Nicotine and smoking.

Abstract

Cigarette smoking is one of the most persistent habits known to man; for many years, he has been possessed by the bizarre but irresistible urge to inhale the smoke produced by burning the dried and shredded leaves of Nicotiana tabacum. The alternative methods of administration, sniffing and chewing, lost favor with the introduction of cheap cigarettes made from fluecured tobacco. Unlike the smoking of cigars and pipes, absorption of nicotine from cigarette smoke mainly takes place in the lungs. Despite convincing evidence that life is shortened by about 5 minutes for every cigarette smoked, consumption continues unabated throughout the world.