Sorry but no. habits generally take weeks to months to form. that smoking becomes habitual certainly makes quitting harder. there is no doubt there. but, if smoking was far less addictive, it would be far less likely to ever develop as a habit. Remember, that nicotine from smoking (or vaping) starts affecting your brain essentially instantly, creating a dopamine hit, as well as the other affects. it is that which makes nicotine addictive. not some random associated habits that developed over weeks or months.

Also your sources aren't very good. In the first, there's no direct link to the studies in question, but based entirely on what was said int he article... I'm doubting very much they took into consideration the use of alternatives by flight attendants- patches and gums are extremely common among FA's that smoke; specifically to manage the cravings while they're forbidden from smoking. And from what I can tell with a quick search (I'm far from authoritative here,) snuff has been used as an alternative to smoking on shabbat... from pretty much the first time it was brought to Europe, so I would have to assume patches are also a viable method of controlling cravings there as well.

In any case, nobody really says that nicotine causes cancer. At least, no one even remotely honest.

tobacco use causes cancer. As RSPH notes:

Nicotine is harmful in cigarettes largely because it is combined with other damaging chemicals such as tar and arsenic,

however it goes on to be wrong about one thing:

Electronic cigarettes and Nicotine Replacement Therapy (gum, lozenges, and patches) contain nicotine but don’t contain the harmful substances found in cigarettes.

vapes frequently contain toxic chemicals. many are frequently contaminants from extraction; some are added as flavoring or turn into toxic chemicals because of being vaporized, which changes chemical structures. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Nobody really knows for sure what the long term impacts of vaping is- even if the vape juice is just water; we don't really know if it's safe or not. One thing people do know is that Nicotine is addictive, and that you keep saying it's 'not that bad' makes me think maybe you're trying to justify something. I don't care if you smoke or vape. nobody here does. But I do care that you're spreading misinformation about things.

Talk to any one whose tried quitting both caffeine and nicotine. there's really no comparison between the two; and saying there's not is patent bullshit.

The review study I linked says vaping doesn't have higher success rate when it comes to stopping.

links single paper supporting point amongst the hundreds that refute it

paper is written by a guy on the payroll of a tobacco company

Lmfao.

That data is 6 years out of date and times have massively changed. Seriously, just go walk down the street after the kids have finished school for the day and your eyes will be opened.

This report is from 2 years ago so still out of date, but you can see the change that happened just in the 4 years between this and the one you linked:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vaping-in-england-evidence-update-february-2021/vaping-in-england-2021-evidence-update-summary

Under half (43.0%) of 11 to 18 year olds who were current and former vapers reported always using vaping products that contained nicotine – 17.3% reported always using nicotine-free products. Three out of five (61.3%) 16 to 19 year olds who had vaped in the past 30 days used nicotine in their current product – 17.3% said their product did not contain nicotine.

Over half (58.2%) of 16 to 19 year olds who had vaped in the past 30 days did not feel addicted to vaping but 38.5% said they felt a little or very addicted.

Just under a fifth (18.4%) of current vapers aged 11 to 18 reported experiencing urges to vape almost all the time or all the time.

More 11 to 18 year olds who had tried vaping said they had:...

tried a vaping product and never tried smoking (28.9%)

https://www.rsph.org.uk/about-us/news/nicotine--no-more-harmful-to-health-than-caffeine-.html

I didn't compare harm, I was saying that caffeine is very useful neurotoxin. Meanwhile nicotine is completely useless at best.