[...] Marketing aside, the lawsuits raise the question: how bad is nicotine, really? Law professor Kathleen Hoke, who specializes in public health law at the University of Maryland, says that in adults, nicotine’s health consequences “don’t kill you, don’t make you have an oxygen tank, don’t cause cancer.” Hoke adds that staking the lawsuits on nicotine’s health impacts — like in a traditional cigarette suit — may be a long shot.