The reverse is often seen in smokers transferring their dependency to oral tobacco or NRT products, where around-the-clock use becomes possible. “I started out with about 6 pieces a day and now chew about 15 pieces of 2mg per day. Probably more nicotine than when I smoked,” asserts a 48 year-old, three-year female gum user. "There is one in my mouth 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ... yes for real,” claims a 32 year-old, three-year male gum user who chews 40-50 pieces a day and thinks he may "chew more than anyone in the world."
Regardless of method of delivery or level of nicotine tolerance, the millions of extra nicotinic-type acetylcholine receptors grown by the addicted brain de-sensitized it to its natural sense of neuro-chemical normal. We were rewired to function with a precise amount of nicotine in our blood stream and lived the reality of “nicotine normal” that we created. Any attempt to stop using it brought potential for a brief emotional train wreck, as we found ourselves not only de-sensitized to nicotine but to life as well.