Role of Nicotine

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Nicotine appears to be primarily responsible for the distinctive sensation which smokers experience in the throat when they inhale.

Nicotine to tar ratio

The exact role of nicotine in smoking is less than perfectly understood. What is clear, however, is that the overall level of nicotine is less important than the nicotine to tar ratio. If the naturally occurring ratio is disturbed to a significant extent, the smoking experience becomes distasteful. Thus, nicotine-free cigarettes have proved repeatedly to be dismal failures in the marketplace. On the other hand, too much nicotine in a cigarette and the taste is too harsh.

Is nicotine a poison?

Some say that nicotine is a 'poison' and can be toxic if taken in sufficient quantities. This is true. However, the same accusation could be leveled against many of the substances that occur naturally in what we eat and drink every day. It is a basic law of toxicology that it is dosage that determines whether or not something is 'poisonous' - and we have no evidence that nicotine, at the levels found in cigarette smoke, poses toxic risks.