Exploring Current Smokers' Interest in Using Smokeless Tobacco Products Smokeless Tobacco Substitution for Cigarettes

Summary The research is concerned with the potential for forms of nicotine delivery, other than cigarettes, to speed up the elimination of cigarette smoking. It is well known that short term use of nicotine in the form of Nicotine Replacement therapy or NRT (e.g., gum, patches) can help smokers to quit. It is now known that a small percentage of those who use NRT to quit continue to use it long term. Some say they do so because they are now addicted to NRT, while others say they need to use the NRT to keep from relapsing to smoking. We know that long term use of NRT is much less harmful than smoking. Should we be encouraging those who could not quit altogether to continue using NRT? If we did, how many more smokers might adopt it as a strategy to avoid relapsing back to smoking? `New smokeless tobacco products modeled on pasteurized Swedish snus, are now available in the US market.  These products have been marketed by manufacturers and differ from the snuff and chew products traditionally sold and used in the US and appear to have lower levels of cancer causing chemicals.  Compressed tobacco lozenges have also been made available, and also appear low in cancer causing by-products.  Most of these products are marketed to smokers, but little is known about smokers' interest in using smokeless products as temporary substitute for cigarette smoking or willingness to switch over completely from cigarettes to smokeless tobacco.