2026 is as good a year as any to quit smoking, vaping, dipping, or partaking of tobacco/nicotine products, however you've seen fit. There are dozens of reasons to quit, but I'm not your mom, I'm definitely not your doctor, and I'm definitely not judging you, whether you're here for potential advice, out of morbid curiosity with no intention of quitting, or actively smoking a cigarette right now. As someone who has been slumping for the better part of 15 years, I completely understand not quitting. But I recently decided to quit for my own reasons.
I'm not a doctor. This is not medical advice. I'm sharing a personal anecdote, and if you find any value in it, I hope it helps. If it doesn't, oops.
I expected the first 2-3 days to be the worst, but around the week was the hardest day for me. I quit cold turkey, and knew when I bought my last roll of Copenhagen that would be it. I am still actively in nicotine withdrawal at the time of this writing, however with the publication of this article delayed due to headaches. They haven't been too bad, except for that one, with most headaches being 2-3/10 on a pain scale and only lasting a few minutes. The usual feeling of missing something in the mouth is annoying as can be, but the absolute worst was a degree of disassociation that I could never have predicted. Everything felt wrong or off, and it felt like I was to the left of myself for a few days. I wasn't aware that such a thing was possible, and I've been more annoyed (and I'm already an annoyed person). Safe to say, like the cool kids would anyway, I'm going through with it.
Every free-to-play game released on the Epic Games Store (April 2026)
Here is a list of all the games that have been made free on the Epic Games Store. You have until April 9th to get the current free games.
So, cold turkey, no patches, nothing – I did as I always do. I played (and still play) video games with the intention of ignoring the lingering withdrawal symptoms. They should fade over the next few days or weeks, I hope anyway, but I can speak to my personal experience of using video games to manage these physical symptoms. First things first, though, it's worth noting that video games alone don't help with everything. For example, my need to have something in my mouth was always treated with sunflower seeds, peppermints or chewing gum. I can't actually chew on a video game.
Go for the gate, not the vibe
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Cozy games may not be the answer
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Avoid video games with a lot of “downtime”
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Grind
I bought a Nintendo Switch 2 and Pokopia a few weeks ago, and I'm still actively trying to dress up my biomes, finish my Pokedex, and so on. Or at least I thought. The problem with Pokopia is how passive many things are, and the amount of downtime (or just preparing for downtime) doesn't match my patience at the moment. Time travel helped a little, but it's not something I really wanted to do much of. I'll get back to that, but I found that any downtime or the feeling of coming down made the withdrawal symptoms worse. The same can be said about games like Life is strange.
I played Life is Strange: Reunion on release, the night before I quit, and decided to play through all of them Life is strange game after that. Oh, the problem is that exploration and heavy cutscenes give that room for withdrawal to creep in. I'm finishing this marathon at a more uneven pace than I expected, but I don't think cozy or slower games are really the best for withdrawals.
What has helped me the most is grinding of some kind. I have played Pokemon Heart Gold on my 3DS, and the decision-driven turn-based combat does a lot to keep me elsewhere. What really helped was grinding away for a Larvitar in the Safari Zone. I don't know whose decision it was to make it so difficult, but thanks. I spent almost five hours just repeating encounters and trying to catch one, and those five hours offered all the escape I needed.
Pick up the pace!
It probably goes hand in hand with finding a suitable gate, but I've found that a quick multiplayer game goes a long way. That helps Apex Legends has seen so many changes over the years because, while it feels familiar, it also feels drastically different. My friends and I decided to play it again after a few years away, and it's probably been my biggest help. So far, the worst general time for symptoms is mid to late afternoon, and it's usually associated with video games anyway. So channeling it right has helped a lot.
Fit the 9 games into the grid.
Start
Fit the 9 games into the grid.
I find the social aspect of multiplayer games helps alleviate the symptoms a lot, at least since my friends themselves are basically a big distraction. I haven't tried co-op games to see if they would help, but logically they fill a similar niche. But what does Apex Legends so good here are the dopamine hits that come from bumps/kills/wins. Nicotine withdrawal has taught me how much my decade+ of dipping has affected me chemically, but these moments are great little boosts that I know I used to rely on nicotine for.
Nicotine withdrawal is platform agnostic
Since I stopped dipping, I've played games on my PC, on my Nintendo 3DS, on my Nintendo Switch 2, on my Xbox Series X, and on my PlayStation 5. I'd say my symptoms were more or less consistent no matter what platform I'm on. My PS5 and Series X have me in the same place, so it makes sense. Maybe the real Console Wars were just in our heads all along. Playing my Nintendo consoles (always handheld) anywhere didn't seem to have much of an impact. And the only place/time I would say the symptoms were worse than on other platforms is PC because I kept my scroll on my desk (always within reach). So it feels less like a platform issue and more like a regular area issue.
The worst symptoms seem to be gone now, with only lingering headaches and the occasional stretch of my phantom limb/log. And while coping with nicotine withdrawal through video games is not something I intend to repeat in the future, I found it super interesting to see what I gelled with and what didn't.
