Addiction

[uh-dik-shuhn], noun: the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics,to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.

I quit smoking. Again.

I'm addicted to a lot of things. Cigarettes, chocolate, music, my favourite TV shows... The cigarettes obviously being the most serious and destructive of my addictions, and also the one I've struggled the hardest to rid myself of. I've tried it all: the cold turkey way, cutting down, nicotine patch, nicotine gum.. Doesn't work. The one thing I haven't tried, though, is this ingenious invention: The electronic cigarette! (YouTube video) Amazing. So-called "e-cigs" were first invented and marketed by the Golden Dragen Group in China, under the name Ruyan which means "almost like smoke", and are quickly becoming popular in the US and parts of Europe. There is no burning of tobacco involved, only vaporizing nicotine, meaning that you can even smoke your e-cig in the non-smoking section (today's society, that is). You can also choose the nicotine level of your e-cig, from 10 mg to nothing at all. You can even choose between different flavours, like vanilla, menthol or chocolate! Imagine that, get me one of those with chocolate and I have my two deepest cravings, on a stick. Would I consider trying it? Yes. Will I buy one? No. Too expensive, and it's the habit I need to get rid of, and I don't see how changing my lucky strikes into slightly nicer plastic cigarettes is going to help that. Plus, it sounds too good to be true, so it probably is.

I guess I'm just going to have to do this the hard way. Again. The fourteenth time's the charm..?
"For thy sake, tobacco, I would do anything but die." - Charles Lamb (1775-1834)

Today's thought provoker: Worldwide, approximately 10 million cigarettes are purchased a minute, 15 billion are sold each day, 5 trillion are produced and used each year.