Answer
You'll see it even more clearly when you stop . . . smoking is an addiction. It is amazing how this addiction works its way into you, convincing you that you need another cigarette.
Nicotine is the addictive agent in tobacco. A smoker delivers an average of 200-300 discrete doses of nicotine to their brain each day (a heroin addict generally only delivers 2 doses and a cocaine addict 5-15 doses of their drug). Nicotine does have a euphoric effect which makes people feel better in the short run. As with all addictive drugs, this effect decreases over time, and increasing doses are needed to obtain lesser feelings of well-being.
As in all addictions, there are symptoms of withdrawal that are well known to smokers (and perhaps underestimated by non-smokers).
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