How we get nicotine into our system (for performance) is the most important consideration. Nicotine, because of its impact on dopamine, the feel good hormone, is highly addictive, this is why smokers find it so difficult to stop. Back to Gabor Mate, the trauma is the gateway, not the drug, the only lasting solution is to deal with the underlying trauma.
Cigarettes have thousands of toxic compounds (nicotine is not one) in them. By smoking cigarettes you are introducing these toxins into your body in a way that lets them get straight to work, damaging you. This is the least favoured way of getting nicotine.
Chewing and sniffing nicotine have a similar problem, other substances present are deadly to health and promote several degenerative illnesses.
Nicotine patches were popular and are still used by people to help stop smoking. They work by slowly releasing relatively small amounts of nicotine over the course of a day. Useful to ease the pain of nicotine withdrawal, but for performance, not ideal.
Lozenges and chewing gum with nicotine are a relatively safe way of getting nicotine into your system, they are also of a low enough dose so as not to create an experience which is unnecessarily intense. You can control the amount you consume by using only as necessary for performance.
I saved vaping for last, because the short history of modern vaping is tragic. Humans have vaped for millenia, in the 21st century it gained favour as an alternative for smoking cigarettes, soon attracted the attention of startup ‘tech’ companies, backed by venture capital and hedge funds. Predictably the products were made as addictive as possible, with a high level of nicotine, unseen in any product to date and an abundance of flavours designed to appeal to the young, and other products such as marijuana made available to vape. A failure of regulation in the USA allowed misuse and abuse of vaping, which has led to several deaths and calls for a ban on vaping. I offer as contrast the situation in the UK where the same companies are subject to regulations which seem to have mitigated the worst effects. For example nicotine content in e-cigarette canisters are limited to in the UK, they are over three times greater in the USA, a level designed to promote dependency.
Along with your eating window and drinking window, you need a nicotine window. Regular abstinence is a great control to avoid falling into dependency. Personally I have very limited experience with nicotine, I am introducing it, through vaping with a UK strength e-cigarette, used 15 minutes before an ultradian sprint. Stay tuned for the results.
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