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This is a personal history of how I came to view cigarette smoking as an addiction to nicotine. I discuss working with Stanley Schachter and Murray Jarvik. Although I note the importance of Michael Russell (as do many colleagues), I draw attention to the considerable effect on my work of Edward Brecher through his 1972 book, Licit and Illicit Drugs. I give examples of the influence of the makers and sellers of nicotine-containing gum on my career in Canada and the United States as well as on the careers of several important colleagues. Ted Klein, who did public relations for nicotine-replacement products, is noted as an important figure in the tobacco control movement of the time, especially for those doing behavioral and smoking cessation research.