Any fellow recovering alkies?

I’ve noticed that I’m not the only person to mention that they are an alcoholic no longer drinking and I wondered about your experiences especially with snuffs flavored similarly to alcohol. Personally I enjoy McC’s hops and toque’s bourbon. One of my favorites is toque’s whiskey and honey especially since it has some whiskey flavor but doesn’t make me completely insane like whiskey.I was wondering how you felt about snuffs like these because I don’t crave alcohol too often and I can manage to curb them pretty well. I was just wondering what other alkies thought of snuffs flavored with or similarly to alcohol. If you do drink I really don’t care but DON’T TELL ME ABOUT YOUR FAVORITE DRINK AND SNUFF COMBINATION OR ANY OTHER COMBINATION OF VICES. I’ve been sticking with tobacco for the past 3 months and have had enough periods of sobriety followed by periods of relapse to know I can be sober and it’s worth it but I have to work for it. and if you’re a friend of Bill W or a former associate let’s remember the 12 traditions but feel free to PM me.

You gotta want it , sobriety, and that should take away some of the ‘work’. I’m lucky about alcohol, one drink is perfect, two is to many. Beer, wine and something eighty proof is always on hand, just there should I get the urge, which is usually about once a week…like I said, just lucky that way. You’re to young to be an alcoholic. Drinking too much is just part of being young.

Blacking out, drinking in the morning, and not enjoying the drinking to excess anymore but being unable to stop drinking once started definitely aren’t part of being young. Neither is daily drinking or substituting other drugs for alcohol because you don’t have to be 21 to buy them or all the work I did to pay for it all.

Sometimes I find myself obsessing with snuff the way I used to about intoxicants, but what I love about snuff is that it’s one drug that doesn’t impair me or my finances and I worry about running out of my favorites at times, but it’s so much cheaper than booze or street drugs that i know I’ll never be out of it completely. And if it becomes unavailable in the US then I’m going to make my own and raise hell about not being able to buy it. At any rate I’d much rather be a snuffaholic than anything else

I am a friend of Bill’s and have been for quite some time. I use toque whiskey and honey. I really do not pick up much of a whiskey flavor at all more honey than anything else. My daily reprieve from alcoholism is based upon my spiritual conditioning not on what I snuff or snus. That being said If I was still in my first year of sobriety I don’t know that I would open up that can of worms. Just my two cents

I haven’t ever taken a pinch and said “that takes me back to a good time” and I think any cravings I do get while snuffing alcohol flavored snuffs is likely coincidental. It’s only happened once and it went away as soon as I recognized it. I do appreciate feedback though. I’d ask others in my immediate recovery community but none of them use snuff. Many of them smoke like chimneys though and a lot of them have 20+ years of sobriety.

probably more then admit it. And alcohol is a pretty hard drug no matter what age you are. I’ve had friends deal with alcohol addiction and with herion addiction. I was more worried about the alcohol problems. (though huge diffrences between the way people drink and if you can control it that’s a diffrent story.)

I apologize for any insensitivity or ignorance about the subject of alcoholism. I’ve seen lots of folks struggle with it but have little insight to suffering with it. For the record, I’ve got my own foibles, and towing the line is a daily adventure. 

addiction isn’t well defined or well understood. It can come in many forms. The main thing is to know yourself and admit your limitations.

I was an alcoholic at 17. I went to 1 AA meeting, but couldn’t be doing with the all or nothing approach. I know that alcohol will always be a part of my life, but it’s all a matter of who/what is in control. When alcohol is in control that’s when you have to take a step back, and deal with the shakes and sweats for a while. Fair enough the first time I made that decision, I asked my mother to lock me in my room, only to come out for food and the toilet. This worked for me, and once I realised that I could conquer it, I took control. Ok usually I drink a hell of a lot more than the recomended limit, but I have a high tolerance. The difference now is I drink because I want to not because I have to.

Since February when I came out of hospital, I’ve been virtually housebound due to my back and legs being buggered. I’ve been to the pub probably 8 times, and that’s the only time I’ve had alcohol, but after 3 pints I was pissed, due to tablets and not drinking regularly anymore, but the biggest bonus for me is that I haven’t even missed booze. I never thought I’d ever say that but it’s gospel. All in all if you get to the stage of drinking because you want to, not because you have to, then I reckon you’re in a better place than the denial and penitence of AA.

Stefan

Never found any “liquor” flavored tobacco to remind me of liquor.  So no problem there.

Been almost 4 years for me, I spend my weekend playing music in bars.  Watching the idiocy of drunks from the stage is an unusual yet amazing deterrent.

Ken

17 years a couple months ago. No 12 step programs, thank you. Trading one addiction for another, less pleasant one is not for me. I think the whole point is to overcome the behaviors and live as normally as possible, not spend the rest of your life drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes with a bunch of other former drunks. That would be an unpopular sentiment with the AA crowd, I’m sure.

I came pretty damn close; I was at the stage where things were unravelling and the desperately awful scenes in social settings were getting closer together; if you’ve been there you know what I mean. I was best man at my best friends wedding, held it together til after the speeches but had to be carried out at the end of the night, woke up in a nearby farmers field a couple of times, colleagues at work starting to notice hangovers, going for a quick drink after work and ending up still there at closing time, falling asleep on the train, waking up at the end the line; you know what I mean. I just stopped drinking, didn’t get any official diagnosis from any medic or go to any meetings just stopped drinking. 

15 years on and I have not been drunk since. I eventually found I could drink with a meal or have night cap with no problems and no desire to carry on and on as I would have once. My criteria now is that I will only have drink with my wife and when she stops I do. More than a couple of glasses of anything - which is her limit - and I feel like I’m getting a migraine so my body helps me out as well. I know I’ve been lucky and am very thankful for it. I was in a job where drinking was integral and not only that - I also socialised with the people I worked with, everybody in my job did, it was just how it was.

Do we have a higher ratio of alkies here than other groups? I wonder if we are all broadly from the same type of background?

Do we have a higher ratio of alkies here than other groups? I wonder if we are all broadly from the same type of background?

predisposition to addictive behavior

Of course, I genuinely forgot that part:)

heh

I think there are probably a fair number of former abusers who also loved the good stuff. Tobacco is a great substitute for not being able to enjoy an old vice any more.

The Dr.silkworths opinion http://silkworth.net/silkworth/doctorsopinion.html It’s the phenomenon of craving.

I know of people who get sober without ever going to AA and it acknowledges in the big book that folks can do that. It also acknowledges the possibility of people who drink heavily to learn moderation. And right before the steps it says these are the steps we took suggested as a program of recovery. It never says you HAVE to do anything but this worked for them so they suggest it. We all have different ways of doing things and unlike a religion or a cult most folks around the tables acknowledge there are other means to the same end. Personally I say stick to what works for you and if it works don’t take it apart to see how. The latter I learned the hard way. I know I can’t enjoy moderation or inebriation and with snuff I don’t really have to worry about either.

Life is about moderation in all aspects There have been times in my life where I needed 7 meetings in a week and times when I would go two months without going to one. I now go to one a week which I truly look forward to going to If my life feels chaotic I go to more. That’s what works for me everyone is different though. To each their own The one thing that always helped me and I truly believe this in all my heart is once you become a pickle you can never be a cucumber again.

The all or nothing approach is working well for me. It’s been about a year of sobriety for me. The shit is really starting to hit the fan too. Glad I’m sober for this.