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The occasional cigarette might bring pleasure to people. But typical cigarette smoking has the opposite effect. A tobacco addiction works by screwing with your

The occasional cigarette might bring pleasure to people. But typical cigarette smoking has the opposite effect. A tobacco addiction works by screwing with your brain's ability to perceive pleasure. The result is that most cigarette smokers do not get pleasure added to their lives by tobacco. It's just that they need to keep smoking just to keep getting themselves back up to feeling normal.

ColinCochrane 11y ago
Agreed. It's like wearing shoes that are too small so you can have the "pleasure" of taking them off.
- baddox 11y ago
  Or exercising strenuously so you can have the pleasure of being in better shape later.
  - tyrust 11y ago
    It's not like that at all. Smoking is effortless (unlike exercising) and leaves you far worse off (unlike exercising).
    - baddox 11y ago
      That has nothing to do with the analogy. The form of the analogy is "do something uncomfortable so that something desirable happens later."
baddox 11y ago
That's all true, and like I said, it's more than "cigarettes kill people."
snarfy 11y ago
It's a stimulant, very similar to caffeine. With the amount of caffeine addicts in the world I'm surprised at the hostility towards nicotine.
- chc 11y ago
  It's not chemical nicotine that people abhor. It's nicotine specifically in conjunction with a bunch of awful toxins that we collectively call "tobacco." Similarly, people are much more against caffeine in the form of sugary energy drinks than caffeine in the form of tea, because energy drinks are bad for you while tea is moderately good for you on the whole.
  - jordanthoms 11y ago
    Which raises the question of why so many of these people are vehemently opposed to e-cigarettes, which are essentially just a mechanism for delivering nicotine with some inert vapor.
    - danieltillett 11y ago
      Nicotine is directly harmful to your heart. One of the more interesting bits of trivia about nicotine and caffeine is it is the mode of delivery that makes nicotine so addictive. If you smoked caffeine it would be as addictive as nicotine. Given we now have vaping it should be possible to smoke caffeine - I haven’t looked, but I would not be surprised if someone out there is selling smokable caffeine.
      - atinoda-kestrel 11y ago
        > Nicotine is directly harmful to your heart. Yes, but it's worth noting that the increased risk of heart disease from smoking is due to more than just nicotine.
        danieltillett 11y ago
        Sure - the harm is is going to be greater when you add in all the other nasty compounds in tobacco smoke. It in not only smoke that is harmful as people who chew tobacco suffer an increase in mouth cancer. While vaping should have a lower risk than smoking, it is not risk free. Since it is so new we won’t know for sometime how dangerous it is.
donatj 11y ago
I smoke about once every month or two. Sometimes a cigarette, sometimes a cigar and sometimes in the winter a pipe. If it is as addictive as they claim, it has yet to show. I have no feeling of "needing" to smoke. I do it because it is a very enjoyable experience. I feel as though the addiction springs from the person and not the drug, just as some people are addicted to gambling or facebook or video games. Some people just get addicted to anything that once gave them a positive emotion.
- irishcoffee 11y ago
  Are you challenging the notion that cigarettes are addictive? I can't imagine this was your point. If you would like, I will provide evidence citing that cigarettes are, in fact, very addictive. Edit: well you edited your comment twice since my reply, so I'll be right back with some information for you. Overall synopsis: http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/cigarettes-other-tobacco-products http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/cigarettes-o... Mainstream overview: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/17/cigarettes-more-addictive-study_n_4618612.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/17/cigarettes-more-add... > Nicotine is a drug found naturally in tobacco, which is as addictive as heroin or cocaine: http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/questionsaboutsmokingtobaccoandhealth/questions-about-smoking-tobacco-and-health-is-tobacco-addictive http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/ques... Onset of addiction: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117976 http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117976 Finally, understanding addiction of nicotine: https://tobacco.ucsf.edu/content/featured-study-understanding-nicotine-addiction https://tobacco.ucsf.edu/content/featured-study-understandin...
  - nicotine_temp 11y ago
    I vaped unflavored nicotine for about 2 years. Intermittent at first, heavy daily use during the second year, equivalent to a pack of cigarettes per day or more. I quit because enjoyment decreased to the point where it was no longer worth the hassle. I experienced zero addiction for the first three months, and even after the full two years addiction was mild. I reduced my dose gradually over two weeks. There were no physical withdrawal symptoms, and only minor craving which went away after a few months abstinence. I'm no expert on heroin addiction, but I find it hard to believe it's equal to nicotine. Perhaps whole tobacco would be different.
applecore 11y ago
This statement makes no sense. Besides the fact that literally everything works by manipulating your brain, no one has ever measured a quantum of pleasure, so it can't be “added” to your brain like a unit of flour.
- rtpg 11y ago
  Actually, his explanation is basically how addiction ends up working on the brain. Smoking becomes the new normal, so not smoking makes you go to an extremely bad mood. This is where the whole "cold turkey" thing comes from and why quitting is so difficult for so many people

ColinCochrane 11y ago

Agreed. It's like wearing shoes that are too small so you can have the "pleasure" of taking them off.

baddox 11y ago
Or exercising strenuously so you can have the pleasure of being in better shape later.
- tyrust 11y ago
  It's not like that at all. Smoking is effortless (unlike exercising) and leaves you far worse off (unlike exercising).
  - baddox 11y ago
    That has nothing to do with the analogy. The form of the analogy is "do something uncomfortable so that something desirable happens later."

baddox 11y ago

That's all true, and like I said, it's more than "cigarettes kill people."

snarfy 11y ago

It's a stimulant, very similar to caffeine. With the amount of caffeine addicts in the world I'm surprised at the hostility towards nicotine.

chc 11y ago
It's not chemical nicotine that people abhor. It's nicotine specifically in conjunction with a bunch of awful toxins that we collectively call "tobacco." Similarly, people are much more against caffeine in the form of sugary energy drinks than caffeine in the form of tea, because energy drinks are bad for you while tea is moderately good for you on the whole.
- jordanthoms 11y ago
  Which raises the question of why so many of these people are vehemently opposed to e-cigarettes, which are essentially just a mechanism for delivering nicotine with some inert vapor.
  - danieltillett 11y ago
    Nicotine is directly harmful to your heart. One of the more interesting bits of trivia about nicotine and caffeine is it is the mode of delivery that makes nicotine so addictive. If you smoked caffeine it would be as addictive as nicotine. Given we now have vaping it should be possible to smoke caffeine - I haven’t looked, but I would not be surprised if someone out there is selling smokable caffeine.
    - atinoda-kestrel 11y ago
      > Nicotine is directly harmful to your heart. Yes, but it's worth noting that the increased risk of heart disease from smoking is due to more than just nicotine.
      - danieltillett 11y ago
        Sure - the harm is is going to be greater when you add in all the other nasty compounds in tobacco smoke. It in not only smoke that is harmful as people who chew tobacco suffer an increase in mouth cancer. While vaping should have a lower risk than smoking, it is not risk free. Since it is so new we won’t know for sometime how dangerous it is.

donatj 11y ago

I smoke about once every month or two. Sometimes a cigarette, sometimes a cigar and sometimes in the winter a pipe. If it is as addictive as they claim, it has yet to show. I have no feeling of "needing" to smoke. I do it because it is a very enjoyable experience. I feel as though the addiction springs from the person and not the drug, just as some people are addicted to gambling or facebook or video games. Some people just get addicted to anything that once gave them a positive emotion.

irishcoffee 11y ago
Are you challenging the notion that cigarettes are addictive? I can't imagine this was your point. If you would like, I will provide evidence citing that cigarettes are, in fact, very addictive. Edit: well you edited your comment twice since my reply, so I'll be right back with some information for you. Overall synopsis: http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/cigarettes-other-tobacco-products http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/cigarettes-o... Mainstream overview: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/17/cigarettes-more-addictive-study_n_4618612.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/17/cigarettes-more-add... > Nicotine is a drug found naturally in tobacco, which is as addictive as heroin or cocaine: http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/questionsaboutsmokingtobaccoandhealth/questions-about-smoking-tobacco-and-health-is-tobacco-addictive http://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancercauses/tobaccocancer/ques... Onset of addiction: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117976 http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=117976 Finally, understanding addiction of nicotine: https://tobacco.ucsf.edu/content/featured-study-understanding-nicotine-addiction https://tobacco.ucsf.edu/content/featured-study-understandin...
- nicotine_temp 11y ago
  I vaped unflavored nicotine for about 2 years. Intermittent at first, heavy daily use during the second year, equivalent to a pack of cigarettes per day or more. I quit because enjoyment decreased to the point where it was no longer worth the hassle. I experienced zero addiction for the first three months, and even after the full two years addiction was mild. I reduced my dose gradually over two weeks. There were no physical withdrawal symptoms, and only minor craving which went away after a few months abstinence. I'm no expert on heroin addiction, but I find it hard to believe it's equal to nicotine. Perhaps whole tobacco would be different.

applecore 11y ago

This statement makes no sense. Besides the fact that literally everything works by manipulating your brain, no one has ever measured a quantum of pleasure, so it can't be “added” to your brain like a unit of flour.

rtpg 11y ago
Actually, his explanation is basically how addiction ends up working on the brain. Smoking becomes the new normal, so not smoking makes you go to an extremely bad mood. This is where the whole "cold turkey" thing comes from and why quitting is so difficult for so many people