h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, I smoked for fourteen years, starting at age fourteen (I was probably twelve the first time I smoked but by 14 I was smoking every day). During college I made a half-committed effort to give them up which I kept up for about a year. When I went back (or "gave up quitting" as I liked to say at the time) I smoked more than ever- about a pack and a half a day for the next 5 years. I quit again in November '99 and haven't smoked a cigarette yet. I used the patch this time around, along with a lot of mental preparation. Here's my two cents worth on the process:

1: It's difficult if not impossible to quit for another person. This was the error of my first attempt. The non-smoking girlfriend or husband can serve as a motivation, but it's really true: you have to want to quit for yourself.
2: My response to the above exhortation was always: but how can you really want to quit if you don't really want to quit? For me the secret was bearing down hard on the fact that over time the positives of smoking become smaller and smaller while the negatives get larger and larger. After fourteen years most cigarettes are pure habit, no enjoyment, at best the sense of an itch relieved momentarily (but it always comes back). Meanwhile, the effects on my energy, wind, voice, sleep, sinuses, and (you can deny it if you like but facts is facts) sex drive were impossible to deny. I tried to keep focus on the concrete, most basic pros and cons.
3: There's one bastard in a thousand who can wake up one morning, say to hell with it, and toss the weeds aside for good. I've known a couple of them. The rest of us need to set a firm date a couple of months out, so there is enough time to prepare mentally for the process. If you're serious, set a date and stick to that date. The worst that can happen is ending up where you started, hopefully a little wiser for the nex attempt.
4: I live in the temperate zone and quit in Winter. I didn't miss the freezing cold cigarette breaks at work or numb fingers with gloves off trying to strike a match in 50 kph winds.
5: The patch was a big help to me the first month. The month before I quit I cut down to about half a pack a day and started at that patch level. I did the half-a-pack patch for 2 weeks and the 5-a-day patch for 2 more, then quit. It kept the cravings from getting to the white knockle stage for the most part, and I became much more aware of nicotine as an irritant and stimulant as a result. But beware: It wasn't until after I took it off for good that I experienced by first full-bore, nail-biting craving. Still, that passed quickly and having a buffer zone between giving up the habit of smoking and giving up nicotine completely definately helped a lot.
6: Probably the most important difference from my last failed attempt to quit was I've made a concerted effort not to dwell on it. I used to obsess at length and write lengthy journal entries about cigarettes while I was trying to quit. Foolish! it just revs up the desires. When I really crave a cigarette, I tell myself: you can certainly have one if that's what you really want. Do it or shut up about it.
7: Quitting is one thing. Staying quit is another. The real challenge after you've successfully made it through a few months is to avoid the "slippery slope." I still frequently find myself gravitating towards the belief that I can have just that one. It helped that I saw a friend who'd made it a year and a half go back to full scale smoking, but I still see it as a genuine danger and I guess it always is. But what helps me a lot is to say, again - Hey, you can have one if that's what you really want. But if you make that decision, you're going to own that decision - no surreptitious smoking around corners. I made the mistake when I was trying to quit in '91 of sneaking when I cheated, and I ended up feeling like a fool, hiding from my girlfriend as if she were my parent.
8: It gets better! The majority of the time I don't think about it and don't miss it. Slowly but surely I'm forgetting what it's like to be a smoker. When I do want to smoke it's generally a short-lived and weak desire. Every so often I will get hit with a bad half hour where I REALLY miss it. I focus on overcoming nostalgia (visulaizing the time a bit of burning tobacco flew off my cigarette in a high wind and flew right into my ear, for example) and concentrating on what I've gained (like a solid half octave on my singing voice). There's no question in my mind it's worth it.
9: Smoke like a champion on your last day. For all the above, there's no sense denying that smokers really get something out of smoking. Even though I had cut down to a half pack months prior to quitting, on my last day I smoked like a maniac. It helped me feel finished with the habit. It also helped that the last several made me feel distinctly nasty, as I'd tripled my consumption in one day.

Good Luck!

Hey, that "smoke like a champion" bit really rings a bell; last Friday
I smoked about 5 fat cigars (not sure - I was out on the piss!) and haven't felt the need to smoke since (it's Tuesday now). As I'm not even considering quitting at the moment, that's pretty effective!