I fucking quit...

[Thumpalumpacus]

It depends.  When I quit a few years back, I quit by delaying my first cigarette of the day -- moving it from 8AM to 10 and doing that for a week or so.  The next week, I wouldn't allow myself to smoke until noon, the next week two pm, and so on. After a couple of months, I was lighting up my first smoke at ten pm, and at that point it was just as easy to go to sleep without lighting up at all.

I've fallen off the wagon here recently, but will be going back to smoke-free soon, and that's how I will do it again.

Different folks having different ways of dealing with addiction withdrawal.

Yeah, but with nicotine you're only dealing with physical addiction as opposed to the mental and physical addiction you get with drugs that get you high, which was mainly what I was referring to.  I was going to mention that nicotine would be an exception just due to the success of the patches and gum, but I was suddenly in a hurry.

The mental and psychological addiction to nicotine is not as intense, and therefore not so obvious; you're right in that regard. But it is present, or at least it is for me. Scoring a supply, well that's a relief. When can I have my next one nags me at work or long drives (I don't smoke in my truck).

The physical addiction is the biggest hump, no doubt. But it isn't the only one -- at least, it hasn't been for me. I started smoking at 17, "quit" perhaps six or eight times for lengths of two to six weeks, but only by approaching it in the manner that gave me two years' clean did I find a more durable model (backslidden though I am).

Cold turkey ignores the psychological dimensions of it, to my way of seeing things. If it's what works for someone else, more power to 'em. Pure willpower works for some; others of us have to trick our bodies and minds into walking away. I will cheerlead for anyone here using any means that works for them because it is a vicious cunt of a drug, and won't quibble about how they go about their business.