He never touched tobacco again -- and married the woman, too.

Rock on. You go guy!

The interesting thing is, when he told me this story, he said, "Kicking the cocaine was easy compared to giving up tobacco. I am still addicted to nicotine -- I just don't use it any more."

I don't want to strike some "It was Hell!" pose, but, having spent some time babysitting folks withdrawing from heroin on detox units, I can report that the month I spent withdrawing from a 14-year ciggie addiction in 1979 was *much* worse than the 3-4 day "flu" I saw most of them go through. After the first 3-4 days, a lot of it *did* seem psychological -- like "what the hell do I do with my hands after dinner if they aren't holding a cigarette?" -- but things didn't get much easier for a full month and I had full-blown smoking nightmares (yes, wake up bolt-upright with heart rate=200 Havor Nocturnus) for 6 months.

I am currently engaged in keeping my best friend snuff-free so that he may live to see his grandchildren and I can say that he is not having any easy time of it. It ain't easy.

Anyhow, these "war stories" aside, recent research seems to back up what your friend said with respect to addiction power of tobacco. Bad stuff.