Stratomatic Made It To 100
Not being much of a person for laying my life out there for public consumption, I tend to be reserved. Just a grumpy old guy I suppose. But I can only hope that someone searching for a way to quit… someone that has stumbled up on this site like I did… might just read this HOF speech and be able to relate or at least have a nerve struck that will make them decide to stay around and give quitting a try. I’m turning 54 yrs old in a couple months and I started chewing tobacco when I was but a wee lad! Got a dirt bike for my cousin’s birthday (of course he got one too… we were close as brothers) when I was first introduced to it. Redman. That changed around to Skoal within a year or so and that is when my addiction took hold. I was maybe around 10-12 yrs old at the time. Later on in high school it became “cool” and after high school I joined the Air Force where for the first time I had to try to quit during basic training. Quitting was easy enough cause it was the only option I had! But once I moved on to tech school I was right back at it again. Even was given a nickname of Skoal Man. Working outside on the flightline made for perfect conditions for me and my dipping… we thrived! It was the base dentist that put the first scare into me though when she said it looked like I might have cancer and wanted to do some bloodwork. By now I was married and had a young son and daughter. This scared the shit out of me I ain’t gonna lie. I quit that minute she told me this!! The tests all came back good and I think she might have just been trying to get through to me… which worked… but not for long. I stayed quit for about 2 months and fell back into the old habit once my gums healed up some.
Fast forward to about 7 years ago I decided to quit again. By now we had 3 children and 3 grand children and for some reason I woke up one morning, out of the blue, and decided I was going to try to quit. I didn’t want to have any reason for not seeing my grandchildren grow up and live happy lives. This time I was able to quit for nearly 1 year. I was very proud of myself and often talked to friends that were dippers or smokers about how it was rough but after a week or so it really starts getting easier. That was all fine and dandy until hunting season came along. I was driving out to my stand one morning and stopped for a cup of coffee and while I was standing in line that nic bitch voice in my head told me to “get a can of Skoal cause it would just be one dip and then I could stop. Just one won’t hurt! Think about sitting in that stand without ANY dip!” So I caved right there. Of course everyone knows what happened next… I was making up for lost time and soon was having to cut back cause my gums were getting so sore!
At some point, our family became intimately aware of heroine addiction. My beautiful daughter, mother of 2 beautiful girls, is an addict. My wife and I have been raising her oldest daughter for 4 years now (she is 11 yrs old) and now we are raising her other daughter who just is over 18 months old. Doing the math… I will be 71 when she turns 18. I have no choice but to do what I can to be there for her because I know my daughter will either end up in the ground or in jail if she doesn’t turn her life around soon. Also, how can I even try to talk to her about “addiction” while I’m as guilty as her of BEING and addict?!
Move up to 110 days ago. I had heard about Smokey Mountain Snuff and wanted to try some. I hopped online and googled it looking for a place to buy it when I came across KillTheCan.ORG. I was stuck on this site for hours, reading all the stories and posts from the members and decided right then that I was going to post roll that next day. I stopped right then and have posted 100% ever since (with the help of fake stuff this time). I struggled, just like most of us do, but having my Decemberist brothers/sisters to text or chat with made all the difference in my quit! You are all blessings to me… especially Samrs for the jokes!
So in wrapping up… using nicotine is not an option. It will kill you. I will continue to post roll with my Decemberist 2017 brothers and sister as long as I can still remember my password! Thank you KTC for giving us a fighting chance to quit for good!
NOTE: This piece written by KillTheCan.org forum member Stratomatic
