6. Nicotine Replacement Therapy
Nicotine Replacement Therapy involves taking in nicotine in forms other than cigarettes, for instance patches, gums, lozenges, inhalers, nasal sprays and gradually tapering off their use. The replacement products offer nicotine much more slowly than cigarettes do. This is done by making it leach, either across your skin (as in the case of patches), or within the membranes of the mouth, (as in case of gums and lozenges). Therefore, with these products, a strong surge of nicotine is missing.
Once the smoker starts using these products, he can resume his daily routine activities comfortably without cigarettes. Typically, he will require the initial level of replacement products for several weeks. During this time, he will become accustomed to handling daily events without cigarettes. Thereafter, he can gradually and more systematically cut back the levels of replacement products to zero amounts.
Nicotine Gum
Nicotine gum (technical term "polacrilex") is a nicotine containing substance that slowly releases nicotine when chewed or placed in between the cheek and gum. The gum gives you much lower amount of nicotine than a cigarette, at the same time decreasing your cravings for cigarettes. You need to stabilize yourself on gums until you habituate to living without your cigarettes and then gradually taper off the amount of gum you chew.
Nicotine gum is not designed to be used as a normal gum. The right way to use it is “chew and park.” Chew the gum a few times; it will release a peppery 21.