I agree with the cold turkey and occasionally have broken the rule so far but been pretty good about it. I usually smoke for pleasure vs for stress o we shall see. Cold turkey is rough.
Most people who have quit tell me the same thing, a struggle for life. Is just something ill have to deal with. Oral fixation problems I figure low calorie snacks, straws, toothpicks, bottled water and other things. Just taking it slow and working toward a goal. I found since I made the rule, I have far less 10 min later cravings than I used to.
Next decrease I am going to draft a list of things to do instead of smoking and try to focus on those whenever I have cravings.
I think "a struggle" might be a little strong but it sounds like you enjoy smoking so that will always be an issue for you. There are a lot of smokers that are stuck with it mostly because of the addiction or because they think they need it to handle life's stressful moments. Those people can quit and the physical addiction is gone in 4 or 5 days and the desire to re-start is mostly gone within a few months. Some of them will go back to smoking when they lose a friend or loved one, or get fired etc. but they don't fantasize about it every day like you probably will.
It's been more than a decade for me and I still dream of smoking, I still get a little jealous when I see the hero of a film light one up and I still think of them every time I smell a good cup of coffee. I didn't love every cigarette but I loved most of them and I'd be the first in line if they ever came out with a real smoke that didn't damage me or others.
Despite what I've said though, quitting and then leaving them alone for good isn't all that hard. It's just that it will never be very far from your mind. Most of us that really enjoyed cigarettes also made the "I'll go back to smoking when the doctor tells me I have 6 months to live" kind of pledge so we always have something to look forward to.
BTW, for the oral fixation, one of the props I used was real cigarettes and it worked well. Take a pack of your favorites and use a needle to pull about half of the tobacco out of the end. Then, roll up and tie the loose paper at the end so that when you take a drag there is still a little resistance. I'd go outside early in the morning with a cup of coffee and dark sunglasses and sit in the spa and "smoke" them and while it wasn't quite the same thing, it still allowed me to capture that feeling. Taking that deep morning drag and slowly exhaling worked wonders. If you don't have steam rising just make sure to close your eyes during the process.
Steve
