Generation Quit: Inside the Growing Movement of Gen Z Vapers Breaking Free From Nicotine

For years, vaping was the accessory of a generation — sleek, discreet, fruit-flavored and everywhere. It showed up in bathroom stalls, dorm rooms, office desks and Instagram grids. It was passed between friends, pulled out during study breaks, and quietly relied on during anxious moments.

Now, a noticeable shift is happening: Gen Z is trying to quit. And many are realizing just how hard that actually is.

“Gen Z didn’t just pick up nicotine — they inherited a culture where it’s normalized, aestheticized, and everywhere,” says Caroline Vasquez Huber, co-founder of Jones, which offers nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products and a behavioral support app. “Vapes are props in photos, nicotine pouches are handed out at offices, and social media continues to glamorize celebrity nicotine use.”

For Huber, that normalization was personal. “When I was vaping, it felt like everyone was using nicotine. It wasn’t something I felt ashamed of; it was so ubiquitous, which helped normalize the prominent role it took on in my life. From stress relief to social bonding, and even productivity in the workplace. I became totally reliant on my Juul (sadly).”

The dependency often runs deeper than users realize. “With vapes, nicotine levels can be extremely high and difficult to quantify,” she explains. “When I did the math on my own usage, I realized I was consuming the nicotine equivalent of roughly 40 cigarettes a day. That explained why quitting felt so intense — my brain had adapted to very high nicotine levels.”

Jones co-founder Hilary Dubin says context matters. “Unlike Millennials, who grew up amid intense public advocacy and anti-smoking campaigns that drove teen smoking rates to historic lows, Gen Z grew up with omnipresent vaping.” From 2017 to 2022, she notes, teen vaping rates “skyrocketed as high as 30%,” meaning nicotine use was widely normalized during adolescence.

“When you start using nicotine at [a] younger age, your body’s systems and baselines get used to consistent nicotine intake and it can be more challenging to quit, with more intense withdrawal symptoms,” Dubin says.

And the habit is rarely just physical. “Nicotine addiction is both physiological and psychological,” Huber explains. “Your body becomes dependent on nicotine, but your brain also wires it into routines — morning coffee, work stress, nights out, etc.”

Psychotherapist Jonathan Alpert, author of “Therapy Nation,” sees that wiring play out in his office.

“I see a lot of Gen Z patients who genuinely want to quit nicotine but are surprised by how hard it is,” he says. “Many don’t even think of themselves as smokers because they vape, yet these devices deliver nicotine constantly, which creates strong dependence.”

For many, vaping doubles as emotional regulation. “For many young adults, it’s a coping tool. They use it to manage anxiety, boredom, or social stress, so quitting can feel like losing something that helps them get through the day,” Alpert says.

“Social triggers are everywhere too. Vaping is normalized, easy to hide, and often tied to friendships or routines, which makes relapse common,” he says. “I also hear real concerns about weight gain or mood changes, and those fears can quietly sabotage quit attempts.”

Dr. Neeta Ogden, a board-certified internal medicine and asthma physician, underscores how powerful the addiction can be.

“It’s frightening how addictive nicotine is,” she says. “Nicotine addiction can begin after just the first inhalation of a vape because these devices contain such high concentrations of nicotine.” Many pods, she explains, can equal an entire pack of cigarettes. Meanwhile, “vapes and E-cigarettes come in minty and fruity flavors making them accessible and fun to younger people while those tastes are used to mask the intensity of such high concentrations of nicotine salts.”

Besides addiction, Ogden points out that vaping has health consequences including “worsening asthma, impaired performance in sports, coughing/wheezing.”

“In a day and age when asthma/allergy/pollution and virus-related respiratory issues are more prevalent, this is a concern that could be better understood and communicated to parents and children rather than rampant normalization on social media,” she says. “We have seen a massive shift in the awareness of social media harm on young people, the same should be happening with nicotine.”

Social pressure makes it even harder for young people to quit. Dubin notes that for many Gen Zers, nicotine is “deeply social.” That’s why Jones built a digital community to serve as an alternative to the “smoker’s circle,” offering connection without the habit.

So what actually works?

“One of the biggest myths is that quitting is just about willpower,” Alpert says. “In reality, people do better when they treat it as a behavioral change, not a personal failure.”

Research supports both nicotine replacement therapy and structured behavioral support.

“Decades of research show that nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) significantly increases quit rates — by 50–60% compared to quitting without it,” Huber says. “And when you pair NRT with behavioral support, quit rates improve even further.”

“Using nicotine to quit nicotine sounds counterintuitive,” she says, “but the key difference is delivery speed and dose control.” Slow-release NRT, like the lozenges offered by Jones, allows the brain to “gradually shed nicotinic receptors and recalibrate,” rather than reinforcing the spike-and-crash cycle of vaping.

Still, both founders advise compassion over perfection.

“First: if quitting feels hard, that doesn’t mean you’re weak. It means nicotine is highly addictive,” Huber says. “Slip-ups are part of the process, not proof that you can’t quit. The people who ultimately succeed are the ones who stay consistent, not the ones who are perfect.”

Dubin echoes that mindset shift. “Don’t make it a moral issue. Nicotine addiction isn’t a character flaw, it’s a learned dependency reinforced by your brain chemistry.”

For many young quitters, the reward isn’t just physical health — it’s autonomy. “Quitting nicotine isn’t about becoming a different person,” Dubin says. “It’s about regaining control of your choices and no longer letting your dependency quietly control your life. With the right support for both the physiological and behavioral sides, it’s absolutely achievable.”