@jgiovanni: I used to be a pretty heavy smoker and I've smoked for over a decade straight. I wish you luck in your efforts to quit, but I gotta say, I don't know of anyone that has quit gradually, with patches/gum or by using replacements like e-cigarettes. The only successful way to quit is to want to quit, you can hear everyone else's justifications till you're blue in the face, but you know deep down that their opinions about how you run your life just don't matter.
Only way I quit was by doing it cold turkey. I've seen my friends try everything, patches, gum, it just doesn't work. You just gotta grab your existing pack when you have your next craving, crush it and toss it out and resist caving or bumming from your friends. When you've stopped for a long while, you'll likely get sick, really sick, but you will get better. Time heals all.
Some things I've learned though, being around other smokers will make it hard for you to quit. I'm generalizing, but the only way I can explain it is that other smokers just don't want you to succeed at quitting when they know you're trying, its subconscious. When your friends go to smoke, don't go with them. When they hassle you about quitting or offer you one, don't take it.
At your worst days during the first few weeks of going cold turkey, the entire world may seem against you, but if you really want to quit, you will. I haven't smoked cigarettes in over a year and a half since the day I decided not to anymore. It feels much longer.
Good luck to you.