If you think smokeless tobacco is "up to snuff" and not dangerous, think again. Whatever you call it - spitting, dipping or chewing - it is every bit as dangerous as smoking. The majority of medical researchers think more so because people are unaware of the threats. Cancers of the mouth, lips, tongue and throat can rapidly develop in people who use smokeless tobacco and cause debilitating and grotesque - even deadly - results.

Regardless of the painful and dangerous consequences of smokeless tobacco, quitting with traditional methods remains extremely difficult. Many people believe the reason lies in nicotine, a natural, super toxic chemical found in tobacco that is the plant's defense to prevent being eaten by insects. Evaluating 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, which brings about a relaxing sensation.  Nicotine also stimulates adrenaline production, so it both energizes and calms. However, the psychological part of smokeless tobacco addiction is much stronger and leads to many more obstacles to quitting smokeless tobacco than nicotine.

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

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

Dipping for Relaxation and Pleasure: Just like using a pacifier to soothe 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 involves addressing all facets of the addiction.

Tobacco Dipping is a Conditioned Response: The classic model 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 use chewing 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 tied 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 … : In spite of the powerful addiction, medical professionals maintain that the physical component of nicotine addiction is eliminated after people quit using tobacco for a week. It's my solid belief that nicotine addiction comprises a scant 10 percent of smokeless tobacco dependency. Therefore, 90 percent of the fight to quit dipping involves overcoming the mental and emotional components.  So what does this mean for people like you who want to quit?

Quitting becomes much more feasible if you are able to:

A. Address and remove the tension or anxiety that compels you to use smokeless tobacco

B. Cancel the conditioned responses to chew in specific situations

But how does one conquer those issues?

Self-hypnosis offers a way to tackle the psychological and emotional elements of the addiction while eliminating struggles, which will eliminate the withdrawal symptoms. When we appreciate how self-hypnosis works, it makes the decision to quit dipping much easier to undertake.

When people dip for relaxation and pleasure, it's to quiet stressful feelings. People often play the same images over in their heads, like a bad film, which leaves them feeling anxious and tense.  With  and different Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques, you retrain your brain to immediately and automatically stop stress-inducing images and replace them with soothing images and mental movies. This creates satisfaction and relaxation while reducing cravings and oral compulsions. You lose the inclination to put the chew in your mouth, and you don't get any urge to substitute food in its place. This subdues weight gain.

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

Drawing on specific and strategic NLP methods makes the decision to effortless and painless by sidestepping withdrawal symptoms, cravings and weight gain. The method involves retraining the unconscious mind to abide by 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 instrument—far more powerful than an addiction. With steadfastness and the aid of self-hypnosis and NLP, you can quit smokeless tobacco forever.