Fort Providence (Feb 21/03) - Bernie Bonnetrouge and Henry Bonnetrouge are cousins with varying success in quitting smoking.

Bernie kicked the habit more than 20 years ago. Henry has tried several times but is still smoking today.

Bernie got hooked at age 12. He and his siblings used to roll cigarettes for their father and they usually pocketed a few for themselves, he said.

He gives his wife Dorothy, a non-smoker, credit for his change of ways.

"She just stopped buying cigarettes one day. She said, 'That's it.'" he recalled, adding that he used to smoke up to two packs per day for 28 years.

Sure enough, he gave up the cigarettes but he switched to chewing tobacco, or snuff. After lining his gums with tobacco for many more years, Bernie has thrown that away, too.

"Finally I said, 'I've had enough.' I had no spit left," he said, laughing.

Henry, who has a 40-year, pack-a-day habit, hasn't been able to part with his cigarettes for long. He's tried quitting five or six times, he said.

"It lasts about a week to 10 days, that's all. My latest one was about a day," he said, chuckling. "I'm trying, I'm really trying."

Whenever Henry tosses his smokes aside, he begins to feel restless, he explained.

"You're on your toes all the time. You're pacing back and forth," he said. "You don't know what to do."

So why is it that one cousin has been able to quit while the other has not?

According to Dr. Peter Selby, there are many factors -- ranging from genetic to environmental -- that determine whether individuals can halt their addictions.

Learning from failed attempts is helpful, said Selby, head of the nicotine dependence clinic at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

"They need to figure out ways how not to get into those (tempting) situations, or have some protective mechanisms when they are in those situations," he said.

For example, if an individual normally smokes after a meal or with a cup of coffee, that person needs to find a healthy substitute for a cigarette, he suggested. A nicotine replacement, such as nicotine gum, can be useful at these times, Selby noted. Techniques such as deep breathing or meditation work for others.

"Sometimes those kinds of things will let people sort of get through the hump," he said. "It's all about alternatives and strategies."