# What is the reason (chemically) that people smoke cigarettes?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-reason-chemically-that-people-smoke-cigarettes/684131>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 20, 2014, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-reason-chemically-that-people-smoke-cigarettes/684131 "2014-03-20T02:17:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-reason-chemically-that-people-smoke-cigarettes/684131/21 "2014-10-15T04:16:32Z")

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Stubbs the Zombie smokes.

Nicotine even has a receptor named after it - the nicotinic receptor, which responds to it or acetylcholine, while the (acteyl)cholinergic muscarinic receptor doesn’t respond much to it. These aren’t however much involved in addiction. It is not a big influence on dopamine, but indirectly affects addiction systems. It’s complex.

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**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-reason-chemically-that-people-smoke-cigarettes/684131/22 "2014-10-15T12:52:22Z")

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> [@davidm](#):
>
> Most of those never started, that’s why.

Then why so many **ex** -smokers ?

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**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-reason-chemically-that-people-smoke-cigarettes/684131/23 "2014-10-15T15:03:17Z")

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> [@robert\_columbia](#):
>
> A lot of tobacco articles are just blowing smoke. Sometimes the authors get mired in a lot of tar and have to think about applying filters to their data. But anyway, there’s no buts about it, researchers who are on fire today are likely to get snuffed out tomorrow if they don’t justify their hand-rolled budget. They’ve come a long way, baby, and would rather fight than switch careers. They’ll walk a mile for another grant check.

/golfclap

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**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-reason-chemically-that-people-smoke-cigarettes/684131/24 "2014-10-15T19:57:00Z")

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**Moderator Action**

We’ve had more than enough smoking threads resurrected here. Let’s put this poor nicotine-addicted zombie back in his grave.

Thread closed.

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