Originally Posted by misskaz

Nicotine is a stimulant and actually doesn't relax you or relieve stress. (This is not to say that the physical act of stepping outside and being in your own thoughts for a while doesn't relieve stress, but you can do that without the cancer.) The relief you feel when smoking a cigarette is merely relief from the symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, which start to build as soon as you finish your last cigarette. So in fact, smoking ADDS to stress by adding the feeling of nicotine withdrawal to everything else.

There's a book with a really cheesy title called The Easy Way to Stop Smoking by Allen Carr and I highly recommend reading it. I know people that have quit just from reading the book. I should have a copy laying around the house if you ever want to borrow it. My husband still needed the patch to quit, but that worked pretty well for him. He also had to develop other coping mechanisms and still goes outside for a breather (usually checking email/twitter/etc or playing a quick game on his phone to keep his hands busy) now and then because that habit is really helpful to him.