So HOW addictive is nicotine/smoking??

[TomCatt]

The ANTZ often say things like:

"Smoking is more addictive than ...... or alcohol or .......," McIntosh says. "About 5% of people are able to quit on their own. But if people trying to quit check in with their doctors or counselors, the success rates are as high as 45%." [link]

So while thinking of this, I Googled "addiction intensity" and Google auto-filled with "addiction intensity scale" . There's an addiction scale?!? Hmmm ...

Addiction Intensity Scale

Filling in this form with vaping/smoking considerations; I came up with a score of "6", which has an addiction intensity of "NONE".

 

[subversive]

The scale revolves around illicit drug use and intoxication. Smokers ( or nicotine users ) generally don't go to jail, lose the ability to hold a job, or suffer catastrophic consequences beyond emphysema/cancer, which generally take decades of smoking to develop. I don't think you can really honestly apply that scale to tobacco products. Some would define addiction only as something that includes those types of consequences; others would argue that the physical addiction ( i.e. frequency of usage and activation of reward pathways/chemical changes in the brain ) is enough to term it addictive and that harm isn't a necessary part of the definition.

 

[TomCatt]

Exactly! Yet when nicotine addiction is brought up, it is often compared (and often unfavorably compared) to illicit drug addiction.

 

[p-doze]

that doctor is dressed like a priest!

 

[TomCatt]

that doctor is dressed like a priest!

Father Jack is a priest, and a professor.

 

[speedjason86]

from my experience, nicotine is not that addictive but you do enjoy it when you get it.
I think it boils down to what age you started using nicotine.

 

[DC2]

The short answer is that nobody really knows for sure, but it is likely far less addictive for the general populace than the world thinks.
The long answer is that there are many factors involved, and most of those factors have not historically been taken into account.

There are much longer answers, but I'll just start there for now.

 

[anavidfan]

How addictive, like someone stated a lot depends on when, how long you've been smoking. Im sure you've all seen the commercials of people how have the hole in their throat who still have to smoke because of how they are addictive they are. Then there are those that use oxygen tanks and even with the possibility of blowing up, they still smoke.

 

[DC2]

I think we need to pay attention to the distinction between smoking addiction and nicotine addiction...

Nicotine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Technically, nicotine is not significantly addictive, as nicotine administered alone does not produce significant reinforcing properties. However, after coadministration with an MAOI, such as those found in tobacco, nicotine produces significant behavioral sensitization, a measure of addiction potential.

Tobacco smoke contains the monoamine oxidase inhibitors harman, norharman, anabasine, anatabine, and nornicotine. These compounds significantly decrease MAO activity in smokers. MAO enzymes break down monoaminergic neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. It is thought that the powerful interaction between the MAOI's and the nicotine is responsible for most of the addictive properties of tobacco smoking.

 

[anavidfan]

from my experience, nicotine is not that addictive but you do enjoy it when you get it.
I think it boils down to what age you started using nicotine.

Hey speedjason86, I dont totally agree with part your post,(part about not being that addictive) It was very enjoyable, but I just wanted to say, I love your Camera in your avatar, which one is it, I have a D60 my son gave me and he has the mark 5. Canons are amazing. My dad is a Nikon man and we .... heads.

 

[JudeD]

I don't know about anyone else, but since I started vaping, I never have nic fits where I'm dying for a vape and just have to have one right away the way I did with my chemical-filled cigs. I don't think I was as addicted to the nic as I was to the other chemicals and the hand to mouth action. I usually use 12 mg, but if I grab a flavor that I ordered in 6 or even zero, it doesn't bother me as long as I can still inhale, exhale and enjoy the flavor. I don't need to vape the minute I wake up or immediately after a meal like I had to smoke. For me, a lot of it is psychological. When I used to get on a plane, I would be fidgety and stressed because I would worry that the plane would get stuck on the runway for eight hours and I wouldn't be able to smoke (can't exactly stealth a cig). But now, because I know that if I had to I could stealth vape, I'm not stressed anymore and I can live without vaping during the plane ride. So it doesn't seem like it was the nic I was desperate for or I'd still be desperate.

 

[MarleysChains]

Just based on my personal experience, I think smoking cigs makes nicotine significantly more addictive than it actually is due to all of the chemicals that were also in the smoke that I was inhaling. When I finally made the full switch to vaping, I had looking back on it now what would be considered withdrawal symptoms. I didn't recognize it at the time, but not only was I irritable at times, but I would also start sweating and felt really just awful overall. Vaping definitely took the edge off, and ultimately is what has kept me off smoking. So, why would I be getting withdrawals when I was getting nicotine? My only thought is that it was due to the other chemicals that I was also addicted to. I also believe this because, since I got past that initial phase the cravings for nic when I've gone a while without vaping, they are nowhere near the ones I had when I was smoking. I've actually recently stepped down my nic level and it has been much easier than it was when I first made the switch.

 

[hvac999]

I agree , all the OTHER chemical compounds in cigarettes are the most addicting. I smoked for 35 years and when I stopped smoking I had VERY bad flu like symptoms and was extremely fidgety even though I was vaping. Vaping AND ECF probably saved my life.

 

[subversive]

I had no trouble switching from smoking to vaping. I never felt anything was missing except convenience. I vape as soon as I wake up and immediately after meals, and I don't go extended periods of time without it. I can, however, drive to the store without vaping, which is something I never did with cigarettes. I was never not smoking while driving.

 

[Thompson]

I find that I can go a lot longer without having a vape than I ever liked to when I smoked.

In places where I can't vape, I'm not bothered nor will I go outside to vape. Its just, meh, I can wait. Cigarettes? Out there freezing unmentionable things off because I wanted one so badly.

Guess I'm just saying I personally find nicotine by itself much less addictive than the chemical-combo in cigs.

 

[quatro]

No excuses here, in my opinion nicotine addiction is the hardest of em all to give up. Whether the delivery device is a cigarette, vapor or anything else, once you are hooked you are hooked. Giving it up altogether is the real victory.

 

[bigdman0001]

I started using ecigs to try and quit smoking but I find myself unable to put it down.

 

[bigdman0001]

Also I started out at 24mg and three years later I'm still at 24mg. It just doesn't do the trick for me at lower levels of nicotine.

 

[stefania123]

'how addictive is nicotine?' .. it's addictive enough that im vaping and if i wasnt i'd be smoking

 

[Orobas]

It's been my experience that while sure i was antsy and had a few analogs a day the first two weeks of vaping, the WANT to vape isn't any where near as urgent as the NEED to smoke was.

Monday it took my husband and I about three hours to strip two quarts of dandelion petals off of the buds to make wine with. I powered through it without so much as a puff of vapor. I would NOT have forgotten to smoke a cigarette.

But that's just me.

I feel like I would be uncomfortable quitting, but it's not a dreadful thing that makes the bottom of my stomach drop to contemplate.

My over-preparedness for the FDApocalypse is more likely due to pure contrariness than an actual danger of being tempted back to cigarettes.