The Best Smoking Alternative is Coffee

This happened this year's March, so roughly 4 months ago.

For personal preferences, I prefer to smoke using plain old tobacco leaves and my tobacco pipe (there's a distinct chemical taste in ciggarettes and I don't like it).

At one point, I used up all my tobacco leaves from smoking. Since I underestimated my ability to use up so many leaves a day, I did not bother stocking up a few weeks before this.

Whenever I feel the desire to smoke, I soothe myself by drinking more coffee (instant black coffee) than I usually do.

The idea here was to replace my habit of smoking with the habit of drinking coffee for the time being.

And it worked—in fact, it worked too well—because it has been 4 days already, and other than the fact I've been drinking way more coffee than usual, I did not experience any severe nicotine withdrawal.

I decided to try quitting smoking altogether right after.

I have tried quitting from the past but the fever, headaches, and general restlessness (made it harder to sleep through the pain) detered me from trying again.

But with this new insight with coffee, I want to try quitting again.

Fast forward to now (4 months later)

Still haven't smoked. No severe nicotine withdrawal either.

Well, I did have what I suspected was an attack from nicotine withdrawal two days ago (a week by the time this post is published).

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be; it went away after consistently drinking coffee in the morning and afternoon for 2 days.

But after some thought, it's possible it wasn't a nicotine withdrawal attack but a caffeine withdrawal.

Either way, supplementing my nicotine addiction with coffee instead did technically work, but I fear that I have a caffeine addiction now 😅.

In short:

• I use coffee to supress my need for nicotine; it worked
• I think I have a caffeine addiction now (womp womp)

The Science Behind it

Quitting smoking can cause mood swings, irritability, and anxiety, which are exacerbated by nicotine withdrawal.

Coffee, more specifically, caffeine can help address these specific withdrawal symptoms.

Another symptom of nicotine withdrawal is feeling sluggish and low on energy.

Caffeine can give a temporary energy boost, helping to relieve this sluggishness.

Amazingly, caffeine can provide relief for certain types of headaches, such as tension headaches.

This definitely made quitting smoking altogether easier.

However, do be careful because high caffeine intake in itself can cause severe headaches and/or migraines.

So try to find the right balance and drink a lot of water.

Why Choose Coffee Instead Of Other Nicotine Alternatives

Coffee is cheaper, well, if what you're drinking is instant black coffee, then yes it's cheaper.

As mentioned before, Coffee, specifically caffeine, boosts your energy levels and mood, and relieve headaches.

Is This Really a Fix?

Well, it depends on how you define 'a fix'. Like I mentioned before, I essentially replaced my nicotine addiction with a caffeine addiction (and caffeine addiction can be just as deadly).

Considering the potential health risks and dependencies involved, the question you have to ask yourself is whether drinking coffee, with its risk of addiction, is a better alternative than other nicotine substitutes.

If that answer is yes, then cool. But maybe don't ingest as much caffeine as I do, I don't want you getting addicted with caffeine.

If you are scared of getting a caffeine addiction, then I suggest you drink green or black tea instead.

I find that it satisfies my caffeine addiction despite having half or less caffeine in its contents. (I'm doing this now too)

Something to Consider

After surfing the web about this topic, I discovered that people often view coffee as a "trigger" for smoking, and the reason for it is because people apparently use these two products together often, thus making an association between the two.

Well, I don't; the only drink that I have when smoking is either alcohol, water, or nothing at all.

So, those who smoke while drinking coffee may not experience the same success that I have.

FINAL WORDS

Black coffee, or more specifically, caffeine, is a great soother for nicotine withdrawals.

You can treat caffeine products as an alternative for smoking, just be careful, relying on it makes you susceptible to caffeine addiction.

Also if you do decide to use coffee or other caffeine products as an alternative for smoking, then be sure to increase your water intake as well.

Lastly, this is based on my experience, what works for me may not work for you.