just the think of smoking make me wanna smoke. i think someone should invent something that look and feel like cigarette except the tar and nicotine.

You can get herbal cigerettes but they really stink! And do you ever really get over the nicotine addiction?

well, i smoke marlboro which has far far less tar and nicotine than my country's cigarette product... which is like 2-3 times more nicotine. but it's hard though, i guess it's because that i can't but it's that i don't want to. my dad smoked like 2-3 packs a day, and he managed to quit, and he did it not by slow process, he just cut the habit straight away as soon as he decided he had ti quit. i guess i'll wait for that moment :)

by the way, have i mentioned that a pack of marlboro cost less than 1 US$?
so they just make it harder to quit huh?

avoid FRANCE i mean just go around it if possible....,especialy PARIS were smoking is more than just allowed,people will smoke bright next to you in a crowded restaurant while your still eating....they sell GAULOISE bleau sans filtre.....also cool,cool;KOOL vert..i mean theres smoking,then theres smoking in paris....you smoke everywere ...theres nowere you cant smoke....its positively encouraged.....and a lot less dangerous than crossing one of those in- built paris -design features...the black and white stripes on the road.....that entice pedestians and tourists....to interfere with traffic flows and be immediateley run down.

I actually started smoking in Paris because I didn't want to die of lung cancer due to second-hand smoke. I don't think I've ever had to deal with so much cigarette smoke indoors, ever.

Spain was bad too, but they magically banned it right after I left.

The French are funny - law obliges public places like bars and restaurants to designate non-smoking areas but nobody has to respect them, so people smoke everywhere regardless.

What's it like in Toronto? You might have noticed while you were in England that places to smoke are progressively reducing as laws change, so by the time you go back it might be illegal in pubs. Smokers may all emigrate to wherever didi is, given that fags are obviously radically less expensive than in the UK...

Perhaps the most unusual (and expensive) way of successfully giving up would be to book yourself onto a whole series of longhaul flights, just keep travelling until you can control the cravings...

The flight idea is amazing, except that someone might go on a rampage. Hey, if they lock you in the bathroom because you're going insane... do you get to smoke?

Toronto is smoke free, like NYC. It's really a pain, especially in the -40C with windchill winter days. And you can imagine how many of those gas heaters they use, a friend told me that all the emissions we've managed to stop SUV's from producing in the last five years... those gas heaters have tripled.

It's weird the things you notice when you stop smoking. I don't panic any more when I get on a train or an aeroplane as I don't have to worry about when I next get to smoke.

That is the only plus point.

Smoking is fantastic. I know it's really fucking bad for you but I guarantee that stopping smoking is worse for you. I know this now for a fact as it's been nearly 2 weeks and I don't feel any 'better', I just miss smoking and swear at people on a regular basis. Foxtons estate agents are the latest to bear witness to the horror of me without snouts, as I recently got so wound up I had to scream at one of them and kick the tyre of his 'twatted up mini cooper with graffitit style writing on it'.

Didi, you are right smoking rocks. Also those people who say "after 3 days all the nicotine leaves your body and you won't need to smoke anymore.." are absloute liars.

What bothers me about not smoking is getting my sense of smell back. It's not great! Suddenly, odours of all sorts - people's perfumes in particular, but also food and, oh everything - seem really agressively overbearing. I can smell someone smoking at great distance, round corners even. Will I ever get used to it?