You said in your intro that you don't know how/when to set a date. If I may make a suggestions, pick a date that it at least two weeks away but not too far away that you start to get anxious about it because it's looming in the distance.
I think that it's really important to give yourself enough time to mentally prepare for actually quitting completely. If you quit without preparing yourself for it, I think that you're setting yourself up for failure. But if you plan for it a couple of weeks in advance, I think that you end up almost looking forward to the date instead of dreading it.
Just to give you an example... I set my quit date for January 23rd. I am also cutting down on how many cigarettes I smoke every day, in hopes that by the time my date gets here I'll be smoking half of what I smoke now. Regardless, I'm enjoying my smokes for now but am also looking very forward to giving them up. I don't know if that even makes sense, but it's a pretty good feeling.
Whenever you feel ready to pick a date, just let us know. We're all going through this together, and I know you can do it too.