As simple as it looks, the cigarette is a highly engineered nicotine-delivery device. For instance, when tobacco researchers found that much of the nicotine in a cigarette wasn't released when burned but rather remained chemically bound within the tobacco leaf, they began adding substances such as ammonia to cigarette tobacco to release more nicotine. Ammonia helps keep nicotine in its basic form, which is more readily vaporized by the intense heat of the burning cigarette than the acidic form. Most cigarettes for sale in the U.S. today contain 10 milligrams or more of nicotine. By inhaling smoke from a lighted cigarette, the average smoker takes in one to two milligrams of vaporized nicotine per cigarette.
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