Exactly. Smoking wouldn't be so widespread if those "simple tricks" everybody is fond of sharing were actually effective. Delaying your next cigarette is as effective a smoking cessation tool as praying your deity to wake up tomorrow and be reborn a non-smoker. I'm certain it has worked for someone.

I have quit January 2020, and it's taken me 12 years of hating myself, 3 years of electronic cigarette, 6 months of patches, a pandemic where I was away from people and temptation and now the rest of my life of constant vigilance and fortitude not to fall into the pit again. I am happy and don't think about smoking anymore, but I can feel the good old mental pathway faintly light up whenever I'm a little bit distracted or vulnerable.

It's incredibly fucking hard to transform yourself back into a non-smoker.