Smokers who want to quit the habit are often advised to use stop smoking gum in place of cigarettes to help them break the addiction to nicotine. For some, it is the need for nicotine that keeps them puffing away while for others it is the habit of having something in their hand or in their mouth that keeps them reaching for another cigarette. While using stop smoking gum may give them the needed boost of nicotine, they still lack something to do with their hands.

Depending on the number of cigarettes a person smokes in a day, the number of times they pop a piece of stop smoking gum into their mouth will vary. Typically, the gum is available in different doses of nicotine, ranging from one to four milligrams and as the person's dependency on the nicotine is reduced, the gum dosage can be decreased. Beginning with the largest dosage, it can be reduced over time until they are chewing the gum without the need for nicotine.

After a few weeks on the stop smoking gum with the highest dosage they can switch to the next lowest dose to wean themselves from the nicotine addiction. Some mal also use a nicotine patch to absorb nicotine into the blood stream in an effort to quit smoking, unfortunately, they may end up using the patch while chewing stop smoking gum and at the same time smoking a cigarette.

New Flavors Enhance Chewing Enjoyment

When stop smoking gum first hit the market, the flavor was so bad that many people simply chose to continue smoking instead of subjecting their taste buds to the flavor. Over time, this objectionably taste was replaced with newer, more palatable flavors. Today, new flavors of stop smoking gum are available with which it can be difficult to tell the gum contains nicotine.

In addition to the taste, the consistency of stop smoking gum has gone from that of chewing on cardboard to gum that more closely resembles regular gum, making it more attractive. Any aid to quit smoking will only be effective if it is used, which many of the first generations of stop smoking gum were not used regularly.

Today's gums also do not provoke offending breath and in many cases when a person is chewing stop smoking gum it helps keep their breath fresh and clean. Unlike many of the first gums developed, they also do not supply the taste and smell of nicotine that may make people remember that they are a smoker.