I’m Back and Still Quit | #49

I’m Back and Still Quit – Episode 49

The Kill The Can Podcast
Recorded: August 24th, 2024

It’s time now for the Kill The Can Podcast.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Kill The Can Podcast.

I hate to say it, but it seems like every time I jump on here, I always say, “Hey, it’s been a little while.” And this time, it actually has been quite some time.

Today is August 21st, and the last time I recorded an episode of the podcast was July 27th. So I’m almost a month from episode to episode, which is far longer than I would like.

I will say I’ve had quite a few things going on in my personal life. As I said on the last episode of the podcast, July 24th was my 18-year anniversary of my quit. I would like to thank everybody who reached out to offer congratulations. But again, that milestone at this point is really less about me than it is about the community.

Also, I think I mentioned on the last episode of the pod, July 24th is also the anniversary of my father’s passing. He passed away last July 24th, a year ago, from lung cancer. So it’s a good reminder of why I continue this fight and those kinds of things.

Since the last episode of the pod, I attended WWE SummerSlam. It was here in Cleveland. I had an awesome time during that event. I’m happy to say that my hometown of Cleveland was well represented that night.

I don’t know if there are any other professional wrestling fans out there, but it was a great event. If you are a wrestling fan, I’m happy to chat with you about it. Feel free to leave me a comment, leave me a question or shoot me a DM on the Discord server. I’d love to chat pro wrestling. I’ve been a pro wrestling fan for probably 40 years.

The only reason I bring it up here is I went to SummerSlam on that Saturday. I went to SmackDown the night before on Friday. I was around thousands and thousands of people, and not once during that entire weekend did I ever even consider having a dip.

That struck me because, in previous times of my life when I was going to ball games or going to crowded places, I always had to worry about my spitter. I had to worry about where I was going to spit. I had to worry about whether I forgot my dip when I left the house.

It struck me pretty recently that I went to those events and didn’t even consider dip. Not once.

That was a pretty freeing experience, for sure. I’m really glad that I no longer have to worry about that.

After that SummerSlam weekend was over, my family and I went on a family vacation. We went down to Ocean City, Maryland, for the week. It was kind of the last week of summer before my boys went back to school.

Again, during that week, I didn’t have to worry about dip. I didn’t have to worry about how many cans I was taking with me when I was packing. I didn’t have to worry about finding a convenience store when I was in a city I wasn’t familiar with.

I can’t even begin to tell you what a freedom it is not to have to worry about those things.

As we get back to school and head toward fall, I know I’ve talked on previous episodes of the podcast about seasonal triggers.

I just want to warn everybody to beware of those things. Be aware of your surroundings. Be aware of situations, sights, sounds and smells that can trigger you, trigger a craving and make you start to waver in your quit.

I would urge you not to do that.

If you start dealing with those cravings, get back to basics. Do what has gotten you quit. Drink lots of water. Go for a walk. Go for a run. Get engaged on the forums. Get engaged with the Kill The Can community, however it is that you interact with us.

Really start to focus once again on your quit, and before you know it, those cravings will be behind you.

I’m going to do again here what I’ve been doing the last couple of episodes of the podcast, where I get on and respond to some social media comments.

I’m not sure how many of these comments I’m going to get to, but this seems to have been working, and I’ve gotten some pretty positive feedback about it.

The first comment comes from Sha Ward 7156. He says:

“I haven’t dipped in two weeks, and working out twice a day helped me significantly. I don’t even want to dip anymore.”

He’s responding to a video where I was answering the question, “I just quit dipping. Does the pain ever go away? I can’t even work out anymore.”

I think he’s responding to the fact that working out actually helps him, and I would tend to agree. Working out or becoming active really did help me in my quit.

But I do know that there are other people out there, like the original commenter, who have a really hard time with motivation after they quit.

What I would say to the original commenter is to push through those feelings of boredom. Push through that pain that comes from withdrawal because it is relatively temporary.

Again, working out twice a day is helping this commenter significantly. I would tend to agree that it really did help me.

If you can work out, if you can get some physical activity, I would suggest that you do so. But if you can’t and you’re really feeling down about it, continue to push forward, drink lots of water and rest assured that this is going to be a relatively temporary situation.

You’ve got this.

The next comment is from Dragon VR 298. He says:

“My dad is trying to quit chew, and he has the Wintergreen flavor.”

He’s referring to Grinds coffee pouches. He says his dad does not crave chew anymore.

That’s exactly what these products are meant to do.

What I will say is that if you’re using a tobacco-free, nicotine-free product such as Grinds, that product is not necessarily going to cut down on your cravings for nicotine because it doesn’t contain nicotine.

What it will do is help you deal with the oral fixation associated with your addiction, which in turn might help with those cravings.

Regardless, I’m really happy to hear that your dad sounds like he’s having some success with, in this case, Grinds coffee pouches.

Grinds are an awesome product. I love them. I will say, if you’re not a fan of coffee, you’re not necessarily going to like Grinds. But that’s fine. There are a ton of other alternative products out there.

I appreciate the comment, Dragon. Thank you very much.

The next comment comes from Jamison, and he’s responding to a video entitled, “I’m Ready to Quit ZYN. How Do I Do It?”

The comment he makes is:

“Once you ZYN, you’re trapped within. They’re lovely.”

What I find really interesting — and I’m starting to see a pattern among ZYN users and nicotine pouch users — is that a lot of them will defend their addiction the same way that I used to defend my addiction.

But what I’ve seen that’s different from a ZYN user versus a smokeless tobacco user is that, speaking for myself, I used to defend my addiction, but I would very rarely talk about the downsides of my addiction. I would very rarely verbalize how bad it was to be addicted.

What I’ve seen from these ZYN users is they’ll defend it, but they’ll use words like “trapped.” They’ll talk about how difficult it is to quit. They’ll talk about it like it’s the worst thing in the world.

They have a very negative outlook on their addiction.

When I was a user, I don’t recall having such a negative outlook on my addiction, at least until I quit or had made the decision to quit.

I’ve been seeing that pattern a lot lately with ZYN users. I don’t know if it’s because I’m looking for it or if it’s actually the case, but at least in the comments I’m reading, even people defending their ZYN usage are using vocabulary that tells me they’re really unhappy with their addiction.

Maybe that’s just the first step toward a life of freedom and them wanting to get out.

It’s just something I’ve noticed. Let me know if you’ve noticed that as well with ZYN users in your life.

The next comment comes from Imagine Honor XD. He’s responding to a video where I answered the question, “I hate ZYN because the pouches are so small.”

In the video, I said I’m not sure I’d recommend doubling up with ZYN pouches because it’ll give you double the nicotine.

He says:

“I agree with you. I don’t like the ZYNs because the pouch is too small. Black Buffalo Rituals are my jam right now. I’m on a quest to quit Grizzly Wintergreen pouches for good.”

First of all, congratulations on your quest to quit for good.

I would agree with you that Black Buffalo pouches are outstanding.

I’ll preface this by saying everything I ever talk about, all the pouches I sample and all the products I sample, are nicotine-free and tobacco-free.

Black Buffalo has some of the best products on the market. Period. Paragraph. End of story. They are outstanding.

I’m a huge fan of their Blood Orange. I’m a huge fan of their long-cut product. Black Buffalo products are some of the closest-to-the-real-thing products available on the market.

They’re an awesome alternative if you’re looking to quit Grizzly Wintergreen pouches for good.

Congratulations on your decision. Let me know how I can help.

The next comment comes from Cody B Drums, responding to a video entitled, “ZYN Is Great — The Best Product Out There.”

In that initial video, I say the problem with the statement “ZYN is great; it’s the best product out there” is that when people hear that, they think these products are safe.

Cody says:

“ZYN and Rogue are not safe. One year of use, permanent gum recession and tooth sensitivity to show for it. I never dipped a real can of chew in my life. The whole mentality around these products being harmless is terrible. I know I need to quit it, but it will be very tough since I have a very stressful job and I leaned on these products heavily while at work.

“If you see any more comments on your channel defending ZYNs and Rogues, you can use my comment as a living example. They messed up my gums. I know for a fact that I’m not the only one that this is happening to either. Love your channel. Never stop what you do.”

Thank you, Cody.

I can’t even begin to tell you how much I appreciate this comment, not only because it agrees with me. If you’ve heard my stuff, you know I’m not necessarily looking for agreement.

But you are an example of what I’ve been saying.

I’m sorry that you’re dealing with permanent gum recession, and I’m sorry that you’re dealing with tooth sensitivity.

What I can tell you is that even though the products we used are different — I was a dipper and you’re a ZYN and Rogue user — the addiction is the same.

You absolutely can quit.

I would love to help you. Please send me a DM, reach out to me or respond to this comment because I want you to attain the freedom that it sounds like you really want.

I’d love for you to join our Discord server. Hell, I’d love to have you on the podcast and talk to you.

It sounds like you really want to get and stay quit. I’d love to help you.

But even if you never respond to any of these comments, just know you can do this. You can quit.

I’ve got your back, man. Let me know how I can help.

The next comment is from Cognito Man. He says:

“Dude, what I’m doing is just tapering. I take away a dip every week or so. Right now I only dip four times a day for about 45 minutes with the dip in. Here in three days, I cut down to only three dips a day.”

This is a valid way of quitting dip.

It is not necessarily the one that I would suggest, and I’ll tell you why in a minute, but it is absolutely a valid method. It’s a method that, if used properly, can get you quit and can actually cut down on some of the withdrawal symptoms you might experience.

The reason it’s not my preferred method of quitting is that I’ve seen so many people over the years try this method, and it works great until they get to the very end.

Then, when they get to the time where they need to go 100% dip-free and nicotine-free, they can’t or won’t do it.

What tends to happen is they go back to being a full-blown dipper.

I always tell people to go with the cold-turkey method because it’s the quickest method to get nicotine out of your system. It’s the quickest method to be free.

That being said, the method you’re doing is certainly better than nothing, and I hope you’re successful with it.

I would just warn you that you’re still going to have a hard time once you get down to that very last day where you have to go from one to zero.

That said, it sounds like you’re doing great, and I’m wishing you the best of luck when you get there.

Once you get there and you’re nicotine-free, join us on our Discord server. We’d love to have you.

You’re still going to have quite a bit of work to do once you get to being nicotine-free, and that’s where the concepts of roll call, accountability and brotherhood will really help you get and stay quit long-term.

Best of luck. I appreciate the comment.

I’m going to end the podcast with this comment. This comes from Rob Ford Mayor.

I apologize to Rob that it’s taken me so long to get back to this comment. He’s responding to the YouTube version of Episode 48 of the podcast.

He says:

“I’ve gone 14 days clean today from nicotine pouches. However, I think not using will affect my studies negatively. Really struggling to concentrate. Any advice?”

First of all, Rob, congratulations on 14 days clean.

I’m getting to this comment two weeks late, so if you’re still quit, you’ve now been quit for four weeks. Massive congratulations.

What I will tell you is that the two-week mark you were at when you left this comment can be a difficult point.

There’s an article on the site called The Two Week Weakness, written by the wonderful Fran Pro. Rest in peace, my friend.

For some reason, two weeks is a really difficult spot in a lot of people’s quits. You’ve gotten over that first three-day hump, and now you’re into 14 days.

Hopefully, by four weeks, you’ve started to normalize. You’ve started to regain your concentration or your ability to concentrate.

My advice for you, if you’re struggling, is to drink a lot of water. Do some exercise. Do some things to get your mind off those nicotine pouches.

If you’re looking for a substitute, there are a ton of really great nicotine-free alternative pouches out there that might be helpful for you.

If you haven’t yet, I would urge you to join our Discord server at KillTheCan.org/Discord. It’s the best place on the web to get questions answered, accountability and brotherhood from people who know what it is that you’re going through.

Like I said, I apologize for taking so long to get back to you. I hope you’re still quit, and if there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know.

I’m honored to be quit with you.

All right. I’ll talk to you soon.

Outro music

Join us again next time for another edition of the Kill The Can Podcast.