I'm probably in the slightly more addictive category hence I...

I'm probably in the slightly more addictive category hence I found it very , very hard to give up smoking .

I'd agree that to quit is more of a mindset than anything else and it takes a long time to get to that point . However , I would disagree that all these external stimuli don't help e.g. taxes , restrictions etc . It's different for everyone but if any of these things help you get to the point where you want to quit , then it is surprisingly easy .

If I still smoked now , at today's prices it would be costing me approx $10k per year .

That's right , $10,000 .

P.S. Mate of mine still smokes ( about the same as I used to ) and his dad died of heart failure which was largely attributed to smoking . There's an example of the power of the mind .