There's no such thing as easing off. You are either feeding your brain nicotine or you are not. If you are, you might as well be smoking cigarettes or dipping instead of fooling yourself into thinking that you're going to "ease off" with a poisonous chemical being fed into your bloodstream.
Sure, being in a stressful place doesn't help. Rhester03 is in Iraq right now. I am too. There are other members in the May group in Afghanistan. I'd say that's pretty stressful. Being stressed isn't an excuse to keep feeding yourself nicotine. If you want to quit you have to actually quit. Quitting means no nicotine.
Man up, grab your balls, and kick the nic bitch once and for all. You can do it, it's going to suck, and it's going to be stressful, but it's worth it. 44 days ago I did and it's been well worth it.