I asked him a question about friendfeed by email, frankly i just did that to satisfy myself never expected an answer. He replied!

I am not a famous blogger, i don't even belong to the tech scene in the US, i'm just a lone freelancer here in india and he would still reply to my 2 lines of casual question about a service he is not directly involved with, that to within 1 hour.

Best friend the web/blogging community can ever have.

First, Nicotine is toxic because it gets mistaken for nicotinic acid (one of the two forms of vitamin b3, better known as niacin), and consequently it screws up a lot of metabolic processes that niacin is used in. A lot of the craving you experience is actually your body craving niacin, not nicotine. You've just learned to associate nicotine with the temporary satisfaction of that craving. Since your body prefers nicotine to to niacin (like hemoglobin prefers carbon monoxide to oxygen), consuming nicotine actually produces a niacin deficiency, and this adds to it's addictiveness. So, one thing you can do to ease the craving a lot, and repair some of the nicotine damage, is to carry a bottle of 50mg nicotinic acid tablets around with you, and whenever the craving gets overwhelming, pop one. Mind you, too much niacin isn't good for you either, so keep your daily intake under 500mg. Since nicotinic acid causes flushing and itching, you might want to keep the daily intake as low as 250mg at first. try cutting the tablets in half if you find yourself taking too much.

The way to know if your getting nicotinic acid or niacinamide (the other, utterly worthless kind used in cheaper supplements) is to look for a warning on the label that says it may cause itching or flushing. the kind with the warning is the good stuff.

Secondly, while you were addicted, nicotine built up in your fatty tissue, and when you stress out (like when you really want a cigarette, for example) you will burn some fat, and release a sub-clinical dose of nicotine into your blood stream, causing you to experience the effect of nicotine briefly, and causing you to remain addicted. To get through this phase as fast as possible, do some fasting and drnk lots of water, and take large doses (up to 10000mg daily) of calcium ascorbate, a ph neutral form of vitamin c. this will help to cleanse some of the nicotine out of your fatty tissue. Also, drink lots of green tea, and miso soup, as these also help to cleanse you. The sooner there's no nicotine in your blood stream the sooner the craving will go away. Nicotine withdrawal only lasts 3 days. The reason it seems to take longer is learned response, niacin deficiency, and sub-clinical re-exposure. Stay off the patch, and skip the nicotine gum. these will actually make the withdrawal take longer. use the niacin tabs instead.

Finally, lots of exercise (aerobic, so that you burn fat, and give the vitamins a chance to circulate and penetrate your body thoroughly) and if you're up for it, pearson & shaw's arginine supplement formulas will also speed up the process of burning fat and cleaning the last nicotine out of your body. You'll find them at: http://www.lifeextension.com, and the one you want is called muscle memory. It's usually used by body builders, but it's reasonably safe if used as directed and will really go a long way toward cleaning out your system. Take 45 minutes before exercise on an empty stomach. remember, the sooner the nicotine is completely out of your system (and environment, of course) the sooner the withdrawal will stop.

Good Luck!!