About 4 years ago I finally (it seems) stopped smoking, and my wife (then girlfriend) as well. Before that I was a smoker for about 12 years or so. In the last

About 4 years ago I finally (it seems) stopped smoking, and my wife (then girlfriend) as well. Before that I was a smoker for about 12 years or so. In the last 6-7 years before realy quitting I was more or less constantly in the process of quitting. When successful for one years or one and a half, then I would lapse back into the bad habit. And always for almost honorable reasons. Paul's description is quite correct here. Who wanted to blame you for a single cigarette on your graduation party, and the like. It became a bit disheartening, because once you had proven that you would relapse after apparently successfully stopping for so long, you don't believe into yourself any longer. If 18 months was not safe, would it be fair to feel safe after 24 months the next time? Or after 30 months? And in general it was really this continuous argument with yourself all the time. Just one tonight? -- But then I found a trick that worked. My girlfriend (who smoked as well) and me would set up a monetary fine. That simple. And effective. We agreed that whoever smokes a cigarette had to pay 500 euros (which was a lot for us then), no offsetting against each other! Reflecting on this, it is curious that one should be more successful with a bit of cash, when years of your life and your health are at stake. And I was perfectly aware of the health risk back then, of course. I assume that one involuntarily calculates the net present value of your health in the future. I think your really have to beat the economics of quitting, otherwise you out-cheat yourself without end. Take an amount that hurts you. I am a idealistic person, and working with cheap money tricks was not much after my taste. We were making us the equivalent of a donkey tricked around by a carrot. But it work for us and was even quite painless. So I recommend this to other smokers.