Four quit methods have evidence behind them: nicotine replacement therapy, a nicotine vape, varenicline and cytisine. Put free NHS support on top of any of them and, in the NHS's own words, "you're up to 3 times more likely to stop smoking for good". Pick one. Set a date this week. Tell one person the date.
That's the whole answer. The rest is detail, including the part almost nobody writes down: what changes if you're quitting a vape.
Why you keep failing at this
You've probably quit before. Maybe several times. The story you've been told is that you lacked willpower, and that story is wrong in a way that costs people years.
Quitting unaided means walking into withdrawal with nothing to soften it, while rebuilding every habit that had a cigarette or a vape wired into it. The morning coffee. The drive. The gap between two tasks. The step outside when a conversation gets heavy. Doing all of that on raw willpower is a bad plan that most people are handed as the default plan.
The methods below don't remove the hard part. They make the hard part shorter and flatter.
What the evidence actually says
| Method | What the evidence says | Who it suits | |---|---|---| | **NRT** (patches, gum, lozenges, inhalator, spray) | NICE's guideline names NRT among the options "more likely to result in people successfully stopping smoking". Cochrane's comparison puts it at 6 in 100 people quitting successfully. | Anyone. It's the most widely available option, it's free through a stop smoking service, and you can combine forms. | | **Nicotine vape** | Cochrane: "For every 100 people using nicotine e-cigarettes to stop smoking, 8 to 11 might successfully stop, compared with only 6 of 100 people using nicotine-replacement therapy." Rated high-certainty evidence. Side effect rates were probably similar between the two. | People who smoke and want the strongest available substitute. The NHS is clear that vapes "are not recommended for non-smokers". | | **Varenicline** | Named by NICE alongside NRT and nicotine vapes as more likely to result in stopping. Prescription only. | People who'd rather take a tablet than carry a device, and who can see a prescriber. | | **Cytisine** | Added to NICE's recommendations in a February 2024 surveillance decision. It reached the UK in January 2024, and the surveillance review noted a lower rate of unwanted effects than varenicline. | People who want a tablet. It's newer here, so ask what your local service actually stocks. | | **Cold turkey** | No medicine, no substitute, and no guideline backing it over the four above. It works for some people and it is not a moral failing when it doesn't. | People who have done it before and know they can, or anyone who can't take medication. |
Two caveats. Those are trial numbers, so real-world results vary with the support you get. And all of them were measured on people quitting cigarettes.
The bit that sounds absurd
Using a nicotine product to come off nicotine sounds like a joke someone made up. For smokers, it's also how the evidence works.
The reason is that burning tobacco does most of the damage in a cigarette. Nicotine is what keeps you coming back to it. The NHS puts it plainly: "Vaping is not completely risk-free, but it poses a small fraction of the risk of smoking cigarettes." So swapping a cigarette for a vape or a patch takes the smoke away first, and lets you deal with the nicotine second. Two problems, handled in order, instead of both at once.
If you already know how much you're taking in, that ordering gets easier to plan. Working out [how much nicotine you're actually on](/guides/nicotine/how-much-nicotine-are-you-actually-on) is a better first step than guessing.
If you're quitting a vape
Here's where the internet stops being useful to you.
Almost all of the UK's stop smoking infrastructure was built around vaping as the answer to smoking. If you never smoked, started on disposables, and now want off nicotine altogether, you are not the person that guidance was written for. The NHS says vapes cannot be sold to under-18s and are not recommended for people who don't smoke, which tells you where you stand, and tells you nothing about how to get off one.
Honestly: the trial evidence for quitting vaping is thin, because the research was built around smokers. The withdrawal itself carries over, and behaves much the same whatever delivered it. The "switch to a vape" advice obviously doesn't, since that's already where you are.
So the practical route is usually stepping the strength down, or moving to a slower form like a patch, or setting a date and riding it out with a plan for the cravings. A stop smoking adviser will still see you. Ask them directly what they've got for someone who doesn't smoke, because the answer varies by area. More on this in [why quitting vaping is different](/guides/nicotine/why-quitting-vaping-is-different).
What the first fortnight looks like
[Smokefree.gov's line](https://smokefree.gov/challenges-when-quitting/withdrawal) is the most useful sentence written on this: "the worst withdrawal symptoms usually last less than two weeks, but that time can be really tough."
Two weeks. That's the shape of it. Not forever, and not easy either. Expect to be short-tempered, badly slept, and convinced at least once that this was a stupid idea. That conviction is a symptom. It passes.
Then the number worth writing on your hand: [the NHS says](https://www.nhs.uk/better-health/quit-smoking/) that once you reach 28 days smoke-free, you're much more likely to quit for good. Same page lists what the body does afterwards, including a risk of heart attack halved against a smoker's after a year, and the risk of death from lung cancer halved after ten.
If you want the hour-by-hour version, we've written [the first 72 hours without nicotine](/guides/nicotine/the-first-72-hours-without-nicotine) separately.
Get the free help, it's the cheapest upgrade available
An NHS Stop Smoking Service is free, and it's the single change that moves your odds most. You get an adviser, one-to-one or group or drop-in depending on the area, the NRT or medication itself, a carbon monoxide breath test so you can see the change, and weekly contact through the first four weeks. Search "stop smoking service" plus your council's name, or ask at any pharmacy. There's a fuller breakdown in [what NHS stop smoking services offer](/guides/nicotine/nhs-stop-smoking-services-and-what-they-offer).
Some people also want something on the phone that makes the first month visible: a count of days, the times that keep catching you out, someone who knows you're doing this. That's what Renovyn is for, alongside the service rather than instead of it.
What to do in the next ten minutes
- Pick one method from the table. Any of the top four beats none.
- Search for your local stop smoking service and note the number.
- Choose a quit date within seven days and put it in your calendar.
- Text one person the date.
That's it. Not the whole quit, just the part you can do before this coffee goes cold.
Common questions
Can I just quit cold turkey?
You can, and some people do. But no UK guideline names unaided quitting as one of the options most likely to work, and NICE names four others that are. If you've tried cold turkey twice and it hasn't held, that's information about the method, not about you.
Is vaping safer than smoking?
The NHS position is that "vaping is not completely risk-free, but it poses a small fraction of the risk of smoking cigarettes". That's a comparison, and only a comparison. The same guidance says vapes are not recommended for people who don't smoke.
How long does nicotine withdrawal last?
The worst of it usually lasts under two weeks, according to Smokefree.gov, though that fortnight can be genuinely rough. Cravings after that tend to be shorter and further apart, and get triggered by places and routines rather than by your body.
I vape and have never smoked. Does any of this apply to me?
Partly. The withdrawal and the craving management apply. The "switch to a vape" advice obviously doesn't, and the trial evidence for quitting vaping on its own is much thinner than for quitting cigarettes, because the studies were run on smokers.
Sources
- [NHS Stop Smoking Services help you quit](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/quit-smoking/nhs-stop-smoking-services-help-you-quit/). The "up to 3 times more likely" figure, and what a free service includes.
- [NHS: using e-cigarettes to stop smoking](https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/quit-smoking/using-e-cigarettes-to-stop-smoking/). Relative risk against smoking, not recommended for non-smokers, no sale to under-18s.
- [Cochrane: electronic cigarettes for smoking cessation](https://www.cochrane.org/evidence/CD010216_electronic-cigarettes-smoking-cessation). The 8 to 11 in 100 versus 6 in 100 comparison, and the similar rate of unwanted effects.
- [NICE NG209 surveillance decision, February 2024](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK602607/). The treatments named as more likely to result in stopping, and cytisine's addition and UK availability.
