I quit smoking before the increases in airport security.. so my expereince there is out of date.. but I too would only go "in" at the last minute too..

...and chew nicotine gum on the actual flight.

If it is of any interest, I actually QUIT largely due to the "pain" of managing the flights... When ones "usual" flight is SYD-LAX it meant anything up to 16-17 hours between smokes...

Quitting, naturally, removed the problem.... the thought of suffering on the flight next time was quite a help in staying off tobacco!

Bet I'm not the only one on FT to do that!