I’ve quit 2x’s! The 1st time in Feb ‘87. Started up again in ‘93. Quit again in Oct. ‘05. Haven’t smoked since but think about it every day. Quit both times on my own. It takes about 2 weeks to get it out of the system. It’s mostly about breaking the habit at key times...like after a meal, with a cocktail etc.
Quitting was hellish, after smoking for eighteen years. Fighting the cravings put me straight into lala-land a few times. And, when I finally quit for good, it took me three or four years before I could allow myself to think that maybe -- just maybe -- I had shaken the beast.
It took more years before I lost the "fond memories" of smoking -- at least ten, as I recall. I can still remember the day that it dawned on me that returning to smoking was a repellent idea.