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Discussion => Drug safety => Topic started by: 2marijuanaman on July 10, 2013, 06:34 am

Title: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: 2marijuanaman on July 10, 2013, 06:34 am
What do cigarettes do thats so pleasurable mentally for some? Cant find specific info on the cleanet. Do they release dopamine?
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: connoisseur on July 10, 2013, 09:33 am
Nicotine is a unique drug as it enhances both concentration OR relaxation.
It is the only addictive drug I was not able to quit.
Surf around a little. I came across reports that say it was only a matter of days to quit smoking successfully and it is suspected that cigarette makers add chemicals since the late 50s/early 60s.
Lung cancer has only exploded since then too although a much bigger percentage of people smoked then.
Interesting sidenote: The army lets you smoke on the frontline as much as I know.
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: Jack N Hoff on July 10, 2013, 09:39 am
Nicotine is a unique drug as it enhances both concentration OR relaxation.

Nicotine is a poison.  This is why new smokers get light headed and nauseous.  You're mildly poisoning yourself.  If you poison yourself with nicotine often often then your body get's used to it and it is very relaxing.
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: b0lixtrader on July 10, 2013, 10:05 am
It's a mild stimulant that is immensely addictive.

When you have no tolerance to it you actually get a buzz.  Though too much and you will get sick and feel woozy like mentioned above.

Of course with any drug, once you develop a tolerance you never get the same buzz and by that point you're just smoking to make your self feel normal.

It's the same concept with heroin addiction.

However, first cigarette of the day such as the morning or when you are really tired and smoke one you feel relaxed and awake for a brief moment. 

I smoke because I am addicted and I am fully aware it is really killing me slowly.  It is so hard to quit.  It is especially bad because I have bad anxiety and the habit of smoking when I'm anxious became a part of me.  It is a horrible habit on top of the addiction that will be extremely hard to beat.
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: bruzzcuzz on July 10, 2013, 10:21 am
alot of people use it as a social lubricant/ice breaker and it becomes an addiction quickly via that pathway
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: mcguire39 on July 10, 2013, 01:48 pm
Naturally grown and cured tobacco (i.e. your own homegrown) is probably not nearly as bad as commercially produced cigarettes. I believe I was reading somewhere the tricks tobacco manufacturers use to make the cigarettes more addictive but I forget the details now.
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: Intraterrestrial on July 10, 2013, 01:49 pm
It's a mild stimulant that makes you feel sick.

When we are addicted to it we claim the drug has all manner of wonderful relaxational and calming properties. I doesn't though, we are merely in denial. ::)

 Having said that it does relax the addict, but only insofar as smoking ceases our condition of drug withdrawal (which promotes high anxiety) and therefore returns us to baseline which is perceived as relaxing/calming.

absolutely terrible pointless drug, and one I was addicted to for many many years, ugh
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: zvp1014 on July 10, 2013, 04:43 pm
I've smoked four cigarettes in my lifetime, but I was always too drunk to discern their effects from that of the liquor. I was also confused that I had no cravings the next day- I'd somehow been convinced that after smoking one cigarette you'd become a pack-a-day addict, despite knowing that DARE had lied to me about many other substances.

To be honest, given the health concerns I don't see why anybody would willingly take up the habit of cigarettes. The psychological effects just don't seem intense enough to warrant damaging my body. Inhaling and exhaling smoke is fun (at least for me, albeit Freud would've diagnosed me as being orally fixated) but there are healthier substances to do so with.

I will say that an ecig I tried tasted absolutely fantastic and left a great sensation in my mouth, but again, I don't feel it's worth the bodily harm.

I do have one curiosity- does the cigarette 'high' come from the substance itself, or from satisfying ones' addiction to them?
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: newbottles on July 11, 2013, 01:19 am
I am in the minority that smokes every day, but very lightly.  Less than 5 cigarettes per day on average, easy.  I have smoked heavier in the past.  I am a long time nicotine addict, but not really much of an abuser.

My .000002 BTC:

The ritual is paramount.  No matter what kind of smoker you are considering, the ritual act of removing yourself from the situation and fixing/lighting tobacco is a huge ritual, and has inherent value.  This bleeds into the "social" element of smoking with other people, trying to get laid, breaking the ice, etc.

Man make fire.  There is something that satisfies at a primal level when you burn that tree.  Cigar and cannabis aficionados can back me up here.

There are clearly psychotropic effects.  To me, what immediately comes to mind are:  satisfying the addict's craving, and increased focus on short term tasks.  These are both clearly backed up in the medical literature and pretty easy to understand.

There is no significant intoxication.  This is one of the reasons for its popularity and abuse over history.

I once posed a similar question to a friend:  if nicotine is a stimulant, why are cigarettes "relaxing"?  He replied:  try getting up from your desk, walking outside, and taking 10-20 deep breaths and see how you feel. 

That is a very good response!

If I had a child, I would hate to see him/her smoking tobacco every day, but at the same time the recent demonization of tobacco has me on the resistance side currently.

Look up David Sedaris and Bill Hicks - they both had good riffs on tobacco (before they quit LOL).

Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: Ben on July 11, 2013, 01:52 am
Nicotine is a bit of a drug in its own class. Smoking is extremely addictive, but the effects are very mild. Most smokers are fine operating motor vehicles and/or heavy machinery while smoking.

On the short term smoking really is an addiction with few to no negative effects. On the long run it causes problems like cancer, but that is often too far ahead to consider.

Personally i ejjoy smoking - the feeling, the taste, the ristual. In recent years i suppose i also enjoy the response from nonsmokers, though i preferred the situation where we all got a long in the 90s :)
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: marcellus_wallace on July 11, 2013, 02:33 am
Everyone should youtube 'bill hicks smoking' for a good laugh.
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: fuckmadagascar on July 11, 2013, 09:13 pm
Read the Wikipedia articles on Tobacco and Nicotine. They describe a huge effect on your brain from smoking tobacco as it releases a lot of chemicals in the brain when smoked. A key thing to note - it changes its behavior based on how it's smoked. It sounds elementary, but shorter drags make you stimulated, whereas longer and slower drags relax you.
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: HenryC0833 on July 12, 2013, 02:11 pm
It's complicated, and the people who write about these things are generally very drug-naive; you'll probably get better info here than anywhere.

There is a dopaminergic and a serotonergic angle on it, but that's pretty minor.  You want dopamine, do a line.  I think the cholinergic angle is what most people are looking for.  Enhanced memory, clarity of thought.

It is a highly effective anti-anxiety agent.  People with certain types of agitated depression can't live without nicotine.  It's the only anti-anxiety agent that improves your capacity (ie doesn't  bomb you out of your head).

People constantly under-estimate nicotine.  It's a great drug.  That's why it's addictive.  Number one reason people can't quit smoking is because there really isn't a substitute for what nicotine does, imho.    Interestingly, the vaping community embraces this idea. They quit smoking because of the ill effects of combustion products, but have absolutely no intention of giving up the nicotine.

To be clear, people who choose to use nicotine are dancing with the devil.  Ya makes yer choices. 
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: fuckmadagascar on July 12, 2013, 06:31 pm
Worth noting: Nicotine *itself* is not terribly addictive. Surprise!

However, the addiction comes from the MAOIs in tobacco that function with the nicotine which make it behaviorally addictive. That's why I believe e-cigs are so far less addicting than smoked tobacco, because they lack the MAOIs.
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: HenryC0833 on July 12, 2013, 08:02 pm
Interesting.  You know my tolerance for nicotine is quite a bit down now since I started vaping. 

Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: DMtryptamine285 on July 13, 2013, 12:54 am
Nicotine is a nicotinic acetylcholine receptor agonist, acting more like a nerve agent than any recreational drug. Besides the pro-cholinergic effects of nicotine, tobacco has other alkaloids (whole tobacco alkaloids) such as anabasine, antabasine, nornicotine, and harman. Some of these have a similar mechanism to nicotine and one acts as a reversable MAOI (specifically RIMA). Some tobacco alkaloids modulate D2 transport and mu-opioid transmission. Tobacco is quite a mixed bag of pharmacology and other substances are responsible for addiction other than just nicotine.
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: zvp1014 on July 13, 2013, 04:56 pm
Wait... Cigarettes have a MAOI in them?

Is this a MAOI of the intensity where you'd have to be concerned about your MDMA intake / DXM intake / cheese intake?
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: Ballzinator on July 13, 2013, 07:25 pm
Wait... Cigarettes have a MAOI in them?

Is this a MAOI of the intensity where you'd have to be concerned about your MDMA intake / DXM intake / cheese intake?
No.
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: bruzzcuzz on July 14, 2013, 09:38 am
What do cigarettes actually do for me mentally?

they make me feel like a HUSTLER when i share my pack with my homies

they make me feel like im mutherfukin COOL u feel me bro?

Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: Ben on July 15, 2013, 12:16 am
Worth noting: Nicotine *itself* is not terribly addictive. Surprise!

However, the addiction comes from the MAOIs in tobacco that function with the nicotine which make it behaviorally addictive. That's why I believe e-cigs are so far less addicting than smoked tobacco, because they lack the MAOIs.

Interesting point. I'm not too sure about the MAO inhibitor part of it, but there seems to be something that makes smoking real cigarettes more pleasurable compared to electronic ones that deliver the same dose of nicotine.

This could purely psychological with the whole ritual of lighting a cig being important (which it seems to be, oral or inhaler nicotine does not stop cravings to smoke, despite alleviating withdrawal symptoms to some extent).

Which exact compounds in cigarette smoke do you think are important in this difference?
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: DMtryptamine285 on July 16, 2013, 12:33 am
Yes tobacco does contain an MAOI but you do not have to worry about hypertensive crisis because it is a RIMA and a mild one at that. The MAOI is called Harman.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15764332
Title: Re: What do cigarettes actually do for you mentally?
Post by: Ben on July 16, 2013, 01:00 am
I'm still interested in how this interaction would actually work.

I've found that taking nicotine orally or using a vaporizer like an electronic cigarette is not quite as nice as smoking an actual cigarette, despite the doses being the same, or even higher for the replacement.

Would you presume that taking oral nicotine in combination with a low dose of a common MAOI like nardil would approach the effect of a proper cigarette more, or is this purely a psychological thing with lighting cigarettes?

I'm sure its not -just- the ritual, i've tried ultra-light cigarettes that deliver no nicotine to speak off (<0.1 mg each) and those certainly do very little for me.