Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which part of your link, or the large surgeon general's report, say that "about 1/3 of smoking related deaths are due more to the nicotine than the smoke"?
Out of 480,317 deaths attributed to cigarette smoking, 160K were due to cardiovascular diseases and metabolic diseases. 160/480 = .3333 This calculation makes the charitable assumption that none of the deaths categorized as Cancer were due to the nicotine itself. The categories are Cancer, Cardiovascular Diseases and Metabolic Diseases, Respiratory Diseases, Perinatal Conditions, Residential Fires, Secondhand Smoke.
Why are you assuming the nicotine is solely to blame, and not for example the carbon monoxide?
Page 419:
> The 2010 Surgeon General’s report reviewed in great detail the mechanisms by which cigarette smoking leads to CHD; Figure 8.3 provides an overview of the mechanisms considered (Benowitz 2003). In addition to supporting the findings of previous reports, the 2010 report concluded that smoking produces insulin resistance that, together with chronic inflammation, can accelerate the development of both macrovascular and microvascular complications, including nephropathy, and the use of nicotine replacement and medications to aid smoking cessation in smokers with CHD produces far less risk than continued smoking.
Page 420:
> Nicotine is a sympathomimetic agent that increases heart rate and cardiac contractility, transiently increasing blood pressure and constricting coronary arteries (see Chapter 5). Nicotine may also contribute to endothelial dysfunction, insulin resistance, and lipid abnormalities. However, international epidemiologic evidence, and data from clinical trials of nicotine patches, suggests that chemical components in smoke other than nicotine are more important in elevating the risk of death from MI and stroke