You probably didn’t need us to tell you this, but JUULing is a horrible habit to pick up in college. In terms of nicotine delivery, the JUUL is one of the world’s strongest and most addictive e-cigarettes. It’ll saddle you with an addiction that could remain with you for the rest of your life.

Vaping also isn’t safe – at least not in absolute terms. Yes, researchers estimate that vaping could be up to 95 percent less harmful than smoking – but less harmful is the operative phrase here.  You won’t find a single medical expert in the world who will tell you that vaping is as safe as breathing plain air. Vaping is for smokers who can’t quit by any other means; it’s not for college students who have never even tried tobacco.

Also, consider the cost of JUULing; JUUL pods cost $4 each. If you use one pod per day, your vaping habit costs $1,460 yearly. That’s a lot of money to spend on something that brings you no tangible benefit.

The time to quit JUULing is now – when you still feel like you can quit anytime you want. When you start to get older and realize that you’re truly addicted to nicotine, it’s too late. You’ll have a much harder time quitting – if you ever quit at all. Most smokers who try to quit aren’t successful. Your chance to quit vaping successfully after you’ve been doing it for years probably won’t be much better.

So, how can you quit your JUULing habit and make the process as easy as possible? That’s where this article is going to help. These simple tips will help you ease out of JUULing. It’s time to rid yourself of an unwanted addiction and save a bundle of money.

Reduce Your Nicotine Strength

If you’re currently using the 5% JUUL pod strength, the first thing that you should do is start buying the lower 3% strength. Use the lower-strength pods, but don’t start vaping more often to make up for the reduced nicotine intake; limit yourself to just one pod per day. The 3% nicotine strength is still a lot of nicotine, so you should make it through this stage without any real difficulty.

Reduce Your Nicotine Strength Even More

Once you’ve gotten used to the lower JUUL nicotine strength, you can help yourself even more by reducing your nicotine intake further. You can’t do that with the JUUL, though, because 3% is the lowest JUUL pod strength available. To get lower than that, you’ll need a refillable e-cigarette or vape pen. You can find those from companies like V2 Cigs. When you begin filling your own vaping device, you can buy progressively lower nicotine strengths until you’re using almost no nicotine at all. You might find it easy to simply stop vaping at that point. If you’re still having difficulty, though, the following tips may help.

Use Nicotine-Free E-Liquid

You may find that it’s much easier to quit vaping if you continue vaping with nicotine-free e-liquid for a while rather than stopping abruptly. Even if you’re not using nicotine, you’re still getting the flavors and continuing the hand-to-mouth rituals that you’re used to. If you can get to the point where you’re completely comfortable vaping without nicotine, then you’ll have broken the physical addiction and will probably find at some point that you no longer feel any need to vape at all.

Use Nicotine Replacement

If you try nicotine-free e-liquid and find that it doesn’t quite work for you, try quitting vaping and switching to a nicotine replacement product such as nicotine lozenges or gum. When you switch to nicotine-free e-liquid, you’re essentially addressing the physical and psychological addiction components separately, breaking one now and dealing with the other later. If you quit vaping and switch to nicotine replacement, you’re doing the same thing in reverse by breaking the psychological component while continuing to use nicotine. You might find that easier.

Find an Outlet for Your Stress

One of the worst aspects of nicotine addiction is that, when you’re trying to break the addiction, you tend to fixate on it until you reach the point where it’s difficult to think about anything else. That makes the cravings seem worse than they actually are. Make no mistake; when you’ve worked your way all the way down to a nicotine strength of 3 mg from an original strength of 59 mg, you might still be addicted to nicotine, but the amount you’re using is far, far less than what you previously used.

You can definitely handle the jump from 3 mg of nicotine to no nicotine, but you’re going to need to find an outlet for your stress during those times when the desire to grab your JUUL seems overwhelming. To name two examples, you might enjoy a strenuous workout or a session with an engaging video game. It’s important, though, to select an activity that you don’t normally associate with vaping. Otherwise, you’ll finish the activity only to find yourself fighting the cravings again.

Get Support From Friends and Family

There’s a reason why most people who try to quit smoking ultimately fail; it’s because nicotine is one of the world’s most addictive substances. Don’t beat yourself up if you have a moment of weakness and grab a JUUL pod as long as you don’t allow your moment of weakness to become a total relapse. Once you’ve committed yourself to quitting, you’ve got to keep quitting until you’re successful.

You may find it very helpful to enlist your friends and family for support. They’ll be glad that you’re making a decision to change your life in a positive way and will certainly help in any way possible. Most importantly, telling people that you’ve decided to quit JUULing is an important step toward cementing the decision and making it real in your mind. You’re announcing your decision because you know it’s the right thing to do. You won’t want to disappoint the people you love by changing your mind, and that will help you see things through.