During an interview with Antenne Sylt, Slash revealed that quitting smoking was the hardest thing he's ever had to give up.
The guitarist, when asked what advice he would give to the millions of smokers trying to quit, said that "quitting smoking was the hardest thing." He said that it's necessary to make the decision and stick to it.
“I have to admit, when I quit smoking [in 2009], I got pneumonia, so for two weeks I couldn’t breathe, imagine smoking, so that helped me,” he said. “And then from that point on, I started using patches, and then Nicorette, and then a different version of nicotine, and then gum. I’m still using the gum. It’s been over 12 years. So you have to make the decision and go for it. But it’s not easy.”
In 2018, during an interview with WTF With Marc Maron , the guitarist said that the pneumonia he contracted was shortly after leaving a Cher . At the time, he claimed that Cher had made him quit smoking. The reason for this, as he previously stated, was the need to go out after each song. Slash, who has always been open about his battle with drugs and alcohol, used to smoke up to 60 cigarettes a day. He described himself as a "compulsive smoker."
