Junky,
I have been cigarette free for 22 years now. I once smoked 1 1/2 to 2 packs of Marlboros a day. Nicotine addiction has been likened to Heroin addiction in its difficulty to break as a habit. However, I found it very easy to quit once I recognized that I had already quit smoking, while I was still smoking.
This is the key...it will only take about a month, or so, for your body to adjust to the absence of nicotine...but your brain will keep telling you that you need to keep up your habit if you haven't made social adjustments. Why? Because everything you do now revolves around smoking. Think about it...when do you not think about lighting up? Not only is cigarette smoking physically addicting, it is socially addicting. Think about that statement a moment...and ask yourself this question...how many nonsmokers do I hang around with socially for long periods of time? Be honest with yourself...no one else's opinions matter. Nonsmokers really don't enjoy being around smokers when they are smoking for very long, do they? The key to quitting is to quit smoking in your brain first (the social addiction), before you tackle the physical addiction.
Once you have overcome the social addiction, the physical addiction will only be a minor discomfiture, and you will likely never smoke again.
Oh! By the way, all of the "quit smoking" devices you find will only line the pockets of their makers with money because they know that you don't know that you must quit smoking in your brain first. I did use "the patch", but only after I realized I had already quit smoking in my brain. Thirty days after I used the first patch, I was no longer addicted physically to nicotine and have never had a craving for a cigarette since.
This has been my experience. I wish you well.
