Two ways.

1. Get a crutch and pretend you quit.

This can either be vaping, snus, nicotine pouches, the patch, anything.

2. Cold Turkey

Quitting one morning by just never smoking that day.

That’s all I know.

my accidental 2 step program: 1: switch to these “heets” and the “iqos” and smoking no normal cigs. 2: when i got sick and wanted to smoke i couldnt stand the taste of these things without vomiting. They basically ruined tobacco for me, i never touched a cigarette after that and i stopped smoking one and a half year ago :)

One day at a time. Every time you want a cigarette but don’t give in, you have built strength. Use that strength to better resist the next urge. Really internalize that what you are doing is strong and powerful. Each victory accumulates and supports those to come.

Getting healthy is a personal journey. What works for some will not work for others. I hope you find your way.

As for how I quit tobacco cold turkey:

Every day, I would delay the first cigarette as long as I could. There was no limits to my smoking. There was no rules. Just me doing my best. No putting myself down for sparking one up, no goals to disappoint myself by missing.

Slowly over the course of months I got later and later in the day on average. Till one day I forgot to have one. Did I have a smoke the next day? You bet I did.

But eventually I made it a couple days. Then once I got past a couple days I tried to push for a week. Once you get past two weeks the cravings really dropped. It eventually become a “when I drink” thing. And then I abstained from alcohol to help that along.

I still drink, but I don’t smoke (tobacco). It’s been years since I actively smoked, although two years ago I did slip up when i was drunk tubing down a river and bummed like 5 cig from a friend who had a couple packs. It was a really good day. Next day, I didn’t want to keep smoking. I felt really strong to be able to smoke some cigs and just drop it. Haven’t smoked (tobacco) since then.

Nothing worked for me until Covid came and I’ve stopped seeing my friends who smoked. Best of luck on your endeavour!

I’ll tell you the strategy that worked for me last time (quit for ~2 years), and that I’m using this time.

• Switch to a vape. Lung capacity increases immediately, and you get rid of the bad smell. If you haven’t vaped, give yourself some time to get used to the different habit (no cigarette packing ritual anymore etc)
• Buy a 0 nicotine vape or two, or find a local place you can get them easily. This is your “inside” vape.
• Buy a refillable vape and get nicotine liquid roughly equivalent to the full-nic vape you switched to from cigarettes. This is your “outside” vape.
• Start restricting the locations you use the full-nic vape. I work from home, so I don’t vape full-nic at my desk, I walk outside to do it. You want to break the absent-minded vaping+work or vaping+tv habit.
• Step your nicotine intake down over as long a period as you like, but don’t ever step it back up. First time I quit, I did it over about a year. That’s a little extreme. You could probably do it over a few months.
• Once you’re on 0 nic all the time, either stay with that, or gradually wean yourself off the habit as well. This is much easier without the chemical addiction.

Good luck.

I switched to vaping, then gradually lowered the nicotine levels in my juice over time until I was vaping 0 nic for two months. Then I realized I no longer needed it, and stopped vaping altogether, quitting nicotine for good. This was back when you could get high quality juice sent to you in the mail, though, which is no longer possible, IIRC.

Obligatory TBD Liquids and Blue Dot Vapors, absolute GOAT.

There is no trick. This will require active repragramming from you for months.

I couldn’t find a quit method that took the fight out of my addiction. You have to want to quit more than your addiction. That’s nice but doesn’t mean much.

I found in practice, this equates to action in meeting cravings with determination. Even if you don’t really feel it. You’re used to feeling anxious/angry/sad/sorry for yourself when you can’t have a cigarette. Take back that moment, that feeling. Redefine it. It’s a battle you’re choosing, and the best thing you can do is practice fighting it.

The plus side is, the battle will change as you fight it. So you won’t get bored!

The first two weeks are the hardest.

You already know the first fight, if you’ve ever had to wait for the shops to open to buy some cigarettes or tobacco. You’ve just got to raw dog that. It’s going to suck, but it will at least suck with purpose.

After about 4 days, I started getting spiky, intense cravings that passed after about 30 mins to an hour. Several times a day.

By week two, I only struggled when I was around smokers, saw it on tv, read about it, had a drink (it’s still hard).

There was a resurgence in cravings in month two. I felt I’d earned a puff or two. This is a trap. Notice it, it’s a useful trigger to double down on deciding not to smoke

I’m now a year in off of vaping and cigarettes. It’s still sometimes hard, but mostly I don’t think about it, except to be glad I don’t need to go for a smoke. I don’t miss things at parties anymore. I don’t miss moments with my daughter. Plane rides are way easier.

I was a heavy smoker for thirty years. I quit…16 days ago. So I might not be the best to advise you on this as I’m still just getting started myself. I have quit a few times in the past though, and I can tell you what is making this time easier. First, realize that nicotine is not the problem. That’s out of your system in a few days, from what I understand. It’s the habit that screws it up for you. And I am definitely feeling that. I no longer have that treat to look forward to when I get home. I don’t have anything to do when I’m frustrated trying to figure something out at work. I can’t go outside and have one to relax and think about things. Some of my best work was accomplished while taking a smoke break. Anyway, the way I dealt with that was to start breaking the habits first. Start small. Here’s what I did. First, no smoking in the house. Took some time to get used to that. Next, no smoking in the car. That took a while, because I drive a lot, but eventually I got used to it. Then, no smoking at work. Didn’t even bring them with me. The reason for all this was to get myself used to the idea of not smoking during these times, so that when I stopped it wouldn’t bother me as much. While I’m at work, I’m used to not smoking at work so it doesn’t bother me. Same thing with the driving. So, once I got all that down, I set things up so that I would finish my last pack right before I went to bed on Sunday night. That way I wake up and go right to work. A good head start. So, that’s where I am now. And it definitely helped. Nothing will ever kill cravings completely, but for me this made things easier. It still sucks though. A lot. So willpower is still going to be a big factor. I wish you luck. It won’t be easy. However, if it helps, I can tell you that even after only two weeks it has made a huge difference in my mood, and drastically reduced my stress levels. Aside from being a constant stimulant, I’m also not in a hurry all the time, just trying to get to that next smoke break. I don’t worry about how many I have. Things like that. So, just do it. And stick with it. It’s worth it.

What worked for me was to stop seeing friends that smoked and to go for a run every time I felt like getting a cigarette, instead of getting the cigarette.

I’m going to tell you what worked for me. There’s a very good chance you’ll hate it and I will get flak.

Cold Turkey.

You physically stop yourself from purchasing cigarettes and not ask for them in social situations. You make a line in the sand and never cross that point again.

Here’s my advice on how to really and actually quit: make the decision to quit, and keep making that decision. Every time you feel yourself thinking “just one more…” remake that decision to quit. This was the only way I was successful. Keep making that decision and keep reminding yourself about your decision. You can do it.

The patches are good options in my opinion but ultimately I just needed to drop nicotine all together and have the willpower to say no.

Edit: the best piece of advice I can give is you have to be deadly serious about not smoking, anything less than full commitment is a failed attempt.

Not the answer you want, but for me, I quit cold turkey after smoking a pack a day for 15 years.

The thing that helped is that I wasn’t being forced to quit for health or social reasons. I simply realized that all smoking a cigarette was doing was making me not want to smoke another cigarette for 30 minutes. I felt I had no more desire to continue the trend.

The first week sucked. I ended up rolling loose-leaf paper into the cylindrical shape of a cigarette, putting Scotch tape on one end, and poking holes into it so that dragging on it felt like dragging on a cigarette. That actually got me through week 2.

After that, the pull to smoke was far, far weaker. It’s weird. It ends up coming in waves. You’re fine, you’re fine, then you get an overwhelming urge to light up. The need lasts for about 30 seconds and goes away quickly. Over time, the frequency between those cravings gets longer, and the cravings get smaller. At some point, I just didn’t feel like smoking at all anymore.

But yeah, the first few weeks are not great.

Best of luck!

Edit: my main advice here is that if you don’t feel like you really want to quit, you’re going to have a much harder time. If your plan is to taper down, it may be torture. If you’re plan is “I’ll only show myself this one” every so often, it’s going to be a long, drawn out losing process.

I quit by switching to vaping and then working the nicotine level down to nothing and then quitting that. Whatever you decide to do I wish you the best of luck (and stick with it!)