Live data from Hacker News

Nicotine (2016)

gwern.net

261–270 of 273 posts

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Purely anecdotal, but I believe Keith Richards is on record stating that kicking heroin was far easier than kicking nicotine. There's evidence for this, too -- he quit using heroin decades ago, but only managed to quit smoking a few years back. So it seems to be true, at least for him.

You’re conflating nicotine with tobacco again. For me, quitting smoking was easier than quitting coffee addiction. Coffee is everywhere, cheap, and consumption is all but encouraged. If I were to smoke I take on all sorts of baggage. Much of smoking is about being a smoker which is a mindset and community that is hard to leave. Social effects can be much stronger than physical dependence.

Totally agree. One of the hardest parts of quitting smoking for me was quitting smoke breaks with my smoker friends at work.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#262

Modafinil is a Dave Asprey bullshit lie. It does not promote nootropic benefits or flow work or anything like that. Pretty much anything Dave Asprey says is bullshit.

That hasn't been my experience of it.

I use it only rarely, maybe once every 3-4 weeks when I'm feeling particularly fatigued but must deliver. I always find it really beneficial, and often find myself in a flow state - which, now in my 40s, happens very rarely these days.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#263
post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> nicotine by itself is nowhere near as dangerous for health, it even has some benefits for well-being. So, recently I had to learn that nicotine is super toxic and can be lethal or at least severely damaging to internal organs, especially for children, toddlers, babies, small animals (dogs, cats), etc. Maybe Google it, or ask your doctor, if your assumption that "by itself is nowhere near as dangerous for health, it…

Are you referencing like pure nicotine liquids? Yeah vape juices that smell like jelly donuts, if a toddler/animal drinks a month supply in a few minutes it’s going to be bad news. Also, when people were mixing their own juices they’d be buying pure nicotine and getting poisoned. “The dose makes the poison.” Anyways, not going to list out all the pros and cons of nicotine as Andrew Huberman did that for us. He has a…

> Are you referencing like pure nicotine liquids?

Not going to discuss on your other arguments, just wanted to say that if anything smaller than a grown adult eats a cigarette or just plain tobacco, better call the doctor.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Research anecdote here. I’m a psychologist in a different area and a friend who did his PhD in cocaine research with rats told me this. Addiction is highly dependent on the immediacy of the drug’s effect on the brain. For this reason, people who smoke cocaine (directly or as crack) are highly likely to get addicted. It may be the majority. People who snort it are less likely to get addicted. And there are a lot of ca…

I’ve never heard this idea. It seems like coffee bucks this trend though? I’ll take 20 minutes to drink a cup but still wildly addicted.

It also has to do with the size of the dopamine impact on the brain. Andrew Huberman's metaphor about a "wave" really helped me understand the concept of dopamine addiction in the brain.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#265
post #131
post #41

I'm a non smoker, I never smoked. Once I decided to try a nicotine chewing gum, took one pillow and chewed it thoroughly. After about 5-10minutes I suffered some very very severe effects, including: I started sweating extremelly such that all my clothes become wet quickly and sweat was dripping down my nose, ears, and into my eyes. I felt an intense and urgent need to urinate and defecate, which luckily I could do on…

FYI, nicotine poisoning is uncomfortable but if it happens to you, you can greatly reduce the effect by eating something sweet, the effects seem to be blood sugar dependent. Try a spoonful of honey or a can of coke, you will feel better almost instantly. This tip brought to you by cigar smokers.

This definitely sounded like nicotine poisoning. I don't smoke cigars specifically because of this singularly unpleasant experience. I think I'd rather have COVID, the flu, and pnuemonia all together than ever get nicotine poisoning again.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#266
post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve never heard this idea. It seems like coffee bucks this trend though? I’ll take 20 minutes to drink a cup but still wildly addicted.

I don’t think people are addicted to coffee in the same way they’re addicted to cocain

I’m going to go ahead and generalize my own experience as an alcoholic, smoker, and coffee drinker with a highly addictive personality from a long line of addicts: It’s not remotely the same kind of addiction.

Waking up in the morning and finding I’m out of coffee is an issue on par with, I don’t know, waking up and finding we’re out of milk and I need to eat some toast instead of cereal. Not the way to start the day, but I’ll grumble and get through.

Waking up in the morning and finding out I’m out of nicotine is immediate 11/10 anxiety. My brain is focused only on how to get some. Can I make it to the store and back before my first meeting of the day? If it’s tight, I can be a bit late. If I can’t, I’m basically autopiloting myself through my morning until the first free minute I have to run out and get some. That is the _only_ thing on my mind.

From past experience, if I’m down to my last $10 and have the choice between food and coffee I’ll pick food. If I have the choice between food and cigarettes, I’ll pick cigarettes.

If I'm traveling, I'll take the risk that the hotel doesn't have coffee for some reason. I don't pack coffee in my suitcase. There's probably some mini-bottles or something in there though in case I can't get my hands on some alcohol along the way.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really right.. but again you also either didn't read the article, didn't get the point, or strongly object it? (And also ignore authentic experiences other people give here)? Beyond nicotine, which is addictive yes, there is more in the cigarette cocktail (especially in nowadays highly optimized industrialized ones) that is also addictive. So there is such a thing as a cigarette addiction. Or in other words: Why…

Third time I'm writing the same comment - nicotine addiction can be formed and sustained without tobacco. This is obvious.

Definitely, but that was neither questioned nor the point at all, shrug.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just had my first cigar the other night at 38. Was a good experience, I look forward to next time, but it was the environment/atmosphere more than the high. I have zero interest in smoking weed or cigarettes. It's a completely different thing in my mind.

There is no "high" with cigars. It's just a matter of enjoying a particular aroma profile, just like eating barbecue, smelling a perfume, or burning some incense. Did you really go into smoking a cigar expecting some kind of drug experience?

Nope, I went in expecting exactly what I got. It was awesome.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#269
post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does snus have much flavor? I've wondered if the psychological part of nicotine addiction is much stronger when there's a smell/taste association with the drug effect. (I'm not a smoker, just seen a couple hints suggesting this.)

It does. It has a slight burning sensation on the gum (salt?) and has an earthy / spiced flavour. You don't taste it much unless you consume beer/coffee/water at the same, but if so the right brands and combinations can be quite pleasant. They also make menthol ones.

Thanks, that updates me a bit more towards that hypothesis. I tried to search once for whether unflavored vaping was better than flavored for quitting smoking, but didn't find anything relevant at least back then.

Re: Nicotine (2016)

#270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They say there are MAOIs in tobacco that increase nicotine uptake, but I'm not entirely convinced that that's the sole culprit either. I could chew some tobacco right now, or smoke a pipe or cigar, I could even inhale it, and I wouldn't have a problem. If I were to smoke a single cigarette I'd be smoking a pack a day within a week and who knows how many months or years it would take me to rectify that. Whatever it is…

Tobacco contains Harmaline which is an MAOI - it both increases the bioavailability of nicotine as well as adding an additional psychoactive effect; stimulant + anti-depressant I've recently started adding free base harmaline to my vape juice to create a proper tobacco substitute... I found that nicotine alone didn't provide the relaxation that I would get from smoking tobacco. After a fair amount of research I disco…

Well, I'm past that addiction now so I don't want to try it to stir it up, but I've had pipe tobacco and cigar tobacco, as well as chewing tobacco since I quit cigarettes and I've never had them rope me back in even a little bit. So I think cigarettes have something else going on. Maybe I'm wrong.

I am curious though if this worked for you as a full substitute to sate cravings, and what amount you added.

Post reply on HN