I smoked heavily for 15 years and never thought I could quit - tried a lot of different things and nothing worked until I tried not inhaling every cigarette I smoked.   I allowed myself to smoke whenever I wanted to as long as I didn't inhale and I still have that permission.  The first three days were horrible, but after that, without even trying, I was smoking half the number of cigarettes I had smoked previously.  I also did some psychological things to retrain my brain.   After three months, I was down to just a few cigarettes every day (less than seven, sometimes only one or two).  Then I really made a sincere effort not to smoke at all, still with permission to smoke as long as I didn't inhale.  That was in 1983.   I smoked a total of about 15 cigarettes after that, still enjoying an occasional cigarette without inhaling, but it has now been more than 35 years since my last cigarette - the urge to smoke just vanished at some point.   When I smoked, I always thought cigarettes helped me to concentrate, but I find that I can still think as clearly as I could before.  Food tastes a lot better.  I have more friends.  I enjoy breathing clean air.  There are so many advantages to not smoking and I am so glad I managed to break free!  Here is a paper I wrote about what I did to overcome my addiction to cigarettes: