Nicoderm, Nicorette, etc. offer free samples -- which when I received mine was a whole two weeks supply.  Walmart often has the free sample listed on their free sample page......definitely  do try it -- I smoked for almost 40 years, and quit almost a year ago.  I have tried many times in previous years and was never successful -- the most I made it was 9 days.  I really believed that I would never be able to quit without going crazy.  I have always enjoyed smoking!  I would not have made it without the patches/gum.  I also learned a trick many years ago that "You cannot take something away without replacing it with something else or something better --  FOR WHAT WOULD FILL THE VOID".  This is a very wise statement.  My biggest concern was gaining weight because I absolutely hate being chubby (it makes me so depressed and I hate myself).  So.....I knew I loved mint -- so I took a straw that was somewhat fatter then the normal size.  I smoked every cigarette I had ( I try to never waste anything) and have never bought another carton.  I cut the straw with scissors into pieces the size of a cigarette -- took a cotton ball and pulled it into a piece that could be inserted into the straw firmly (be so very careful to make it big enough that you cannot inhale the cotton and stink it down your throat -- be very careful that that cannot happen)  and would absorb enough of the artificial flavor mint extract that I had bought at Walmart.  I liked the peppermint better then the wintergreen.  Everytime I wanted a cigarette I would dunk the straw into the extract and use it just like a cigarette -- I could feel the wonderful mint taste going down my throat and enjoyed it so much, in fact so much more than smoking a cigarette -- and I was not inhaling any of the poisons the I would get from a cigarette.  I told myself that I HAD LOST NOTHING -- JUST GAINED SOMETHING BETTER -- AND SO MUCH CHEAPER.  I had none of the nicotine withdrawal symptoms thanks to the patches/gum.  Even using a straw with water in a glass helps because many of us have "mouth hunger" and need something in our mouths for comfort.     So find out what you can replace your cigarettes with, definitely request free samples of the gum/patches and write down on a  piece of paper to look at when you need to all the things you are gaining by not smoking -- and what you are using to "replace it with".    Give it a try -- it worked for me!  And, yes I have gained 10 pounds in a year -- now I have to find out how to lose that weight and get down to wearing a size 8 again.  Hopefully better weather and summer will help that cause I can make myself so very busy.....Wish you all the luck in the world and let us know how you are doing.  Freebie King has shown Nicoderm free samples several times and I believe I saw it on their site recently.  I know I saw it on the Walmart web site too --- look for free samples.  Bless You!

Good luck to all of you!  My husband has been a smoker 30 plus years & started on the presciption Chantix which makes cigarettes taste terrible. He still smokes a few a day because of habit but that is a lot better than 1 1/2 packs a day.  He only has been on it 2 weeks so I'm hopeful this will work!