How much time must pass after your last cigarette before you break the chemical addiction?

I have been a smoker for 5 years and got sick last Thursday. I didn't smoke for 3 days because I felt so ill and now I have decided to try to quit for real. How many days until the chemical addiction is broken, and is there any good advice you can offer me? I don't want to do the patches because I've actually been entirely without nicotine for so long.How much time must pass after your last cigarette before you break the chemical addiction?
The nicotine is cut in half in about an hour. And by the third day all traces have left your system I commend you for your decision. I was a smoker for 12 years. Now here's the crazy thing I didn't even wanna quit a friend gave me a book and dared me to read it. I still can't believe it worked. I fully recommend that you go on Amazon.com and order it. It's called Allen Carr's The Easy Way. I would say good luck but with that book you won't need it.
2 weeks
i just quit smoking a week ago and i am still having the odd craving but the smell sickens me now so i couldn't smoke any more
(sources say three days yahoo id: tarakootenay)
It's the mental/physical addiction that's the tough one to break. I haven't smoked for over a year and a half and I'll still have a craving. For the first month or so that was all I could think about, but sticking to it was better than caving. It's rough, but it's possible.
They say it takes 7 days for the nicotine to be out of your body, but it takes 2 weeks to break the habit. I've smoked for almost 20 years. Cold turkey is the only way to go. It's all in your mind. You have to want to be done with it. Just keep saying over and over in your head, "I am a non-smoker". Every time you want to smoke, think healthy thoughts, and down a bottle of water. Then go do something else quickly.
Good luck. I know you can do it.