congrats on nearly 2 years, that's a huge accomplishment!!

you're right on, imo "iron wills" are not an ideal approach to addiction management and it seems way better to come to understand the default behavior first and implement alternatives so you can incrementally resist more when triggers happen. I'm not a smoker but I see this point made in research into food, gambling, and porn addiction and it makes sense - you're setting yourself up to take control of the behavior which is a very empowering feeling even if it's partial control in the short term.