A Question for Smokers: Would You Drink Ammonia?
September 11th, 2006 (Quit Smoking)
This is scary: Did you know that there are chemicals added to cigarettes which increase the speed at which nicotine reaches your brain?
One example is ammonia. The organic chemists of the tobacco industry knew that nicotine made a person feel a lot better if it was quickly delivered to the brain. After spending millions of dollars experimenting on animals, they came up with the idea of using ammonia, which prevents the filter from removing as much nicotine as filters without ammonia do. Therefore, smokers tend to puff harder and longer, giving their brain a higher dose with each puff taken.
The addition of ammonia represented a very important breakthrough for the tobacco industry because it allowed smokers to receive very high levels of nicotine, which increased the addiction rate. Ammonia is one of the main reasons that your first cigarette of the day is so enjoyable. Your brain went without nicotine while you were asleep, so it wants some right away. That first puff rapidly delivers a large amount of nicotine (because of the added ammonia) to your brain in seven seconds. It’s like drinking a whole glass of water when you are really thirsty. It just gets soaked right up.