Hacker News Reader

Because smoking as a habit has very little to do with nicotine addiction. The psychological addiction is the key. After a long period of smoking it takes only a few days to fully overcome nicotine withdrawal whereas it takes much longer time and effort to get rid of the habit itself. Smoke, gestures, the ritual, everything related to smoking becomes a part of your identity, so replacing the whole package is easier compared to eliminating everything but the chemical aspect.

The act of smoking is a huge part of the addiction. It took me a few months once I got to 0 nicotine ecig liquid just to quit that. For months after that, I constantly had the urge just to smoke. Wasn't even about the nicotine anymore.

That's because Nicotine gum, and Nicotine patches are ridiculously expensive compared to vape. Believe me, I tried.