Misc What causes tobacco's "buzz"?

[baadf00d]

Nicotine is widely assumed to cause the body high and light-headedness from tobacco. I did not experience this with nicotine lozenges, gum, or vaporizers, however. I once read that there are other alkaloids in tobacco that cause the buzz but not much information was given. Others have pointed to lack of oxygen, which doesn't seem likely given that I've vaped quite a bit without any such bodily sensation, and carbon monoxide. What is the actual cause of the buzz?

 

[burn out]

Nicotine and harmine.

 

[SluttyPeach]

More than likely a combination of all the things you just described. Have you ever used actual tobacco or smoked cancer sticks? If not then I don't recommend it unless you are already addicted to nicotine, it's your choice but don't use it if you can help it.

Nicotine is actually more powerful of a stimulant than some think. When a person smokes tobacco it increases the heart rate and blood pressure and constricts blood vessels, including the ones in your brain. These factors combined contribute to the "buzz" and lightheadedness.

 

[baadf00d]

Nicotine and harmine.

How do you know harmine is responsible? Have you tried both of those together, and it felt like a cig?

 

[Rio Fantastic]

How do you know harmine is responsible? Have you tried both of those together, and it felt like a cig?

Tobacco contains not just nicotine as active ingredient, but also a rapid-acting MAOI (there might be a couple, the name escapes me, you can google it). MAOIs inhibit the enzyme responsible for the breakdown of dopamine in the synapse, so this significantly potentiates the "hit" associated with tobacco products that you don't get with products containing just nicotine, like the gum, patches or vapes. This is why tobacco companies have been artificially raising the levels of MAOIs in their products to make them more addictive without increasing the nicotine (as in most western countries the nicotine level needs to be declared, whereas the MAOI level doesn't, so they can make their cigarettes more addictive without anyone knowing) - by the by, there was a really good film about just this called The Insider, starring Russel Crowe and Al Pacino, and it was really really good.

I found it interesting to find out how they discovered the MAOI in tobacco - it was apparently because researchers were trying to research nicotine addiction, and so used lab rats as is protocol. However, unlike with cocaine, heroin, amphetamine, and every other addictive drug yet used on rats, they couldn't get them to self-administer nicotine. It wasn't until they added an MAOI to the solution where, lo and behold, the rats began pressing their little nicotine buttons. So, the MAOI is essential to the pleasurable, reinforcing and addictive properties of tobacco, and until the alternative products can introduce one, they will never be quite the same as a cigarette. Also, another potential factor that's been suggested is the carbon monoxide providing a small contributing factor, due to slight oxygen deprivation, but it's primarily the MAOI that is the cause of the difference between tobacco and nicotine-containing products.

 

[Rio Fantastic]

More than likely a combination of all the things you just described. Have you ever used actual tobacco or smoked cancer sticks? If not then I don't recommend it unless you are already addicted to nicotine, it's your choice but don't use it if you can help it.

Nicotine is actually more powerful of a stimulant than some think. When a person smokes tobacco it increases the heart rate and blood pressure and constricts blood vessels, including the ones in your brain. These factors combined contribute to the "buzz" and lightheadedness.

You're getting the cause and effect backwards, buddy. The nicotine, that causes the buzz, also causes the blood vessel constriction and increase in heart rate/blood pressure, they do not cause the buzz. The light-headed feeling can most likely be attributed to the carbon monoxide and lack of oxygen that goes along with tobacco, not the constriction of blood vessels or any other effect caused solely by nicotine, as you do not get these effects with vapes or nicotine gum. When you take cocaine, your blood pressure goes way up, your heart rate skyrockets and your blood vessels constrict, but it is not these that are causing the high, it's the cocaine in your brain.

 

[baadf00d]

Tobacco contains not just nicotine as active ingredient, but also a rapid-acting MAOI (there might be a couple, the name escapes me, you can google it). MAOIs inhibit the enzyme responsible for the breakdown of dopamine in the synapse, so this significantly potentiates the "hit" associated with tobacco products that you don't get with products containing just nicotine, like the gum, patches or vapes. This is why tobacco companies have been artificially raising the levels of MAOIs in their products to make them more addictive without increasing the nicotine (as in most western countries the nicotine level needs to be declared, whereas the MAOI level doesn't, so they can make their cigarettes more addictive without anyone knowing) - by the by, there was a really good film about just this called The Insider, starring Russel Crowe and Al Pacino, and it was really really good.

I found it interesting to find out how they discovered the MAOI in tobacco - it was apparently because researchers were trying to research nicotine addiction, and so used lab rats as is protocol. However, unlike with cocaine, heroin, amphetamine, and every other addictive drug yet used on rats, they couldn't get them to self-administer nicotine. It wasn't until they added an MAOI to the solution where, lo and behold, the rats began pressing their little nicotine buttons. So, the MAOI is essential to the pleasurable, reinforcing and addictive properties of tobacco, and until the alternative products can introduce one, they will never be quite the same as a cigarette. Also, another potential factor that's been suggested is the carbon monoxide providing a small contributing factor, due to slight oxygen deprivation, but it's primarily the MAOI that is the cause of the difference between tobacco and nicotine-containing products.

That explains it. Wikipedia lists harmine, a MAOI, as the second active ingredient in tobacco.

 

[manboychef]

Rio: How come the first time someone tries chewing tobacco they get like crazy lightheaded?

 

[mysafehome01]

I've never understood Tobacco. I have a HUGELY addictive nature and almost anything I've came into contact with I've ended up hooked on. Yet Tobacco fails me, I just hate the stuff. I guess it's lucky but I just find it highly strange.

 

[Rio Fantastic]

Rio: How come the first time someone tries chewing tobacco they get like crazy lightheaded?

Probably as a direct result of the nicotine. I just know that it's not caused by blood vessel constriction, that is just another side effect of the nicotine, which is the root cause of all the physiological sesnations associated with a cigarette. I misphased my response and worded it very awkwardly, I should have said the nicotine causes the light-headed dizzy feeling and that its most likely compounded by smoke. The main thing I was trying to get at is that the light-headed feeling is not a result of the constricted blood vessels etc

 

[Rio Fantastic]

I've never understood Tobacco. I have a HUGELY addictive nature and almost anything I've came into contact with I've ended up hooked on. Yet Tobacco fails me, I just hate the stuff. I guess it's lucky but I just find it highly strange.

What drugs have you been hooked on??

 

[mysafehome01]

What drugs have you been hooked on??

Opioids, benzos, Anti-Histamines and CNS stimulants.

 

[Rio Fantastic]

Opioids, benzos, Anti-Histamines and CNS stimulants.

You've been hooked on anti-histamines? What? You listed three of the most addictive drug classes, contained in which are the most addictive drugs known to man, and then Benadryl? Hahahah am I missing something here?

 

[mysafehome01]

You've been hooked on anti-histamines? What? You listed three of the most addictive drug classes, contained in which are the most addictive drugs known to man, and then Benadryl? Hahahah am I missing something here?

This is exactly why I never understood how I find Tobacco so repulsive and none habit forming for myself. It just doesn't make any logical sense.

 

[Rio Fantastic]

This is exactly why I never understood how I find Tobacco so repulsive and none habit forming for myself. It just doesn't make any logical sense.

Can you be specific about the actual drugs you've been hooked on? Because CNS stimulants, benzos and opiates could easily refer to caffeine, valium and codeine just as easily as it could methamphetamine, temazapam and heroin, and there's a world of difference between those two lists, despite them all fitting under the umbrella terms you're using to describe the drugs you've been on.

 

[mysafehome01]

Can you be specific about the actual drugs you've been hooked on? Because CNS stimulants, benzos and opiates could easily refer to caffeine, valium and codeine just as easily as it could methamphetamine, temazapam and heroin, and there's a world of difference between those two lists, despite them all fitting under the umbrella terms you're using to describe the drugs you've been on.

Tramadol, Dihydro, Morphine sulf, Diaz, Temaz, Etizolam/ 'Zest, Lyrica, Promethazine/ Diphenydramine, Caffeine.

Not the 'hardest' out there but still most definitely addictive.

 

[Rio Fantastic]

Tramadol, Dihydro, Morphine sulf, Diaz, Temaz, Etizolam/ 'Zest, Lyrica, Promethazine/ Diphenydramine, Caffeine.

Not the 'hardest' out there but still most definitely addictive.

Yeah, all of that is really quite mild except for the morphine, which is really really hard stuff. The benzos can sneak up on you as well if you're not careful. Which ones did you actually have a habit for? And why did you try and make caffeine sound like a harder drug than it is by just calling it a CNS stimulant?

 

[manboychef]

give him a break. If I go without my caffeine I have terrible headaches. Yeah morphine is what got me hooked to the needle. That is a slippery slope right there....the rest, I could leave though.....I do take temazepam for sleep.

 

[burn out]

I've never understood Tobacco. I have a HUGELY addictive nature and almost anything I've came into contact with I've ended up hooked on. Yet Tobacco fails me, I just hate the stuff. I guess it's lucky but I just find it highly strange.

Haha I am the same way. I have been addicted to so many different drugs, I've honestly lost count at this point. But cigarettes is the one notable exception.

 

[Burnt Offerings]

I've gotten roughly the same kind of feeling I got from cigarettes from nicotine gum and patches. I always just assumed that nicotine was the drug that was responsible for tobacco's psychoactive effects, but maybe I'm wrong.