I started smoking on December 17th, 1969; one month before my mom died of lung cancer from her 4-5 pack a day habit. I quit for a year one time, but picked it back up. I guess some time around December 17th last year I started thinking about quitting. I started to have blood in my morning mucous discharge. Just before Christmas, I got strep throat. Not too bad, just enough to make things a little worse.
I recovered after a week or so and went to a small family reunion during the second week of January. I didn't really feel very healthy and seeing the kids and grandkids made me think even more about quitting. My wife stayed at the reunion a few days longer than I did and when she got home, she was very sick for about a week. Just as she started to recover, I got sick.
Here in Washington you have to smoke outside, so I was still smoking 5 or 6 smokes a day, but it wasn't very satisfying. As my illness lingered (sinus & lung infection), I was down to 2 or 3 a day. I worked from home 4 days last week. Friday, we had our APA Tri-Cups tournament, so I went to work and then over to the bar in Oregon for the tournament. Everybody there was chain smoking like there was no tomorrow. I sat there in that environment for 3 and a half hours and thought I was going to die. Playing my match was very surreal. I played really well but couldn't think properly and ended up getting outsmarted in the end.
Fortunately we played in the non-smoking section the next day and I was blowing blood out of my nose all day along with the snot from the night before. We ended up losing our second match and got eliminated, which was just fine for me. Sunday I finally went to the doctor and got some antibiotics. The doctor told me smoking with my infections was like throwing gasoline on a fire to try to put it out. I didn't agree with his analogy, but I could tell it wasn't helping.
I think I smoked one and a half or two cigarettes Sunday. Monday, I smoked half a cig and Tuesday I smoked half a cig. Today is my second day of no smoking. I can say that right now, I'm a non-smoker!
To address the poll, I would have to say that in our area, most pool players are also cigarette smokers. After the indoor smoking ban, I haven't noticed any drop off in patronage at the bars I play at. Everyone on my APA team smokes and all but two of my teammates in the other league smoke (one quit last year after a heart attack and bypass surgery).
It's a nasty habit but can be very satisfying at the same time. I smoked everywhere I lived until about two years ago. It didn't take long before I couldn't stand the smell if I smoked in the house or pool room. I had a guy come out and play several months ago and we played for several hours, both smoking vigorously the whole time. It took at least two weeks with the window open, air freshener, and the fan on 24/7 to get rid of the smell. I'm still not convinced that it's all gone.
Otay, I'm done.