Slash said he was "dragged" to a Cher concert and had to go outside for a smoke after every song.
Slash said Cher concert helped him quit smoking almost a decade ago.
The Guns N' Roses hasn't smoked since 2009. He admits that seeing his mother lose her battle with lung cancer made him realize he didn't need the addiction.
“I quit smoking nine years ago, almost ten,” Slash said in an interview. “When I smoked, I got pneumonia. And that helped me quit. And when I saw a Cher concert the night before, that’s when I got sick. So Cher helped me quit smoking. I started smoking smokeless tobacco and then nicotine gum.” He said he was “dragged” to Cher’s concert in Las Vegas. “I had to go out for a smoke after every song.”
Regarding quitting, Slash said it's difficult. “You have triggers all the time. They last two seconds or less, but they're very, very powerful. And you can't see someone smoking on television. At the bus stop you see someone with a cigarette and you think 'oooh'. It happens at least once a day.”
The guitarist used to smoke 60 cigarettes a day. He describes himself as a "compulsive smoker. I couldn't cope with the fact that I couldn't smoke anywhere I wanted." In countries where smoking is prohibited in the street, Slash has been sued for lighting a cigarette on stage.
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