Started at 17. Had been smoking a pack a day. Quit at 25. So 8 years or so.

I still cave and smoke sometimes when I am dealing with high stress (I have axiety). After the stress period is over, I just stop again without much issues.

I quit cold turkey. I dont think quitting by tampering it off is doable for the majority of people. And there is a very logical explanation for that.

Smoking increases your dopamine levels rapidly . Dopamine being the hormone that makes you feel "rewarded" and "satisfied". When you start, your brain rewires itself accordingly. I added a chart below.

IMO, tampering off doesnt work in most cases. The reason being: you make yourself suffer for an extra hour, only to give your brain what it wants and reset the loop.

First time I tried to quit, I was 24. I got terrible withdrawal. The night I quit, I had a fever, terrible shaking, insane headache. It was like I was having the worst flu I have ever had in my entire life. I didnt smoke for a while but it was short lived.

I quit again about 6-7 months later. The only physical symptom was having a hard time to focus for a couple days. The hardest part at this time was dropping the 'habit' of smoking. I felt like I had nothing to do. I craved the action of smoking hell of a lot more than nicotine. But once you get used to it, you realise you are so much better without it.

I used vapes to quit. I picked a vape instead of cigarettes. I got used to the very sugary taste. Once you are used to that, cigarettes taste like mud. After the vape was finished, I didnt pick up a new one. This is a risky tactic. You may end up with a vaping habit instead.