It's not though. It's a mild stimulant, with similar benefits to caffeine. (Not health benefits per se; it helps some people focus). > Wikipedia summarizes Gui

It's not though. It's a mild stimulant, with similar benefits to caffeine. (Not health benefits per se; it helps some people focus). > Wikipedia summarizes Guillem et al 2005 as "Technically, nicotine is not significantly addictive, as nicotine administered alone does not produce significant reinforcing properties" - the addictiveness coming from MAOIs (eg. Khalil et al 2000, Khalil et al 2006) & possibly other compounds present in tobacco; while there don’t seem to many human studies aside from the Amsterdam et al 2006 review on the observed inhibition in smokers (consistent with the MAOIs playing a role in addiction), there are a number of significant animal studies: https://www.gwern.net/Nicotine https://www.gwern.net/Nicotine Not to say it's not addictive at all, I'm mildly addicted to nicotine gum, to about the same extent I'm addicted to caffeine (if it's available I'll certainly take it, but if I run out, I'm not rushing to the store to buy more).