I didn't want to quit, but my husband did. He bought One Step at a Time filters, so I used them to humor him. They didn't cut the taste or number of cigarettes I somoked, just the nicotine in each cig. I got to the third of four filters, smoked a pack one night, and didn't want another cig the next day, or the next, or the next.

Quitting was easy; staying off cigs was hard. I carried a pack with me for 3 months just in case the urge got too much. In 1979, smoking in public places was acceptable, so we stopped going out for about 3 months. It took almost 2 years before I stopped having the urge regularly.

My husband quit on the filters, went back, then quit cold turkey when he got pneunomia.

Until I got OC, I believed I was still addicted; if I ever took a drag, I'd go right back to smoking. Now, no way!

You don't want to come off as a nag because smokers have heard it all, and most people try to quit more than once. I didn't smoke early in my pregnancies, but I went back as soon as I could stomach the cigs. It's an addiction that hard to break. With me, it happened naturally by decreasing the nicotine (except that last night of binge smoking).

As other have said, it has to come from within, but perhaps it's better to try five times than not to try at all.

Marlene