It's time to quit smoking. What you're looking at here is hopefully the last cigarettes that I'll ever have in my possession. After 20-some years of having the nicotine monkey on my back, it's time to shake it off. A new tax recently went into effect in Illinois which puts the price of a carton at about $45 for premium brands, and I can no longer justify the cost. Oh yeah, the constant wheezing and coughing isn't helping much, either.

Cold turkey. No drugs, no patches. The patch just replaces one form of nicotine for another, and I don't want to deal with the possible side effects of drugs like Chantix and the like. Once that pack you see above is gone, no more.

I'm going to be keeping a journal of sorts here as sort of a one-man group therapy session. I don't know if it will help, but it might make me feel better regardless. My apologies to anyone I may have to deal with personally, as I'm going to be mean, grumpy and nasty.