Smoked for 7 years, quit 2.5 years ago.
It is definately doable, I don't even have the urge to smoke - I can't remember the last craving I had. My wife smoked for 12, quit about a year after I did, she says she still gets the urge for a cigarette occasionally.
I used the nicotine gum to quit, chewed it for two months before I switched to regular gum. I still chew bubble gum quite frequently, I probably go through the 9 pack Trident gums (with 18 pieces in them) in 3-4 weeks.
Before then, I had "tried" a couple times and never made it past a day. You can only quit when you make up your mind to quit.. not to "try" to quit. Once you do that it really isn't even that bad (well, I did use the gum so I can't really comment on quitting cold turkey, that might be tougher).
Good luck to you with the quitting, and if you don't quit after all don't get too down on yourself - just make up your mind that the next time you "try" to quit is going to be the time you stop trying and start quitting.