I smoked for 16 years. Tried to stop various times. Essentially I needed chantix, and stepped down gradually from a pack a day to half a pack a day in week 2, 5 a day in week 3, then eventually the craving for cigarettes became so small, I was able to not buy a pack when I ran out. I also stopped hanging around friends that smoked and encouraged me to smoke and stopped drinking while I was attempting to stop smoking because alcohol is enhanced by liquor. After about 5-7 days of no cigarettes, the physical symptoms of nicotine are gone and it's all mental. Good luck.