You could be right about that. Smoking is addictive but it may or may not be the nicotine. They added a lot of other ingredients, chemicals etc to cigarettes. Ammonia and sugar among others. When I smoked, I would go out of my way to buy Nat Sherman cigarettes. I started rolling my own and the owner of the tabacco store had his own blends that were just tobacco. He sold me on buying Nat Sherman’s because they were supposedly also just pure tobacco. Eventually I would order them online or find them at a few places nearby. I’d spend a lot of money on them because only tobacconists and boutique liquor stores had them and I’d buy several cartons (which was only 5 packs per carton) at a time. Much more expensive than generic gas station cigs.
I often wonder if it was easier to quit because I smoked pure tobacco vs the chemically tainted brands. I can’t know for sure. I did miss the smoking part, but didn’t really have any physical withdrawals. You could call it the oral fixation or as I say it, it was the feeling of “affection” - hot smoke in my throat and lungs. It’s a sensation. Maybe a character flaw, I dunno. But even as a smoker I was as cautious or conscientious as I could be about what I was smoking. And the good thing about it was that none of my Marlboro light smoking friends would bum a smoke off me. They hated my Nat Sherman’s. But that was when I was in my 20’s and early 30s. It’s been decades since I touched anything with tobacco. I don’t mind if people smoke around me. But even hanging with my neighbors and they smoke cigars and drink, I just have a drink and enjoy their company.
I remember reading years ago that it was the sugar they put in cigarettes that was most addicting. I can’t find a source right now, but smoking sugar was supposedly the most addictive aspect. That’s why I switched to pure tobacco leaf at the time. But still, I smoked for years. Habits. When I did quit I eventually had all my walls repainted and carpet replaced. That stuff stained everything and the smell lingered for years.
And when the government started to crack down, and sued the tobacco companies the tobacco companies consolidated, took their hoards of cash and bought up the big food conglomerates. Apparently there is a lot of gross profit (and net profit) in each pack of cigs. Even today Altria (Phillip Morris) pays something like an 8% dividend. That’s a lot of profit. One of the highest. But the scientists from the tobacco industry were moved over to food products.
I am just recently entering an “eat healthier” lifestyle. I’ve done keto type diets in the past. They work. I’ve never been obese but once I quit smoking I did gain more weight. Twice I’ve been able to shed a lot with Keto but if I get off it, the weight eventually comes back. Sometimes it takes years but it does return. So I’ve taken a new interest in diet. Dropped 25 lbs in the last 90 days. Still not at my college weight but on my way. No sugars. Minimal carbs. Lots of protein and some vegetables which I only minimally prepare. Himalayan pink salt and steam. No sauces. Kind of carnivore I guess. But I like greens too.
I smoked for ten years from 14 to 24. At the end the smoke was just like sucking fog thru a sock as the poet said. When it had kick and flavor I liked it but when it lost that I quit.
it was the feeling of “affection” - hot smoke in my throat and lungs.
Kind of like the sensation of drinking a carbonated beverage. I thought I was hooked on soda for years. Then I switched to drinking carbonated water, and that pretty much got me off of soda.