These Are the 6 Products Making Cigarettes Obsolete

If you smoke cigarettes, there is a virtually 100-percent chance that you’d like to quit if you could. As every tobacco user in the history of the world knows all too well, though, quitting smoking is incredibly hard to do. It’s difficult to work up the initiative to face that challenge, so people put off trying to quit until some undetermined point in the future – when things feel less stressful, perhaps.

Recently, though, there’s another factor that may have caused you to start thinking more seriously about quitting: inflation. Consumer prices have risen 8.6 percent this year alone. It’s unlikely that your salary has risen 8.6 percent to match, and that means the only way to maintain your lifestyle is by eliminating as many unnecessary expenses as you can. When it comes to eliminating expenses, cigarettes should be first on your list. Tobacco costs so much, in fact, that removing that one expense will make it feel as if this year’s bout of inflation never even happened.

Luckily for you, the past few years have been incredibly important in the field of tobacco harm reduction and helping people quit smoking. There are now so many replacements for cigarettes on the market that it would be almost impossible to find something that won’t work for you as long as you’re determined to make it work. In fact, it’s safe to say that cigarettes are rapidly becoming obsolete. Here are the six products helping to make that happen.

Disposable Vapes

It’s just about impossible to be a smoker and not be familiar with vaping. What you may not know, though, is that making the switch to vaping became dramatically easier and more convenient over the past couple of years thanks to the introduction of new disposable vapes such as Geek Bar.

The disposable e-cigarettes of the past didn’t deliver nicotine efficiently and didn’t taste good. They were also too expensive. Today’s devices use higher-nicotine e-liquids, so they’re dramatically more satisfying. They last longer than the disposable e-cigarettes of the past, and they also cost less. Most importantly, they taste great because they use the same e-liquids that hobbyist vapers buy by the bottle. If you want a tobacco alternative that’s going to keep you away from cigarettes for good, trying a disposable vape should be the first thing that you do.

Nicotine Pouches

Nicotine products exist along a continuum of risk. Because vaping doesn’t involve the inhalation of tar or carbon monoxide, it’s widely considered by experts to be significantly less risky than smoking. If you can quit without inhaling your nicotine, though, that might be even better. If you’ve tried traditional oral nicotine replacement products such as gums and lozenges, it’s likely that you found the flavor of those products at least a little off-putting; there’s a limit to how long a person can tolerate chewing on bitter orange-flavored gum.

Nicotine pouches, however, are completely different. They’re filled with tobacco-free nicotine salt, which tastes significantly less bitter than the tobacco-derived nicotine used in traditional nicotine replacement products. Nicotine pouches are also available in many different flavors, so whether you enjoy variety or want to find a single favorite flavor and stick with it, you’re certain to find something that’ll work for you.

Nicotine Gums

Today’s new nicotine gums aren’t the same as the ones that you can buy from your local supermarkets and pharmacies; you’re more likely to find them online and at specialty retailers such as vape shops. They’re worth seeking out, though – especially if flavor is the only thing currently preventing you using nicotine gum as a full-time replacement for smoking. Like nicotine pouches, the newest nicotine gum products use tobacco-free nicotine and are available in a wide variety of flavors you’re likely to enjoy.

Nicotine Toothpicks

Nicotine toothpicks are perhaps some of the most unusual items in today’s landscape of alternative nicotine products. Although they might not seem particularly interesting to you if you aren’t much of a toothpick chewer, they’re worth a second look if you’ve found that traditional nicotine replacement products don’t satisfy your need for a hand-to-mouth ritual.

A nicotine toothpick gives you something that you can hold in your hand and bring to your mouth, just like a cigarette. You may also enjoy nicotine toothpicks if you’re the type of person who likes chewing on a cigarette, cigar or pipe. A nicotine toothpick generally looks like a regular toothpick. The wood is impregnated with a flavored nicotine solution that’s released upon contact with your saliva.

Herbal Pouches

People respond to nicotine in different ways. For some, it’s not particularly difficult to quit smoking without replacing the nicotine – as long as they have something that replaces the hand-to-mouth ritual and provides a satisfying sensation. If you think that might be the case for you, herbal pouches could prove to be the perfect replacements for cigarettes. You can find herbal pouches with a variety of different fillings such as cinnamon, coffee and mint.

When placed between your gum and lip, an herbal pouch provides a pleasant tingle that feels reminiscent of nicotine gum or pouches. When you feel the tingle, you can just about convince yourself that you’re using a nicotine product – and for many people, that’s enough to keep the cravings at bay.

Heat-Not-Burn Systems

Unlike the other products discussed in this article – which are all tobacco free – heat-not burn systems are tobacco products. With that in mind, they may not be quite as low in risk as the products mentioned above. They’re also fairly expensive and won’t help you save money. However, the fact that heat-not-burn products use real tobacco means that they may taste authentic in ways that other cigarette replacements don’t. Some people can’t stand using any nicotine product that doesn’t taste like tobacco, and heat-not-burn systems represent a potential solution.

A heat-not-burn system uses a heating element to heat the tobacco in a cigarette-like stick to a temperature high enough to vaporize the nicotine without causing combustion. After several puffs, you’ll remove the tobacco stick from the heating unit and discard it. Using a heat-not-burn system looks, feels and tastes very much like smoking. Since production of tar and carbon monoxide are lower than with conventional cigarettes, though, it’s possible that the level of risk is reduced.