Good for you.  I smoked a pack of Camel Lights everyday for twenty years.  Quit 7-8 years ago using the patch.  I LOVED the vivid dreams on the patch.  I used to tell my wife everynight that I wore the patch "I don't know where I'm going tonight but I will have a good time".  Hell, I miss the patch more than the cigs.

I quit after seeing my wife carried to the hospital by the ambulance when she was ill and couldn't breathe well.  She went cold turkey THAT NIGHT and has not smoked one since.  

It took me a month or so but I followed her lead because all 4 of my grandparents succumbed to one form of cancer or another.  All 4 smoked. I just knew it was a death sentence for me as well.  Sorry to be a downer.

I quit smoking real cigarettes on May 1 with the help of e-cigs. Vaping is so much better than smoking. I had a smoke after a week of vaping and it was GROSS! Next, I'll start reducing the nicotine content of my juice until it's zero. Then, I'll have to address the habit. I've set-up one of my close friends and my mother-in-law with kits and they're making progress.

The only thing that can get you now is your pride.

Cheers.
Smoked from pre-teen to 50.
Quitting was hard except the last time.

You and I quit almost at the same time.  My last was Dec 23.  After about 17 years.  Just up and quit one day, haven't looked back.

Yup,  

Exercise was the only way I was able to really quit quit. I tapered off pretty well, and would just have moments of weakness when I was drinking, usually. Once going to the gym became a steady habit in my life, I didn't want to smoke anymore because it made me feel like shit in the gym. Good luck, we all need the good people to live a little longer.

Doc

Congrats, keep it up.

Hoping one of our friends kicks the habit soon.  He's quit several times and always goes back.  It's hard for me to be around him at times, since I'm allergic to cig smoke, sinuses swell & close, and I get a bad headache.

This

Congrats!

It's been since February 1998 for me and I never regretted quitting.

good for you. I can't believe how many of my friends smoke. My friend/coworker smokes while we are at work in the truck together. Its pretty lame...

Way to go! Hang in there. August 21 will be two years for me. After smoking for 30 years and getting up to over two packs a day, I am just now seeing the benefits of quitting. Inflated a large pool raft for my son using lung power and didn't get winded or dizzy (two years ago, I would have been close to passing out  and now at work when I need to use the restroom, instead of walking to the far end, I go to the closer one, two flights up and run those stairs with out getting overly winded.

After two years, it really is much easier. I hardly ever even think about it, and when I do, it is not a craving I get, it is disgust that I did that to my self for so long.

No shit, day 2 for me, if I don't sleep with it on, I will get up and have a smoke.
Wierd dreams make for an interesting night. Guys in the Brick and Mortor I sleep in tell me I am yelling in my sleep, but they want me to quit too

After all my failed attempts. this is how the last one was.  I don't want to say it was "easy", but it wasn't as bad as my earlier experiences.

I'm shocked that you ever had any left to give out

That's the way it was for me, too.  All those "It's your time to quit" commercials made sense, so I threw away the smokes, used a few pieces of the Nicorette gum, and never looked back.

I can now hang out in smokey bars and not even have the urge to light up

I think I quit in April of this year after smoking for 30 years. I don't try and keep track of how many days I've stopped smoking because I don't want to think about how long it's actually been since I've had one, if that makes any sense.

Started out using Chantix, but experienced some of those side effects noted on the inclosed paperwork.  Actually, the wife says I went bat-shit crazy for a day or two.  As I have such a tenuous grasp on reality anyway, I gave that shit up in a hurry and just went cold turkey without any chemical crutch to replace the nicotine.    

These days I treat the entire process like I used to treat deployments in the Army: just take it one day at a time, sometimes even one hour, or one minute at a time, and keep telling myself "I choose not to smoke, I choose not to smoke" over and over, just like some sort of mantra.  That and chew the hell out of a bunch of tooth picks.

It's gotten better as I only feel the "need" for a butt on rare occasions. Usually after a couple of drinks, or a good meal.

Told my Dad I thought I had finally given up the habit after at least a month of going without.  (He'd given up the habit after his final tour in Viet Nam) When he told me that it had taken him 20 years to finally quit having the urge for a cigarette or a cigar after a good meal I was like - gee, thanks Dad. (mumble, mumble, asshole, mumble, mumble)

But screw it, I think what finally broke me of the habit is that I just couldn't stand paying $10 a pack in this fricken state.  $300 bucks a month on a habit that doesn't involve firearms, flying, or single malt scotch just ain't gonna work.  

That and the fact, the older I get, the less willing I am to go outside in New York winters to indulge in that habit. The rest of the year isn't to bad, but standing out in sub-zreo temperatures, with snow getting blow up my ass just doesn't cut it anymore.

Anyhoo, that's my tale of woe

Congratulations!!! I am almost a year in after 15 years. used the e-cig to quit & it works to this day. My lungs are appreciative :)