Quitting smoking is the hardest commitment you will ever make in your entire life. I know this because I've quit a lot of bad habits, including addiction to alcohol, and quitting smoking was by far the most difficult.

Did I say commitment? You may be thinking, "Whoa now, quitting smoking sounds too hard if I have to make a commitment".

But despite knowing all this, people are reluctant to give up smoking. The main attraction of smoking is the tobacco smoke, which is an addictive. In addition, tobacco smoke also contains nicotine, which is deadly poisonous to human beings in its pure form. Tar is another harmful ingredient. This can clog the lungs over time.

The nicotine gums, patches, and lozenges are one of the most popular techniques used and nicotine replacement therapy is just what the name implies. A smoker receives an infusion of nicotine to fight withdrawal cravings from a source separate from tobacco. This method can indeed help to fight cravings and is safer then tobacco because the body is not receiving the tar and thousands of other deadly chemicals it would get from tobacco. A problem with this method is that nicotine in itself is a poison and can cause problems such as high blood pressure, increased pulse rate, and heart disease.

Chewing something or holding anything in the smoker’s mouth almost always work in exchange for the habit created by the cigarette. Some people chew cigarette candy which mimics the actual material that they put in their mouths. Usually, it takes as much time to chew on the candy as with the smoking of the cigarette. People of the West Indies, however, prefer chewing on sugar cane stalks and licorice sticks. This is a very traditional approach to quitting cigarette for a very long time.

Studies have shown that children whose parents smoke will most likely start smoking as well and they will start the habit at a much earlier age. Also, children have a higher risk of respiratory diseases from second hand smoke. Quit smoking for your children's sake.

Quitting smoking can be a very difficult thing to achieve for many people, I don't know how you will find it, simply because I don't personally know you, however, there is one thing you should know, many, many people who try to quit smoking, fail, they fail for a number of reasons but one of them is the fact that they don't give their full commitment and effort into succeeding.

President Barack Obama, who has spoken of his own struggle to quit smoking, said he was eager to sign the legislation, and the House planned a vote for Friday. Cigarette foes said the measure would not only cut deaths but reduce the $100 billion in annual health care costs linked to tobacco. Is this good or just another law to protect us from ourselves? I will leave that for brighter minds than mine to decide.

Foreign herbs such as valerian, chamomile, hops, skullcap, lobelia and peppermint are also very beneficial in suppressing the urge for smoking.