Nicotine poisoning was an effective way of assassinating folk back in the day as Nicotine was hard to detect in autopsies. The chemical compound was easier to gain access to also, just like cyanide; not so much anymore.
For your average punter though, to poison yourself via nicotine you’d have to expose yourself directly to the pure chemical compound, ingest, or smoke a ridiculous amount of cigarettes. I will add though that certain folk are predisposed to sensitivity to nicotine, much like sensitivity to caffeine where it will have exaggerated effects compared to someone who isn’t sensitive. What Derry described wasn’t nicotine poisoning.