Hahaha.. I did water because it's a healthier option then say, cookies.. lol.. but anything you put in your mouth is likely to work, even just a straw.. your just replacing the hand to mouth thing with something else - that is key - until you find your not reaching for something to stick in your mouth. It took me a couple months to stop with the hand to mouth thing.
I've seen some threads about nicotine and such, and that's been a topic I tend to mention: where the oral fixation is the worse "addiction" for some people (than the nicotine itself), and they didn't realize it could be like that, simply, many don't know.
So your post is great as it goes into that very thing.
And the recent quitters, don't know that it's not just the nicotine that their bodies goes into withdrawals for too..but all the other toxins.
I seen quite a few that after they get through that phase, they can lower their nicotine fairly fast and end up quitting
vaping too as it wasn't the nicotine at all that was hooking them in... But still, I see some end up restarting or finding alternatives for that fixation thing.
Have you seen those spinners gadgets for keeping hands busy.. their popularity (especially with the vaping community) is skyrocketing like crazy.