> the only solid objection I've heard to nictotine consumption is that it's probably more addictive than caffeine.

s/probably/massively. You don't see ads and public health messages for quitting coffee, you don't see bans for coffee advertising, but you do see a whole lot of things aimed at reducing or quitting nicotine products.

Besides, nicotine withdrawal is utter hell. Caffeine withdrawal usually is solved by a night of good healthy sleep - most people drink coffee (or energy drinks) only because they are forced by circumstances to work against their chronotype.

> You don't see ads and public health messages for quitting coffee, you don't see bans for coffee advertising,

You would if coffee has the same probability of causing cancer as smoking.

Being addictive on its own is rarely a reason to demonise a substance. The addictive substances that are demonised are always those that also have negative health effects, even in moderation (like smoking).

> You don't see ads and public health messages for quitting coffee, you don't see bans for coffee advertising...

That'd be because -unlike cigarette and cigar smoking- coffee doesn't create a substantially elevated risk of cancer.

Had we had the tech for portable personal nicotine vaporizers back in the 1600s [0] and retained it until today, I very strongly expect that -other than the "Drugs of all kinds are bad!" moralizers- you'd not see much of that sort of concern.

> Besides, nicotine withdrawal is utter hell.

Waaaay back when when I quit cold turkey after smoking for a couple of years I was very grouchy and irritable (and knew that a cigarette would fix it) for like a week. That was it. I've not tried nicotine vaporizers, but I'd be interested to see if -given similarly sized nicotine doses- quitting vaporized nicotine after a couple of years is as annoying as quitting cigarettes was.

> Caffeine withdrawal usually is solved by a night of good healthy sleep...

That tells me that you haven't gone through serious caffeine withdrawal. The effects from quitting caffeine cold turkey last for less time, but way more unpleasant than quitting cigarettes.

[0] ...or whenever it was that tobacco smoking started to become A Thing...