Quote Originally Posted by Amanda
"Remember now, we're not nicotine addicts here."

Speak for yourself, dear....lol. Seriously though, do you think cigar smoking, with very little inhaling, will eventually reduce my body's nicotine dependency? I've always been hoping it would, but I'm hardly an expert on the issue. With me, the addiction is more needing something in my mouth to smoke than the actual nicotine....at least that's what I keep telling myself.
Even harder than breaking the nicotene addiction is breaking the learned habit. Anything that gives us pleasure (smoking, drugs, alchohol, food, sex, sleep) that we do in response to perceived stress or daily schedule can become a powerful habit. If you don't do whatever it is you do when the stressor is triggered or the scheduled time hits, you experience anxiety. Some people are more prone to this than others, and the reasons are as varied as the people.

Fortunately for me, my life must have taught me other coping techniques. Right now, I don't generally "need" anything at any particular time to be able to quell anxiety.

I'm not perfect. Bad coping habits can happen to anyone. When my first marriage fell apart years back while I was in the military, stationed in Korea, I drank too much for my own good. It took some time and new hobbies to break that habit.

The only way you'll be able to reduce any dependancy is by denying yourself that activity and learning other methods to cope with the resultant anxiety.