how quickly a drug enters ones bloodstream and then brain are a huge factor in how addicting a drug is. You can get just as addicted. A nicotine takes longer to get through the mucus membrane in the mouth and then the blood has to travel the whole way through the body which takes about a minute give or take to get into the brain. Two really clear examples of how absorption rates effect addiction would be opiates and how they're administered and sipping a martini versus slamming shots. Injections put whatever right into your blood stream. If you inject an opiate you'll develop an addiction much faster then with pills or snorting (if you develop a full blown addiction it will be just as bad it just takes longer). Ever notice you get crazier if you drink the same number of shots then if you sip the same amount of alcohol? Basically when it's slowly introduced into your system your body has the time to compensate and adjust when it's dumped in quickly like through smoke in your lungs or other chemical aids(cigs have additives to get nicotine into your system faster and also out of your system faster). A slow introduction doesn't create a spike so the body doesn't have to scramble and also reacts less violently in trying to reach homeostasis (normal state of balance). So basically a pipe or cigar is less likely to get you hooked then a cig. So basically it's not just what we've observed it's biology that says pipes are less addicting.
That's true for those who don't inhale.
I inhale, not every puff of course but that's why I chose to stock my 'cellar' with blends that have no more than mild Vit N.
Although I've enjoyed a nic-hit since I was way too young, the point of switching to a pipe was to ditch the addiction. It worked for me.
The reason why heroin addicts inject is for the rush alone. [That's why it's said that heroin addicts are "chasing their first hit"]
I've seen people, [mostly young girls with a history of abuse] become psychologically addicted from their very first hit. [because heroin numbs ALL pain, physically, emotionally and psychologically]
From the age of 15yo I was a street kid who lived in the Darlinghurst squats on/off for a couple of years.
The red-light district of Kings Cross was my backyard.
Within the first week living there I was offered every available street drug including heroin.
Thank goodness that I wasn't completely stupid back then.
Although I'm convinced that some of the 300+ chems that are added to cigarettes are a bigger problem than Vit N [addiction wise] , I'm not willing to put it to the test by trying pipe blends with above mild levels of nicotine.
I'm content to smoke what I've got.
