Smokers have been offered a low-nicotine cigarette to suck on, by the researchers of Auckland University.

The reason behind offering low-nicotine cigarettes is to separate smoking from the main addictive chemical in tobacco smoke which may help in breaking the psychological addiction and increase the chances of quitting.

The researchers from the University have tested the low-nicotine cigarettes on 1400 heavily dependent smokers recruited through the Quitline .The participants in the trail were given eight weeks nicotine replacement therapy and through quit line they all are asked to quit smoking after their quit date.

Initials trials of the cigarette have indicated that it may help to quit the habit of smoking but it’s found to have few limitations such as having only a few participants to produce reliable results.

On an average cigarette contains around 13mg of nicotine but the cigarettes used for the trials had 1.5mg of nicotine and low tar content.

The six months trail is almost complete and researchers expect to reveal their findings at a European Conference in September.