Marbles In My Pocket ~ The Official Blog of Charles L. Mashburn ~ Poems, Short Stories, and random thoughts from the author of "Be Still… and know that I am God"

I never smoked. I had asthma when I was young, and on my first attempt, I thought the old man’s Salems were gonna kill me. I tried it again in my early twenties but me and smoking were not to be. HOWEVER! I began using chewing tobacco, Red Man, when I was in my mid-twenties—it was the thing to do in Arizona—and I moved on to the cheek-and-gum variety, Copenhagen, when we relocated to Washington state, and used it heavily for almost twenty years.

I was working in Huntsville, Texas, building a one-million cubic foot refrigerator freezer at one of the prisons, when I finally quit. The project was one of the most interesting I’ve ever been involved with, but the way I quit using Copenhagen was just as interesting. I was ready to quit; the stuff gave me heartburn to beat the band, it was wearing holes in my teeth, and, to be completely honest, I simply didn’t enjoy it any more.

Anyway, I was talking to Mom on the phone one morning, telling her how I was sick of the tobacco, but just couldn’t quit. She told me about this natural stuff she’d read about, and said if I could find some in Huntsville, I should give it a try. At lunch time, I went to the local heathy-stuff store, and sure as you can say green tea, they had the stuff Mom had told me about. It was called, “Stop Smoking”, and its main ingredient was lobelia. I got back into my pickup, glanced at the directions on the bottle and promptly took two of the pills.

When I got back to my office, I read the rest of the instructions on the little piece of paper in the box, and when I got to the bottom my eyes about came out of their sockets. In big block letters, it said, DO NOT USE TOBACCO PRODUCTS OF ANY KIND WHILE TAKING THIS.

Holy crap! I thought. I was just going to slow down gradually. I also hadn’t read enough of the directions to see I’d have to take the pills twice daily for thirty days. What? No! Wait! Oh, man!

I stewed for several minutes, then decided, what the heck, I’ll just give it my best shot and see what happens. I’m telling you folks, what happened was a miracle. I took the pills for three more days—a total of eight pills—and my craving for tobacco vanished. I haven’t touched Copenhagen, or any other tobacco product in twenty-five years, and have never had the slightest desire to. Is that amazing, or what??

It’s never that easy to quit but never give up. Your miracle is out there!