It depends on how long you smoked for... I had a teacher at school who smoked 40 a day for about 35 years, gave up for 16 and still had the occasional craving. I also have friends who've smoked for less than a year who had almost no cravings (well, less than a week of them), so it really depends on how long you smoked for and how many a day you smoked when you did...

cairina.moschata | Rank: John V. Atanasoff (1,267)
12 minutes after the question was opened (03/18/2006 09:14pm)
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That depends on the individual! I smoked 60 Marlboro (or similar) per day for thirty years and just stopped. I haven't smoked for about six or seven years and don't miss it one iota. I never had any cravings but I did chew a lot of gum for the first few months until I weened myself off the gum.

I shudder to think how much I spent over the years but I reakon it's somewhere in the region of £200,000. You don't believe me? Well do the maths!
3 packets a day (£15) x 365 x 30 comes to £165,000. Stick that into a calculator at say 4% and see what you come up with, probably nearer double!

When I worked out that I was working one day a week just to pay for my fags and one day for my van, I thought "If I give up both then I would only have to work half a week", So thats what I did.

Do I have cravings? No
Do I have regrets? Plenty.

helpfulbikeman | Rank: Student (38)
53 minutes after the question was opened (03/18/2006 09:55pm)
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The first week after quiting has the most cravings, but this can remain the same until 4-8 weeks after the last smoke. Cravings do become less after that, but even years after quiting, you could have a craving although it is much more of a mild craving then. It can take up to 7 years before your lungs have repaired some of the damage caused by smoking. I know someone who quit for 15 years, total anti smoker, at a pub he was offered a cigarette & within a week he was smoking 60 a day, so if you quit, the craving never goes away completly

helpfulJUST1LEE | Rank: Student (9)
32 hours after the question was opened (03/20/2006 04:14am)
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Im trying to quit at the minute but i have quit in the past but started again. I have heard that you can get cravings for the rest of your life after a few years they last like a second you just get that thought oh i will have a fag then it goes.

The physical cravings can be eased by Nicotene patches. The mental cravings and habit need something to replace them. My brothers all gave up with patches and Hypnosis, one session. It's been over 10 years now and when I asked them they said they never thought about it...it just wasn't what they did anymore.

I hear theat Paul McKenna does a good job at making people quit.