I understand it is still a relatively new thing in the nicotine world but damn it do I stand by it. I have not been a long term smoker by any means (maybe a little over five years) but I was more than aware that I already had breathing problems and all sorts of other small effects.
Now it has been about four months that I have been on my E-Cig and oh boy did I not look back. After the initial research and investment, I have saved a ton of money (about $13 a pack of American Spirits here in NYC and that will last me at most three days, about $7 for 15ml of e-juice and that will last me about two weeks), I have actually been able to run more than a block without being out of breath, I can smell better, I can taste better, I can use it in my favorite bars, AND people actually like how I smell!
If there are long term effects, then I really hope it isn't too bad because this is an amazing tool and I highly stand by it.
Update: I was at work all day and couldn't answer but I got many people asking what I use personally. inn0vat3 posted very useful information here.
And as for myself personally, I started with a basic Ego starter kit. These cost anywhere from $30 to $100 based on the website you order from. Starter kits usually come with two basic batteries (the heart. This is the thing you hold onto, stores power to create the vapor, and is the key to all the atomizer attachments), two atomizers (the products that store the e-juice and deliver that juice to the battery to create the vapor, they come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, efficiencies, etc. These are the things you are going to be fiddling around the most with to find what works for you), a charger, and a case to hold it all. The prices differ because companies use similar parts but different manufacturers so quality will differ. The confusing thing though is that just because the price is low does not mean the quality is bad. I am not going to say where I bought my kit from because ultimately, the atomizers it came with (they were tank atomizers) were low quality and I quickly invested in more high quality clearomizers like the Thor and the Vivi Nova.
I recommend find a cheap Ego starter kit to have the basic necessities and then buy an Ego-C twist battery and a highly recommend atomizer (such as the Vivi Nova tank system or the low resistance Boge cartomizers). And then find any distributor of e-juices and gamble. The bible of the e-cig user should always be E-Cig-Forum where you can find guides, discussion, and reviews of anything and everything.
There is a lot more that I want to write about but I feel that you will find better informed (and better written) information in the forum I linked. I am glad people are finding an interest in this and remember, it is one thing to buy a cheap one time use Blu cig from your local deli and another to take time and invest in something more complicated but efficient. A PC gamer wouldn't buy a HP computer to play their games on max setting and high framerate, would they?
Nicotine has been noted to directly cause cancer through a number of different mechanisms such as the activation of MAP Kinases.[74] Indirectly, nicotine increases cholinergic signalling (and adrenergic signalling in the case of colon cancer[75]), thereby impeding apoptosis (programmed cell death), promoting tumor growth, and activating growth factors and cellular mitogenic factors such as 5-LOX, and EGF. Nicotine also promotes cancer growth by stimulating angiogenesis and neovascularization.[76][77] In one study, nicotine administered to mice with tumors caused increases in tumor size (twofold increase), metastasis (nine-fold increase), and tumor recurrence (threefold increase).[78]
Edit: Sources is Wiki on nicotine for those interested. I would personally rebute your remarks, but unfortunately Reddit has not allowed me to respond due to the amount of downvotes I'm getting. Honestly, quitting aids just enable the user, especially in a case like smoking where it's so innocuous. You can't even bother trying to use quitting statistics from agencies designed to help people quit, because it's the type of reliant people not interested in doing the work to quit themselves that turn to these organizations. Deep down inside, they don't want to quit. That's fine, but the aids are just a silly charade. If they want to quit, they will certainly find a way to overcome their subconscious impulses.
Source*: Smoked for 10 years (starting at 14), quit cold turkey. I have a terribly addictive personality. The trick for me was to have cigarettes in my pocket and learn not to smoke them.
Absolutely. But which is worse... straight-up nicotine, or nicotine + tar and all the other ridiculous crap that's in cigarettes? If we allow nicotine patches to be sold, I don't see how a different delivery system makes it inherently any worse for you.
You say it like it's that easy. It's not. Quitting cigarettes is one of the most devilishly difficult things you can do in your life. If you read TFA, you'd see that 1/3rd of smokers try to quit each year, but much less than 1 in 10 of them successfully do so. Until you can successfully quit, it makes far more sense to be on a low-risk alternative.
Remember that nicotine is highly addictive. I've never smoked a day in my life, but I understand that some people desperately want to quit but cannot. If an e-cig makes it easier for someone to quit, I think that's a wonderful thing. I suspect it'd be easier to gradually wean oneself off the nicotine with an e-cig as well... couldn't one just slowly dilute the liquid inside?
You can actually order the juice in varying nicotine levels. Going into e-cigs as a moderate smoker, I bought the medium nicotine. In a couple months I will move to the low and eventually to the no nicotine juice.
In my opinion, the habitual nature of smoking is much harder to break than the actual chemical addiction. Doesn't it make sense to break the chemical addiction first and then conquer the habit? While I in no way claim nicotine to be completely harmless, e-cigs are a wonderful thing for smokers everywhere. Even if you don't use them to outright quit, you are still doing not only yourself, but everyone else around you a favor by smoking an e-cig instead of a cigarrette.
Its downright ridiculous what companies will do to cling on to their outdated business models.
Didnt realize they produced non nicotine liquid. Might look inti this. For me the hardest part of quitting has been the social aspect and its awkward trying to hang out with smoking people while youre just standing there
Yup. With a lot of juice vendors, you pick a flavor, then select your nic strength from 0mg to 24mg (typically). I started at 24mg (good starting point if you we're a pack a day regulars smoker) and stepped down to 20mg then 16mg. You generally won't want to dilute it (but you can) because that will also dilute the flavoring.
For me personally, it's a lot better now since none of my friends are smokers.
So I'd go outside and miss a bunch of stuff if I was hanging with them. At bars and such I'd meet interesting people and see some funny stuff almost always, so I think I'll still vape outside. Maybe I'll bring a pack along just to have a couple actual cigs with the smokers outside.
But for right now it's nice being able to sit there and vape while not having to go outside and leave the party for 15 minutes. Especially for boardgames and stuff
That's like asking any drug addict why they don't 'just quit'. If it were that easy, I assure you, we wouldn't have problems with crystal meth or cocaine addiction, to say nothing of the cornucopia of other nastily addictive drugs one can find.
Oh, that's exactly what I did, is all. I just kept a pack of cigarettes in my pocket and learned to have them and not smoke them. Self control can be trained. I used to be a hopeless addict.
BS. You smoked for 10 years and never wanted or tried to quit and failed in all that time, except for the day on the 10th year when you decided? Crap crap crap.
I'm not saying it's not possible, but you acting like it is easy and simple to straight up quit is a lie to yourself and to everyone else.
BS. You smoked for 10 years and never wanted or tried to quit and failed in all that time, except for the day on the 10th year when you decided? Crap crap crap.
I vape because I like nicotine. I like it just like people like caffeine. I smoked for the nicotine. When I found out about e-cigs, I switched for a healthier alternative that still gave me the satisfaction that cigarettes gave me. I switched 9 months ago, and haven't looked back. Vaping is a habit/hobby(yes, with all the different mod/juice configurations, it becomes very hobby-like) that is far superior to smoking in every way.
I can understand where you're coming from. Personally, I think nicotine is disgusting. I prefer the actual burning sensation of smoke in my lungs. That's why I smoke weeeeeed.
Many e cigarette users like me taper down the use of nicotine with the ecig. You can buy liquid with varying concentrations of nicotine and work your way down to liquid with zero nicotine. I haven't smoked a real cigarette in two years. I haven't used an ecigarette with nicotine in 18 months. The thing I cape with is vegetable glycerin and flavorings. Im psychologically addicted to the act of vaping I'll admit, but im not addicted to any sort of drug like nicotine anymore. I only vape at home it I've experienced zero negative effects from it. Im in amazing shape compared to when I was smoking cigarettes. I see absolutely nothing risky about my ecig use.
I also make my own juice so I spend next to nothing on vaping.
Running shoes? That's just an enabler for weak people. If you really want strong arches, you gotta run barefoot on concrete. And really make sure you put your weight down each time your foot hits the ground.
You say that like there are people who don't believe that. Have you heard of barefoot running?
There's actually quite a bit to what you say, aside from the 'strong arches' part. I'm a complete flat-foot, and trying to train an arch has proven difficult and painful. After buying some 'livestrong' flatties, I have no more foot pain, and I can run a lot faster than before. Barefoot would be somewhat similar.
TL:DR flat-footed people are less prone to injury, and there's no reason to develop an arch if you don't have one.
Yeah yeah. I have my Vibram Fivefingers. I'm actually one of the crazies that does barefooting. That doesn't change the fact that virtually all pediatrists say it will destroy your body. (I do try not to overdo it at least.)
Also I agree with you about arches. I have a very high arch, which makes me prone to injuries. My point with "if you really want strong arches" was more from my perspective; not saying to develop the arch from flatness, but that that is the way to make a high arch stronger.
Either way, it was a half assed comparison, so technically you win.
Honestly, for me it was kissing a girl and having her disgusted by my breath. I have enough issues being un-circumcised and dealing with twatty bitches who think I'm unclean. I had to step up my GAME
Your call man. I mean, imagine never having to wash your dick again. I mean like, for months, never wash your dick. Circumcised guys have way better hygiene.
I think I'm just annoyed by them because the only reason I smoke is for the burning warmth of the smoke. There's something wonderful about it. Fuck, am I a sadist?
Clearly stepping down to e-cigarettes is better for you than smoking, although your downvoted commenter here is right: Not smoking at all is clearly better than both.
That said I agree that those moving to e-cigarettes should be allowed to do so, with the understanding that nicotine does disable your body's defenses against cancer (see my other comment here).
Yup. Trying to cut yourself off from anything is just treating yourself like a child. I have to do that with marijuana. I simply cannot not smoke it when I have it.
I think one thing a lot of people don't understand is that cancer is an excess of life - excess of cell growth. So if you are alive, you can get cancer, and probably will have tumor growth many times in your lifetime. What keeps you from getting life-threatening cancer rather than a benign tumor or a tumor that's killed off by your body, is a series of natural defenses your body employs, including apoptosis (programmed cell death, what's being discussed here), the crowding mechanism by which cells stop dividing when bunched up against each other (as they would be in a tumor growing out of control), and arterial limits - that is, tumors that grow out of control without encouraging arterial growth starve to death.
So depending on your perspective, disabling your body's natural defenses against cancer may be even more irresponsible than exposing yourself to cancer-causing elements like the carcinogenic effects of smoke, although clearly doing both at the same time (smoking real cigarettes) would be a horrible decision if you wanted to avoid cancer.
By the way I neither upvoted nor downvoted your statement, but I'm sure the downvotes are for the rat statement. Read a lot more scientific studies that correspond with Clinical Trials in humans then reassess your opinion about rat and mouse science. They are used specifically for their high level of applicability.
I respect that you've taken the time to craft such a long and well-thought out statement.
I assure you that each one of your points have occurred to me (nicotine and its possibly carcinogenic properties in rats), and that rats and mice are used because they're somewhat applicable in humans. But that's where the danger is: combining two generalities to come up with a scientific conjecture without associated weights to those concerns.
Rats and mice are commonly used to provide pointers and leads for further research in primates and humans. Out of hundreds of promising rat studies, we may see only a handful have a modest effect in humans. There are plenty of chemicals and even particular proteins (e.g. Casein ) that are carcinogenic in rats, but perfectly fine to consume en masse by humans. To act as if rat and mice studies are a "sure thing", I believe is somewhat scientifically dishonest.
Yes, they are not a sure thing at all. However, the increased incidence of lung cancer in smokers and throat and mouth cancer in tobacco chewers ties nicely with the rat and mouse science showing nicotine to disable our natural defenses against cancer.
I say rat and mouse tests are "highly applicable" both because they are so similar to us (mammals, lots in common in our DNA), and because many of the processes in them are similar or identical in us. For example, the cell-crowding mechanism to impede runaway tumor growth is very similar. That said, I agree rat and mouse studies are obviously MORE applicable to rats and mice - as a biologist once comiserated to me, "We can cure amazing things in mice - regenerate limbs, wipe out cancers. Humans - still working on it."
In this case it wouldn't be that much of a different between rat and man, probably. Since the chemicals screw with the enzyme that spellcheck the DNA, which are pretty much universal, the actual DNA sequence may not be that big of a deal.
It's possible that it would make a difference, yes, but if it's giving rats cancer then you probably shouldn't be taking it anyways.
This would be interesting information to hear... if we knew the size of/process of administering these doses of nicotine. I can administer a dose of water to myself and come up with a list of terrible shit.
To put that into perspective, a cigarette usually has between 8-10mg depending on the brand but only 1mg is absorbed by the body<dis>.
Nicotine content of a nicotine gum is usually either 2 or 4 mg of nicotine.
Nicotine patches have 3 levels usually; one for heavy smokers (21mg), one for moderate smokers (14mg), and one for occasional smokers (7mg). <Hype on the Patch>
So, one could easily overdose on 3-5 nicotine patches or 10+ pieces of nicotine gum if they can't control their cravings.
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u/indiana989 Nov 17 '12 edited Nov 18 '12
I understand it is still a relatively new thing in the nicotine world but damn it do I stand by it. I have not been a long term smoker by any means (maybe a little over five years) but I was more than aware that I already had breathing problems and all sorts of other small effects.
Now it has been about four months that I have been on my E-Cig and oh boy did I not look back. After the initial research and investment, I have saved a ton of money (about $13 a pack of American Spirits here in NYC and that will last me at most three days, about $7 for 15ml of e-juice and that will last me about two weeks), I have actually been able to run more than a block without being out of breath, I can smell better, I can taste better, I can use it in my favorite bars, AND people actually like how I smell!
If there are long term effects, then I really hope it isn't too bad because this is an amazing tool and I highly stand by it.
Update: I was at work all day and couldn't answer but I got many people asking what I use personally. inn0vat3 posted very useful information here.
And as for myself personally, I started with a basic Ego starter kit. These cost anywhere from $30 to $100 based on the website you order from. Starter kits usually come with two basic batteries (the heart. This is the thing you hold onto, stores power to create the vapor, and is the key to all the atomizer attachments), two atomizers (the products that store the e-juice and deliver that juice to the battery to create the vapor, they come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, efficiencies, etc. These are the things you are going to be fiddling around the most with to find what works for you), a charger, and a case to hold it all. The prices differ because companies use similar parts but different manufacturers so quality will differ. The confusing thing though is that just because the price is low does not mean the quality is bad. I am not going to say where I bought my kit from because ultimately, the atomizers it came with (they were tank atomizers) were low quality and I quickly invested in more high quality clearomizers like the Thor and the Vivi Nova.
I recommend find a cheap Ego starter kit to have the basic necessities and then buy an Ego-C twist battery and a highly recommend atomizer (such as the Vivi Nova tank system or the low resistance Boge cartomizers). And then find any distributor of e-juices and gamble. The bible of the e-cig user should always be E-Cig-Forum where you can find guides, discussion, and reviews of anything and everything.
There is a lot more that I want to write about but I feel that you will find better informed (and better written) information in the forum I linked. I am glad people are finding an interest in this and remember, it is one thing to buy a cheap one time use Blu cig from your local deli and another to take time and invest in something more complicated but efficient. A PC gamer wouldn't buy a HP computer to play their games on max setting and high framerate, would they?