>  I have tried gum, patches, anti-depressent drugs and group therapy. I
> had been able to quit as long as I took the patches or drugs and then
> went right back to smoking. Then I saw an ad for some stop smoking
> drug, Chantix I think, where it showed the nicotine receptors as
> little gremlin type creatures who act up when they don't get their
> nicotine.

>  I did some further research into nicotine cessation programs and
> found out they were little better than placebo. I devised a program
> that I thought would work for me. My intentions were not to quit but
> to cut down the number of cigarettes I smoked. I believed that the
> cigarettes were finally taking their toll and if I cut down, at least
> I would be delaying my demise.

>  So, my plan worked this way: First I applied the step one nicotine
> patch. I did not smoke with the patch on because previous attempts had
> met with some heart palpitations. I left the step one patch on for as
> long as I could while remaining smoke free. After a couple of days,
> when the urge to smoke got to be to much I applied a step two patch. I
> figured that I was battleing the receptor gremlins and maybe I could
> kill one or two at a time. After the step two patch stoped working and
> the urge to smoke became just too much, I bought a pack of cigaretts.
> When I smoked I tried to make them last as long as possible by
> increasing the time between smokes and smoking just part of the
> cigarette. I smoked just enough to quite the gremlins but not enough
> to create new ones or revive the ones I had knocked out. After the
> pack was gone and the nicotine withdraw became unbearable, I went to
> step one and repeated the cycle.

>  I went through the cycle six times in ten weeks. The cycles grew
> longer and I could feel the gremlins getting weaker. Then one day the
> step two patch fell off and I decided I had the upper hand and could
> now go cold turkey. I drank alot of water and sucked on lots of hard
> candy, but today I have gone longer than I ever have without nicotine
> or without drugs. I am still batteling the gremlins, but I am slowly
> winning. The battle is not easy and I am not getting any younger, so I
> figure this is the last time I want to do this and that is plenty of
> motivation.

>  I know that I am nicotine free for a realitively short time, but it
> is the longest for me and for the first time I really think I can do
> it. So fuck the tobacco companies, you get no more of my money.

> I have been quit for 3 Weeks, 6 Days, 6 hours, 13 minutes and 54
> seconds (27 days). I have saved $92.67 by not smoking 545 cigarettes.
> I have saved 1 Day, 21 hours and 25 minutes of my life. My Quit Date:
> 4/11/2008 7:32 AM