample and study it under a microscope. The problem is that since only qualified doctors and nurses are allowed to draw blood, the staff ask you to draw your own! While my student wasn’t too keen, her friends eagerly took samples with syringes and were able to see the movement of their red and white blood cells.