I did the zyban route, it pushed the nicotine withdrawals off until I quit using the med. By doing that, I was able to focus on the habits and rituals that I had built up around smoking and replaced those with better habits (exercise and walks and shit). When the habits were established, I knocked the physical cravings after stopping the med and it worked! I had tried to quit like 7-10 times seriously before that.
Smoked for 10 years, 1+ packs per day for over 6 years.