Thanks Jackie, that helped a lot! 
Hi Gwenivere!
Since you aren't ready to stop nicotine quite yet, my suggestion to you would be to find a delivery system that doesn't involve hand-to-mouth or worse yet smoking.
My reason for saying this is 1) cutting down doesn't eliminate that hand-mouth action that we are so used to and is so much part and parcel of our whole "smoking addiction" (as differentiated from nicotine addiction). Patches are good in that regard. Gum works that way also. And probably your lozenges. and 2) continuing to smoke but cutting way back only makes each cigarette that much more precious and looked forward to. You need to focus on looking forward to NOT having to smoke, not those few-and-far-between reliefs you get from cigarettes.
Along with patches, deep breathing (what we call 4 x 4... in (thru nose) count 4, hold count 4, out (thru pursed lips) count 4 and hold again count 4. Five or six times at least, concentrating only on the breathing. This can be an wonderful stress reliever, and you can do it to the point of a slight head-buzz almost like that first cigarette after long abstinence.
Another thing is cut up straws, breathing thru them like a cigarette. Or chewing them like a madwoman when craves hit. (Craves will hit even with the patches, they will just be toned down.)
I don't know that the dosages of nicotine via other delivery systems really have much to do with how much you smoke. And I don't think cutting down cigarettes really lessens the need for nicotine (logically it SHOULD... but addiction isn't logical and it sure never worked that way for me the 500 times I tried it). It just keeps the withdrawal cycle going, and as anyone will tell you, they may get by with less and less cigarettes until life splat happens .. and boom they're back to as much or more smoking as they did at their most smoking-est.
Best wishes to you!! Keep reading and posting and learning and getting support!
The 4x4 thing does help and also makes ya feel a little strange. Seems to me using cut up straws would reinforce the hand to mouth thing. I think I heard once from a successful quitter he used rolled cinnamon sticks. Said he drooled a lot. I hear ya on the dragging out the withdrawal. You’re right, logically it doesn’t make sense. One expects to adapt to lower levels. But alas. Only 500 quit times? This is only my 2nd so I’ve got a lot of runway.
Gwenivere wrote:
Seems to me using cut up straws would reinforce the hand to mouth thing.
Gwenivere... LOL, yes, the straw thing does seem that way and I hesitated to mention... BUT, I did add in chewing on it. Thing is, if you GOTTA have that hand-mouth thing, far far better to do it with a straw than with cigarettes and all their toxins. And can be used in conjunction with deep breathing (which technique, btw, I still use for stress relief, it is wonderful that way, and no craves are involved. Even nonsmokers get angry or stressed or anxious, ya know? 
)
I tried cinnamon sticks at one point. Still have the bottle, minus one stick. It just wasn't something that helped me, but I've heard from others who used it faithfully and it helped them.
Gwenivere wrote:
Only 500 quit times? This is only my 2nd so I’ve got a lot of runway.
uh uh uh~~ no no this is a "do as I say, not as I did" situation, friend ... please don't think that way. Putting smoke and toxins in your lungs only sets you up for the multitude of diseases and attacks on virtually ALL body systems that cigarette smoking induces. I hope you won't keep quitting/smoking until you develop COPD (like I did) or lung cancer (like I did... well, I was 4 years quit, but the cancer seed was planted).
