We asked 500 vapers and smokers what makes quitting hard. Most didn't say nicotine.

Published 22 October 2026. 500 UK adults who vape or smoke, surveyed 15 April 2026. Method at the bottom, because journalists ask and so should you.

On 29 October the new vape law lands and for a fortnight the whole country is going to be talking about your vape. Who can sell it, who can buy it, what it costs, what colour the box is allowed to be. Everyone's got an opinion on the thing in your pocket.

Nobody's asked the hand holding it. So we did.

The headline

In April we put a one-minute survey in front of 500 UK adults who vape or smoke. 447 of them had tried to quit at some point. We asked what the hardest part was.

Only 36% said cravings.

Everyone else said it was the habit. The hand-to-mouth reflex (24%). Managing stress without it (21%). Social triggers (13%). That's 59% saying the hard bit was the behaviour, not the chemical. Another 5% said nothing worked, which is bleak, and we're leaving it in because that's rather the point.

Read it again. Nearly two thirds of people who've tried to stop didn't fail on the nicotine. They failed on the reach. Your hand has its own little commute. Pocket, mouth, pocket. It's done it so many thousand times it doesn't need you any more. Like a dog that knows where the treats live and has stopped bothering to look at you first.

When it gets you

We asked when cravings feel strongest.

1. During stressful moments, 32%. The email from your boss. The group chat going off. Your hand is already moving.
2. First thing in the morning, 21%. Before coffee, before thoughts. Just the reach.
3. Randomly, 19%. No reason. Tuesday. Your hand got bored.
4. In social settings, 17%. Three pints in, someone goes outside, your legs follow.
5. After meals (7%) and late at night (4%). The rest of the day, basically.

Not one of those is a nicotine schedule. They're the moments your life throws you a cue and your hand answers before you've been consulted. A patch is brilliant at the nicotine bit. A patch has no opinion about the pub.

You're not in denial. You're stuck.

We asked how often people think about cutting down or quitting, 0 to 10. 55% put themselves at 7 or higher. One in ten said 10.

So nobody needs convincing. You were convinced ages ago, probably at 2am with the thing in your hand, thinking "last one" with exactly the same conviction as the previous eleven last ones. The problem was never wanting to. The problem was what to do with the hand once the wanting runs out.

(We also asked whether people would consider a nicotine-free alternative built for cravings and the hand-to-mouth habit. 62% said definitely or probably. That question is basically a description of our product, so take it with a pinch of blue razz. We're including it because hiding it would be weirder.)

What would make you try something new

1. A clear explanation of how it works, 26%. Not a vibe. Not a TikTok. An actual explanation.
2. Real user stories, 22%. Someone like you who got out and is still around to tell you about it.
3. An NHS or expert endorsement, 18%. Fair.
4. A discount or lower risk, 17%.
5. Transparency about safety (10%) and a mate recommending it (7%).

Fewer people wanted a discount than wanted to understand what they'd be putting in their mouth. Vape marketing has not once considered this possibility.

A separate NOQA survey of 152 UK adults who smoke or vape, run last November and December, said the same thing louder. 55% described themselves as "want to quit but not ready". Asked which message would persuade them most, 72% picked real user stories. The science came second on 22%, which is painful for the science but there it is. Nobody wants a lecture. You want to see someone like you who got out.

So why is quitting vaping so hard, if it isn't the nicotine?

Because everything built to help you is built for the wrong fortnight.

The new law is a law about shops. Age limits, duty, packaging, flavours, where the vending machine isn't. Most of it is right and all of it is for the next person, not you. For the five and a half million adults in Great Britain who already vape, it changes the price and the till. Our data says the price and the till were never the problem. Cost came second on the list of frustrations (30%, behind health on 44%), and the new £2.20 per 10ml duty that started on 1 October is about to make it a bigger one. Fine. But not one person in 500 said the hardest part of quitting was that vapes were too cheap and too easy to buy.

They said stress. They said mornings. They said the pub. They said the hand.

Laws are good at shops. They're useless at hands. Every serious quitting tool in the country, patches, gum, the GP's leaflet, is built for the two weeks of withdrawal and then it packs up and goes home. The reach stays for months. That gap, after the chemistry has given up and before your hand has, is where most people cave. Nobody designs for it. We think that's the actual story this month, and we'd quite like someone who isn't us to say it.

Do vape cravings ever go away?

Yes, in two halves. The nicotine half is rough for a couple of weeks and then fades. The hand half hangs around for ages, because it was never about the chemical, it was about your hand having somewhere to go. Our data says the second half is the one people actually lose on, and the one nobody builds for.

Where we come in, briefly

We built NOQA One for the bit the survey keeps pointing at. Same reach, same draw, same pause. No nicotine, no battery, nothing heated. It's not a medicine and it does nothing about the nicotine. The NHS is brilliant at that bit and it's often free. We're the thing you reach for when the reach comes.

If you're a journalist and want the raw tables, email hello@noqa.co.uk and Sam will send them over, usually within the hour, because he's not well.

How we did this

Dry on purpose. This is the bit journalists check.

Survey 1 (the 500)

Who. 500 UK adults aged 18 or over who currently vape and/or smoke.

When. 15 April 2026. All 500 responses were completed that day.

How. Recruited and paid through Prolific, an online research panel. Online questionnaire, single choice questions. No responses were excluded. Not weighted and not claimed to be nationally representative.

Questions, with the exact wording and answer options.

1. "How often do you think about cutting down or quitting?" Scale of 0 to 10. 498 answered. 55% chose 7 or above (276 of 500).
2. "If you've ever tried quitting, what was the hardest part?" Cravings / Habit, hand-to-mouth action / Managing stress / Social triggers / Nothing worked / Haven't tried. Percentages are of the 447 who had tried (excludes 34 "haven't tried" and 19 blank).
3. "When do cravings feel strongest?" During stressful moments / In the morning / Randomly / In social settings / After meals / Late at night. 494 answered.
4. "What would make you most likely to try something new for quitting or cutting down?" A clear explanation of how it works / Real user stories / Endorsement from the NHS or an expert / Discount or lower risk / Transparency about safety / Recommendation from a friend. 490 answered.
5. "Would you consider trying a nicotine-free alternative designed to help with cravings and the hand-to-mouth habit?" Definitely / Probably / Maybe / Probably not / Definitely not. 496 answered.
6. "What's your biggest frustration with vaping or smoking?" Health concerns / Cost / Feeling dependent / Failed quit attempts / Social stigma / None. 448 answered.

Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number, so some lists won't sum to exactly 100.

Survey 2 (the 152)

Who. 152 UK adults aged 18 or over who smoke or vape (150 current, 2 who had quit in the last 24 months). England 88%, Scotland 6%, Wales 4%, Northern Ireland 3%. 44% were aged 40 or over.

When. 26 November to 18 December 2025.

How. Recruited and paid through Prolific. Online questionnaire. No responses excluded. Not weighted.

1. "Thinking about quitting?" Want to but not ready / Planning to quit / Not thinking about it / No need to quit / Already quit. 55% chose "want to but not ready" (83 of 152).
2. "Which message would be most persuasive for you?" Real user stories / Behavioural science based / Clean ritual replacement / Calming flavour support. 72% chose real user stories (110 of 152).

Both surveys were designed and paid for by ARO Labs, the company behind NOQA One. We sell a nicotine-free inhaler, so we have a view. The numbers are the numbers either way, and the raw tables are available on request.