Ready to quit nicotine? How to quit smoking, vaping, or nicotine pouches for good

Most people don’t quit nicotine in one dramatic moment. They quit in steps over days, weeks, and sometimes years. According to Hannah Fudin, a clinical pharmacist with Intermountain Health’s nicotine and tobacco cessation program, that’s completely normal.

“Nicotine is an extremely addictive substance. It’s a chronic disease, and it usually takes quite a few tries to quit,” she explains.

Still, many people blame themselves after a slip or a setback. Hannah sees that discouragement frequently, and she wants people to know it’s not a sign of failure.

In fact, she says, “Not everybody can manage quitting cold turkey.” That’s exactly why personalized quitting plans matter: they give you structure, tools, and support so you don’t have to muscle through the hardest parts alone.

A personalized plan meets you where you are. It considers your motivation, your routines, and the ways nicotine shows up in your daily life. And it helps you quit in a way that’s realistic.

Start with the real reason you want to quit nicotine

Hannah begins every consultation by exploring a person’s motivations and the real reason they want to make a change. She’s found that motivations vary widely, and each one deserves its own space.

Sometimes the driving force is financial. A pack-a-day habit can easily cost more than $400 a month in Utah. Other times, it’s about health. Many people want to feel better, breathe easier, or reduce their risk of long-term illness. And for a lot of patients, it’s family. They want to be around for their children or grandkids, and quitting feels like a step toward that future.

That clarity becomes an anchor throughout the process. It’s something they can return to when cravings hit or motivation slips.

Use medications to make quitting nicotine easier

While quitting often gets framed as a test of willpower, the truth is far more biological. Nicotine rewires the brain over time, making sudden withdrawal physically and mentally difficult. That’s why evidence-based medications are such an important part of successful quitting.

Intermountain Health’s Nicotine and Tobacco cessation on demand program offers several evidence-based options, and patients can combine them depending on their needs:

Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT):

• Long-acting nicotine patches for steady support
•  Short-acting gum or lozenges for sudden cravings
• Varenicline (Chantix®), a prescription medication made specifically to help people quit smoking
• Bupropion (Zyban®, Wellbutrin®), an antidepressant that also helps reduce nicotine cravings and withdrawal

Hannah explains these tools can work together to make quitting more manageable. “These medications can be overlapped if needed,” she says. “Patients can be on a couple of them at once if they want to hit it from different angles.”

She and the pharmacist team tailor each plan around a patient’s health history, nicotine use, and daily habits. It’s a flexible, adaptive approach, and for many people, it’s the difference between white-knuckling through cravings and feeling supported through them.

The goal isn’t to swap one addiction for another. It’s to soften the hardest parts of withdrawal so people can focus on building new habits and routines.

Set a quit date and build your support team

Once the medication plan is set, choosing a quit date becomes the next big step.

Hannah encourages patients to loop in someone they trust – a partner, a friend, a coworker – so they’re not navigating the early days alone. She also shares small tools that help redirect cravings: lollipops, crunchy veggies, gum, quick distractions. Simple things that interrupt the urge long enough for it to pass.

She reminds people to use outside resources too, like the nationwide hotline 1-800-QUIT-NOW, and emphasizes the value of checking in with a primary care provider if support is needed beyond the program’s first 12 weeks.

Setting expectations is just as important. “You’re not going to just quit in a few days and then never have a craving again,” she says. But you will see improvement.

What happens to your body after you quit smoking, vaping, or pouches

The first few weeks can feel intense, but they also bring some of the most encouraging changes.

Many patients start feeling the benefits of quitting nicotine long before they expect to. Hannah hears it all the time: food tastes better, smells become stronger, dental hygiene improves, and sleep feels deeper once nicotine is out of the system.

People often say they didn’t realize how much they had lost, especially when it comes to taste and smell, until those senses returned. And for women in menopause, quitting can also mean fewer hot flashes and other menopause symptoms as hormone levels begin to rebalance.

Underneath these day-to-day changes, the body is healing in deeper ways too. Lung function can improve quickly after quitting, and the risk of cancer and other serious diseases drops with every smoke-free day, week, and month.

Hannah talks with patients who worry that they’ve “already damaged themselves enough” and reminds them that quitting at any age helps protect their health and the health of people around them.

Kick your nicotine habit to the curb

Intermountain Health designed its Nicotine and Tobacco cessation on demand service to make starting easier. There’s no referral or appointment needed. Patients complete a short online form, which a pharmacist reviews to determine safe and effective medication options.

From there, patients receive a phone call to talk through quit dates, instructions, and side effects. Medications can be shipped through Intermountain Health’s Home Delivery Pharmacy within five to seven days or sent to a local pharmacy if someone wants to begin right away.

The program covers the first three months, which is enough time to help patients build momentum and transition into long-term support with a primary care provider if needed.