The Advice Thread

[Del Woppio]

What I will say is don't try and change too much, all at the same time. Most of my failed attempts came when I decided to diet, exercise, stop smoking, stop midweek drinking, cut down on public wanking etc all at the same time. Even just giving yourself 2-3 weeks to get used to one change before bringing another in can help tbh.

 

[Dublin Drummer Wolf]

Depends on your mindset as you say Machin. The cool new flavours point is moot in my girlfriends case, she just wants to quit smoking, but can't do cold turkey, she tried that, and lapsed into having 1 or 2 at the weekends, then 1 every evening after dinner, and eventually she was back smoking again.

The flavours dont appeal to her, she just needs a crutch to quit with.

 

[machin05]

Depends on your mindset as you say Machin. The cool new flavours point is moot in my girlfriends case, she just wants to quit smoking, but can't do cold turkey, she tried that, and lapsed into having 1 or 2 at the weekends, then 1 every evening after dinner, and eventually she was back smoking again.

The flavours dont appeal to her, she just needs a crutch to quit with.

Of course, everyone is different and using it purely as an aid to quitting is sound. However, there is a growing industry around all of the different machines, flavours, upgrades, sizes, styles. Basically the vaping companies want vaping to be as addictive and lucrative as smoking as there is a ready made audience there just waiting to transistion.

Some of my mates have gotten into it in a big way, spending hundreds of pounds on different atomisers/battery packs/adjustable power packs etc. which is where my scepticism on cost and nicotine weaning comes from.

What would be interesting is any stats about people who have taken up vaping without smoking before hand.

 

[b3h]

Too right Machin. There's more vape shops per high street than anything else I can think of now too.

 

[Tyrannosaurus Dan]

Do kids still take up smoking these days or is vaping cooler instead?

 

[b3h]

They smoke weed and vape. Little bastards.

 

[Wombat del combate]

 

[lemonjelly]

Biggest challenge I experienced when i quit cigarettes was the silence when everyone else crashed the fags out, lit up and took their first inhale. The silence was deafening, and I was hugely aware I was the only person in the room/group not smoking. I combatted that by instantly talking about something/anything with the person next to me.
Once I'd done a day, there was no reason not to do a week. Once a week was done, no reason not to do a fortnight. And so on.

Of course, I still partake in smoking something else, so never fully gave up in a way. But I easily go days+ without smoking, but you need to take some of my feedback with a pinch of summat :icon_wink:

 

[b3h]

Hate puree's.

 

[EdgeOfTheAlps]

I read that book years ago and it really pissed me off tbh, I just found it so obvious in the mind game/manipulation attempts that I wanted to $#@! him up with a sleeve of marly reds

My ex refused to read it because of that, 17 years later she still smokes I don't so while not everyone's cup of tea I couldn't car if it was a simple mind trick - I quit smoking with zero effort :icon_smile:

Vaping is another great way to quit too, I know several who have done it that way and if it would have been around at the time I would have tried it for sure

 

[leedswolf]

I just decided to give them up and did. No lotions or potions required, just the will to stop.

Aren't there health concerns about vaping and 'popcorn lung'?

 

[Dublin Drummer Wolf]

I just decided to give them up and did. No lotions or potions required, just the will to stop.

Aren't there health concerns about vaping and 'popcorn lung'?

Yes, I looked into this before as I was told that tobacco companies are actively paying for research that suggests that vaping causes popcorn lung. There was a study done by a Harvard professor of health science.

To challenge the bad press electronic cigarettes received after the Harvard study was published, a Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences named Dr. Michael Siegel posted further findings from other studies on his own blog. Based on a study from Allen et al. and a study from Fujioka and Shibamoto, Dr. Siegel compares the average daily diacetyl dose inhaled when vaping and smoking. In his blog, he states that the average inhaled when vaping is 9 micrograms, and the average inhaled when smoking is 6718 micrograms. Dr. Siegel then concludes that ‘daily exposure to diacetyl from smoking is therefore 750 times higher, on average, than exposure to diacetyl from vaping’.

 

[playtheace]

Serious question.
Can't smokers smell their own breath?
That alone would put me off.
A good friend was proudly showing off his newborn and "coo cooing" her and all I could think was that little un's first smell was of some rotten fag breath.

 

[PPB]

Serious question.
Can't smokers smell their own breath?
That alone would put me off.
A good friend was proudly showing off his newborn and "coo cooing" her and all I could think was that little un's first smell was of some rotten fag breath.

Also the smell on their clothes. If everyone else can smell it then surely they can smell themselves, or maybe they don't, I dunno.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

You definitely know the difference since the smoking ban. When I went to the pub pre 2007 (?) I'd have to come home and chuck my jumper/shirt straight in the washing machine. Even more so if I went to the snooker club, whatever you wore ended up reeking of smoke.

 

[lemonjelly]

I remember stories immediately after the smoking ban that sales of deodorant and perfumes and the like rocketed. The reason was because smoke in all these social environments masked how bad these masses of people stank.

Smokers are accustomed to the smell, as it is always there. Likewise they are unaware of the smell on their clothes, or in their house or car.

I remember the landlady of a pub I worked in taking the net curtains down to wash them, as they were proper yellow because of the smoke.

 

[Johnny75]

An ex girlfriend of mine smoked and it didn't bother me too much until we lived together and we lasted 2 months. I was getting ill from the constant stench of smoke in the flat and she refused to go outside to smoke.

I was delighted when the smoking ban came in.

 

[wanderer89]

I'm in need of some help/advice and thought the intellectual lot here might be able to sort me out.

I worked for girlfriends family business, everything was alright for a while then suddenly I stopped being paid, I found out through the girlfriend that the business is having money problems. They never mentioned this to me at the time. They just let me continue working which I did because I didn't want to kick up a fuss and cause trouble.

I've now stopped working for them but I've not handed in my resignation and I'm now looking for a new job.

My query is will them owing me money cause any future problems for me in the next job? I've not been in this position before so I'm unsure as what to do.
I have mentioned it to her mum who just said she'd have a word with her partner (their joint business but he handles the money, very badly if you ask me, but that's neither here nor there) and I've not heard anything back since.

I don't want to get a new job and then find out I owe so much in tax or whatever.

For what it's worth, I didn't do enough hours to be taxed on.

So yeah, any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[lemonjelly]

Would expect not, as that was a separate contractual relationship.

Your issue may be that the IR see your new job as a 2nd job though, as you haven't resigned, and I'm assuming don't have a P45 to submit to their wages dept to show your income/tax/NI paid through the current tax year (I hope you have been getting itemised pay statements, as it might get messy if you haven't been).

 

[wanderer89]

Would expect not, as that was a separate contractual relationship.

Your issue may be that the IR see your new job as a 2nd job though, as you haven't resigned, and I'm assuming don't have a P45 to submit to their wages dept to show your income/tax/NI paid through the current tax year (I hope you have been getting itemised pay statements, as it might get messy if you haven't been).

Oh okay, I didn't think of it like that.

The reason for not resigning is I thought if I did that then I wouldn't have a leg to stand on if they refused to pay up.
I don't have a P45, no.
I've got older payslips but nothing recent at all. I assumed I just wasn't getting them because I wasn't being paid.