Vapes smoke gums, lozenges for those struggling to quit

After trying for more than 25 years, Samantha Randazzo might finally have found the secret to quitting smoking for good.

An eight-week transition to nicotine vapes as part of a clinical trial has the 43-year-old from Adelaide off cigarettes, and even off vaping.

"It's like real smoking. I put the vape to my mouth and blew out and it felt very similar," Ms Randazzo, who started smoking at 16, told AAP.

"It was a step in the right direction away from the cigarettes."

The clinical trial she took part in, conducted by the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, showed vaping was successful at promoting quitting among those who found it hardest.

"Nicotine dependence can be higher amongst those from socially disadvantaged backgrounds," the study's lead researcher Ryan Courtney told AAP.

The trial recruited more than 1000 daily smokers receiving a form of government support and gave half an eight-week supply of nicotine vapes. The others received lozenges or gum.

More than 28 per cent of the group who vaped were still off cigarettes after six months, compared to just nine per cent of those on other therapies.

Associate Professor Courtney said the similarities between vaping and smoking were a big part of their success.

"(Vapes) have allowed for higher concentrations of nicotine to be delivered in a more smooth manner, and are more palatable," he said.

While Ms Randazzo found four months of vaping was enough to kick both habits, the study results around subsequent vaping addiction were not as emphatic.

"We do find 58 per cent of people (given vapes) were continued vapers, so we really need to work more to help vapers not just quit smoking, but also quit vaping," Assoc Prof Courtney said.

With prospective quitters needing a prescription to obtain vapes legally, calls for greater medical access are growing.

"There aren't ...enough doctors willing to prescribe nicotine vapes, and also not enough pharmacies that have taken up dispensing vapes," study co-author Nicholas Zwar said.

Professor Zwar, who oversees smoking cessation guidelines for the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, said nicotine pod devices were one of the safest and most effective ways to quit smoking through vaping.

"(Vapes) can be effective in a group with high prevalence of smoking and people who have not been getting access to existing forms of smoking cessation medicine," he said.