Had a good doctor who told me you can't "try to quit". You can't "cut back". You can't quit for other people or before you are ready. But once you are... he said every successful quitter he helped, quit cold turkey. You have to stop 100% or you won't stop. He offered meds to help with the emotional and physical side effects. I declined.

I was a smoker for 20+ years, many of those I was well over a pack a day and I worked in a smoking bar for over a decade. It's probably too late for me is what I thought, BUT I DID IT.

Quit 2 and a half years ago. It hasn't gotten any easier yet. I still want to smoke daily. But I haven't had a single puff. I still hang out with friends that smoke but I did change my normal environment. (Quit while I was moving to make breaking associated habits easier.)

The things I found most helpful when the craving kicks in... Exercise was the best. HARD physical labor. Also sleeping and eating. Luckily I was in decent shape already so eating a bit more often wasn't a huge deal. The tons of extra exercise just burned it off or helped build up some muscle mass I didn't know was possible.