Any monkey can quit smoking...

...but it takes a real man to face cancer.

Researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University (hi Sandi and Giselle!) have found a wide range in the presence of "free-base" nicotine - the most powerfully addictive form - across cigarette brands, indicating that certain brands could be much more difficult to quit.

"The rate of absorption of nicotine from a tobacco product into the blood stream influences the addictiveness of the product, and the rate of absorption of nicotine from cigarette smoke is dependent on how much of the nicotine is in the free-base form. [...] They found more than 10-fold variation in levels of free-base nicotine among American cigarette brands. This is the first research to make such observations and will certainly help to guide future research into differences in the addictiveness of different brands of cigarettes."

The study is up in all of its incomprehensible, scientific-ese glory here, and the last page has the by-brand details, which I've summarized below. My old stand-by, Camel, does pretty well (not that any lessened addictiveness could be proved by my behavior), but all of you folks smoking American Spirits because they're "chemical-free," take note. No wonder I can't smoke those things standing up.