Becoming a Non-Smoker as a B-boy

6 min readMar 29, 2023

If you know me on a personal level, you probably have seen me smoking cigarettes, rollies, e-cigarettes, or some sort of smoking device throughout the years.

Should be around 10 years actually. A full-on decade, damn.

But in 2023, March 15th was the last time I smoked a cigarette and March 17th was the last time I used nicotine as a whole.

And it wasn’t just for money or health reasons to fulfill my B-boy dreams.

Under the Lion’s Rock Jam Vol.2

On March 2023, I missed out on the iconic Radikal Force Jam (RF Jam), one of the world’s largest and most important street dance festivals in Asia, and a Taiwan B-boy Dream Tour with my Filipino crew at the time.

I was pretty bummed out.

Talk about B-boy FOMO.

On top of other personal issues happening simultaneously, I pretty much just had the Under the Lion’s Rock (UTLR) Vol.2 event coming up in Hong Kong — a Breaking (breakdance) Call-Out event that invited world-class breakers to compete and perform. A few of my B-boy inspirations were coming down to Hong Kong so I was more than ecstatic to meet them in person.

Luckily for me, I was able to grab an audience ticket on a waitlist with over 200+ people. Damn, if I missed out on this jam too, I’ll have no idea what the f*ck I would do.

Breakers from Hong Kong, Macau, China, South Korea, Japan, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and more all came down just to compete and witness this event. I was never exposed to so much high-level Breaking for a 1v1 jam before, so this jam was one for the books for me.

Being in the cyphers on that world-class tip, I even got called out by a B-boy from Singapore whom I met in Poe One’s workshop prior to the event. Battles on the big stage are always fun but they can never replace the raw essence and Hip Hop culture in a cypher exchange.

Cypher Rounds Compilation

To sum it up, I was able to witness Phil Wizard, a member of the crews United Rivals, 7 Commandoz, and the Red Bull BC One All Stars take the W in the 1v1 category and also be dazzled by world-class Jinjo Crew’s breathtaking piece for the people.

I’ve been watching Jinjo’s performances and battles since I started breaking.

And I had front-row seat.

What a f*cking dream come true.

Found Nation vs Jinjo Crew | Battle of the Year 2018 Finals

Vero (Top Left) Phil Wizard (Top Right) Filipino B-boys from UK and Macau (Bottom Left) Poe One (Bottom Right)

Witnessing world-class breakers battle it out on a stage like UTLR made me realize one important takeaway:

The journey to being the best at your craft is filled with lengthy hardships and vigorous discipline — but it’s not impossible.

And that motivated me like a m*therf*cker.

So you may be asking,

“Yeah sure you want to quit smoking so you can become a better B-boy. But how did you end up quitting smoking from that day on if it wasn’t for money or health reasons?”

Well, this event happened on March 25th, 2023. So I was already a non-smoker prior to the jam. This jam just helped me reinforce my decision to escape the nicotine trap.

Being a smoke-free B-boy is one thing but being a non-smoker in general?

That’s a whole different ball game.

Here’s how I did it.

The Easy Way to Stop Smoking

Believe it or not, I tried tons of times to quit smoking. And when I mean tons, I mean more than 10 times. So that basically means 10 depressing a** fails.

Yay me.

I tried using cigarettes with less nicotine to hand-rolled rollies to e-cigarettes to even the cold turkey method. All of these quitting nicotine strategies failed gradually or instantly in every attempt.

And I mean EVERY ATTEMPT.

It wasn’t until I read The Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr that opened my eyes to the truth of smoking. As a typical Gen Z kid will say,

“IM WOKE.”

The author of the book, Allen Carr, used to be a 100-cigs-a-day chartered accountant before being a full-time smoking consultant and is one of the only non-medical people that gets invited to state-of-the-art medical conferences.

Apparently, the 111-page book has been one of the most effective quit-smoking tools ever, was a bestseller every year since 1985, and is one of the internet’s favorite books as well.

You need to grab a copy of his book to truly understand the harmful effects of nicotine addiction, which goes beyond the physical and psychological spectrums.

But to sum it up, the difference in Allen Carr’s strategy is that rather than “giving up smoking as a sacrifice”, it’s framing it as “escaping nicotine addiction as a total positive.”

BECAUSE THERE ARE NO POSITIVES IN SMOKING.

If you’re a fellow smoker like me previously, you probably asked yourself:

“Why is smoking bad?”

You thought of all the cancerous consequences it can have on your health, mental stability, finances, and overall well-being. Honestly, I think you probably smoked another cigarette to numb the overwhelming thoughts after that “intense thinking process.”

Well, try to ask yourself this question instead.

“Why is smoking good?”

I soon unraveled that all my previous excuses about nicotine helping me concentrate / relax/ enjoy my meal better / get a better buzz were all fabrications in my otherwise pretty rational brain.

So in short, I’m stopping nicotine not only for money and health reasons but because I'm simply not giving up anything. I’m ESCAPING the nicotine trap that the media, government, and society have brainwashed us with from a young age.

I'm surprised by how easy it was.

And that’s coming from a guy who was deep down in the rabbit hole of nicotine addiction.