Best bet: Quitting on impulse.  

My husband used to smoke almost 2 packs a day. One day he came out of the shower and told us to put them up, not throw them away, and he was going to quit. He even carried one in his car and one in our camper. He never carried a lighter. If he felt a urge that was really bad, he would put it in his fingers and carry it around a while. He never lit it. He has been smoke free for 4 years.

I am a long time smoker and it doesn't matter how you quit, it is still hard. Very hard. This is the most addictive habit that I have encountered. I have tried quiting on impulse, planning, patches, groups, so on. I have always returned to smoking. My willpower is strong, but still I haven't been able to stop smoking. I quit drugs, drinking and other things, and I am still struggling with this.

thats really an interesting way of bringing the point across. I have to admit I never smoked more than 10 cigarettes a day and when I quit spontaneously as a birthday gift for my Mom it did not work for longer than 1 or at least 2 weeks and I was back again.

Some years later I tried again, this time with a different system, I said one week 10 a day then 9 then 8 and so it went to zero. I had the advantage that my body got used to less and less nicotine. I did not have withdrawal symptoms with this method.
Plus it was not hard and stressful. I also made it a habit to smoke "consciously" at that time. I dont know how to put it better but it meant to sit down, enjoy the cigarette and take time for the ritual of smoking this one cigarette. No haste. Not leaving it to burn down "on its own" because I was occupied with other things.

This worked wonders for me and I recommend it to everyone who wants to quit smoking. I quit in summer 1986 and never smoked again in the years since.

I have been more sucessful at unplanned attempts at quitting than planning or using aides. however I have always gone back to smoking sometimes after a few months because nothing changes the basic fact that i enjoy a cigarette.

Yes thats true. And a lot of people who are successful doing it. And I think you must prepare yourself and your mind too before you do it. And have some alternative replacement to cigarettes if you want to succeed it.