Hi, Gypsy and Kades....
I have been a 35 year smoker, off and on trying to "quit" that whole time.
(Boy, I hate writing that!)...
I've tried everything...the patch, gum, Chantix, cold turkey. I might have success for a while, but then something distressing would happen, and I was back buying a pack of Marlboro Lights. A lot of people like the gum, but I found it stomach-upsetting as well as noticing a receding of my gums, which was alarming.
I really think the tobacco companies add something extra addictive to tobacco, not to mention the many carcinogenic chemicals within tobacco smoke.
So, here, I'm going to share with you my story with the e-cigarette. I'm not going to try to persuade you to try this, but it has worked for me. I did a lot of research, and back in Dec. '09, I bought a "kit" online. With this kit, you can choose varied levels of nicotine, from high, med., down to zero. My intention, when purchasing the kit, was to quit while tapering down on the nic levels. I've discovered that the ecig is not nearly so compulsively addictive as the tobacco cigarette. It's pleasurable, yes, but I can take a puff or two, or let it go and not bother with it at all...totally unlike when I was smoking the Marlboros.
We've discussed this here already in the smoking threads. If you have questions, please feel free to pm me, or ask here as well.
Patty