It is of considerable scientific and clinical importance to assess tobacco withdrawal
accurately since withdrawal severity is highly determinant of smoking cessation success. In
addition, smoking cessation pharmacotherapy produces its effects on smoking abstinence by
suppressing such symptoms. However, in order to ensure that a measure of tobacco withdrawal
is sensitive to severe withdrawal, it is essential to examine a period of unmedicated
abstinence. The current study aims to validate, and possibly enhance, a revised Wisconsin
Smoking Withdrawal Scale long and brief version for use in research and clinical settings.
Two hundred adults who smoke cigarettes daily and report a desire to quit smoking will be
enrolled. This is a treatment-delay, one-group clinical trial that is intended to enhance the
assessment of tobacco withdrawal amongst participants who try to quit smoking with delayed
use of cessation medication. Participants will not receive any pharmacotherapy during the
first 1 week of their quit attempt and will initiate 8 weeks of combination nicotine
replacement therapy (C-NRT; nicotine patch + nicotine mini-lozenge) starting 1 week past the
target quit day (TQD). Participants will receive 4 counseling sessions as well (1 pre-quit, 3
post-quit). Participants will complete 4 weeks of ecological momentary assessment (EMA)
smartphone surveys including a 2-week baseline (starting TQD-14) and 2-week post-TQD (1-week
un-medicated, 1-week using C-NRT).