I use to smoke almost 3 packs a day and I decided to quit 7 months ago... the first week was complete hell for me, I did the same as you and posted here asking how others did it
http://www.gofuckyourself.com/showthread.php?t=610721
I get small cravings now but I can handle them, kills me to have a beer though LOL
And here is the post that helped me to stay quit:
When you start smoking, nicotine is deadly toxic, so the brain creates receptors to bind to the nicotine. Every time you smoke, more receptors are created, and once created, they're permanent... they never go away.
So what happens after a length of time smoking is the nicotine receptors start looking for nicotine, which is what creates the cravings. When you stop smoking the receptors are looking for something to bind to. The *physical* part of the addiction is generally gone after about 3-5 days, but the cravings generally take much longer. The receptors will never go away, but in time (over weeks or months, depending on how much you smoke and for how long), they become inactive. In time, there are no physical cravings at all, but there may still be psychological ones.
And the permanent presence of the receptors is why most people can't *ever* smoke even a single cigarette ever again... for most people, if they do smoke even one cigarette (or cigar, or anything with nicotine in it), it will essentially "wake up" all the nicotine receptors and restart the cravings, and within usually 2 or 3 cigarettes, you're right back where you started.
One thing that helps some people is there are real tobacco cigarettes that are 100% nicotine free. It's genetically engineered tobacco, and the cigarettes, called Quest, are sold only in the northeast and Arizona at the moment, but you can buy online (do a Google search). They are totally non-addictive. Several of my friends have used these and found them to be really helpful in getting over the desire to have something in your mouth, or to smoke with friends.