The taste, be it citrus, lime, berry, coffee etc (I chose coffee) only lasts about an hour which is when i threw it away. The effects slowly downgrade for a few hours with no noticeable crash. So far as the question, it’s a good thing. I gather that some take the nic doses expecting to relieve themselves of the need for cigarettes whilst maintaining clarity of mind and that’s all. The effects of straight nicotine are much more than that because you can indeed feel the effects all through the whole body and not just in your head. Heck, even my hands and fingers feel good for a change.
Just be aware that nicotine is probably addictive, so you may be hooking yourself on a drug. Your choice, of course, but be aware. If each cigarette releases 1-2 mg of nicotine into the bloodstream of a smoker, that would put 20 mg into the body of a pack-a-day smoker. Tobacco companies have been trying for decades to make that nicotine more available as they believe that nicotine is the addictive agent in cigarettes and such.
Yup. I do agree that just about anything that involves the secretion of serotonin, dopamine and the like can easily become habit forming which is why I’m still a little cautious. I’m reviewing the results of yesterday’s experiment to see how or if the nicotine fits in with my already extensive supplement regimen rather than jumping to a conclusion that somehow under my very bulbous nose a panacea of sorts was evading me until yesterday. To explain a little, my habit with cigarettes isn’t necessarily about the intake of nicotine via smoking but more into the mechanics of smoking. I could go through a whole pack and the only actual smoking I do sometimes is when I light the things and the rest turns up as ash in the tray. So, the subject and use of nicotine sans the mechanics is a new thing with me and although I did get a feeling of renewed energy and well being, I need to take a step back and do a tad more studying on the subject.
There were stories of "alternate delivery system" nicotine addiction in that forum thread I linked to. Yup. That's the double-damnation of cigarettes, because there are so many daily Life Triggers to firing one up. And before all of the bans, you could smoke anytime, anywhere. I ran into a bit of an issue with the Nicorette gum, but it's hard to tell whether I had formed a drug habit or a gum habit.
I was never a cigarette smoker, but I smoked cigars and pipes for many years. I occasionally have a cigar to celebrate a grandchild or something, and my son asked me to smoke a pipe with him a few months ago, but I quit 25+ years ago and never went back to frequent smoking. I just stopped cold turkey and I never had a problem. On cold, rainy days I sometimes think a pipe would be nice, but I don't really miss it at all. I am addicted to coffee, but the caffeine in decaf is enough caffeine to stave off headaches, the only side effect of being coffee-less. I just wanted to remind folks that nicotine can be addictive in one sense, but quitting cold-turkey won't harm you if you get hooked.
It appears there are different answers on how addictive nicotine is. I am adding a link to a page that has links to government testing and reports from the tobacco companies regarding cigarettes, nicotine, pyrazines, and how it all played into the final effect on a person. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1I9te2Fi4vaZsg8YpRUtoT3GGmPYN-3Sm/view Basically, what I have read so far (I have not followed all the links yet) is that nicotine in water given to test subjects (animals) did not create addiction . The cigarette companies found substances called Pyrazines that enhance the effects of the nicotine, so it causes more addiction when smoking a cigarette, as compared to smoking something like pipe tobacco. I looked at the labels on Bobby’s stop smoking gum and wafers, and they do not say that these products are addictive, and all they contain is the nicotine, not the added chemicals found in cigarettes, which is probably why they do not completely stop cigarette cravings when used for that purpose. Thinking about the possibility that @Don Alaska has pointed out, that using any nicotine product can cause addiction, I was also thinking that we have a lot of other common substances and foods that are addicting. Sugar is one of the most addictive foods, and hits the heroin receptor in our body, especially the HFCS kind of sugar. Alcohol is also addictive, but many people drink alcohol products and do not become addicts. Milk has heroin-like addictive components because it is designed to make the infant want to nurse, and it also helps the mother and child bond as they both receive some of the heroin-type benefits when the baby nurses. So, all dairy is addictive, and concentrated ones like cheese have more of the addictive properties. This is partly why we love and crave pizza. Caffeine is also addictive, and people all over the world drink coffee and tea, chocolate, and soda with caffeine added to it. So, most people are able to use these foods or products and do okay. Even if I found that small doses of nicotine were somewhat addictive, like my morning coffee, it is not the same as if i were taking an addictive drug like cocaine, or the other drugs that addicts take that ruin their lives. Even the pain medication that many people take on a regular basis is addictive, but it helps them to live their lives with less pain. I am about to turn 80 in another few months, so who knows how long I might live; therefore, being reliant on a product that helps my memory and energy level with no bad side effects , does not seem like it would be a problem for me. My main concern, which I need to research more, is how it affects my heart. Thus far, I have not had any bad effects from the gum , which is a very low dose of nicotine. I am still looking into the whole thing and experimenting with small doses. My patches are supposed to arrive today, and the direction are to cut those into sections, so you only get a small daily dose of nicotine, which is beneficial, and not enough to be harmful.
I have two types of addiction in mind @Yvonne Smith. One type is mainly psychological and the other is physical. Psychological addictions are those that do no physical harm if the substance is removed, such as caffeine, nicotine, sugar, etc. The physical type is mainly opioid, principally heroin. I have known people to die from going without heroin cold turkey, but not from nicotine, or caffeine. Alcohol deprivation can cause DTs but I have not known of anyone dying from lack of alcohol. A judge in Maine a few years ago ruled that cocaine was not an addictive substance since its effects are psychological addiction, not physical. So it goes.... A Chinese study showed cannabis to be addictive for some people but not others, and that may be the case with many other substances as well.
Funny how this topic suddenly appears in lots of places. I got an email that led me to a 2017 article stating that smoking does not cause lung cancer, and that there are actually benefits to smoking. The article includes--but is not limited to--discussions of the benefits of nicotine. It quite the long article which I've not fully digested, and I kind of hate to share is because of the controversial assertion. The author asserts that none of the "studies" show a correlation between smoking and lung cancer, and that the "studies" were conducted trying to prove a point rather than trying to arrive at an impartial conclusion. It kind of hits close to home for me, since I lost 3 close male relatives to lung cancer all at very young ages...and they all smoked. I'm curious as to what others think. This could almost go in the Conspiracies forum, and maybe it will end up getting put there. Or I can move it if it drags this off topic. A Comprehensive Review of the Many Health Benefits of Smoking Tobacco One of the datasets the author used to make his point is that the countries with the highest cigarette consumption per capita at NOT among the countries with the highest rates of lung cancer: World Cancer Research Fund International Lung Cancer Statistics This will give you an idea of where the author's head is at:
I am amazed that there are not more European nations on that smokers list. Cigarettes are definitely linked to cancer of several kinds, most notably of course is lung cancer. It is also linked strongly to COPD and other lung diseases. There were studies a few years ago that found that ingesting a simple supplement beta cryptoxanthin (BCX). Studies conducted showed reductions between 60% and 80% in the incidence of lung cancer in individuals who consumed large amounts of this chemical, which is found naturally in citrus fruits and some vegetables. Of course, most of those studies have now been scrubbed form the internet, you can still find studies done in other countries that demonstrate this. These chemicals don't reduce COPD, heart disease and other consequences of smoking, and many of the articles still list nicotine as the causative agent for cancer when it has been clearly demonstrated that it is not carcinogenic. If you find an article that lists nicotine as a carcinogen, immediately question the conclusions of that study. The study cited below is on cannabis, which, as far as I know, has no nicotine but is more carcinogenic than tobacco even with all the chemicals added to cigarettes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2516340/