Compare Cigarettes, Snuff and Nicotine for Quelling the Urge to Smoke

April 2008

Comparing cigarettes, snuff and nicotine for quelling the urge to smoke

Right now, how much do you want a cigarette?

Please respond to this question by drawing a vertical mark anywhere along the horizontal line, like this for example:

Method. The smoker fills in a new line of a 100mm Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) every five minutes, starting 5-15 minutes before to 60 minutes after using the cigarette/snuff/nicotine, using a different day for each drug. The VAS is scored, and a graph is drawn (Figure. 1). For groups use averages. For ease of use a 0 to 10 scale is just as good.

Figure 1. The urge to smoke again after one cigarette

Smoker A’s urge to smoke first thing in the morning is very strong, scoring 80.

The first cigarette of the day drops the urge by 40 points. Smoker A still wants a cigarette but does not “need” one.

After an hour, the urge to smoke has increased further, and Smoker A smokes another cigarette.

Smoker A began smoking at age 15, reaches for a cigarette within 10 minutes of waking, smokes 20 per day, and has never stopped smoking for more than 8 hours.

Advantage of VAS.

Using the VAS to score a range of products, smokers decide themselves which product best gives control of smoking urges, and whether they will use this product now or later to stop smoking.

Research examples. See www.healthnz.co.nz/coynews.htm

The urge to smoke VAS score compares products on how completely and how rapidly they relieve the urge to smok. Different questions are needed to decide how much the smoker liked the product, and whether the smoker would use the medication to quit smoking.

To stop smoking, smokers need:

Access to an Alternative product that controls their Addiction (urge to smoke) at Affordable price, with Acceptable flavour, which is Approved for sale, by friends, workmates, doctors, and society. And, they must want to quit.

Fig 2. The effect of nasal snuff on the urge to smoke another cigarette

After smoking all day but not for the previous hour, the urge to smoke is moderately strong, scoring 60.

Smoker A takes a two-finger pinch of snuff, some into each nostril. This first snuff lowers the urge to smoke by 40 points. It is her first snuff ever.

Another two pinches after 25 minutes lowers the urge to smoke again.

In total, in the first 24 hours on snuff, this smoker cut down to four cigarettes, used snuff ten times, and saved $7, without any distress.

____________________________________________________________________

Forms for recording the urge to smoke:

Name _________________ Male/Female Date of birth____________

I agree to testing my urge to smoke before and after a cigarette, snuff or nicotine

____________________________Signature Cigarettes per day________

Time in minutes to first cigarette on waking_____

CIGARETTE Q1. How long since last cigarette, snuff, or nicotine?___________hours /minutes

2. Right now, how much do you want a cigarette?

Score				Time in minutes after finishing cigarette
	-10	-5	S M O K E cigarette	0	5	10	15	20	25	30	35	40	45	50	55	60
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Chart how much you want a cigarette with a horizontal line in the box

NICOTINE Q1. How long since last cigarette, snuff or nicotine ?__________hours/minutes

2. Right now, how much do you want a cigarette?

			Take now	Time in minutes after taking nicotine gum/lozenge/inhaler/patch
	-10	-5	0	5	10	15	20	25	30	35	40	45	50	55	60
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Chart how much you want a cigarette with a horizontal line in the box.

NICOTINE-only CIGARETTE or SNUFF

Q1. How long since last cigarette, snuff or nicotine_________hours____minutes

2. Right now, how much do you want a cigarette?

			Take now	Time in minutes after smoking cigarette, or using nicotine-only cigarette, or tobacco snuff, or nicotine gum, patch or lozenge.
	-10	-5	0	5	10	15	20	25	30	35	40	45	50	55	60
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Chart how much you want a cigarette with a horizontal line in the box.

Daily Nicotine or Tobacco Chart Day of week__________ date________________

Hour of day	Put a cross for every cigarette	Put a tick for each snuff or nicotine/ or e-cigarette	Right now how much do you want a cigarette? Circle a number every half-hour, comparing the result with the ticks in the left hand columns.
6 am			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
6.30 am			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7 am			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7.30 am			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
8 am			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
8.30 am			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
9.am			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
9.30			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10 am			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10.30			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 am			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11.30			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
12 md			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
12.30			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1.30 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2.30 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3.30 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4.30 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5.30 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
6 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
6.30 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
7.30 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
8 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
8.30 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
9 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
9.30 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10 pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
10.30			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11pm			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11.30			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
12mn			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 am			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
2 am			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
3 am			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
4 am			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
5 am			0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10