Boviosity!

Here's my method:

Get a really horrible case of bronchitis. Preferably some time around late January (works better in the north), and in a living situation where you have to go outside to smoke (e.g., nonsmoking spouse or roommates).

The key here is that it should hurt more to smoke than it does to go through withdrawl. Works like a charm.

Here's how I quit:

Bought two weeks worth of the patch. Let it sit on a shelf in my bedroom until the occasional moment every addict feels to try to quit. In my case, six months later, I felt the urge to quit. (Smoked 10 cigarettes before noon that day.)

Slapped on the patch. Had no cravings for ten weeks while I used the patch. In my mind, nicotine addiction and cigarettes disconnected -- I craved the patch in the morning, not a cigarette.

With no cravings, pain and trauma from quitting, cigarettes themselves became a non-issue. Five years later, I still don't smoke and can hang around smokers without any urges or craving. And now all the health risks are the same as if I never smoked, according to my doctor.

YMMV.

BTW, I still miss the patch sometimes. But I won't get emphysema from the patch.

The patch was still a prescription thing when I quit. I could have gotten it, but that would have been way too much effort.

I have a dear friend who went into the emergency room last summer and told them she had lung cancer. They told her she was right, but that she should have noticed it earlier. They gave her no more than a year. She's down to a pack a day now.

Guy: Well, the important thing is you quit! Congrats on the long term success. It's an interesting method. Glad it worked.

Triticale: Sorry about your friend.

Bill -

Thanks. It was sort of a "Hey - I haven't smoked in two weeks. Let's see how long I can keep this going" kind of thing. Ten years later...