The following techniques for quitting smoking were written and/or
compiled by my older brother Dan who was a chain smoker for 20+ years
before being diagnosed with throat cancer when he was 38 years old
(the same age coincidentally that I was diagnosed with Buergers
Disease). He is now a cancer survivor and has been smoke/nicotine
free for a little over 13 years. Everything past this paragraph will
be his words, comments, thoughts, etc. When I was smoking my thoughts
were that the only thing worse than a non-smoker is an ex-smoker and
so I never try to give advice or lecture those who do but a recurring
theme on this board is "How do I quit when I know I must?" I asked
him to send me his program to pass along to this group. I will delete
some of the more personal and family references and note if I have
added any of my own.

"I believe from experience that although recovery remains a day by
day procedure for life that the mental residuals of nicotine are
approximately 2 years for most people.
My first technique is to set a date so far in the future that you
become disgusted with yourself. If you are like most (drugs, sweets,
food, alcohol, nicotine) your consumption will increase. Allow
yourself to become more disgusted with this increase but don't push
your date forward out of disgust if it is at the expense of mental
preparation. (Moderacy is for monks ~ all things to excess). But once
that date has arrived you have to resolve yourself that even a minor
slip will drop you off over the precipice, with few ledges to break
the fall.
Mental preparation should entail (at a minimum) self reflection on
the reasons you shouldn't smoke such as health, wind, longevity,
expense. Self-hypnosis to begin convincing you that the most common
pesticide since the banning of DDT, (nicotine sulfate) is your enemy
and not your friend. I would also recommend some Zen, Hindu, or
Buddhist breathing techniques, which will serve 2 functions. 1) To
calm you while you are experiencing the hebe-gebes and 2) to
reinforce that you haven't been doing yourself any favors while you
have been smoking. (MY NOTE: my brother included a magazine article
with some of these techniques. I am a very poor 2 fingered typist so
I will not try to reproduce it but if you are interested send me a
personal e-mail and I will scan it and send it to you in .jpg format)
Now that your body shakes and you are irritable (try to channel this
at yourself and not your loved ones or enemies for you are the fool
who invited this monkey onto your back) and you are ready to rob a 7-
11 to get a smoke because you believe you have the will of a worm, it
is time to use magic against human nature.
Almost all failures I have observed begin with the human flaw of
wanting just one and not believing one should deny oneself. After the
Great American Smoke-Out one person after another would bring me a
pack with one, two or three out of it. Each person had a guilty look
on their face and regretted getting up in the middle of the night, in
the middle of a snowstorm, getting dressed and getting that pack.
Even if they resisted at that moment, they have planted a mental
seed which will sprout in the dark with no moisture or fertilizer. I
bought a brand new pack the day I quit, then you don't have to panic
over not having one available. HOWEVER, every time you get the urge
instead of opening the pack you add another layer of tape to seal it
tighter. Continue the spell by decorating the pack with positive
negatives such as "Do you really want to open your enemy?", or "Think
About It!" or anti-smoking campaign sentiments from heroes from
history.
Examples:
Philip M Freneu (1752-1832) American journalist and rebel
"Tobacco surely was designed
To poison and destroy mankind."

King James I (1566-1625)
"A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the
brain, dangerous to the lungs and in the black stinking fume thereof,
nearest resembling the horrible stygian smoke of the pit of the
bottomless."

Charles Lamb (1775-1834)
" A Farewell to Tobacco"
For thy sake, Tobacco, I
Would do anything but die.

To curb weight gain and compensate for the initial shock of the loss
of the Freudian oral fixation, I learned/observed a great technique
from an older lady I work with. She keeps a tiny tin filled with
whole cloves. No calories, freshens breath, becomes hot enough that
it discourages constant use while gratifying the oral urge.
Many people tell of quitting but falter when they drink alcohol. I
went to one of my drinking buddies who despite drinking mass
quantities never waivers in his resolve. His contention/observation
is that people take smoking back up after they begin feeling better
because they have forgotten why they quit in the first place. He
encouraged me to pick a short catch phrase as a reminder and implant
it in my brain. I chose "Why ~ Wind!"
Although I have friends swear by the AA 12 steps (and would never
discourage anything that works for a specific individual), I believe
in Dan's One Step: One Heart, One Mind, One Day ~ One Day At A Time."

MY NOTE from here:
I hope this program and technique will be helpful to someone. There
are a couple more anti-smoking quotes from historical figures in his
original but as I mentioned I am a 2-finger typist and transcribing
this much has taken me forever. I'll post them if anyone requests but
I think you get the idea.
I will be honest and say that I didn't see this until after I had
quit. My doctors were (I thought at the time) brutal with me and told
me that they would no longer prescribe me painkillers if I didn't
stop smoking. At that time I had 2 toes rotting off and was in
extreme pain. They also told me it was the only chance I had of
saving my leg. I also have a wonderful wife who quit smoking at the
same time. I have been nicotine free since April of '99 and have to
admit that there probably isn't a day that goes past that I don't
want to smoke but I try never to forget what I went through and that
helps me stay the course.