The science of addiction - Cigarettes

I don't smoke, find the whole idea disgusting.
But I find the science behind it completely fascinating.

The whole idea of companies spending millions of dollars on R&D to make you addicted to cigarettes is completely mind blowing to me.

Do you know that Reynolds American (RAI) spent USD 58 million last year in their R&D division? In their own words, their R&D division is focused on creating efficient methods of preparing tobacco blends, as well as developing product enhancements, launching new products and introducing packaging innovations.

In other words, figuring out how to make smoking more addictive and killing less people so that these people will smoke longer and provide RAI with sustained profit making.

Another really fascinating thing about cigarettes is their additives, for a complete list of the additives in cigarettes visit:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_additives_in_cigarettes

Also, do you know additives have to be approved on a country by country basis?
Not every country is going to let you stick paint stripping solvents into your cigarettes you know!

Not that I encouraged smoking but if you really read up the chemistry and science of it, the amount of willpower it takes to stop smoking has to be phenomenal in order for someone to beat a few billion dollars worth of research.