Swap

Swapping cigarettes for Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) or vaping is an effective way to stop smoking for good. People mostly smoke because they are addicted to nicotine. By swapping to NRT or a vape, you can get low levels of nicotine without the harmful chemicals found in tobacco smoke.

NRT can be bought from pharmacies and is also available on prescription from a doctor or an NHS stop smoking service. It can help reduce withdrawal effects such as bad mood and cravings which you may experience when you stop smoking.

It comes in many forms:

• Skin patches
• Chewing gum
• Inhalators (which look like plastic cigarettes)
• Tablets, oral strips and lozenges
• Nasal and mouth spray

There’s no evidence that any single type of NRT is more effective than another, but evidence does show that using a combination of NRT, for example combining a patch with a faster acting form such as gum, is more effective than using just one product.

Treatment with NRT usually lasts 8-12 weeks before you gradually reduce the dose and eventually stop.

Research has shown that swapping to a vape is the most effective way of stopping smoking for good.

Vapes are battery powered devices that heat an e-liquid containing nicotine, glycerol water and flavourings. They allow you to inhale nicotine in a vapour, without the thousands of chemicals found in tobacco smoke that cause all the harm from smoking.

The evidence is clear that vaping is far less harmful than smoking. Swapping completely can substantially improve your health and does not harm those around you, unlike second-hand smoke which is very harmful to the health of others.

Although vaping products are significantly less harmful than tobacco cigarettes, they are not risk free. People who do not smoke, or who are not at risk of relapsing to smoking, should not vape.