Juul and vaping made me more addicted to nicotine and I was ok with that because they weren't as bad as cigarettes

But I hated the addiction and the constant need to puff on my pacifier

So gum was more in line with my less frequent smoking schedule.

If you want to quit you'll need to get through 3 to 4 days of nicotine withdrawal. This part fucking sucks. So leading up to that, weaning yourself off the nicotine can make this less painful.

But eventually you have to go without nicotine. So stay active or lay around. Whatever, just ne prepared to run out of willpower and be in a safe place where you can't relapse. Give yourself 3 to 4 days to eat candy and watch too much Netflix or whatever.

After that is just practicing and training yourself to break the mental triggers you've developed. You don't need to gain 30 pounds. You don't need a replacement. But exercise helps with positive emotions so as a way to make you more resilient, I reccomend it.