Many, many years ago, in my somewhat wilder days, when I took drugs recreationally (I now take more drugs than I did then, but they are all prescribed
), I was "cured" of smoking. One night I was smoking cigarettes, grass, and on amphetamines. Then I got sick. Ever since, ever since cigarettes make me nauseous. Just being somewhere with a lot of cigarette smoke will do it. Previously it never bothered me like that, even when I was first starting to smoke. What was weird is that I could still smoke grass. That didn't bother me. I quit that not long after, for other reasons.
Bogy - I can relate to the tobacco parts of what you said. I went from non-smoker to pack-and-a-half-a-day smoker (almost overnight!) to non-smoker, to anti-smoker over about a 5 year period many years back. Now any kind of smoke sets me off, and I try to avoid it. When someone lights-up in my presence, I will always react in some manner. I'm all for most anti-smoking measures, but let's not debate that here!
The amazing part is that I have asthma, have had it all my life. How I could have ever smoked is beyond me!
I quit in 2 stages. Butted my last cigarette in New Orleans one New Year's Eve (resolution) and immediately went to my pipe (tobacco version). Smoked that while inhaling for the better part of a year then gladly gave that up as my lungs were probably completely crudded-up by then. I have not had any kind of first-hand tobacco ever since.
The thing that really made me quit cigarettes was the cost more than any health issues, and at that time cigs were only 45-cents a pack! I wanted a new turntable that cost about $100. I realized that I smoked one in about 5 months!
To this day I will have one of my "wierd dreams" (my closest thing to a nightmare) in which I'm sitting in a bar and I light one up. That immediately wakes me up in a cold sweat! So you're never completely through with it...
Tom - Agreeing with most folks here, the first several weeks are the hardest then you will most likely get over the continual cravings. Stay away from all temptations during that period. Good luck with it! It will be the best move you will ever have made on several fronts...!
PS - Don't be surprised if you put on a few pounds, well, maybe even more than a few. But unless you are already obese, that extra weight is probably much less of a risk factor for you than the smoking was, and you can always loose the weight later if it matters, tho' that might not be any easier...!
Believe it or not I LIKE the taste of tobacco. When some one smokes near me, I am like a dog sniffing a treat. This is probably why some ex-smokers (or what I like to call them, "recovering smokers") are so millitant about making sure others don't smoke around them. 
