I started cutting back on cigarettes a long time ago realizing I was using them as a reward for small achievements. I discovered I was overcompensating for stress, so for ten years, I smoked consequently only on weekends. This change shifted my rewards to enjoying exercise, ( for me impossible when smoking ) … Occasionally, I smoke 3 cigarettes a day, but those phases are brief and like 2weeks long. . I am clearly a stress smoker, this knowledge was important to reducing and for quitting long distances. I also know a friend who has smoked one cigarette every evening for 15 years. She said, it is one little thing she wants to give herself consciously.