The Impulse

The Impulse.

That's the sudden jolt in the mind; the millisecond of unconscious, "Oh yeah! Time for a smoke!"

For the hardcore smoker, this comes just about every waking moment that one is not actually inhaling smoke from the business end of a cigarette.

When abstaining from smoking, there is no letting down one's guard. The impulse comes constantly. One is reminded at every turn of when one used to light up. Not once, but over and over.

It goes kinda like this:

Ding! The impulse pokes. It doesn't go 'ding;' it's silent. But you feel it. It's like the scene in The Empire Strikes Back, when Lando punches in a code on his calculator watch. Cut to a face shot of Lobot opening his eyes in a sudden jolt, being called into action by remote.
So you feel the Impulse. Then you think, ah, that's right; I always reach for the pack as I'm heading for the door to the outside at this time, morning break at work. Nope, you can't do it! You quit, remember? Oh, yeah. And I don't have a pack of cigs in my pocket anyway. Nor a lighter...DING! Immediately after telling oneself this, The Impulse jolts again!

Immediately.

And this happens over and over, all day long, at every turn.

Even with a freshly dissolving nicotine lozenge on one's wet tongue.