Two years ago an attractive woman handed me two nicotine mints — 2 mg each, a fairly small dose. She was spontaneous, with dark hair and an annoyingly white smile, a drug geek who worked at some vaguely neurotech-y startup. I liked her and had her phone number. But I needed something interesting to text her.

Teenage boys pick up smoking to look cool and impress girls. I’m in my thirties — too late for that strategy. But trying nicotine sublingually? This might work as a conversation starter.

Don’t get me wrong, it was not my only motivation for trying nicotine. I’d long been aware of its cognitive enhancement effects — ever since I read Gwern’s piece on benefits of nicotine. But I’d been hesitant to actually try it. I already took two stimulants daily: lisdexamfetamine for ADHD and caffeine for my many-years-long addiction. Did I really need another stimulant? Every few months I’d ponder this, and the answer would always be “No.” Until that day.

I slipped a mint under my tongue and did a bunch of household chores feeling like I gained +5 IQ points. I texted her about this — she liked my texts. In the end, she didn’t like me back.

But my romance with nicotine started that day: I’ve been using it regularly ever since.

Addiction potential

Some of you are thinking: “Dumb fuck, he got addicted himself to nicotine, what else did he expect other than regular use”. I am not addicted to it: I’ve been using 2-3 times a week on average, and once weekly in the last few weeks. And I only take nicotine sublingually via lozenges.

I am not unusually resistant to addiction. If anything, the opposite:

For the last 15 years I’ve been drinking caffeinated beverages, Coca-Cola and tea, almost daily. This is an addiction, if mild, benign, and socially-approved.
Ten years ago I went through a few months of nearly-daily drinking. It took several attempts to quit, and cravings continued for a long while.
In the last two years I binged on mephedrone (an entactogen, MDMA’s deranged cousin) every 3-6 weeks. It may not sound like a lot, but the cravings for it can get really strong. Fun fact: once I ran out of mephedrone during a binge, but I wanted to do Just One More Line, so I collected the residual mephedrone from the carpet and snorted it. Second fun fact: it wasn’t just one time.

Enough about my vices. My point is: I have a bit of an addictive personality.

The route of administration matters ...

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