Nearly four years ago, Trevor Poole told his partner he was certain he could quit smoking after 25 years if there were only a product that would just wean him off cigarettes gradually.

His partner, Hazel Harrison, set out to develop such a device and thus SNM Global Technologies Inc. was born.

SNM Global is a St. John’s-based company developing a little device that ensures smokers have a set number of cigarettes each day – and it gradually reduces the number.

“This quit-smoking device lets you smoke real cigarettes while you are quitting,” said Hazel Harrison in a recent interview. “It gradually reduces the amount you smoke and it’s so gradual that you don’t notice it.”

SNM – which stands for Smoke No More – is obviously tackling a huge problem. The World Health Organization estimates there are more than 1 billion smokers in the world, and about 70 percent of them are trying to quit. The U.S. alone spends about $300 billion on the treatment of smoking related diseases, and it’s estimated the North American market for quit-smoking products in 2016 will be worth about $5 billion.  What’s more, 87 percent of smokers take up the habit again within three months of trying to quit.

“As our device is reusable, it solves the problem of relapsing,” said Harrison.

Harrison, the company’s CEO, said her patent-pending device is about the size of a pack of cigarettes, and the smoker can dispense a number of smokes throughout each day according to the proprietary algorithm. Throughout the day, it will dispense the cigarettes. Each time it does so, a photo of a loved one will pop up on the user’s smart phone as a reminder of why he or she is trying to quit smoking.

A former smoker and Carleton University psychology graduate, Harrison said that the idea is to help the smoker withdraw from nicotine without even realizing it’s happening. She added that only about 9 percent of smokers who try to quit cold turkey succeed in their goal.

“The device locks your supply of cigarettes, controls the amount you smoke, and gradually weans you off cigarettes,” she said.

The company has researched the market by interviewing more than 300 smokers. Overall, smokers like the plan for the device, though a few asked what would prevent them from carrying around a second pack and cheating.

“You can carry around another pack of cigarettes no matter which other quit-smoking product you are using to help you quit,” said Harrison. “You need to be mentally and emotionally ready to become a non-smoker, in order for any quit smoking product to work effectively.”

Now, nearly four years old, the company has developed a single prototype, and is now working on a second. It is in talks with a major American retailer interested in carrying the product.

SNM Global is now looking for about $200,000 in equity funding, which it hopes to leverage into a total funding round of about $800,000.

With the funding, said Harrison, the company could have a product within a year. It would then be carrying out its mission to help people stop smoking, to reduce healthcare budgets and to save lives.

Disclaimer: Entrevestor receives financial support from government agencies that support startup companies in Atlantic Canada. The sponsoring agencies play no role in determining which companies and individuals are featured in this column, nor do they review columns before they are published.