Methods: A cohort of 1.800 current cigarette smokers will be enrolled by public invitation. Eligible subjects must be current cigarette smokers (no limitation as to pack years), who are well motivated to refrain from smoking, and who give a written consent to participate. The subjects will be randomly allocated to two groups (n=900 in each), receiving either Acetium lozenges or placebo, in a double-blind setting, where both the examiners and the test subjects are blinded to the test substance. All subjects must consent for not using any other measures of smoking cessation intervention. All subjects are requested to fill in a structured questionnaire recoding their detailed smoking history and assessing their nicotine dependence by FTND (Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence) and breath CO-monitoring. The subjects will be administered a smoking diary, to be filled on daily basis, recording the daily numbers of cigarettes, test lozenges and subjective sensations of smoking. These diaries are returned to study monitors on three-monthly FU visits, when also subjected to new FTND and CO-monitoring.