I want to quit smoking. Where do I start?
Learn about established quitting support, then choose a practical first step for your own day.
Understand smoking treatment and support
An overview of counseling, nicotine replacement therapy, prescription medicines, and ways to get help. Discuss individual treatment choices with a healthcare professional.
Read CDC’s how-to-quit guideOn Quit Support: Build your smoking quit plan
Prepare for quitting cigarettes
Find preparation tools and guidance for the challenges of quitting. Use the source that matches the question you are working through.
Explore Smokefree.gov’s smoking guidanceOn Quit Support: Write and print your next-step plan
I want to stop vaping.
Use vaping-specific guidance rather than assuming every smoking treatment applies in the same way.
Get ready to quit vaping
Prepare for your quit day, identify support, and think through situations where you normally vape.
Read the vaping preparation guideOn Quit Support: Find your vaping starting point
Handle vape cravings and withdrawal
Explore coping strategies for urges and learn about nicotine withdrawal. For medication questions, ask a healthcare professional; smoking-cessation medicines are not FDA-approved specifically for quitting vaping.
Explore vaping resourcesOn Quit Support: Plan for reaching for a vape at your desk
I need someone to help me quit.
Free U.S. quitline coaching
Call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669). Ask about services in your area and whether medication assistance is available to you. Eligibility and availability vary; free medication is not guaranteed.
Explore quitting programs
Find smoking and vaping information and program options, including Freedom From Smoking. Check current costs, availability, and participation details with the organization.
Visit the American Lung AssociationOn Quit Support: Compare support and treatment options
These telephone resources are for the U.S. Outside the U.S., contact your local public health service.
What about nicotine patches, gum, or medicines?
Nicotine dependence and familiar routines can both be part of quitting. Routine substitutes serve a different purpose from medicines used to treat nicotine dependence.
Learn about smoking-cessation medicines
CDC explains nicotine patches, gum, lozenges, and prescription options. A clinician or pharmacist can help you understand which options suit your situation.
Read CDC’s medication overviewOn Quit Support: Understand treatment and habit options
I keep reaching after coffee, meals, or a break.
Notice the situation, decide on a different response, and try it in that moment. Government guidance also addresses behavioral triggers and physical routines.
Understand smoking cues and cravings
Learn how familiar activities, stress, and social situations can bring up an urge to smoke.
Explore cravings and triggersOn Quit Support: Find your routine strategy
Explore practical substitutes and changes
Read tips about changing your surroundings, distraction, and things to do with your hands and mouth. These recommendations do not endorse Cigtrus.
Read CDC’s practical quitting tipsOn Quit Support: Compare water, gum, tactile objects, and habit products
I would rather watch someone explain it.
These CDC videos share former smokers’ experiences. Personal stories are useful perspectives, not predictions of your outcome.
Former smokers share quitting tips
Watch practical experiences, then choose one idea to discuss or add to your plan.
Watch quitting tips on YouTubeBeatrice: telling others and recognizing triggers
Hear how Beatrice approached familiar cues and asked others to support her decision.
Watch Beatrice’s experience on YouTubeVisit the CDC page featuring these videos. The videos do not endorse Quit Support or Cigtrus.
Turn what you learned into one action.
Choose a goal, one difficult moment, a response to try, and a person or service to contact. You can revisit the plan as you learn what helps.
Make your next-step planThis directory helps you find information; it does not provide individual medical advice. Outside sites control their own content and services. Educational articles on Quit Support have not been clinically reviewed.