There's lots of info. elsewhere on the site indicating my little corner of the world - Canada; the town next to Niagara Falls lol
In terms of why I quit, I think my story is pretty boring and probably similar to many others. I had finally had enough of getting bronchitis every winter that would last for weeks if not a month and a half or so. Not to mention the ever increasing cost of smokes, finding places to smoke and generally feeling like a social pariah. It was Sat. morning Jan. 28th and I was standing in a cold damp parking lot having just come out from grocery shopping and as I lit up a smoke, to 'get me fix' I launched into a coughing fit to end all coughing fits. After managing to regain some control over this coughing fit, it just dawned on me; "what the hell was I doing to myself?' This was insane and I decided at that moment to quit the very next day. I went out and bought some stage 1 patches 21mg I believe and slapped one on after having my last smoke at about 8:30 AM the next day, Sunday. I ended up forgetting to replace it after my morning shower on Monday so decided to go cold turkey at that point.
I didn't join a quit smoking forum until about a week later, as I was researching addiction and quitting smoking. I really didn't expect much to come from joining but as I went along and read all the posts from others experiencing the same things I was going through, the site became my home almost 24/7 while I rode the monster (the early days of quitting). Surprising to me, I found being a member and staying active on the site helped me immensely! Can't recommend it enough to new comers and I am not a social media person normally - not at all.