Maybe someone is interested in knowing what you’re really smoking?

Tobacco. Yes that too and also the cigarette paper and ultimately some additives, that are mixed in by the industry.

The numbers fluctuate- but it’s about 4800 additives, that can be found in cigarettes. People wanting to inform themselves quickly realize that these are not necessarily desirable. The legislature keeps up with their obligation to inform but either in a belittling manor like the conservatives or in a completely juridical way like the liberals. So researching is fun, which is clearly how it’s supposed to be.

Why is that so? We don’t know. But we are allowed to ask who is profiting. It’s obvious, that vendors of dangerous products develop a belittling character. They don’t want to scare away costumers. If the tricks used to make cigarettes “enjoyable” came out before the nicotine’s addictive effect is able to prevent the users from quitting their image would suffer.

Numerous associations and agents strive to influence the elected representatives to base their decisions on the wellbeing of the tobacco industry. As usual belittlingly these people are not referred to as manipulators but are known as the space where they historically practice their profession. As these spaces are the atriums of parliaments – also known as lobbies – they are called lobbyists. But these aren’t the only places they walk around in. They also like to do the legislatures job and unselfishly draw up complete bodies of law. In any case they successfully ensure that nothing works without them.

The Swiss quit smoking center has an informative article on the web that doesn’t mince words. We allow ourselves to quote from this article:

The effects of the nicotine in the tobacco on the brain are decisive for the psychological component. In the brain the nicotine binds to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and stimulates a release of the messenger substance dopamine in the rewards center. A big amount of dopamine triggers a sense of wellbeing in the brain. This is the first step towards addiction because this encourages further nicotine consumption. The brain quickly gets used to the regular consumption: the receptors become desensitized. This so called tolerance makes it increasingly difficult to stimulate the rewards center. Henceforth bigger dosages of nicotine are required to trigger the sense of wellbeing. Parallel to the development of the tolerance receptors are created. The resulting excess of receptors causes withdrawal effects like irritability, listlessness, stuffiness, inner unrest and anxiety as soon as a certain number of receptors are not engaged anymore (about four to six hours after the last consumption of nicotine.

Nicotine also stimulates parts of the brain (for example the prefrontal cortex) that are responsible for learning and the formation of memory. That is how the psychological addiction is developed: Smoking and the seemingly positively perceived effect (the sense of wellbeing) are associated with specific situations, perception, states of stress and sadness. The cup of coffee in the morning, a good meal or conversation with friends, the pulling out of a cigarette, the smoke’s smell, a smoking friend and a sad mood as well as stress evoke the longing for a cigarette in a smoker. The physically evoked withdrawal effects disappear a couple of weeks after quitting. The conditioning to outer stimuli and moods persists for years to come and makes the total withdrawal from tobacco addiction more difficult.

In addition at least 250 of the smoke’s constituents are poisonous. Hydrocyanic acid is one of these toxic substances. When smoking tobacco, a small amount of the potentially deadly poison is released. This can lead to dizziness, vomiting and headaches.

There is no threshold as to the maximum number of puffs per day you can have without harming your health. Every single cigarette supplies a cocktail of poison with unpredictable consequences. For example studies show that three cigarettes a day already raise the risk of a heart attack by two thirds. The most important ingredients are: