Pictured above are empty 4mg Nicotine mint packets, by far the best of the NRT products on the market. This collection was what I had in just sitting in my draw 3 years ago, my bedside table has about 10 at the moment. It's pretty shameful to be honest. I haven't smoked in over 11 years, and I actually started these mints when I was 16, well before my brief stint smoking, which means I've been using them for 15 years.
I've also been addicted to almost every form of harm reduced Nicotine. Mints, gum, patches, sprays, inhalers, vaping, Swedish snus, German snuff. You name it, if there's no evidence of long term harm, I've tried it. I've also quit all Nicotine for various lengths (mean = 2 months; max 6 months) probably 15 times or so.
In between my anecdotal experience and my PhD in Nueropsychology focusing on cognitive performance, I can tell you a few things about Nicotine:
>>13377782Claims that Nicotine only acts as a stimulant "once you are withdrawing" is patently false. Most of my relapses don't occur during withdrawal phase — but when I'm fatigued (from lack of sleep) with a big workload. Nicotine can pull you through like nothing else. It continues this effect and after a while, it is the artificial motivational pattern that yields the reward cycle (which can be productive). Yet, the wisdom in the bullshit, the early boost is transient, and after ~1 week, you will be much worse without the Nicotine.
>>13378091Anyone who claims they use Nicotine but can't be addicted are deluding themselves — that is the addiction. It is a slow creep. It is so cerebral that you believe you are taking it for rational reasons. There is no "other you". You are just addicted, and that's totally OK.
Where you need to be careful is cross-synergy with other stims (caffeine, amphetamine) and you get cross-synergistic effects on mesolimbic dopamine functioning. I can tell you, this is what peak addiction feels like. Effects that neither drug can produce in isolation.
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