How long were you a smoker for? I'm a chainsmoker myself trying to quit.
The SO used to use an army surplus bag as a purse. They have all kinds of different packs made for carrying various gear and it's built to go to war so they should wear well. Not sure if they'd qualify as ugly or not.
I started smoking when I was 13 and quit cold turkey when I was 20. I started smoking again very lightly when I was probably about 23 (a pack would last several months--special occasions only), and then I would smoke for brief periods after that, during which times I would chain smoke (and I mean 3-5 hours of continuous smoking), and I loved it. But since I'd already found my "off" button from quitting cold turkey, I never really worried about being unable to quit again and was always able to stop when I felt it had been enough.
Just speaking in terms of quitting (and I think this is probably broadly applicable to addictive substances and behaviors in general), I found that once I made the decision to stop, and once I had made it absolute in my mind that I just didn't smoke anymore, it was extremely easy. I'd tried to quit a few times prior to that but always failed because I'd always left a bit of wiggle room which drew me back into it. It's the 100% is easy, 99% is hard principle. I think that's something useful to keep in mind just in general. (And I also find that the more I feel that it's my decision rather than something being forced on me, the easier it is. Again, this has turned out to be broadly applicable, but I use cigarettes as a reference point as I was heavily addicted, and because I started smoking when I was 13, that addiction was firmly imprinted during my developmental phase.)
Regardless, even after years of being smoke-free, I'd see a movie where someone was smoking and remember how good it felt and wish I could have one. When I started smoking again, it was after I'd already internalized that I was now a non-smoker, so I was able to control it much more easily.
But then fast forward to 2012 when I discovered vaping, and it was like magic. I could suddenly indulge without destroying my health. So I suppose I didn't really use vaping to quit smoking, but I did use it to satisfy an urge that was very much as strong as it ever had been, despite having learned to control it.
But anyway, the point of all this is that vaping really does make it ridiculously easy to quit. I absolutely loved chain smoking (especially when drunk), and the desire to do so was very firmly imprinted on my brain even years later. And now, there are so many more options than there were even a few years ago that it's really just a matter of finding what works for you. This is probably the closest I've found to a magic pill for anything, so don't worry. Obviously, I don't know how universally my own biology and psychology will map onto other people, but from my own experience and what I've observed of others, quitting smoking really shouldn't be difficult.
Also, I just started mixing my own juice. It's great. I'm buying a half a liter of e-juice now for what I used to spend on 15ml. Might be another good way to direct your focus to the fun aspect of vaping so you're not thinking of it as a cessation aid.