Perhaps it would be best to begin with a definition of what we mean by "natural." After all, there can be few, if any, more widespread unnatural things to do than the voluntary inhalation of poisonous, noxious fumes many times every day! No one made you do that, and there is certainly no instinct for it!

Hence, the search for a "natural stop smoking remedy" has the in-built irony of being a natural way to help you to desist from doing something entirely unnatural!

Let us assume that natural in this sense would mean not placing any more artificial substances in your body.

Nicotine patches, gum, sprays or other means of administration therefore need ruling out. They don't come with actual fumes, but the ingredient that keeps you hooked on tobacco is, of course, nicotine, (ask anyone who's ever tried to quit by switching to "herbal" tobaccos). Therefore, finding another way to administer the same drug is one of the toughest ways to quit, and the failure rate is quite high.

Where they succeed, it is only (in this author's opinion), because they force you to break up the routine of lighting up, inhaling and exhaling and so on. Furthermore, they enable you to "ingest" nicotine, (a powerful insecticide!) in areas where smoking itself would be forbidden, so once again, you are feeding yourself unusual behaviour patterns.

The "habit" or routine of smoking is thus tampered with, but the cravings aren't dealt with and often the wearer/chewer only wishes for a cigarette, often ending up doing both. (This is a very dangerous practice incidentally, as too much nicotine can cause a heart attack).

Then we have hypnosis. This is far closer to our quest for a natural stop smoking remedy, but is sadly often misunderstood or misrepresented. The smoker is hoping for a completely passive "cure" from the therapist in many cases. The expectation seems to be that you will turn up fully addicted to smoking, whereupon you will be rendered by means of a swinging pendulum, into a zombie-like state of which you will have no awareness or recall. When you are brought out of this state, you will in all other respects be restored to your normal, cheerful, sunny self with the single exception that the desire to smoke will have completely and utterly vanished!

Ah! The quest for the holy grail of both smokers and therapists alike! Let me tell you now, if you go to a hypnotherapist that is about as far from what will happen as your next encounter with a real monster from Star Trek!

The reality is that you will be completely aware of the hypnotherapist's suggestions and although hypnosis can unquestionably smooth the transition from you being a helpless addict to becoming a happy non-smoker, you will still need to consciously apply your new "programming" especially in the first few days whilst the nicotine departs from your body with the inevitable "pangs" accompanying that process.

Surely the most natural stop smoking remedy must be good old fashioned "cold turkey." Statistically if you choose this route you have a 10 per cent chance of staying free for life. However, you are likely to become one of those whingers who spends the rest of your days wishing you could have "just one more puff."

May the Lord have mercy - not only upon you, but upon all your long-suffering friends, (smokers and otherwise), and family! Plus, you have a ninety per cent chance of returning to smoking - with probably all the accompanying guilt, self-recriminations and possibly criminal-like secrecy. Not desirable.

The best natural stop smoking remedy of all then would surely be one where no artificial "gimmicks" are required, (by the very definition of "natural stop smoking remedy" - this goes without saying).

Furthermore, you should understand every step of the process, and finally you should not be wrestling with your own willpower - the emotional desire to smoke versus your logic trying to restrain you - for the rest of your days. Indeed, you shouldn't have to endure that agony at all!

Quite possibly the ultimate in natural stop smoking remedies (since it fulfils all of these criteria) is one which employs NLP. (Neuro-linguistic programming - but don't bother looking it up unless you're one of those geeks who needs to look under the bonnet of your new Porsche instead of just enjoying the experience of driving around in it!).

NLP works for smokers because it utilises the very mechanism we use when we simply change our minds about something. You don't need willpower to decide you no longer take sugar in your tea, or that you now love Robbie Williams' music ... or whatever.

If ever there was a way to pull yourself out of the hole you got yourself into with smoking, this surely has to be it because it bypasses the need for willpower - every smokers' nightmare.