Would you say it's a feeling of artificial normality? I read once that some schizophrenics smoke as a method of self treatment. I'm not sure how else to understand how a nonsmoker feels all the time. Did you ever feel a high sensation again, or was it just the first few times? I'm not familiar with nicotine as a psychoactive drug. From what I'm gathering in other comments, it seems like a user manifests a habit, say wanting to look cool by smoking, and nicotine reinforces it with punishing withdrawal and a restless calling to said habit.