Smoking - Is Tobbaco Actually Addictive in pure form?

[seeingred]

I think that, today's drug companies fill cigarettes with too many added chemcials to increase your dependence. I have a close friend, who has been smoking since he was 13. He claims he 'wants to stop' but that he will, some day. This seems to me part of the porblem. When cigarette addiction is a psychological condition- wouldn't you simply be able to convince yourself you dont need them, and do they even have any true addictive potentials.

I have smoked plenty, and it never bothered me one bit, other than leaving me light headed and a ilittle weird. I wondered, though, about native americans- did they do it in a certiain way that would make them not prone to becoming sick and dying from it?I have been reading 'Native American Healing' and it is pretty interesting, but still- does worshipping the leaf of tobacco have any effects, that's verging the spiritual vs. the actual chemical makeup of tobacco. I sometimes have smoked american spirits, the organic ones, and they are still a lot better than what's available.

[Lehendakari]

If the question is if nicotine is addictive the answer is yes. Tobacco companies may add chemicals to increase nicotine's addiction potential, for example by adding chemicals to reduce absortion time but all tobacco that contains nicotine is addictive.

I've always wondered if it would be possible to manufacture denicotinated sp?? tobacco?

Reputation Comments on this post:

first right

[seeingred]

Originally Posted by Lehendakari

If the question is if nicotine is addictive the answer is yes. Tobacco companies may add chemicals to increase nicotine's addiction potential, for example by adding chemicals to reduce absortion time but all tobacco that contains nicotine is addictive.

I've always wondered if it would be possible to manufacture denicotinated sp?? tobacco?

Hm, I used to think that tobacco was harmeless. if used by Native americans as a sacred plant. I wish tobacco was as good as it is made out to be, it seems highly over-rated. I started smoking for awhie, then quit, it ddi absoltuley nothing. On theo ther hand, chewing nicorate gun helped swim study for bsome long tests.

[Herbal Healer 019]

Im pretty sure they dont add chemicals. The chemicals (hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, etc..) come from combustion of plant matter (any plant matter burned produces these chems in certain proportions) & not random chemicals added into the cigs themselves. They may alter nictotine levels and I've heard the soil introduces the tobacco to radioactive material, but I'm pretty sure they dont dip the tobacco in chemicals.

[guldenat]

Originally Posted by Herbal Healer 019

Im pretty sure they dont add chemicals. The chemicals (hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, etc..) come from combustion of plant matter (any plant matter burned produces these chems in certain proportions) & not random chemicals added into the cigs themselves. They may alter nictotine levels and I've heard the soil introduces the tobacco to radioactive material, but I'm pretty sure they dont dip the tobacco in chemicals.

I was under the impression that the tobacco companies manipulate the chemical content in some way to achieve optimal satisfaction and addiction potential from one cigarette.

[Herbal Healer 019]

This could be true, Im not entirely sure how & if they purposely alter the tobacco other than just nicotine levels, but I do know that hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, ammonia & other poisonous gaseous chemicals are not present in tobacco itself, but rather in the smoke produced during combustion.

Unless they had a damn 50 gallon drum filled with ammonia and cyanide (highly unlikely & jus plain evil/ probably deadly), I dont see any way they could alter the levels of poisonous gaseous chemicals present in the smoke seeing as they are producing a plant & not smoke (if that makes sense?). The only thing that seems logical about altering the tobacco to create more tobacco addicts would be to increase the amount of nicotine.

Soo with all that being said I'm fairly certain they only alter nicotine levels if anything.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Never thought of it that way.

[seeingred]

I would enjoy smoking, if it wasn't addictive or habit-forming. It doesn't give a high like marijunana, it just seems to calm u dwon some, I'm guessing.

[ScorpioSunshine]

Swim was thinking about how nicotine is addictive, but was pondering how tobacco was probably used much differently in times past, more for rituals and ceremonies, somewhat for recreation too, as opposed to the way people smoke ciggies now (1-3 packs a days, etc.).

Anyway, swim was viewing an online wiki on "Tobacco smoking" and saw a sign depicting the price of a carton of cigarettes in New jersey! Damn!

[Dr_H]

There are a number of things added to standard cigs. But first let me say about nicotine. . . IT is a poison and the nicotine in one cig could kill you. But most of the nicotine is destroyed in the burning process and alot is exhaled in the unabsorbed smoke. Nicotine is addictive but is not carcinogenic. It is still a poison but it will not cause cancer. The natives that use nicotine, are generally using Nicotina rustica and it is 10-15 times higher in nicotine than your average Camel cig. However the natives do not casually smoke this after meals, sex, coffee or while waiting for the bus or while on break from work. They are using this tobacco in ceromonies that are special and for a purpose. The nicotine actually stimulates DNA and causes the DNA in every cell of your body to vibrate at a higher frequency. Other drugs do this as well including DMT. This is the mode of action that the shaman is trying to achieve. Read more on DMT and ayahuasca.
But back to tobacco toxicity. . . Saltpeter is added to the cig papers to help them burn more easily. Radioactive phosphate fertilizers are used in the production of the tobacco itself. I have no refference but I read that 1 pack of Marlboro's or Camel's was the equivalent to 300 chest X-rays a year. Found a ref: http://www.erowid.org/plants/tobacco...co_info1.shtml
If you wanna read up on it check out the tobacco vaults at Erowid.org http://www.erowid.org/plants/tobacco/tobacco.shtml
My mother who smokes cigs just told me they are adding a new ingreadient to make the cigs go out if they are not inhaled on with in a ceartain time. Thus creating safety cigs for those who fall asleep while smoking. That is all I have.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Very imformative post.

[seeingred]

Originally Posted by Dr_H

There are a number of things added to standard cigs. But first let me say about nicotine. . . IT is a poison and the nicotine in one cig could kill you. But most of the nicotine is destroyed in the burning process and alot is exhaled in the unabsorbed smoke. Nicotine is addictive but is not carcinogenic. It is still a poison but it will not cause cancer. The natives that use nicotine, are generally using Nicotina rustica and it is 10-15 times higher in nicotine than your average Camel cig. However the natives do not casually smoke this after meals, sex, coffee or while waiting for the bus or while on break from work. They are using this tobacco in ceromonies that are special and for a purpose. The nicotine actually stimulates DNA and causes the DNA in every cell of your body to vibrate at a higher frequency. Other drugs do this as well including DMT. This is the mode of action that the shaman is trying to achieve. Read more on DMT and ayahuasca.
But back to tobacco toxicity. . . Saltpeter is added to the cig papers to help them burn more easily. Radioactive phosphate fertilizers are used in the production of the tobacco itself. I have no refference but I read that 1 pack of Marlboro's or Camel's was the equivalent to 300 chest X-rays a year. Found a ref: http://www.erowid.org/plants/tobacco...co_info1.shtml
If you wanna read up on it check out the tobacco vaults at Erowid.org http://www.erowid.org/plants/tobacco/tobacco.shtml
My mother who smokes cigs just told me they are adding a new ingreadient to make the cigs go out if they are not inhaled on with in a ceartain time. Thus creating safety cigs for those who fall asleep while smoking. That is all I have.

Thanks that was very imformative. What I wonder is whether or not native americans smoked it. I had this book called "Native American Mdicine' where it explains that if you smoked it in reverence through a sacred pipe, that the tobacco god wouldn't let it poison you. And only through the use of cigarettes as a habit, without even a thought towards the culture where it came from, then that is why the 'tobacco god' lets it destroy you. But this book might be wrong. I realized after writing this topic that I was craving a smoke, and smoked about two cigarettes.

But it wasn't craving, moreso stress that I felt might be releieved....

seeingred added 2 Minutes and 52 Seconds later...

Originally Posted by ScorpioSunshine

Swim was thinking about how nicotine is addictive, but was pondering how tobacco was probably used much differently in times past, more for rituals and ceremonies, somewhat for recreation too, as opposed to the way people smoke ciggies now (1-3 packs a days, etc.).

Anyway, swim was viewing an online wiki on "Tobacco smoking" and saw a sign depicting the price of a carton of cigarettes in New jersey! Damn!

Yeah, I have pondered that myself. I'm using I, because i'm over 18 and so it is not illegal here. I wonder how it was used, then, because possibly tobacco could be used to help enlighten the mind a bit, if only used the right way...such as spiritual.

[bananaskin]

Kit was having this conversation within the last hour.
So much of smoking is habit, especially when rolling your own.

It is like a ritual in itself, harder to break than the addiction, with patches, gum, etc etc so freely available.

[kerang]

Originally Posted by bananaskin

Kit was having this conversation within the last hour.
So much of smoking is habit, especially when rolling your own.

It is like a ritual in itself, harder to break than the addiction, with patches, gum, etc etc so freely available.

Swim remembers from when he tried quting sigarettes
He would wear a patch which helped while he was busy working, but in the lunch break when he was done eating and got his cup of coffe... he felt very lost without his smokes More than once did he end up asking his collogues for a sig and would end up properly nicotine saturated from both the patch and the fag Ah, those were the days.

But on the subject of addiction... swim read that the Tobaccoe plant is one of the most important medicine plants because it it such a powerfull carrier of intent. He also read that the spirits who are the ones that make healing happen, are very fond of Tobaccoe and it acts as a sort of food for them.

Unfortunately, when sigarette companys grow plants, their intent is to make profit from the buyers... you see where this is going?
Also they DO add several hundred different chemicals to enhance the addictive properies of Nicotine, and to flavour the sigarettes.

Swim can't say that naturally grown and cured Tobaccoe is not addictive, but still the products we buy in the store is a lot different from something a swimmer could grow in his own backyard.

[cra$h]

they add pesticides on the farms. Plus preservitives, flavor additives, the chemicals used in the paper, the list goes on for ever. They're right when they say don't start smoking, because you don't realize when a habbit is formed. It's not like you smoke a pack and fiend forever.

[herbalpatrick]

For a long time swim smoked American Spirit cigs, these were additive free and still delivered a powerful tobacco buzz. Swim smoked a pack every weekend for 5 weekends straight... no addiction.. no dependency.. no cravings... nothing. Swim repeated the same process with Camel Crushes... still nothing... Swim don't know if It could just be him, or what, but there is nothing that seems to become addictive along the line of tobacco to Swim.

[Ilsa]

in short, yes and no, depending on the individual. here's an article from:

lhttp://www.healthnewstrack.com/health-news-621.html

i couldn't find the author so i just posted the link.


Researchers from the University of Western Ontario provide a better understanding of why some people seem to become hooked with their first smoke and nicotine.

The research, led by Steven Laviolette of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, could lead to new therapies to prevent nicotine dependence and to help smokers trying to quit.


The paper was published today in Journal of Neuroscience.


"Nicotine interacts with a variety of neurochemical pathways within the brain to produce its rewarding and addictive effects," explains Laviolette.

"However, during the early phase of tobacco exposure, many individuals find nicotine highly unpleasant and aversive, whereas others may become rapidly dependent on nicotine and find it highly rewarding. We wanted to explore that difference."

The researchers found one brain pathway in particular uses the neurotransmitter dopamine to transmit signals related to nicotine's rewarding properties. This pathway is called the mesolimbic dopamine system and is involved in the addictive properties of many drugs of abuse, including cocaine, alcohol and nicotine.

"While much progress has been made in understanding how the brain processes the rewarding effects of nicotine after the dependence is established, very little is known about how the mesolimbic dopamine system may control the initial vulnerability to nicotine; that is, why do some individuals become quickly addicted to nicotine while others do not, and in some cases, even find nicotine to be highly aversive."

Scientists identified which specific dopamine receptor subtype controlled the brain's initial sensitivity to nicotine's rewarding and addictive properties. They were able to manipulate the receptors to control whether the nicotine was processed as rewarding or aversive.

"Importantly, our findings may explain an individual's vulnerability to nicotine addiction, and may point to new pharmacological treatments for the prevention of it, and the treatment of nicotine withdrawal," says Laviolette.

The research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation.