I smoke on a few months, off a few months. I find this to be the most excellent balance possible, because it gives you perspective - when one gets stale, the other one comes around.

Right now I am at the beginning of a "smoke cycle." Sometime around mid-August I will taper off then quit completely until around November. This was initially necessitated by supply, but I find this to be an excellent way of doing this:

(1) Your tolerance resets.
(2) You stop wanting/craving it.
(3) You get a different perspective.
(4) Your energy increases
(5) You can pack in your "straight life" activities into this period.
(6) You save money

In the months I don't smoke, I give myself "homework." I read classics, I improve my computer skills, I take up new hobbies. Every night I read for at least an hour, make plans, rebalance my finances, and so on. Basically, I take care of business.

In the months I am smoking, I still do these things but less frequently - I tend not to start new projects. It is more about downtime, more wandering around in the desert looking for God:

(1) You are high
(2) You get a different perspective
(3) You don't feel guilty at all for it because you've just spent 2-3 months completely sober and have done so many goddam responsible things - in fact, have become an upstanding goddam citizen - feel so great, in fact, about everything that you want to get high.

Even in the months I smoke, I don't do it every day. Anywhere from 1-3 times a week is about right, and rarely more than once per day.

I used to be kind of a pothead; I used to smoke pot daily. Eventually this became as boring and limiting as constant sobriety, not to mention expensive (and risky). As I got older and the responsibilities piled on, I found smoking daily to be less than optimal.

The "quitting" phase sucks for about 4 days. I want to get high, and I am a little irritable. On the 5th day my desire to do this drops off, and in 10 days I'm not thinking about it at all; it was as if I never smoked.

After a few months of this, I "finish up" my books, projects, and so on, and, if I time it right, supply becomes available and I stock up. Of course I get really going at first, because my tolerance is zero. Then I begin the aforementioned wandering in the desert looking for God.

This is where I am now for the summer. In a few months, it will be time to taper off, pull things together, and be productive for a few.

I cannot say what is best for others but this works wonderfully well for myself.