Nicotine is only addictive when the delivery method causes a concentration/time spike in the bloodstream. Cigarettes, vaping, and gum in particular cause large concentration spikes, but many other delivery mechanisms do not.

I've been on nicotine patches for several years (treating ADHD - very effective) and I'm not addicted at all. I still forget and my wife often has to remind me to put on one! There are no reports to the contrary among patch users.

In fact, even moderate pipe smoking reportedly isn't addictive - although it certainly is pleasurable (partly due to the nicotine, but mostly due to other compounds in the smoke). Pipe tobacco doesn't have all the additives (and nicotine salts) that cigarettes have; moreover, unlike cigarette smoking, pipe smoking normally does not involve inhalation—all of which smoothes and limits the nicotine blood concentration/time curve significantly compared to cigarettes and vaping, thus eliminating most of the addictive potential.

More info on nicotine itself - this is essentially a very broad bibliography with some commentary mixed in: https://gwern.net/nicotine

It must depend on the person. I used to smoke and drink coffee and it was much easier for me to quit smoking. I just stopped one day (12 years ago) and never looked back.

In contrast quitting caffeine took me several tries and I had to very carefully taper over the course of months to eventually be able to do it.

I also quit alcohol and that was pretty easy too. I used to drink every day and then I stopped without much trouble.

Definitely depends on the person. I've heard from many people very similar to you. For me, I quit dipping twenty years ago, and I still get occasional cravings for it, especially right after a meal (which is when I used to dip). It was heavenly, but damn I'm guessing my two-year light habit (one to two dips per day at most, and several days without at times) is going to leave me scarred for a lifetime. Though to be fair, it may not have been the nicotine. It's definitely psychological for me.

Yeah, I think this is one of those things where there can be pretty wild deviation from the mean. One of my uncles quit a 30-year smoking habit about 10 years ago, and the only reason he waited so long was because he had heard for decades how hard it is to quit. However, like you he just stopped one day and that was it.

(My family credits his success in nicotine cessation to having previously kicked a 20-year heroin addiction. It would be interesting to see if you can “get good” at overcoming addictions, or if every substance is different for every person.)

I stopped smoking cold turkey in 2013 and it wasn’t very hard, but I’ve never moved beyond the feeling of wanting to smoke. It definitely does something to your brain permanently.

I've thankfully never had to quit cigarettes or heroin, but in my experience quitting coffee is awful. 3-5 days of migraine-level headaches and nausea. And the whole time you're thinking, "all this could go away with just one little cup of coffee, which all the studies say has health benefits even. Just one little cup"

I've known 2 people who were previously addicted to heroin but had been able to quit. Both of them were still dependent on nicotine.

I've witnessed something similar, seeing someone quit a hard drug habit but still being stuck on nicotine for a few years before finally quitting. However, I don't think this says much about the inherent addictiveness of nicotine vs hard drugs, because it seems like the motivation to quit the hard drugs would be much higher. They're far more destructive in the short term, both to health and relationships.

> 3-5 days of migraine-level headaches and nausea...

A single sip of coffee, or a cup of good black tea generally alleviates these symptoms. I had to drink a sip of coffee on day 4 while quitting coffee, and all my headache was gone.

It was very hard for me to quit caffeine for this reason too. Eventually I succeeded by tapering very carefully over 3 months. This allowed me to avoid all withdrawal symptoms.

Why quit coffee if it has health benefits?

Great question! A couple of reasons.

The simplest is that I dislike being dependent on any substance.

A more nuanced reason is that I want to be able to use caffeine as a tool. A cup of coffee is the largest dose of caffeine that I am comfortable taking at any one time. If I already have caffeine tolerance at the level of a daily coffee habit, caffeine has lost much of its utility to me. However, if my tolerance is lower than that, I can really feel it when I do occasionally have use for a cup of coffee (e.g. the day before code freeze.)

Currently my caffeine intake is a cup of tea[0]. This is at the level where I don't hate myself if I miss it[1], and I can still use coffee as a tool on occasion. Also, you can pry my tea out of my cold dead hands.

[0] Note that how much caffeine a cup of tea has is much more nuanced than "black vs green". Cultivar, terroir, steep time are much more important to caffeine levels than how the tea is processed. In fact if anything, green tea cultivars have been shown to have, on average, very slightly more caffeine than black[2].

[1] I feel it, but it's not 3-5 days of migraines

[2] Y. Zuo et al, Simultaneous determination of catechins, caffeine and gallic acids in green, Oolong, black and pu-erh teas using HPLC with a photodiode array detector, Talanta 57 (2002) 307–316

> I want to be able to use caffeine as a tool.

Same here. All my daily coffee drinker friends say coffee has no effect on them. I drink it ~4-6 times a month (when I'm very busy) and I can feel the effects from one cup almost all day. More than two cups actually is quite uncomfortable.

Agreed. I would also add that something can simultaneously provide health benefits in one area and costs in others. If the costs outweigh the benefits, quitting makes sense despite the benefits.

Insomnia: Sometimes I'm still wired at midnight from the 1 cup from my Kerrig at 8AM.

I get weird swings in my caffeine tolerance, so I only consume caffeine 1-2 times a week, or less.

Caffeine can also cause weird mood swings. Its effects are similar to cocaine, just somewhat muted because the delivery mechanism is slower.

Why quit coffee even if it's health neutral? Coffee is amazing.

You could drink decaf I suppose. I’m skeptical of the alleged health benefits from coffee but at least it’s unlikely they come from caffeine itself.

On caffeine I am very skittish, cannot take naps and sleep quality suffers which affects my memory and optimism.

I absolutely can NOT relate.

I've spent years as very heavy coffee and/or tea drinker but I have never been addicted to it, either physically or psychologically. I can (and sometimes do!) switch from heavy consumption to going days without it and I don't notice a difference.

In fact, I barely even feel any effects of caffeine at all. Never have.

Quitting nicotine ends up being a lifetime battle for most people in my experience.

I’ve know too many people who simply cannot quit smoking, even when it’s clear they’re rotting from the inside out.

Nicotine addiction is on an entirely different level than caffeine.

How proud I was of myself when I finally kicked the smoking habit