It is hard to simply quit smoking because the smoker has built a Psychological Smoking Mechanism from an early age and reinforces it with every cigarette. Cigarette Advertising further reinforces the mechanism.
Addiction to cigarettes (nicotine) has been used as a rationalization as to why it is so hard to quit smoking. The truth is, nicotine does not present the characteristics of a physical addiction and nicotine replacement protocols are not very effective (read article)
There are obvious external effects of smoking cigarettes that warn the smoker years in advance of the damage that is happening to them internally. This article will alert the smoker to an external effect of smoking: accelerated aging.
Addiction to cigarettes (nicotine) has been used as a rationalization as to why it is so hard to quit smoking. The truth is, nicotine does not present the characteristics of a physical addiction.