I quit smoking when I was pregnant with my son, and thankfully I have been able to resit the urge ever since he was born. I did not quit immediately or go cold turkey. What I did was cut back gradually. I know I had a really good reason to quit. But, if you know you want to do it, I feel the way I did is the least evasive.
I started by cutting back. Instead of smoking a whole cigarette at a time, I would smoke a few puffs, just enough to take the edge off. I would then knock the cherry out of it and save it for later. I did not make myself stick to a certain time frame of "every X number of hours I will smoke" or "I will quit by X date". I just took it as it flowed.
This started at the end of Sept. when I found out I was pregnant. I smoked my last cigarette on December 7. By not smoking a whole one at a time, I weaned myself. The last month of smoking I would smoke 1 whole cigarette through the evening on Wednesday, my husband and I were on a bowling league. And, I would smoke a whole one through the day on Saturday, I worked at a bar and grill as a waitress on Saturdays. I worked an office job m-f.
Believe me, almost 8 years down the road, I still get the urge to smoke, especially when I drink or after I eat a good meal. What keeps me from going back...the knowledge that that cigarette will not taste nearly as good as what I remember them tasting. It will make me cough and get nauseous instead. And, also looking at that little boy of mine and knowing I want to be around as long as possible on this Earth spending time with him. Smoking is not going to help with that.
Good luck, it is tough, probably the toughest thing anyone will ever do.