Nicotine is a nootropic, that is, a drug that has a positive effect on the performance of cognitive tasks involving attention and memory, and may even boost IQ.

Nicotine is a nootropic, that is, a drug that has a positive effect on the performance of cognitive tasks involving attention and memory, and may even boost IQ. Starting points for further research: "Nicotine as a cognitive enhancer." (1992): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1579636 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1579636 "Nicotine treatment of mild cognitive impairment" (2012): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3466669/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3466669/ "Cognitive Effects of Nicotine: Recent Progress." (2018): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29110618 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29110618 A study measuring higher effective IQ (1994): https://www.gwern.net/docs/nicotine/1994-stough.pdf https://www.gwern.net/docs/nicotine/1994-stough.pdf > We therefore hypothesised that nicotine is acting to improve intellectual performance on the elementary information processing correlates of IQ. [W]e tested this hypothesis using the Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM) test. APM scores were significantly higher in the smoking session compared to the non-smoking session, suggesting that nicotine acts to enhance physiological processes underlying performance on intellectual tasks. "Will a Nicotine Patch Make You Smarter?": https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/will-a-nicotine-patch-make-you-smarter-excerpt/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/will-a-nicotine-p... These may be reasons why people choose to use it. I've certainly spoken to people who believe they're more productive or effective on nicotine. I don't know what the current research is on whether these benefits are short-term only or can be sustained long-term. I'm not an expert on this - I'm just casually interested in nootroptics. I don't consume nicotine or tobacco. There is also debate about how addictive nicotine is by itself. While tobacco is extremely addictive, there is evidence that nicotine, alone, is habit-forming but only mildly addictive or perhaps even nonaddictive (but still habit-forming). Psychopharmacologist Paul Newhouse makes this point in the Scientific American article above. An essay by Gwern Branwen presenting an overview of data on nicotine addiction: https://www.gwern.net/Nicotine https://www.gwern.net/Nicotine > My take away is that there is addiction but it’s drastically overestimated by almost everyone and may been conflated with the habit-formation capability An in-depth review and critique of the evidence of nicotine addiction: "A critique of nicotine addiction" (2000): https://www.gwern.net/docs/nicotine/2002-frenkdar.pdf https://www.gwern.net/docs/nicotine/2002-frenkdar.pdf > We submit that an objective evaluation of these data leads to the conclusion that [nicotine] is not an addictive drug and that the popularized equation of the addictive properties of nicotine [...] has little to do with science.