If you think smokeless tobacco is "up to snuff" and safe, think again. Whatever it is called - spitting, chewing or dipping - it is every bit as dangerous as smoking. A lot of medical professionals believe more so because users are not as aware of the dangers. Cancers of the lips, mouth, tongue and throat can quickly grow in people who use smokeless tobacco and cause ugly - even lethal - results.

Regardless of the painful and dangerous consequences of smokeless tobacco, quitting with usual techniques remains very demanding. Many people believe the reason lies in nicotine, a natural, super toxic element found in tobacco that is the plant's protection against being eaten by insects. Measuring equal quantities, nicotine is more lethal than snake venom or strychnine, and three times more lethal than arsenic.

When dipping, the nicotine makes its way to the brain in under 10 seconds, where it produces a flood of dopamine, resulting in a soothing feeling. Nicotine also increases adrenaline production, so it both energizes and calms. However, the mental component of smokeless tobacco addiction is much stronger and creates far more impediments to quitting smokeless tobacco than nicotine.

Many users had their first chew as young as nine years old. In just a few months, using smokeless tobacco becomes an ingrained habit that produces reliable stress relief. In addition to the psychological conditioning, a social conditioning takes place, as images of many sports celebrities dipping also attract young users.

Knowing that there are individual physical and emotional factors that contribute to a chewing habit makes it easier to create a plan to prevail smokeless tobacco addiction. Let's examine each component individually and look at effective methods to curb them.

Dipping for Relaxation and Pleasure: Just like using a pacifier to appease a restless baby, over the course of time, people who use tobacco products start to associate putting something in their mouths with satisfaction and relaxation. Curbing the effects of tobacco usage means addressing all components of the addiction.

Tobacco Dipping is a Conditioned Response: The classic illustration of a conditioned response relates to Pavlov and his dogs, which were trained to anticipate food - and thus began salivating - after a bell was rung. In accordance, if, for example, you always use chewing tobacco after each meal, you will consequently acquire a craving to chew when you finish eating.

In your mind, the images of folding the napkin and pushing the play away may be connected to using snuff, even though you are not conscious of it. Developing awareness of the trigger images or situations can help you overcome cravings.

The Physical Addiction to Nicotine, But ! : Despite the intense addiction, doctors maintain that the physical part of nicotine addiction is eliminated after people quit using tobacco for seven days. It's my solid belief that nicotine addiction comprises a scant 10 percent of smokeless tobacco dependency. As such, 90 percent of the battle to quit dipping is overcoming the mental and emotional components. So what does this mean for people like you who want to quit?

Quitting becomes much easier if you can:

A. Deal with and eliminate the anxiety and tension that compels you to use smokeless tobacco B. Cancel the conditioned responses to chew in particular settings

But how does one conquer those issues?

Self-hypnosis offers a way to deal with the emotional and psychological factors of the addiction while eliminating struggles, which will eliminate the symptoms of withdrawal. When we realize how self-hypnosis works, it makes the decision to quit dipping much easier to accept.

When people dip for relaxation and pleasure, it's to quiet anxious feelings. People often play the same images over in their minds, like a bad film, which leaves them feeling tense and anxious. With self-hypnosis and various Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques, you retrain your brain to immediately and automatically prohibit stress-inducing images and trade them with calming images and mental movies. This creates satisfaction and relaxation while eliminating cravings and oral compulsions. You elude the urge to put the chew in your mouth, and you will not get any desire to substitute food in its place. This quells weight gain.

To resist the conditioned response of chewing smokeless tobacco, the NLP Flash technique erases the associations of dipping during certain activities or situations. This means your subconscious won't trigger the craving. Further, the Flash can even be used to create a compulsion to deny smokeless tobacco.

Drawing on specific and strategic NLP procedures makes the decision to quit dipping effortless and painless by avoiding cravings, withdrawal and weight gain. The method depends on training the unconscious mind to follow the same thought patterns that create your mental addiction to smokeless tobacco in the first place, to eliminate the habit.

Your brain is a powerful instrumentfar more powerful than an addiction. With commitment and the help of self-hypnosis and NLP, you can quit smokeless tobacco forever.