If you think smokeless tobacco is "up to snuff" and safe, think again. Whatever you like to call it - dipping, chewing or spitting - it is every bit as dangerous as smoking. Many doctors judge more so because users are not as aware of the risks. Cancers of the mouth, lips, tongue and throat can rapidly develop in people who use smokeless tobacco and cause grotesque and debilitating - even deadly - results.

In spite of the painful and dangerous effects of smokeless tobacco, quitting with conventional means is very demanding. A lot of people think the reason lies in nicotine, a natural, super toxic element found in tobacco that is the plant's protection to prevent being eaten by insects. Comparing equal amounts, 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 under 10 seconds, where it generates a flood of dopamine, resulting in a relaxing sensation. Nicotine also accelerates adrenaline production, so it both calms and energizes. However, the emotional component of smokeless tobacco addiction is much stronger and leads to many more challenges to quitting smokeless tobacco than nicotine.

A lot of users took their first dip as young as nine years old. In as little as a few months, using smokeless tobacco becomes a fixed habit that produces reliable stress relief. In addition to the psychological conditioning, a social conditioning transpires, as images of many athletes dipping also attract young users.

Understanding that there are individual physical and emotional reasons that contribute to a chewing habit makes it easier to develop a plan to overcome 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 appease a restless toddler, over 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 issues of the addiction.

Dipping Tobacco 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 relation, if, for example, you always chew tobacco after each meal, you will consequently acquire a desire to chew when you are done eating.

In your mind, the images of pushing the plate away and laying down your napkin may be tied to using snuff, even though you are not conscious of it. Becoming aware of the trigger images or situations can help you conquer cravings.

The Physical Addiction to Nicotine, But ? : In spite of the powerful addiction, medical professionals maintain that the physical part of nicotine addiction is eliminated after people quit using tobacco for a week. It's my firm belief that nicotine addiction comprises a scant 10 percent of smokeless tobacco dependency. Therefore, 90 percent of the battle to quit dipping involves overcoming the mental and emotional components. So what does this mean for people like you who would like to quit?

Quitting becomes much more feasible 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 specific settings

But how does a person surmount those issues?

Self-hypnosis offers a way to tackle the psychological and emotional components of the addiction while eliminating impediments, which will eliminate the withdrawal symptoms. When we comprehend how self-hypnosis works, it makes the decision to quit dipping much easier to take on.

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

To battle the conditioned response of chewing smokeless tobacco, the NLP Flash technique removes 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.

Employing specific and strategic NLP procedures makes the decision to quit dipping smokeless tobacco very easy and painless by averting withdrawal symptoms, cravings and weight gain. The process depends on retraining the unconscious mind to adhere to the same thought patterns that create your mental addiction to smokeless tobacco in the first place, to eliminate the addiction.

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