craving occurs after the first drink...well after ingestion of alcohol (sufficient enough to set it off physically)...before i read the BB i understood craving as being similar to having a craving for say chocolate which i now is a mental process not a physical one...like quitting smoking its impossible to have a physical craving for nicotine without putting nicotine into the system first assuming the length of time for all nicotine to leave the body has passed...its definitely posssible to have a mental obsession about having a cig though!!!