Do You Plan to Quit Smoking in 2013?

A study released Tuesday says 34 percent of smokers say this is their year; are you one of them?

We here at Patch end up on mailing lists all over the place, for events and stories with absolutely no connection to our coverage areas. While an email we received Tuesday morning follows this path, it's a subject that goes well beyond geographic boundaries. The Legacy Foundation on Tuesday released a new study indicating 34 percent of smokers plan on quitting in 2013, twice as many as in 2012, the press release notes. How they were able to survey every smoker on the planet must be the work of magic and we are not going to dig deeper for fear they will turn us into a frog or something. One of the biggest reasons for the higher number of proposed quitters, according to the release, is the increasing cost of visiting Flavor Country. (For …

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5 Things You Need to Know Today

Back on the Wagon Again (and Again)

5 tips for staying on the non-smoking path.

It doesn't take much to start, or stop. It's probably why it's so hard. Yes, we are talking once again about cigarettes. And, this is not some New Year's Resolution to make, only to fall off a few weeks in and say, "there's always next year." It's an ongoing drama, as anyone who has followed this site for any extended period already knows. But, we're not the only ones with this stinky, tar-filled monkey on our backs. So, with nicotine patches firmly affixed, nicotine gum chewed (and parked after every few chews), or whatever your method, here are five tips–both suggested by others and used with varying success by ourselves in the past–to hopefully help you (and, us) stay on the non-smoking path.

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Dunphy Days

Patch Editor Takes Smoke-Free Mission to TV

John Dunphy appeared Tuesday, July 5, on the CBS Early Show.

If you see the subject of this video smoking, you have this writer's full permission to "tsk, tsk" him into smoke-free submission. Tuesday morning, I appeared on the CBS Early Show program during its medical segment, as part of a feature piece on Chantix, the medication many use to quit smoking, and recent reports of increased health risks from its use. The interview portion of the segment was filmed at Lewis Morris Park, in Morris Township. While I have not used Chantix in a few years, I still consider it in the available arsenal of possible ways to quit smoking. Obviously, I should not take anything off the table–nothing has worked enough that I have quit for good. It has improved significantly in the past several months; I have …

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