I smoked for about 20 years... maybe a pack to a pack and a half a day.
In 2003 I quit for two weeks cold turkey... then I got in a fight with the boss and quit my job.. drove down the 7-11.. bought a pack.. had a few... went back.. apologized and went back to work.
In 2008 my wife and I decided to quit together. I quit for two and a half months using the gum. By this point I was addicted to the gum, but not smoking. Wife quit for not even a week. She kept taunting me and I finally caved. She left me just before christmas that year for a guy off the internet.. just disappeared half way across the country and filed a bogus restraining order. 9 years of us down the drain...
By May, 2009, I was starting to feel like a person again... getting my self esteem back and my sense of.. well wanting to live again! I decided that when I was ready to quit smoking for real, then I would be ready to move on with my life. I was at Walgreens for some stuff and noticed their nicotine gum was 50% off (the generic stuff, but still).... it was just too good a deal to pass up... so I bought a box. Then on the way home I decided that when I finished this pack that would be it... I opened the pack to have a smoke and it was the LAST ONE! So I took my time.. smoking it... enjoying it... and haven't had one sense.
A month after that I was out of gum.. went to buy some more.. saw the price (not on sale this time) and was like "SCREW THAT! I'm NOT PAYING THAT!"... so I got a pack of regular gum instead... and a couple months after that I didn't even need regular gum at all!
Since then I've gotten a GREAT girlfriend, moved into a GREAT house... had two GREAT vacations and actually have money to blow! My ex was financially sucking me dry.. to the point to where we had to file bankruptcy. I just feel so free... honestly... I really don't believe I really knew what having a happy life meant until this last six months or so!
And all I can say about my ex is thank GOD we didn't have kids. . . what a nightmare that would have ended up being...
Now.. I was one of the ones who truly were hooked... I would be lying if I didn't say I don't crave a cigarette almost constantly, but I've learned to just take a few deep breaths and ignore that urge. My dad quit 22 years ago and claims he still wants one just as bad as the day he quit... I don't think I had any of the 'side effects'... no sickness or headaches or anything (except when I accidentally swallows nicotine gum juice)... just the craving.
I do believe that some people never really get hooked to cigarettes... I know people who smoked for years and just quit and never even really craved one.