http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hooked-from-the-first-cigarette (link is paygated, I read it in the dead tree edition of the magazine)
I quit the nicotine for 6 or 7 days following your comment, and didn't notice anything, so at least for me, I'm not concerned. (Obviously this lack of concern presumes that I really am/was taking nicotine; the effects still aren't clear to me, and I'm pondering buying some nicotine pills for an independent comparison.)
As far as your second link goes, I didn't find it too persuasive; it deals exclusively with tobacco, as far as I can tell, which I had already cited as a relevant difference as to why I expected pure nicotine to be less addictive, and the scariest figures seem to be based on lumping in any positive answer on pretty general surveys ('Have you ever felt like you really needed a cigarette?' Gosh, who hasn't?)
Latest in an irregular series, some of whose previous entries were Edge.org and the Girl Scouts...
I examine the Folding@home distributed computing project with reference to the costs (electricity resulting in air pollution causing deaths) and benefits (some papers): http://www.gwern.net/Charity is not about helping. Additional data on either side of the cost-benefit is welcome.
(I also recently split out my essay describing things I have changed my mind on.)