DOSE:

repeated

buccal

Tobacco

(daily)

BODY WEIGHT:

155 lb

As a young kid some of my relatives chewed. I never really knew what it was. I knew it came in a round can which seemed strange to me and also that it was bad.

When I was a freshman some of my friends chewed one of them basically lived on the stuff, but to be honest I thought it was disgusting. I enjoyed smoking and certainly wasn't against things that are bad for you but I just really thought the stuff was gross and all that could be achieved was throwing up. All my friends did it though and I always sorta felt left out. So my 10th grade year I came across a couple cans of [ ] straight (a particular strong brand of chewing tobacco). My friend urged me to just try start small and dont get sick. So thats what I did.

It was strange I remember my first dip in the shower barely a tiny pinch and before I knew it I had acquired a fairly large tolerance for nicotine, but wouldnt say I was addicted. Time went on and so did chewing. Before I knew it I was what I call 'addicted', I needed it to be normal. Without it I would just feel like crap.

I have tried many different kinds of chewing tobacco from expensive [ ] to $1.50 stuff that wasnt even worth the $1.50, but I always went back to [ ] strong and cheap. Before I knew it I was chewing in classes at school just to make it through the day. I was chewing 2 cans a day no problem basically the time I spent awake I spent more of it with a dip in than without. I absolutely needed the stuff and without it for a few hours I would get pissed off at everything and feel awful.

I noticed my gums dropping and my mouth looking noticably bad. I tried to quit many times cold turkey didnt work somehow I eventually quit basically by taking up smoking but I am not nearly as addicted to nicotine as I used to be. I quit because I knew I might never be able to quit and it would ruin my mouth. I do love chew it brings people together socially, gives me bragging rights, and plain makes me feel good, but chew responsibly because you wont know your addicted until it starts to run your life.

Exp Year: 2007	ExpID: 61396
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Aug 11, 2017	Views: 1,931
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Tobacco (47) : Addiction & Habituation (10), First Times (2), School (35)