topr8 - 11:48 am on Jan 8, 2010 (gmt 0)

haha, great topic, we can all post and be sanctimonious!

i quit around 14 years ago - from 60/80 to zero overnight. i read the original allen carr book and used no patches, no substitutes etc.
i did it at a time when i split up from a very significant relationship, i guess i was was in a psychological place where i had to make changes in my life like it or not!

smoking story:
i'm in the art business and watching in slow motion a lit cig roll off the edge of a shelf where i left it and fall slap bang into the middle of a thousand pound (money not weight) piece of paper ... burning a nice brown hole right where it landed. now that was an interesting feeling!

of course the health benefits are huge, i just felt so much better.
appreciating food was a big one too, smoking really deadened my taste buds which came right back to life again (over time) when i stopped.

the biggest benefit to me was the time i saved, smoking took up a lot of time and was a real distraction from everything i did, so i get what brett is saying about getting smarter, i would concur but i'm wondering if it is actually due to just focusing for longer as a result of not stopping for a cig break all the time.

... as for current smokers - please keep it up and keep those taxes rolling in! :)

joking aside, for me the biggest benefit of not smoking is Freedom! freedom from the slavery of smoking, only after becoming a non smoker did i realise how much of a ball and chain it was.