If you can switch to patches its as good as quitting. Apparently the patches are totally non addictive. I know it sounds weird but when the give lab mice pure nicotine they don't get addicted to it. So there are like 4 or 5 components of the smoke itself that contribute to the addictive effect so its the sum total of nicotine plus those. The thing is I was reading this book called smarter and nicotine is supposed to boost cognition by as much as 15% so in and of itself its actually kind of cool as long as you're not addicted. I see its along the lines of caffeine as long as you're not getting actual smoke.