This is A Non-Commercial Site Hereinafter known as my....Quit Smoking Now Rant

Here is a good definition of nicotine. nicotine (nīk“e-tźn“) noun

A colorless, poisonous alkaloid, C10H14N2, derived from the tobacco plant and used as an insecticide. It is the substance in tobacco to which smokers can become addicted.*
(Does this sound like something you'd like to stick in your face and suck into your lungs???)

Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from INSO Corporation; further reproduction and distribution in accordance with the Copyright Law of the United States. All rights reserved.

Health Effects of Smoking

As recently as the 1940s, smoking was considered harmless, but laboratory and clinical research has since proved that cigarette smoke contains around 4000 chemicals,some of which are highly toxic.

Nicotine, a major ingredient of tobacco smoke, is highly addictive. Cigarettes may be responsible for up to 419,000 deaths per year in the United States.

According to the American Cancer Society, smoking is the most preventable cause of death in America today. The mortality attributable to tobacco smoking in the United States may be about 20 times the mortality due to all other addictive drugs combined.

Smoking increases the risk of cancer of the lung, larynx, oral cavity, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas, as well as the risks of chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and stroke.

Smokers more frequently give birth to premature or underweight babies. Risks are also increased by environmental tobacco smoke when nonsmokers must share the same environment as a smoker.

The smoking habit and addiction to nicotine usually begin at an early age. In the United States, more than 70 percent of adults who smoke began smoking before the age of 18.