Cut down on nicotine pouches.

Two levers

Each one has a strength, so a switch to a lighter one is a step down on its own. Curb plans with count times strength, and when the count gets low, the plan moves to a lighter strength and gives some of the count back.

The app offers 3 mg, 6 mg, 9 mg, and 12 mg.

In the US, classic ZYN comes in 3 mg and 6 mg, and ZYN Ultra in 9 mg and 11 mg.

What a plan looks like

One plan, from 12 pouches a day to zero at the steady pace, week by week.

Schedules from other starting points

What it costs

At those numbers and a typical price:

12 pouches a day · 6 mg · $0.37 each

a month

$133

a day

72 mg

a year

$1,621

Try your own numbers in the cost calculator. What it costs a year, at every level.

What tends to help

1. Spend the first week only logging. You cannot step down from a number you are still guessing at.
2. Use both levers, in the order a schedule does: fewer first, then a lower strength once the count is low. Going 6mg → 3mg halves the nicotine while the routine stays the same.
3. If a day goes over, log it anyway. The number is more useful than a gap, and the schedule carries on.
4. Keep it somewhere that takes a few steps to reach: a drawer, another room, the car.
5. Name your two hardest moments (first coffee, after dinner) and decide what you will do instead before they arrive.

Instead of it

• Lower-strength pouch. Same ritual, less nicotine: step 6mg → 3mg → 1.5mg.
• Mints or gum. Covers the oral habit with nothing in it.
• Cold water, slowly. Cravings tend to peak and fade inside a few minutes.
• Two-minute walk. Moves you out of the room the trigger lives in.

Free support

• This is Quitting: Free text-message support built for vaping, by Truth Initiative
• smokefree.gov: Free US quitline: 1-800-QUIT-NOW

Worth knowing about

• Nicotine replacement. Patches, gum, lozenges and mouth spray exist for exactly this. A pharmacist can match the dose to what you use.
• A lower-strength tin. Whatever you already buy usually comes one step lighter. Buying down one step is the cheapest change available.
• Curb’s widget, Control Center button and Siri shortcut. Log from the Home Screen, Control Center or by voice. At a dozen logs a day, opening the app every time is what eventually stops you logging.
• A five-minute delay rule. Set a timer before each one instead of banning any, and log the ones you still have.

Curb takes no money for anything listed here, and none of these are affiliate links. General guidance, not medical advice. A doctor or pharmacist can tell you what fits your situation.