If you think smokeless tobacco is "up to snuff" and safe, think again. Whatever you like to call it - spitting, chewing or dipping - it is every bit as harmful as smoking. Many doctors believe more so because users are unaware of the dangers. Cancers of the lips, tongue, mouth and throat can quickly grow in people who use smokeless tobacco and cause debilitating and grotesque - even deadly - results.

Regardless of the dangerous and painful consequences of smokeless tobacco, quitting with traditional techniques remains very difficult. A lot of people believe the reason lies in nicotine, a natural, super toxic chemical found in tobacco that is the plant's defense against being eaten by bugs. Looking at equal quantities, nicotine is more deadly than strychnine or snake venom, and three times more lethal than arsenic.

When dipping, the nicotine travels to the brain in less than 10 seconds, where it generates a flood of dopamine, which brings about a soothing feeling. Nicotine also promotes adrenaline production, so it both energizes and calms. However, the psychological part of smokeless tobacco addiction is much stronger and produces many more obstacles to quitting smokeless tobacco than nicotine.

A lot of users took their first dip as early as nine years old. In just a few months, using smokeless tobacco becomes an ingrained habit that delivers reliable stress relief. In addition to the psychological conditioning, a social conditioning occurs, as images of many sports celebrities dipping also attract young users.

Understanding 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 element separately and look at effective methods to curb them.

Dipping for Relaxation and Pleasure: Just like using a pacifier to calm an anxious infant, over time, people who use tobacco products begin to associate putting something in their mouths with relaxation and satisfaction. Curbing the effects of tobacco usage involves addressing all aspects of the addiction.

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

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

The Physical Addiction to Nicotine, But ! : In spite of the powerful addiction, doctors say that the physical component of nicotine addiction is eliminated after people quit using tobacco for seven days. It's my firm belief that nicotine addiction comprises a mere 10 percent of smokeless tobacco dependency. As such, 90 percent of the battle to quit dipping is overcoming the emotional and mental components. So what does this mean for people like you who would like to quit?

Quitting becomes much more feasible if you can:

A. Address and remove 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 address the psychological and emotional elements of the addiction while eliminating difficulties, which will eliminate the withdrawal symptoms. When we appreciate how self-hypnosis works, it makes the decision to quit dipping much easier to assume.

When people dip for relaxation and pleasure, it's to calm anxious feelings. People often play the same images over in their minds, like a bad movie, which leaves them feeling tense and anxious. With self-hypnosis and different Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques, you retrain your brain to immediately and automatically stop stress-inducing images and substitute them with calming ideas and mental movies. This creates relaxation and satisfaction while eradicating cravings and oral compulsions. You shake the impulse to put the chew in your mouth, and you won't get any urge to substitute food in its place. This controls weight gain.

In order 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 will no longer trigger the craving. Further, the Flash can even be used to create a compulsion to deny smokeless tobacco.

Drawing on specific and strategic NLP techniques makes the decision to quit dipping easy and painless by avoiding cravings, withdrawal and weight gain. The method involves retraining the unconscious mind to follow the same thought patterns that produce your mental addiction to smokeless tobacco in the first place, to eliminate the addiction.

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