My girlfriend started smoking again last year after having quite for a couple of years. It started back up again slowly by smoking at parties or nights out, and then by buying packs to have just one cigarette, and then giving away the rest of the pack. There are lots of things that people do to convince themselves that they can smoke casually, but for former smokers it's a very slippery slope. It's best to avoid temptation by not going outside with friends/co-workers when everyone steps out for a smoke. It sucks and it's ostracizing yourself a little, but to do otherwise is asking for trouble.
Other than that, take the money you got from not smoking for a month and go buy an iPad 2. Or, more wisely, pay down some debt. I'm sure anyone could use an extra $6K a year.
I smoked for 10 years and then gave it up 3 years ago after trying to quit cold turkey several times. I went to talk to my doctor and he recommended a drug called Champix. Not sure if it's still used or is available in your area (I'm Canadian). Out of all the smoking cessation drugs out there, my doctor would only recommend Champix because he described it as a 'clean drug', a drug that was built to help people to quit smoking instead of drugs like Wellbutrin which were created to help with depression and had the side-effect of helping people kick cigarettes.
Champix worked for me, but I know other people who it hasn't worked for. It gave me incredibly vivid dreams and that was what eventually made me stop taking the drug a couple weeks in, but after that I had enough of a push to go the rest of the distance. I still think about cigarettes occasionally, but not the way I used to. A few times a year if that, I think. A lot of the other advice given here is also pretty good. Getting away from people who smoke or places where you might be tempted to smoke. Drinking lots of water. Picking some other activity up. Just my two cents.
After trying the patch for a while and still smoking (although it was a great deal less than without the patch), I finally took a friend's advice and listened to an audiobook. "The Easy Way to Quit Smoking" by Allen Carr. He encourages you to continue smoking while reading/listening, taking away any thoughts of delaying reading or something. After listening to that, I quit the patches and I quit cigarettes entirely. That was back in March and I haven't smoked since. I really can't recommend it enough. Hope you check it out, duder.
I probably "quit" smoking a dozen times before I kicked it for good (that "last cigarette ever" is better than sex). Anyway, I think the only reason I quit for good was that I went on medication for depression. I was prescribed Wellbutrin, which is an anti-depressant. It's also prescribed as a stop-smoking aid (under the name Zyban). After a few days on it, the cravings disappeared almost completely.
Maybe this article will help in some small way. I know alcoholism isn't the same as a nicotine addiction, but I think the author's message is meaningful for anyone who has troubling control his substance usage.
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