It has been maintained by some that nicotin is practically destroyed in

the process of smoking, and that the effects of tobacco are limited to
the decomposition products resulting from the burning tobacco,
especially pyridin
It has been maintained by some that nicotin is practically destroyed in
the process of smoking, and that the effects of tobacco are limited to
the decomposition products resulting from the burning tobacco,
especially pyridin. But pyridin is also formed in the burning of cabbage
leaves, and cabbage leaves do not possess any attractions for smokers,
neither do they produce the well-known effects that smoking and chewing
tobacco produce. No doubt pyridin and furfural are factors in the drug
effects of tobacco, but recent painstaking experiments by high
authorities have shown the presence of nicotin in tobacco smoke, and
when we reflect that there is sometimes sufficient nicotin in an
ordinary cigar to kill two men, it is not strange that enough of it may
be absorbed from the smoke passing over the mucous membranes of the
nose, throat and lungs to produce a distinct physiological effect.