given the explosion in popularity of vaping and nicotine pouches (like Zyn) since this article was written, I think we now know this is false. Tons of people have become addicted to pure nicotine without ever touching tobacco.

Fair. I think how the nicotine is delivered is essential as well. Although I tried vaping for 3 months and it didn't take at all which I found interesting.

There are lots of very addictive drugs I could never get addicted to. For example, I find most kinds of painkillers range from kind of annoying to godawful for me. Opiates especially make me nauseous. Like can't even keep down food on morphine and codeine isn't much better. When prescribed them I've had to get off them quickly, well before I run out or sometimes even before the doctor thinks I should. And it's not just stuff I hate either. I have good memories of drinking and enjoy alcohol socially occasionally, but I'm never really inclined to drink to excess or even half the days of the week, as some people consider fairly normal. On the other hand, I've had really bad caffeine habits at various times and had a real struggle quiting nicotine. I think people vary a lot in how they respond to different stuff. I'm sure some people have tried lots of addictive stuff and never had it take, and some people try weed once and then smoke it every day, despite it being less habit-forming on average than nicotine. When I say nicotine's among the most addictive drugs, that's referring to a really broad aggregate, over which the individual variance is quite high and the combinatoric space of factors is staggering