Effects of smokeless tobacco-related sensory and behavioral cues on urge, affect, and stress

The hypothesis that smokeless tobacco-related sensory and behavioral cues can act as conditioned stimuli was tested in a counterbalanced double-blind experimental design. The nicotine content of snuff smokeless tobacco (ST) was manipulated for 24 male ST users by mixing ST with an ST substitute. Affect was manipulated through imagery scripts, stress was induced by a mental arithmetic task, and physiological measures and self-reported affect, stress, and urge for ST were collected. Urge for ST was consistently reduced regardless of the nicotine content in the ST conditions. Urge was increased by the stress manipulation and by negative affect when compared with positive affect. Urge for ST was positively correlated with stress and negative affect but was not correlated with positive affect. Physiological arousal was not related to urge. Results generally parallel studies of smoking and suggest that ST substitute products may aid ST cessation.