Your most recent attempt to quit was very likely a bust. I assume this only because I used to be the sort of chain smoker who swore off cigarettes once or twice a year, and I still remember my "withdrawal symp­toms'* ruefully and vividly.

I COULD ALWAYS STOP FOR AN HOUR

Within an hour of my earnest decision never to smoke again, I began to itch for a smoke, and that powerful desire would never subside or fade. When the phone rang, when a visitor came to my office or home, when I ran into a momentary work problem, when I was at a party, even when I first opened my eyes in the morning—I thought of a cigarette. Contrary to the wonders promised to follow my emancipation from nicotine, I did not sleep better, my food did not taste better, my thoughts were not clearer, I did not feel more vigorous—I was, in essence, 165 pounds of body and mind almost exclusively devoted to thinking about the cigarette I wanted but could not have.