Most smokers find it very difficult to quit smoking due to the addictive nature of nicotine. You can either break the smoking habit quickly or gradually. Nicotine reduction therapy helps you to taper off quickly by killing the desire for cigarettes.

Nicotine reduction therapy can be effective for smokers who find it impossible to go the “cold turkey” route and just cannot stop smoking abruptly. Nicotine reduction therapy has been used since the mid-1980s, when the prescription nicotine gum was introduced. The concept behind nicotine reduction therapy is to slowly reduce the craving for nicotine by tapering off your intake of nicotine gradually over a period of time.

Beyond the use of nicotine laced gum, there are other methods that can be used to turn the desire for a cigarette into something distasteful, which makes it easier to “say no” to cigarettes.

Here are just a few tips that may help you to quit smoking.

• Don’t empty ashtrays. This will remind you how many cigarettes you’ve had, and the sight and smell of stale butts is unpleasant.
• Stop carrying cigarettes with you and make them hard to get to. Avoid alcohol, coffee and other beverages you associate with cigarette smoking.
• Switch to a brand you find distasteful.
• Change eating habits. For instance, drink milk, which many smokers find incompatible with smoking.
• Change to a brand that’s lower in tar two weeks before the day you’re going to quit.

For those who have a hard time putting down a smoke, new techniques are being developed that will help smokers quit by gradually tapering the dose of nicotine. The treatments include patches that deliver nicotine through the skin, chewing gum with increased nicotine and a smokeless cigarette. New products are awaiting FDA approval and would be used in a treatment known as nicotine reduction therapy.

“We give them the nicotine to satisfy their craving. And we work on (changing) the behavior. We break the habit pattern, and then we get them off the nicotine.”

But other health experts say there are better ways to quit, such as cold turkey or hypnosis. They suggest using nicotine reduction devices as a last resort. People can be gradually weaned off nicotine, but some doctors have reservations about these devices because nicotine is so harmful. For example, nicotine users are four times more likely than the non-user to develop heart problems.

The new nicotine patch releases the equivalent of one cigarette every hour for 24 hours and the smokeless cigarette equals about four cigarettes and can last to up to 4 hours. The gum would contain 4 milligrams of nicotine, twice the amount of a similar gum now available through prescription only.

Besides being addictive, smoking is a habit that is reinforced day after day through repetitive behaviors. Nicotine reduction devices break those patterns of behavior — the first step toward quitting. None of the nicotine reduction devices are intended for long-term use. A smoker is eventually taken off these devices. The chewing gum, for instance, shouldn’t be used for more than six months.