My personal problem is getting wayyy too irritable whenever I try.
I slowly tapered from 6mg to 3mg to 1.5mg vape juice over probably 8 or 9 months or so. Eventually went to 0mg but without the nic hit I lost interest. Withdrawal was there, but way better than going cold turkey.
In the process of this myself, stepping down with vapes is easy, and I say this as a person with almost no self-discipline.
I simply stopped cold. I read something about the chemical addiction being only 3 days to overcome and the rest being habitual. I used this to convince myself that I didn't really need a cigarette physically in any way it was just mental desire and habit.
After about a month all desire stopped completely.
Prior to reading about the chemical addiction only being 3 days I had failed multiple times previously. It was a game changer for me. I don't even know if it's true or if I'm repeating a myth right now but it is what worked for me. Probably 10 years since a cigarette now and I was doing 20-30 a day (rollups) when I quit.
I had to quit drinking at all for like six months, because every time I was quitting smoking cold turkey I'd end up giving in after a few drinks. It was... not easy.
I quit cold turkey. Replaced it with coffee for the most part. Making pourover or moka pot coffee yourself is a bit of a meditative act that helps as well
Replaced cigarettes with toothpicks, quit cold turkey with a few lapses. I have no fond memories of cigarettes now a decade later.
I still smoke a couple times a week. Managed to get there with nicotine gum and then slowly tapering off.
I went from a pack a day to stopping over about six months by switching to a vape and gradually tapering to no nicotine.
If you’re anything like me you’ll fuck up multiple times and start again. That’s fine, just keep going in the right direction.
I just went straight to 3mg vape at a low wattage. I honestly do it for the flavor now lol. Probably still bad to get the nicotine hits, but it's definitely better than stogies.
I drunkenly picked up a pack about a month ago and threw them away (gave them to someone else) after smoking about 3 and wanting to vomit.
I used nicotine patches and kept a vape with 0mg nicotine on me to "trick" myself into thinking I was vaping when the cravings got really bad. I still use the non nicotine vape to this day because I find it relaxing, but I hit it like 2 or 3 times a day, and don't mind if I dont have it
Had a friend that smoked for like 10 years and read "Stop Smoking the Easy Way." And stopped cold turkey.
I used nicotine gum mixed with real gum. Then slowly had more real gum over time till it was just all gum.
Then I had to break the habit of chewing gum all of the time but that was a lot easier.
i was down to like 1-2 a day (evenings only) when COVID hit. i also was turning 40 and it hit me pretty hard that i didn't want be some idiot still smoking tobacco in his 40s. so i just quit. i stopped drinking too, but i was only doing that once a week by that point anyway. i just knew it would make it harder to stay off the tobacco. the thing another poster says about 3 days to lose chem dependency is legit. after that, it's all just psychological comfort/memory.
as far as irritability goes, one thing to keep in mind is that you're probably just as irritable while feeding your monkey, but you're distracted from recognizing it by the habit.
anyway, i guess my solution boiled down to wanting to be someone else and deciding to be that person. i also found that if you can ride out those sudden cravings for like 15-20 minutes, they go away. calming breathing exercises can help (4 seconds in, 4 second hold, 4 second out)... and they also connect you with your lungs, which is a positive association to build on.
