"When it comes to food, you just feel hungry and after a while the hunger disappears," he remarked, "but with cigarettes you tend to crave for that nicotine ...

Brunei-Muara - In a survey conducted by The Brunei Times it was found that smokers would rather forsake eating if given the choice, during the, fasting month of Ramadan where both eating and smoking are forbidden.

"Its actually tougher not to be able to smoke," said an anonymous diplomatic officer from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, "especially when youre stressed at work."

He said that lunchtimes and coffee breaks are synonymous with a time when one would "step out to have a ciggy", adding that the brain associates a cigarette with "relaxation time", conforming with the comments from another officer from the Environmental Department under the Ministry of Development, who also felt that it is more tempting to smoke than to eat.

"When it comes to food, you just feel hungry and after a while the hunger disappears," he remarked, "but with cigarettes you tend to crave for that nicotine rush."

However, he reckoned that the craving for the “rush” does not affect his job.

"Works not affected, the cravings are only temporary," he pointed out.

Another regular smoker who goes through half a pack per day also considers smoking harder to desist.

"I think about smoking every two hours or so," said the accountant.

"I try to keep myself busy with work so I wont think about it, but it’s tough," he went on to say.

"Sometimes I take out a cigarette and smell it to tide myself over," he affirmed.

It seems only regular or heavy smokers have to endure these nicotine cravings.

A finance officer in a private firm who only smokes socially, said that drinking coffee or having a meal triggers her cravings for lighting up.

"Im more addicted to coffee than cigarettes," she said.

"Because Im so busy with work, I dont even have the time to think about it. By the time I get to work, Im caught up with all the issues that go on there. Im so occupied, all I want is sleep and coffee," she explained.

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