Any smoker will tell you that the act of lighting up a cigarette is more habit than anything else and it is very hard to stop and break the habit of smoking.If you plan on quitting smoking you have to face up to the difficulty that your daily nicotine fix has addictive qualities.

On top of the problems of stopping the habitual acts of smoking itself but your body has developed a regular habit of absorbing nicotine. Over the years your body has been enjoying it's daily dose of nicotine. You can expect that your body is going to react to this absence of nicotine with cravings for the drug it is missing and you could become twitchy and short tempered.

No cigarettes means no nicotine and your body responds with messages to your brain that you must find a supply of nicotine.This is why smoking cessation is so difficult and so many people try to find successful ways to stop smoking.

There is always the temptation for just one more cigarette and the feeling can become overwhelming but you can be pretty sure it won't stop there. Many people who try to quit smoking stop successfully for a few days but make the mistake of having that single cigarette.

To quit smoking permanently you will need to make preparations and do it properly so you can quit smoking for good. Spend some time thinking about the things about it that you like so much about smoking.

Having something to do with your hands and this can be difficult to replace if you quit smoking. While other smokers know the habit of sitting with a coffee or a drink and a cigarette forces you to relax.

These are all habits that have to stop if you are to end the habit of smoking. You need to change how you spend your day as well as stopping smoking cigarettes. Avoid the places that you associate with smoking and change your behaviour to match that of a non-smoker.

There are various aids to help you quit the smoking habit. These vary from books on how to quit smoking, replacement therapies that might include chewing gum to replace the habitual part of smoking or nicotine gum and nicotine patches that provide the body with the nicotine it craves while you lose the habitual behaviour of smoking cigarettes.

Some people have had great success with nicotine patches and I recall meeting someone who had 'borrowed' one from a friend on a night out and never smoked again having not suffered any withdrawal problems at all. Maybe she wasn't very addicted to tobacco and I suspect she was a rare exception to the norm but it does show what is possible.

One very interesting product is the quit smoking computer, a small hand held device that guides you though reducing your smoking by telling you when you should, or should not, smoke. By gradually reducing the frequency of smoking the idea is that you eventually just stop without any of the normal withdrawal problems.