It is more likely that you are allergic to the glue used in the patch. This is rare but does manifest in the way you describe. I would advise speaking your chemist to make sure you are using the correct strength, and then changing brand to try and resolve the problem. In all honesty, five a day should be beatable by will power alone, but you may be better with a more active product choice. For example, your nicotine dependance will be low based on the number you smoke, therefore there is no need for a 24 hour drip feed of nicotine such as the patch. What about using nicotine gum, lozenges or microtabs to replace the nicotine "hits" you require through the day, then reducing you usage frequency over time.