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I'm going to be smoking less..

MonkeyK

MonkeyK

New Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2003
Messages
578
Location
Minneapolis, MN
Sorry to be a downer, but I need to curtail my modest cigar smoking.
Last year my mom died from cancer. Last month, we found out that my wife has thyroid cancer. Thinking about my (and especially my wife's) mortality leads me to think about how to ensure that we enjoy the life we live (why one does not think about that all along is a major mystery of life). I enjoy smoking cigars and don't plan to stop, but I plan to limit it to special occasions only. Thanks to CP members, I've learned about some really excellent cigars to have on those special occasions. :thumbs:

Up to now, I've been smoking about twice per month. I figure that in the future, this will become once per month or less.

But my change is yours (or at least somebodys). I have a lot of cigars that I will never smoke. Which cigars to smoke for special occassions is, of course, subjective. In my case that will include Anejo, Don Carlos, PAM, aged Padrons, EDS, and a few rarer cigars that I have. Both because I like them and they age well. :cool:
Everything else is being given away. So if I see something in your wishlist, or a comment about a cigar that I have, something may be coming your way.

I think that I have already identified five targets...
 
MonkeyK,

I too have been thinking about this.

I just lost a friend to Lung cancer...he was an avid smoker, he inhaled cigar smoke.

I enjoy cigars too much to stop...so life is too short to smoke crappy cigars.

I'm gonna try to limit my cigar smoking.
I like trying new ones...and also, of course, smoking my favorites.
But, those that I don't like, I'll definitely be skipping.

Man, there's always balances in life...

I hope you continue to enjoy cigar smoking...but do what you must to enjoy a long and healthy life.
 
I'm lucky that my wife's prognosis is very good (thyroid cancer is very treatable). But it is a wakeup call nonetheless.

At the rate that I have been smoking, I would not have gotten to many of my cigars for a very long time (at 2/month, even 240 cigars amounts to a 10 year supply --and I think I have a few more than that). I have enough of my favorites to keep me going for several years alone, I don't really see the point in keeping anything that I am unsure of or that won't age well.
 
Very profound post MonkeyK, I wish you and your wife all the best.
 
Monkey,

Not a downer at all - something that really everyone ought to think about. My heart goes out to you and your wife and I'm happy to hear that your wife's prognosis is very good! Best wishes...
 
Sorry to hear that Monkey,

I wish the best possible outcome for your wife, yourself and your loved ones.

Wilkey
 
glad to hear your wife prognosis is good.I had some lung heart issues early this year i had been a non drinker mostly non smokers for years.My father said something that got me thinking he told me i spent half my life being good and this still happened to me and that i should enjoy things in moderation at least while im still here.Takeing his advice i started to enjoy drinking once in awhile again and the bad part was i started smoking cigarettes again. So while moderation is good giveing up everything can also be bad just something to think about.I wish you and your family well.
 
Double D said:
glad to hear your wife prognosis is good.I had some lung heart issues early this year i had been a non drinker mostly non smokers for years.My father said something that got me thinking he told me i spent half my life being good and this still happened to me and that i should enjoy things in moderation at least while im still here.Takeing his advice i started to enjoy drinking once in awhile again and the bad part was i started smoking cigarettes again. So while moderation is good giveing up everything can also be bad just something to think about.I wish you and your family well.
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Monkey,

I respect your decision, you have to go with your gut. I also agree that cigars and drinking should be consumed in moderation. I wish you and your family well, prayers sent.
 
Monkey, our prayers go out to your wife and family...
I am glad you wife's prognosis is good, it is a wakeup call though.
My mom died of breast cancer and my dad of heart disease.
Now that I am approaching 50, I understand quite well the need to take of yourself.
Take care of your wife bro. chemotherapy is not fun, she will have some good days and some bad days.
And as far as cigars go (and everything else in life really), everything in moderation.
Save a few good ones for the celebrations in life...
 
Good to hear that your wifes prognosis is on the positive side. I've only been smoking for almost 2 years now, and I've always wondering about the risk of cancer. I used to smoke cigarettes, and have been clean for 2 years. I do only smoke on the weekends though, usually only 2 cigars a week. It helps that we live in the frozen tundra that is MN.

Best of luck, I think you'll find an improved admiration for those good smokes when you limit yourself to the intake.
 
I hope everything works out well for you, and hope that even though you're not smoking as often you'll still hang around here.
 
Smoking a couple of cigars a week will likely have almost zero impact on your long-term health. It's the repeated exposure to anything (which is what makes cigarettes so bad) that your body has a hard time dealing with.
 
I hope the future goes well for you and yours. You know you'll always be welcome as a BOTL anywhere I'm at.
 
Thanks for the kind words :blush: This is really a great board and I feel lucky to have found this place as the first place I came to learn about cigars. I am a member on one larger board, and I've come to consider this one my "home town" and the other one is the city that I visit every now and then.

Just to be clear, I am under no illusion that going from two to one cigar a month is going to have any appreciable effect on my health. And my wife is not aware of what I am doing in this arena. I don't think the issue is my health, but what I want to do with my life; what I want to accomplish and who I want to be. Aand that does include the enjoyment of cigars, just with a little less focus on discovery.

As for my wife, no chemo planned, just straight and very targeted radiation. Within a week of the diagnosis, she went through surgery to have her thyroid removed. It turns out that nothing but thyroid processes iodine, and even cancerous thyroid processes it. So the treatment is radioactive iodine with the reasoning that it will accumulate in any remaining thyroid or thyroid cancer cells. The endrocinologist gave her 95% odds (and that's as high as she goes) of beating it.
OTOH, my mom had a different cancer long ago and her doctor explained odds of survival in a way that I'll never forget. He told her that the odds were 33% that she would live another 10 years, but that odds are applied to the general population of people in her condition. He said for her the odds were 100% or 0%. In that case, it turned out to be 100%.
 
Wow hope everything goes well for you and your wife. Nice to see that your going to send out some very apperciated smokes along the way.

Now you can sit back and enjoy those expensive cigars,since you won't be smoking them as often anymore. Sometimes I think that I don't enjoy my cigars enough cause of how often I"m smoking.
 
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