Women's Health May 18, 2026 0 Comments

Unlocking the Secret: Why Women’s Unique Nicotine Habits Could Be the Key to Finally Quitting for Good

You know, growing up with a doctor mom meant the word “smoking” came with all the heavy stuff—lung cancer, emphysema, throat damage—it was the kind of real talk that wasn’t just background noise in school or on TV, but echoed right around the dinner table. I was convinced I’d dodged that bullet entirely. No cigarettes for me, thanks very much! But, life’s twist? College and twenties brought in the social smokes—parties, a few drinks, just a bit of fun, or so I thought. Then vaping sneaked in, under the radar, with no smoke, no smell, the perfect silent companion. Before I knew it, my “controlled” indulgence had morphed into a full-on habit—carried everywhere, used daily, and completely untracked. How does something so stealthy become a thousand times more addictive without you noticing? Spoiler: it’s because vaping isn’t just about nicotine —it’s entwined with stress, emotions, social cues—the stuff no cold turkey quit guide prepares you for. So, how do you break free when quitting feels like a secret battle you should be able to fight alone? Here’s a candid dive into why women vape differently, why quitting needs a new playbook, and how understanding your own relationship with nicotine is the real game-changer.

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5 min read

Growing up with a mother who was a doctor, the dangers of smoking weren’t just abstract warnings in class or on TV, but dinner table conversations about lung cancer, emphysema, and throat damage. The message was simple and constant: don’t smoke. For my generation, that mostly worked. I never became a smoker. At least, that’s what I told myself.

That changed when I was in college and in my twenties, I would have a cigarette socially. Maybe I’d be at a party, or outside a bar, having had a few drinks. I never bought a pack, so my social smoking felt controlled, occasional, and harmless.

Person sitting on a chair wearing a black sweater and jewelry

Jones

Caroline Vasquez Huber is the co-founder of Jones, a modern nicotine replacement therapy company she built alongside longtime collaborator Hilary Dublin.

Then, I started vaping. At first, it was an occasional indulgence: something I reached for at the end of the day as a small reward. Soon, it was every evening. Before long, it was something I carried everywhere.

Vapes changed the nature of nicotine. They don’t smell. They’re small. You can use them almost everywhere (the office, your bathroom at 2 AM) without drawing attention to yourself. At the company I worked at the time, colleagues would vape openly at their desks. Nicotine stopped being a moment and became a constant.

I had no idea how much nicotine I was actually consuming. The language around quitting smoking is often centered around actual cigarettes, so the math is straightforward. When you go to the doctor’s office, they’ll ask how many cigarettes a day you have or whether you’re a pack-a-day smoker (around 20 cigarettes). With vapes, the number is harder to know. You’re less attuned to how much you’re vaping every day because vapes last so much longer than a single cigarette.

“Women are socialized to do hard things perfectly, quietly, and without asking for help.”

When I finally calculated my usage, the number shocked me. I was consuming roughly the equivalent of 40 cigarettes a day. I had spent my whole life avoiding “becoming a smoker,” yet I’d unknowingly built a habit stronger than most pack-a-day-cigarette users.

“The Only Honorable Option”

Like most women I know, my first instinct was to white-knuckle it, throw the vape away, and just stop.

I did this dozens of times. It felt like the only honorable option, the disciplined choice, the one that required no assistance or admission.

I think there’s something deeply gendered about that instinct. Women are socialized to do hard things perfectly, quietly, and without asking for help. Needing help quitting felt like a confession of weakness.

Colorful assortment of vaping devices and e-liquids on a blue background

WH Illustration

Vasquez Huber said she was vaping the equivalent of 40 cigarettes a day.

But quitting cold turkey works about 5% of the time. This means that the women who are able to “just stop” aren’t morally stronger, but rather statistical outliers. The 95% for whom cold turkey doesn’t work walk away thinking they failed, when really the method failed them.

The resulting shame spiral becomes its own trap. For women who are more likely to use nicotine to manage mood and stress, that can be especially damaging. You’re not just quitting a substance, but losing a coping mechanism you’ve woven into your entire day.

Women Vape for Different Reasons. The Strategies They Use to Quit Should be Different, Too.

Studies consistently show that women have a harder time quitting nicotine than men, despite trying to quit at equal rates. Research suggests men are more likely to be driven by nicotine’s pharmacological reward, while women are more likely to report stress, negative emotion, and social cues as drivers of use. That distinction matters enormously for how you quit. If you’re not smoking or vaping for the nicotine hit, getting nicotine back into your system only solves part of the problem. The behavioral dependency of the ritual, the relief, and the social glue has to be addressed separately.

Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) has decades of research behind it. When used properly, it can help increase quit rates by 50 to 60% compared to quitting without support. When paired with behavioral coaching, these quit rates can improve even further. While this science isn’t new, the problem is that NRT was developed for smokers, and a growing number of women in their twenties, thirties, and forties aren’t smoking—they’re vaping. And vaping can deliver nicotine far more frequently than a cigarette ever could.

For many women, reaching for their vape is the very first thing they do after waking up—before coffee, before anything else. Standard NRT dosing was designed for cigarette smokers, not for someone vaping at such a high frequency. This means women who try NRT and find it doesn’t fully work may be underdosing the nicotine needed to quit vaping.

“Setbacks are part of this process, not evidence that you’ve failed.”

Vapes are considered fast-release and deliver nicotine to the brain in seconds. This immediacy reinforces the addictive loop. On the other hand, NRTs like mints, gum, lozenges, and patches deliver nicotine at more gradual and lower levels. This helps you reduce withdrawal symptoms while giving your brain time to recalibrate—not panic. It’s not “using nicotine to quit nicotine,” in some ironic, futile way, but pharmacology. The first time I put a lozenge under my tongue, the rough edge of agitation I’d been carrying lifted. My brain’s constant reminders of craving went quiet. I could go about my day.

But that’s only part of the puzzle. The other thing that works is a structured step-down plan. Once you’ve stabilized the chemical side of things, you can reduce intentionally, in a way your brain can tolerate.

Setbacks are part of this process, not evidence that you’ve failed. The women who ultimately quit aren’t the ones who are flawless, but the ones who stay consistent.

What made quitting hard for me, and for so many women I’ve spoken to, wasn’t just the physical dependency. It was that nicotine had become load-bearing in my life. Removing it meant confronting everything I’d been using it to manage. For women navigating careers, caregiving, and everything else, that’s not a small ask.

Life After Quitting:

Women deserve better public health messaging on this. Not shame. Not the mythology of cold turkey. Not the implication that needing help is a character flaw. We need honest education about what vapers are actually consuming, NRT options calibrated for higher dependence levels, and a conversation about quitting that accounts for why women use nicotine in the first place.

What you get on the other side is worth it: better sleep, more stable focus, and an improved mood that doesn’t depend on your last hit. The version of “calm” that nicotine provides is borrowed. It only exists because your baseline has been disrupted by the dependency itself. Remove nicotine, and over time, you rebuild a baseline that’s actually yours.

I still keep lozenges on hand. I know that going out or having a stressful week can trigger the urge. I’d rather be prepared. That’s not a failure of willpower. That’s just knowing yourself, which, it turns out, is exactly what quitting requires.

Caroline Vasquez Huber is the co-founder of Jones, a modern nicotine replacement therapy company she built alongside longtime collaborator Hilary Dublin. A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Caroline began her career in politics before turning her focus to rethinking nicotine cessation. Drawing from her own experience as a nicotine user, she built Jones to address the behavioral and emotional realities of quitting—centering mental well-being, real-life triggers, and medically backed support.

Opinions are those of the author and do not reflect those of affiliated organizations.