bring ciggs or quit?im a light smoker.not before noon and 5 a day max.i dont bring ciggs and i never miss em.wondering what you do.

god made your lungs to breath in clean air not poisonous smoke. it's a no-brainer.

Did he make an exception for the liver? ;)

Did he make an exception for the liver? ;)

Yes. He turned the water into wine; it's our job to turn the wine back into water.

Mweinstone:

Leave the Marlboro's at the house.

bali shag or drum.

MW---

While it'd obviously be in your best interest to quit or cut back before you leave, in the end, I don't suppose it will affect your trip much.

Many hikers---you'd be surprised how many---are smokers. Most of them cut way back while thru-hiking, so even if you don't quit this spring or summer, you'll probably find yourself smoking less.

But the cigarettes almost certainly won't be a factor in whether or not your trip is a success.

Some of the hikers I know best are smokers, and they seem to do just fine.

MW---

While it'd obviously be in your best interest to quit or cut back before you leave, in the end, I don't suppose it will affect your trip much.

Many hikers---you'd be surprised how many---are smokers. Most of them cut way back while thru-hiking, so even if you don't quit this spring or summer, you'll probably find yourself smoking less.

But the cigarettes almost certainly won't be a factor in whether or not your trip is a success.

Some of the hikers I know best are smokers, and they seem to do just fine.

I am glad to hear this... Not because I want to justify a habit I am trying to quit, but because I feel like this isn't something you hear often. I have only met a dozen or so thru-hikers face to face and I would say that half of them smoked. I am going to try and quit beforehand, but chances are I will smoke now and then on the trail...

I still smoke off and on...I don't smoke on the trail however, not because I feel it takes away from the nature experience, but more because I feel better at the end of the day without putting the smoke into my lungs. I say leave them and quit for good, you'll be better off in the long run. I so want to quit but it's hard, if I can't before my 4 week hike in June, well, the 4 weeks should do it. The funny thing is I never miss them while I'm out hiking, it's only when back in the real world that I want one. Besides you should pack out any butts you smoked, and that will leave your pack smelling like an ashtray! I have often packed out others butts, so don't smoke on the trail, but hey if you want one with a beer on zero...knock yourself out.

34 days to go till i begin my hike.....6 days ago when i woke up and saw that i had 1 ciggarette left in my pack, i told myself that im going to smoke it, and that will be the end of it.....i was a light smoker also, 5-7 a day....as much as i miss it at times and feel like pulling my hair out, i also love not being enslaved to it anymore....cant wait to finally hike those uphills with clear lungs!!

definatly if were light smokers we exspirence less urge on the trail. and also your right on about smokin in town. sitin at a bar after a week or longer of no smoke or booze and all rain and walk,we enjoy to smoke and drink more after missing it.and heavy smokers have a diferent exspirence.also ii smoke rollies so their is no trash to pack.any body packin old cigg butts is silly.if you must smoke enjoy rolling your own with no filter.way better.

I only smoke cigars, and only in a great while, maybe once a month. I am packing 3 Cubans with me on the trail for my SOBO, 2 for when I get to Harper's Ferry and meet up with a business acquaintance, and one for when I finish up on Springer. Should be cool! :D

IMO more people start smoking on the trail than quit. I think it has to do with people beginning to feel a bit invulnerable once they've done a large number of miles, they fele on top of the world, be health of thier lives etc, so whats smoking going to hurt. I could be completely wrong, I 'm just speaking from my observations.

I had quit for 9 years. I started again on my hike this summer. Seemed like everyone I was hiking with rolled smokes. Must say, now I kick myself in the ass, but I quit once before so maybe I can again.

Good luck with that Nokia. I quit back in 93' and haven't been in the least tempted to start again. Be well!

Puck

Every year when I leave Springer I carry a few cartons of those cheap Tahoe cigs to sell by the pack ($5) to the hikers trying to quit. I'm sold out by Neel Gap. There's money to be made off the weak.:D

your funny. i was gonna sell menthals.and only by the cigg.one dollar.im also bringin a suckling pig to roast and sell at the first selter.so the dieters can eat.loner ,your definatly the funniest one on this site.and i know funny.so dont question my authority.

o.k. stoner, you're da boss.:cool:

american spirit one pouch 2wks never had a prob!ky

There is one good thing to keep in mind if you decide to smoke (or dip/chew) on your hike. Tobacco is cheap in the south, especially if you come from the north or other parts with high "sin" taxes. Several folks I hiked with in '99 actually started or restarted smoking on their hike. Of course, if you are all good and addicted when you get up into NY, NJ, CT, etc., be sure to factor the cost back in.

Or you could just find Jester2000 and bum one that he is carrying.

Yes. He turned the water into wine; it's our job to turn the wine back into water.

Mweinstone:

Leave the Marlboro's at the house.


Never heard that one before. I still have coffee coming out my nose. :jump

I'm not a big smoker, but once in a while I do enjoy the occasional American Spirit (blue pack) or all-tobacco cigar ($3 or above will usually get you one free of 'filler' in the bottom 3/4).

However, I have to say that most of the "smokes" I've seen on the AT are the "all natural" kind that you can't buy in stores in this country. :p

I had quit for 9 years. I started again on my hike this summer. Seemed like everyone I was hiking with rolled smokes. Must say, now I kick myself in the ass, but I quit once before so maybe I can again.Hope you have better luck than I did. I quit in 1971 after smoking for about 9 or 10 years. It wasn't easy, and there were a few false starts, but I did it.

In 1976 I took a drag off someone's cigarette. The next day I bummed a couple butts at work. The second day I was right back at a pack + a day.

It didn't bother me because I knew I could quit. HA! egotistical me.

I tried to quit again and couldn't do it. I'd quit at least once a week. It wasn't until 1981 that I finally quit. You can believe I won't take a drag again. I do't want to go through that again.

Hang in there. Perservere. Remember: If at first you don't succeed, quit and quit again.

Yeah,

Frosty that about sums up how hard it is to quit.

Every year that we sectioned we encountered more and more tobacco smokers. Generally, they were young and traveled in groups who smoked. Many would starting rolling the minute they hit the shelter. I've heard a number of them mention that they started on the trail and only planned to smoke while on the trail.

As we progressed north in our section hikes, we saw fewer and fewer pot smokers. Perhaps it's because the pot smokers became more discreet, or maybe the more flamboyant tokers dropped out.

Take Care,

Tim

I bought cheap ciggs in the south and mailed them ahead in my bounce box for the exspensive areas,in Babylon i smoke a pack a day,on trail abouta pack every 3 days.

i try to leave town with 2-3 packs of filters and a pouch of bali shag or drum. i smoke a cig every three miles, sometimes two cigs.

i quit smoking last year though.....still miss it too....still sneak the occasional cig when drunk too!

I smoked American Spirit mediums (green pack) for 10 years......even though i just quit, i could see myself enjoying a hand-rolled American Spirit every now and then on the trail.......

i dipped Copenhagen from age 16 until about 3 months ago and it was way to hard to quit to do it again. that being said, i love a good cigar once a week and plan on doing just that when i do my through hike in 7 years or so. Might start doing some other things i quit long ago too...:-)

good one.i do think less pot smokers finish cause it makes me tired after it makes me happy.

i quit smoking in febuary 1985,i was smoking over 3 packs a day,i started coughing up blood at the age of 26,so i figured it was time to quit:cool: neo

good one.i do think less pot smokers finish cause it makes me tired after it makes me happy.

just keep smoking at regular intervals throughout the day, and you won't get tired :sun

After a few pints, I start to jones for a smoke. Tried bringing ciggs on the trail once, they just tasted like crap. Smoking on the trail just tastes and feels wrong

I started NOBO last year with the hope to quit smoking my 3-4 cigs a day habit. That didn't last long. I found it surprising how many people smoke cigarettes on the trail. I thought it would be completely opposite.
Most of the smokers I encountered were very nice about the habit and would take it outside the shelter. Most had hopes of quitting or slowing down their habit. All of them were happy with cigarette prices in the south and most switched to rolling their own cigs further north when packs of cigs got much more expensive.
I was in the Smokies talking with a Ridge Runner who was complaining and teaching us about proper butt removal. He asked us NOT to throw our butts into a fire, but pack them out. Anyways, he claimed that more smokers finish the trail than nonsmokers and attributes it to the smokers tendancy to take more breaks (to smoke) and overall it contributes to enjoying themselves more, therefore staying on the trail longer.
All of what I thought about smoking on the trail went out the window the first time I saw a legendary thru-hiker chain smoking cigs up Sasafras Mtn with ease while my newby legs where shaking trying to figure out how he wasn't losing his breath.
When I was on the trail, I probably smoked MORE than I did back home. On the trail, I felt as if I EARNED the cigarette and quickly changed my hope of quitting. I would smoke at lunch (sometimes 2 cigs) and then at dinner and before bed. Sometimes during a short rest during the day I would smoke too. I was never one of the smokers who stopped hiking just to have a cig, more to enjoy a view with a sig.

I do think less pot smokers finish cause it makes me tired after it makes me happy.

There's also the problem of resupply--unless you're willing to carry a pound baggie the whole trip. :D

Hope you have better luck than I did. I quit in 1971 after smoking for about 9 or 10 years. It wasn't easy, and there were a few false starts, but I did it.

In 1976 I took a drag off someone's cigarette. The next day I bummed a couple butts at work. The second day I was right back at a pack + a day.

It didn't bother me because I knew I could quit. HA! egotistical me.

I tried to quit again and couldn't do it. I'd quit at least once a week. It wasn't until 1981 that I finally quit. You can believe I won't take a drag again. I do't want to go through that again.

Hang in there. Perservere. Remember: If at first you don't succeed, quit and quit again.

I quit in 1976, started running, working out, etc. Ran marathons, triathlons, a real helath nut and an obnoxious ex-smoker. Then in 1985 I started my own business, stopped for gas on the way to a potential client and bought a pack just to calm my nerves. I too knew I could quit. NOT! I finally quit again two years ago. Now when things have slowed down in my life and I'm at an age where I can consider serious backapacking again, I now have PDA caused by all those years of smoking. I just had the stints in my right leg replace threed weeks ago and now my left leg has 60% blockage. Sorry for the long winded post but if it helps just one.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

Every year when I leave Springer I carry a few cartons of those cheap Tahoe cigs to sell by the pack ($5) to the hikers trying to quit. I'm sold out by Neel Gap. There's money to be made off the weak.:D

Would get them every once in a while when I lived in Erwin. We called them Tailholes though.:eek: quite aq profit on ther L. Wolf. Aren't they something like $10 a carton?

If you run out of cigs just try the shelters, especially on rainy days. You'll get your fix and then some. Ask the shelter mice, they all have lung cancer!

I stopped my pack a day habit 3 weeks ago when I started training seriously for the trail. I've only slipped up twice since then and both times there was some whiskey involved.
The way it sounds here I might end up starting again out on the trail, I've rolled my own on and off for years, it could happen. Hopefully it doesn't.

you gonna pack firewater?i love wiskey but cant feel good about packin it. your thaughts on trail drinkin as apposed to savin up for town drinkin?

I am going to keep the town drinking to a minimum due to lack of funds... Yet a little airplane spirit bottle every know and then after a long day sounds like the perfect anwser. I wonder if there are places that sell them where I will be doing re-supply?

BTW, I am still smoking about 1/2 a pack per day and will be leaving in about 45 days. As I up my physical preparation over the next few weeks, I am going to try and reduce this to about five per day. From here it will be pretty easy to only smoke a few or quit altogether once I get out on the trail.

From here it will be pretty easy to only smoke a few or quit altogether once I get out on the trail.
That's what you say now. Shelter boredom can be a killa'!:D

bring ciggs or quit?im a light smoker.not before noon and 5 a day max.i dont bring ciggs and i never miss em.wondering what you do.

To me, this is a no brainer!!

QUIT!!

It's the worst habbit going!!

It drains your wallet
It drains your lungs
It drains your life

You choice though?

Saw my grandfather die after smoking for 65 years. I was there the last few hours, as well as the last few weeks, months, and years. The cancer, the pain, the oxygen hose that had to travel with him to the front and back porch just to go outside... None of that is for me.

I'm not claiming that the air long the AT and I81 is much cleaner these days, but at least you are not contributing to the pollution.


QUIT QUIT QUIT!!

Before I began my thru hike I was an avid non smoker- participating regularly in major protests of big tobacco, training cigarette sniffing dogs at a semi-secret facility in Northern Ontario, openly criticizing smokers and warning them of their imminent demise- as soon as I started hiking however things began to change.
Within a week of beginning my hike I was up to a pack a day, chain smoking my lungs into torn paper bags at every shelter I could find, bumming smokes off of shuttle drivers, and robbing other hikers cold-blind of their Marlboro Lights.
I attempted to fight the battle against the great evil of nicotine on maybe two occasions but alas it was all in vein- within a month I had degraded into a hollow shell of a hiker- skipping sections and backtracking to Mtn. Mama's two or three times a week for their great deal's on American Spirit Organics.
At one point I had the habit under control- I'd set up a pretty systematic mail drop schedule with my brother, and was on my way to Katahdin- not smoke free, but in higher spirits then my prior days. But it all went downhill when I met a shadowy figure by the name of Baltimore Jack Tarlin.
Tarlin introduced me to the hard stuff, Marlboro something or others in fancy cases. On my first drag I knew all the glory and rapture of love and addiction, and within minutes was swimming in a sea of ecstacy, a tobacco fueled LSD like trance.
Long story short bring alot of tobacco.

On my first thru attempt in '03 I started off from amicalola with 1 pack of cigs determined to quit. By the time I reached woody gap I would've sold my grandma for a butt. So after my 12 mile day, I left my pack at the shelter, asked the others there if they wanted anything and walked the 9 miles into Suches for some smokes.

Man I'll tell ya...by the time I got to the paved road I was limping and literally crying with pain. Luckily a caddilac happened by driven by a baptist minister who drove me into town and back to the trail. That was my first trail magic experience.

Now I don't bother fighting it....5 packs in the pack at all times...although I only have one every couple of hours.

I had no idea how many hikers smoked either. Im three days with out a cig now and taking the patch. But I smoked drum, samson or balishag, no filter to pack out(guilt free)

P.S. does anyone know if you can buy these brands along the trail or will my options be limited to regular cigs and "backwoods" handrolling tobacco?:-?

I'll probably skip the town drinking all together, if anything I'll pack a pint of Jim Beam, it'll be a lot cheaper in the long run and I won't end up blowing 20$ at the bars in towns.

Isn't Smoking just simply "Slow Suicide"???

I had no idea how many hikers smoked either. Im three days with out a cig now and taking the patch. But I smoked drum, samson or balishag, no filter to pack out(guilt free)

P.S. does anyone know if you can buy these brands along the trail or will my options be limited to regular cigs and "backwoods" handrolling tobacco?:-?

Why ask about availability of tabacco on the trail if you are trying to quit? Did I miss something?

I smoked off and on for about 10 years. I quit cold turkey one day: the birth of my daughter. Haven't smoked or even thought about it since. Nearly 4 years.

Any unhealthy habit could be considered slow suicide.

My great-grandmother smoked non-filter lucky strikes for nearly 70 years and her doctor told her she was in good health when she died. It was the walk to the store for more smokes that got her, some reckless ******* ran her over.

bring ciggs or quit?....

Is this even a legitimate question, or just trolling?

Of course, QUIT!!!

DUH!!!!!!

Rain:sunMan

.

I'll probably skip the town drinking all together, if anything I'll pack a pint of Jim Beam, it'll be a lot cheaper in the long run and I won't end up blowing 20$ at the bars in towns.

When are you leaving? This is my idea too.

I had no idea how many hikers smoked either. Im three days with out a cig now and taking the patch. But I smoked drum, samson or balishag, no filter to pack out(guilt free)

P.S. does anyone know if you can buy these brands along the trail or will my options be limited to regular cigs and "backwoods" handrolling tobacco?:-?

most ingles supermarkets have drum and sampson. to my knowledge, in the south, aside from the renegade convenience store, that's the only place you're gonna get quality roll your own. there is a place north of neel's gap, on hwy 129, called sunshine grocery, that sells american spirit. it's pretty damn good too, and grown organically.

I quit at Springer....until i hit Mountain Mama's. It felt better to quit but I still like the feeling of taking a break, taking in the view and smoking a roll-up.

Where you you in 04 L.Wolfe? I may have been a paying customer.

Ross aka Cheers

I fly into Atlanta March 25 and will hopefully be on the trail the 26th but it may end up the 27th.

I had no idea how many hikers smoked either. Im three days with out a cig now and taking the patch. But I smoked drum, samson or balishag, no filter to pack out(guilt free)

P.S. does anyone know if you can buy these brands along the trail or will my options be limited to regular cigs and "backwoods" handrolling tobacco?:-?

balishag & drum are usually available, just gotta look around sometimes.

beware of getting stuck w/ nothin' but the "bugler", i hate that crap!

bugler sucks! i have only had like 2 cigs in the last three days. this is amazing considering i have been smoking nearly apack a day for the last five years.