So in an effort to cut down on cost and eventually give up smoking entirely, I'm switching to e-cigs today with the occasional regular cigarette.

I'm hopeful that it works, I know my lung stash is starting to pay the price from years of smoking. Wish me luck!

Any tips from other former smokers besides the usual "Always have hard candy" etc? I know not to be around cigarettes if I can help it, and I am trying to tell myself that I'm stronger than the nicotine, but damn this addiction is fierce.

I'm not a smoker myself, but I grew up and live in a family of smokers.

My best advice outside the nicotine dependency is to tell you to not make up excuses to start smoking again. My aunt stopped smoking 4 years ago and started smoking some months from now with the excuse of being so nervous because of my mother being on the hospital. Yes, it's a critical situation and maybe understandable, but the awful truth is that today, with my mother being ok in home, my aunt keeps smoking more and more.

So that would be my advice, DO NOT MAKE UP EXCUSES TO SMOKE. You don't need it because your girlfriend broke up with you, because you had a very bad day, because some person you care is on the hospital, because it's friday morning and you need a smally help to get your job done before weekend.

Every time you doubt about smoking, ask this to yourself...

(watch image below)
Who is in charge? Me, not nicotine.

Thanks for the advice.

Never smoked except for trying it, but my parents always smoked.
I would need 2 packs a day for all the problems i have but i did try to find solutions in alcohol sometimes, which is just as hard of an addiction.
But the more you do manage to sustain from it (it might go piece by piece) the easier it will get.
I also heard hypnotherapy works.

My brother also used to be a heavy smoker and has switched to e-cigs. While neither of us can say with any certainty whether they will be more harmful or not in the long run, he has stopped smoking normal cigarettes completely and says he feels better, because he no longer has a sore throat in the morning.

My father has been a heavy smoker and has never seriously attempted to quit it.

As for my mother, she flips-flops with it. She quits it for a long time and then, when something seriously anxiety-inducing occurs (like increased responsibilities) she begins again.

From what I noticed, anxiety tends to make former cigarette smokers into cigarette smokers again. So, don't get anxious? Or try to distract yourself with something else other than a cigarette.

Thanks, lugum :) in the short term, I'm trying ecigs - the equivalent of a carton in ecigs is $14 USD plus tax versus $45 USD plus tax for regular cigarettes. That gives me hope about your brother. Even if I just switch to ecigs, I'll be happy and saving a LOT of money. Waiting for my ecig to finish charging :B

I hope you haven't been watching that commercial for King E-cigs. Whatever you do DON'T be like those assholes!

Oh and you do know that e-cigs are still unhealthy as hell. I'm not judging anyone mind you, I smoked when I had cancer, I'm just saying while you might be cutting down on the tar intake you are still screwing with your lungs big time. Of course, that still makes it healthier than living in Flint or Gary.

Oh I know I'm not stopping the nicotine. My goal right now is just to switch to Ecigs. 20 packs' worth of smokes in ecig cartridges where I work costs less than 10 packs of normal cigs.

I've quit several times with varying success.
My longest quit so far was 1 full year, with the help of Quitline Iowa, patches and lozenges.
QI provided the patches for free.

I'm going to try it again starting April 1st.
Quitline Iowa is in my home state, if yours doesn't have one try this:

http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/campaign/tips/quit-smoking/

I tried e-cigs and 1.) They didn't curb my cravings. 2.) They tasted like crap. :)

Best of luck to you.
You just have to truly WANT to stop and it will work.
My 'success rate' is directly related to my attitude.

We need to sticky this.

I've been using E-cigs since last month, and they work pretty well . I don't feel any craving, even tho I spend time around other heavy smokers (my mom, in particular ) . Just make sure you have a spare, fully charged battery and a spare atomizor at all times .

<^>This question / problem has been solved by donsanderson

Both my parents used to be heavy smokers, specially my father (went up to 3+ packs a day). They are clean now for more than 10+ years but the turning point in their smoking habit is still a bit of mystery...

They caught some bad flu/fever/cold one time that stuck to them for long. During that time they tried to continue smoking but it got so gross to them for some reason that it made em quit for good. My mother for example described it as some choking feeling that got to her, and my father once ate some fast food and tried smoking with it and he was like "wtf am i doing?!" I guess something "ticked" in their brains for some reason but what was common in their case was that they both caught some cold when they experienced this.

Now i dunno if smokers smoke when they are sick, catch cold or something, but it might help. For some reason you may experience a really nasty feeling that will turn a switch in your brain and make you think differently, probably a survival reaction of the body, i really don't know. I tried asking my parents recently what made em quit and they really can't pinpoint the reason, only remember the circumstances.

Why do you want to quit smoking? If you can nail down specific reasons for quitting and specific benefits of a smoke-free life, it'll help you remain motivated through the process. It's a lot easier for your willpower to latch onto something concrete than something like "it's time to stop."

My friends who still smoke have had mixed success with e-cigs, but they may work for you. Best of luck in any case.

Good luck to you. I quit smoking about 9 years ago. The then girlfriend, now wife pretty much gave me an ultimatum. (Damn, that won her major points with my family.) I haven't smoked since. What sucks is that's it's been nearly 10 years and I still get the occasional craving for a cigarette. It never fully went away.