Addiction Nicotine Use After You Quit Print Stop a Smoking Slip From Becoming a Relapse By Terry Martin facebook twitter Terry Martin quit smoking after 26 years and is now an advocate for those seeking freedom from nicotine addiction. Learn about our editorial process Terry Martin Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Armeen Poor, MD on February 01, 2020 Armeen Poor, MD, is a board-certified pulmonologist and intensivist. He specializes in pulmonary health, critical care, and sleep medicine. Learn about our Review Board Armeen Poor, MD Updated on February 03, 2020 Howard Roberts / EyeEm / Getty Images More in Addiction Nicotine Use After You Quit How to Quit Smoking Nicotine Withdrawal Smoking-Related Diseases The Inside of Cigarettes Alcohol Use Addictive Behaviors Drug Use Coping and Recovery As of Dec. 20, 2019, the new legal age limit is 21 years old for purchasing cigarettes, cigars, or any other tobacco products in the U.S. Smoking one cigarette does not erase all of the smoke-free time you’ve accumulated. For some, a single smoking slip means the difference between successfully quitting and returning to smoking full-time. How you choose to move forward following a smoking slip is up to you. Do what you are comfortable with, but make sure you take some time to analyze and correct the faulty thinking that allowed you to pick up that cigarette and smoke it in the first place. The Real Danger of Smoking a Few Puffs Physically, you have reintroduced nicotine into your body. Smokers are nicotine addicts. We are not stronger than the drug. Test that after you've quit, and you run the risk of a return to full time smoking faster than you might think. The only sure way to keep the inner addict in control is to keep nicotine out. A single puff from a cigarette releases a rush of adrenaline, which sends a signal to the brain to produce higher levels of the feel-good chemical dopamine. It's so easy to become addicted to smoking because we associate each puff with pleasure. Recovery from nicotine comes gradually. There are going to be triggers that bring on strong urges to smoke as you move through smoking cessation, but it won't always be that way. Each time you overcome those urges, your brain logs it and starts to break down the association with it. In time, triggers to smoke will be rare to nonexistent. For now, though, use that plan you devised to make your way through them without lighting up. Remember Your Reasons for Quitting According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cigarette smoking causes upwards of 480,000 deaths per year in the United States. Dive back into why you quit smoking in the first place. Think about how you felt on your quit day. Were you sick and tired of smoking?Were you living in fear of contracting a smoking-related illness?Did you hate that you couldn't stop smoking?Did you have a chronic cough or shortness of breath?Were you embarrassed by your smoking habit?Did you spend a lot of time wishing you could quit smoking, once and for all? None of the reasons you had when you quit smoking are any less true today. It's easy to lose sight of the importance of what you're doing when you get a few months of smoke-free time under your belt. Maybe that chronic cough is gone, or you've convinced yourself that quitting isn't that hard and you can smoke for a day and get right back to your quit. But nicotine addiction doesn't let go easily, and if you do light up, you'll quickly be reminded of just how true that is. Revisit your list of reasons, start a list now if you don't have one. Read everything you can find about the effects of smoking, even if you've read it all before. A refresher will help build your resolve back up. Relapse Is a Slippery Slope If you've had a smoking slip, it's important for you to do the work to get your head back in the game. The journey to successfully quitting smoking may not be easy, but it's worth it. Be patient and give yourself the time you need to allow for healing, both physically and emotionally. The day will come when smoking is a distant, detached memory. Given that on average nonsmokers live 10 years longer than nonsmokers, your health and your livelihood will thank you for sticking with your quitting program. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! So you're ready to finally quit smoking? Our free guide can help you get on the right track. Sign up and get yours today. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Kirchner TR, Shiffman S, Wileyto EP. Relapse dynamics during smoking cessation: recurrent abstinence violation effects and lapse-relapse progression. J Abnorm Psychol. 2012;121(1):187–197. doi:10.1037/a0024451 Benowitz NL. Nicotine addiction. N Engl J Med. 2010;362(24):2295–2303. doi:10.1056/NEJMra0809890 Le Foll B, Guranda M, Wilson AA, et al. Elevation of dopamine induced by cigarette smoking: novel insights from a [11C]-+-PHNO PET study in humans. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2014;39(2):415–424. doi:10.1038/npp.2013.209 Rigotti NA. Strategies to help a smoker who is struggling to quit. JAMA. 2012;308(15):1573–1580. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.13043. Jha P, Ramasundarahettige C, Landsman V, et al. 21st-century hazards of smoking and benefits of cessation in the United States. N Engl J Med. 2013;368(4):341-50 Additional Reading American Cancer Society. Why People Start Smoking and Why It's Hard to Stop. Updated November 13, 2015.