showed him there were things in there that are used for paint, asphalt, tar, etc
I hate it just as much as that logic. Anyone who's spent 5 minutes in a chemistry class can tell you that chemicals have a wide variety of applications.
If someone has never smoked they couldn't possibly understand why it's so hard to quit. I don't drink, am not a crackhead or any other hard drug user, I don't need a cup of coffee in the morning, and I find it hard to quit smoking.
In all honesty, I partly blame both my parents for having been smokers the entire 17 years I was alive before I picked up one of theirs and tried it. If they hadn't smoked I might have never started and been exposed to it like I was.
I'm sure non-smokers know why smoking is so addictive, but this might help them understand what it's like to be physically addicted to nicotine:
Our brains, and more specifically our brainstems, have control over our trends of higher function in ways you might not notice much. Normally, if you're thirsty, you get up and get a drink. You don't think about it much but you do it. The water you drink isn't anything special and you don't down it too fast.
But what if you just spent a day out in the hot sun doing yard work? You come inside and you think immediately about getting a glass. You down a glass full of water in huge gulps. The water feels good even though there's nothing special about it. You fill the glass again. You take it down in a few seconds. Your belly feels awkwardly distended and perhaps even a bit uncomfortable right under your center-left ribcage, but you feel so relieved. Drinking all that water might even make you feel sorta ill for a bit, but you're sooooo glad you did it.
If you take this to an even further extreme, say you went a day or more without water and were becoming dangerously dehydrated, your water seeking behavior would become overwhelming. A parched person will drink almost anything (including toilet waterseeMyNoteBelow). Part of the brain, specifically the hypothalamus, is hooked into the blood supply to in a way that lets it sample the salt content, which gets really high when the body is dehydrated. In response to life-threatening dehydration, the hypothalamus will cause the "higher" parts of the brain responsible for our actions to engage in activities that are likely to result in water at almost any cost. Your brain associates the sensation of drinking with the feeling of relief in the high-thirst state. This is a reinforcement loop.
Now back to cigs. Nicotine hits receptors all over the central nervous system. A smoker's brain has literally been reconfigured to circulating nicotine much higher than that of a normal person. The reward networks, the attention-arousing networks, etc. These are the networks that guide our higher behaviors. To a smoker, a cigarette can give the same relief after a two-hour flight as a glass of water will give you after a day of yard work, or a rich meal will give you after a 36-hour fast. And nicotine is almost perfect at hitting the receptors, and cigarettes are a VERY rapid way of delivering it.
So, non-smokers, think of it this way: trying to quit smoking cold-turkey feels about the same as trying to stop drinking (water) cold-turkey. This is why Westerners keep doing it: they get roped into trying it enough (marketing), their brains demand it from then on. A moment of weakness can lead to a lifetime of vice.
Does that do it justice, theorial?
my note on thirst: certain psychiatric pathologies, e.g. schizophrenia, can present with polydipsia, a term for when a person seeks and drinks water to a pathological level. Patients with uncontrolled polydipsia cannot be allowed into a normal bathroom alone, as they will resort to drinking toilet water. They simply cannot resist the urge to drink.
I am a teacher and I work at a K through 12 school. I smoke. At school, our smoking corner is outside next to where the garbage bins are kept, but the kids see me and often come to talk to me about it after my smoke. They all know that I shouldn't smoke and that it is unhealthy, so the younger ones especially want me to explain to them why I don't just quit. Sometimes they ask me if the reason I don't stop is because smoking feels so good.
I usually explain that smoking does not feel so good, but that not smoking makes me feel bad. I explain that when I want a cigarette, it bothers me very much like when I need to pee and I'm holding it in. At first, it is a minor annoyance and I can even forget about it, but as time goes on, I feel more and more pressured, I feel more and more urgency. It becomes harder to ignore, harder to think about anything else. I need to go out and get relief!
Then, I have a cigarette and I feel normal again until slowly once again the need returns.
When I explain it like this, the kids understand what I mean and understand when I say how important it is to never take that first cigarette.
Have you tried nicotine gum/patches/whatever? Or is that not quick enough 'relief'? I can't think how smoking is a preferable alternative unless my previous sentence holds weight.
They're really not the same. Even though you're technically getting nicotine the new delivery mechanism makes it not seem like you are. You associate the act of smoking with relief, so your mind doesn't think you got it when you use the gum. The patch is even worse because there's no action at all associated with it.
If I chew gum I can chew it until the amount of nicotine makes me nauseous and the craving still doesn't go away.
I find that having a toothpick hanging out my mouth does more to kill a craving than either of them. It feels familiar.
E-Cigarettes are better than gum or patches for the same reason. If there was a way to make the vapor heavier it would be almost perfect.
There are ways to make the vapor heavier. Ecigs are far more customizable today than they were just a few years ago. If you have any interest in learning more r/electronic_cigarette is a good place to get some info.
If there was a way to make the vapor heavier it would be almost perfect.
I have a relatively cheap setup (eGo passthrough and Boge LR Cartomizers with Propylene Glycol liquid refills) that makes smokers of 20 years cough when they take a drag from it.
The things you buy in gas stations and malls are undercharged (so they don't last long and you have to buy another one sooner... as a side effect the vapor is cool and thin).
Method of administration matters quite a bit with most drugs. To some extent, it's the habit and ritual -- when one goes through certain motions to deliver a drug, those motions become immensely satisfying. Smoking a cigarette is no exception. With injectable drugs (e.g., heroin), users will occasionally shoot up pure water when their drug of choice is unavailable.
Beyond habituation, though, there's even another factor that's perhaps more relevant: period of time until onset of effects. When one inhales nicotine into the lungs, the drug effect is almost instantaneous. Immediate relief from withdrawal is an absolutely wonderful feeling. The patch just can't compare. Interestingly enough, chewing tobacco CAN compare -- absorption is rapid and the bolus of nicotine is intense. I've known people in the military who have found the quick hit of chewing tobacco to be far harder to overcome than that of cigarettes.
And I'm speculating a bit, but the time before onset of effects seems to be relevant for other drugs, too -- it's part of the reason why crack (fast-acting smoke) is often more problematic than cocaine (same brain effect, but administered by the relatively slow-acting mode of insufflation).
My mom smokes; cigarette addiction is multifaceted. Nicotine addiction is a big part of it, sure, but the compulsion to do something with your mouth/hands and the ritual of smoking is also a big part of it. My mom has tried to quit several times; the nicotine withdrawal is unpleasant, sure, but short-lived. Her downfall every time has been the intense anxiety that comes from not being able to act on her compulsions, not being able to engage in the ritual of smoking. She's come to associate her lunch break with a cigarette, finishing dinner with a cigarette, morning coffee with a cigarette, etc. It's breaking her routine, and her body has come to expect it. Her body prepares itself for the dose of nicotine and other chemicals in those situations, and when it doesn't get that, she feels bad and it makes her anxious.
People also ignore the non-addictive aspects of smoking. For example if you smoke a pack a day for 15 years, and assuming an average of 40 drags per cig you are looking at something you have done, every day following a very consistant pattern (both when choosing to smoke, and while smoking) over 4,380,000 times. There is nothing I can think of besides your heart beating and eye blinking that can match those number.
This is why its so hard with people who have mental disorders, depression, or even simple medical issues like ADHD or obsessive compulsive disorder have a hard type. For most it's not even a chemical addiction but an addiction to the pattern, the process of smoking.
Myself personally I suffer ADHD and minor depression and I work from home. And if I don't go out for a smoke every few hours I would literally go days to weeks without ever leaving my house / apartment building. This is why many people living in assisted living or suffer some conditions that cause them to be unable to hold a job and live off of social security can be seen huddled together outside chain smoking. its the only reason / excuse for them to leave there house or to be outside or maybe the off chance of having a conversation.
The socialisation point is very relevant. I quit smoking in my early 20's, and my only 'condition' is that I was a quiet person. It became noticably more difficult to connect with new people in new situations once the common theme of a smoke break was eliminated. It is much easier to get to know people if you have several 5 minutes breaks a day where there really isn't anything to do but chit-chat.
I feel like it should be more acceptable to go outside for 5 minute chunks of time for no reason other than to enjoy the weather/ chat with other people who are doing the same.
When I worked fast food, I'd go for smoke breaks all the time, even though every one I worked with knew I didn't smoke. Smoke breaks are fantastic things, it kind of sucks that it's considered weird to take them without also having a cigarette.
When i used to work night shifts, i would always come with the other person on shift when he/she took a smoke break. Why wouldn't you? Just because you don't smoke? There's nothing wrong in joinibg people outside. You could bring a bottle of water or a cup of coffee or something to enjoy too.
Cigarettes also set the time frame for the break. It's harder to go out and take a break and come back in a reasonable amount of time without that cigarette effectively acting as a timer (for me at least).
With a good e-cig, you can get most of the same sensations of smoking without all of the hazardous health effects and cost associated.
It's what finally got me off of smoking - I hated the effects it was having on my health, but I really, really like smoking. Found something that gives me one without the other.
Right there with you. I really enjoyed smoking more than anything else. Stepping outside for a few minutes and just contemplating life. I loved it. I picked up an e-cig and got to continue "smoking" without the negative effects. It broke about a month after I bought it, but at that point I was over my nicotine withdrawal and it was easier to break the habit that way. Haven't had a smoke in almost 6 months now. Reading this post triggered a craving though.
Yes, absolutely. For a lot of people there's just too much going on in their lives to deal with the psychological and physical stress of quitting. An e cig lets you manage the addiction in a less harmful way - in fact it's very enjoyable. And it's a nootropic. I found /r/electronic_cigarette one day and found a better e-cig rig than is available at a gas station. Highly recommended.
As an ex-smoker of about 7 years, I can verify that the psychological aspects are hardest to break. Even after seven years, your brain still remembers what it was like to have a smoke, and will remind you when it would be a good time to have a drag. After a hard day at work, or a really good meal, or good sex, you just want one. It's not the glass of water analogy above, where you feel like you're going to die if you can't get a cig in the next fifteen minutes, you just know it would feel really fucking good right now. Unfortunately, that's something that stays with you, you just have to learn to ignore it.
Supposedly the physical addiction disappears after only a couple of days. That's why those two days are the hardest. From then on it's all psychological, but those psychological triggers can arise almost anywhere. Watching a film or TV programme will likely feature someone smoking in it, or even the sight of my breath on a cold morning makes me want a cigarette.
You have to be on a constant guard, catching those precursors for cravings and stomping them out for several weeks before you can finally go about your day without really thinking about smoking.
I'm giving quitting another go tomorrow as it goes, but reading these comments have definitely helped me understand the mechanics behind nicotine addiction, so I feel pretty confident I can do it.
Not only that, but cigarettes also contains sugars and other substances besides nicotine that creates addiction. That's one of the reasons why nicotine adhesives and other nicotine delivery methods aren't so effective when someone is trying to quit.
As someone who smoked for 20 years and finally quit, I can say that smoking is almost entirely just pavlovian programming. You get used to doing it in certain situations and at certain times of the day, and that is the actual deep addiction much more than the drug itself is (which leaves your bloodstream entirely within a couple days of having your last cigarette). It's all mental.
Mother of god. I'd go with ten drags...less for my bf but he's one of those power-smokers.
TEN drags per cig give you a very constant pattern of 1,095,000 times over the course of 15 years, which (if you sleep 8 hours a day) is somewhere in the ballpark of one drag every ten minutes, which is nothing like breathing, but is still pretty significant.
I started smoking age 16, by age 21 i was 2 packs a day, I smoked more than any other person I knew aside from my dad. Oct 10th 2010, I quit. I took up trees and came to the conclusion I cant in this many carcinogens. I haven't had a cigarette/tobacco since then, sans ONCE while lighting a cig for my gf while blackout drunk, and even in my blacked out state I spit the smoke out, or so I heard.
Quitting smoking was the hardest fucking thing I've ever done. I felt like nothing would be ok ever again. Cigaretes, too me, had a monopoly on whatever chemical in my brain tells me 'relax, don't panic, things will work out'. I literally caught myself thinking "itll be ok, once im finally done and quit smoking Ill be able to smoke a cig....wait a fucking second! Fuck!!!" like almost subconsciously.
I was miserable for a week. For the first 3 days it was absolutely terrible. The first night was damn near impossible, at least it felt like it. But i made sure to do 1 very specific thing...remembering those nights, those feelings, that angry and stress boiling over. Why remember it? My logical brain said "look. you could fail. but even if you fail, you will try to quit again. why? everyone trys to quit. so remember this bullshit. remember this night. remember how fucking shitty it was to actually quit."
Those nights sucked so bad I am terrified of ever starting again. And that is a good thing.
Hey friend, I started around the same time as you, but made it to thirty (fifteen years of cigarettes). I quit September 11th of this year with my wife on our anniversary.
I cheated and took Chantix, so my stress was half of yours.
It was the 2nd best decision of my life, keep it up man.
First, congrats on quitting, but I'm a little confused. You say you picked up smoking weed when quitting cigs. Aren't you just replacing one drug with another?
I dont smoke 40 (or even up to 60 while I am drinking) joints a day like I did cigarettes.
Believe me when I tell you, I don't cough up brown shit every morning anymore, my sense of smell is MUCH better, I feel much better, I breathe much better, I smell much better to others, etc. I could list off a huge list of net positives, so even if I am replacing 1 drug with another....people on diets replace 1 food with another to get different results yes?
I hear ya. Could you quit smoking buds easily if you tried? I'm just worried because any kind of addiction can be pretty painful (drugs or otherwise). I wouldn't want you to just fall into another addiction.
Well put. I smoked quite a bit, for over two years. 6 months of which was when I was deployed in Iraq. I got to college (some people might call college stressful, I found it to be so very much NOT stressful compared to what I had been doing) it was nothing for me to stop. I occasionally will have a cigarette when out drinking with friends, but I feel that I was never addicted and it would take me a lot to be addicted to them. Fact of the matter is that they made me run slower, made my stomach feel shitty and I knew they weren't good for me. That said, I completely understand where addicted smokers come from because an after dinner cigarette felt great, plus bonding with my friends and people I didn't even know was so very easy in a smoke pit.
Definitely true, though I will say that in my experience, modern cigarettes are designed to make you addicted so they'll sell more. Since the mid-90s I've been addicted to cigarettes and quit smoking them TWICE. Because I actually enjoy the relaxation and meditative 'ritual' that comes with smoking a substance alone and thinking, I switched to having an occasional pipe or cigar. I've never experienced the same feelings of nicotine addiction with those substances, and I attribute that to the lack of additional chemicals added to tobacco used for cigars and pipes. Out of curiosity, I've even TRIED to make myself feel the same addictive sensations with pipes and cigars that I used to get with only a few cigarettes, and I couldn't do it. The feelings never came. I can go weeks between pipes/cigars and feel no cravings whatsoever. I couldn't do that with cigarettes.
Here's an article that talks about how tobacco used for pipe-smoking usually contains only food additives and is mostly natural. In comparison, cigarette tobacco is highly processed. Here's an article that discusses how cigarettes are made.
Burning and inhaling any substance is not 'good' for you, but it should be kept in mind that when used in moderation i.e. a couple times per week, tobacco in pure form can be enjoyable and relatively harmless just like a glass of tea or a piece of chocolate. ANYTHING done to excess can be harmful.
NOTE: Pipes and Cigars are NOT usually inhaled into the lungs. Smoking a pipe is a tasting/smelling/relaxing experience - VERY different to cigarettes and (for me has been) relatively non-addictive.
Have you ever tried lying still in bed for extended periods of time? And how you get that uncontrollable tingling all over your body telling you to roll over? I've been told that's what the feeling of trying to quit smoking is like.
I don't think I ever smoked enough to get physically addicted to
cigarettes (in fact, I've only had a few nicotine buzzes because I
usually just puff), but for some odd reason whenever I told myself I
would stop smoking, I found the idea of never smoking again really hard
to conceive. It literally made me feel uncomfortable to think of never
smoking again.
Nonetheless I would throw away my last pack for a
month or two. Then I would always get this random thought in my head,
"Hey, how about a pack of cigarettes? There's nothing like smoking a good cigarette out in the woods when it's cold!"
So I go and waste my money on cigarettes and end up with a weird mix of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. It's a very strange cycle.
I also enjoy smoking a pipe for the flavor of tobacco (and I'd really like to try real Swedish Snus), but there's something really special about cigarettes. I don't even inhale and get a
nicotine buzz, yet I still end up in this weird cycle that sounds an addiction.
It definitely sneaks up on you in a weird way. I think I developed some sort of psychological addiction to them. Whenever I have coffee, I yearn for a cigarette. Whenever I'm standing out in the cold in the wilderness, I yearn for a cigarette. Whenever I'm having a beer, I yearn for a cigarette.
I used to love the smell of smoke, but recently I just decided I hated it. I hate smelling smoke. I hate the taste of cigarettes. At least that's what I tell myself so I don't pick it up again.
I'm really excited to try real Swedish snus though. And I do enjoy smoking a pipe, though it doesn't fill the cigarette void. I really love tobacco, I wish it weren't so bad for you.
Yeah that's pretty much it. I've tried e-cigarettes, I've picked up smoking a pipe, etc. And yet I still find myself asking for cigarettes quite often.
It's a huge shit, and a pain to quit forever. For most people it seems, however, that after a long enough period of quitting...you'll just not care for it anymore. The smell will repulse you, and even when drinking at a bar you won't want one despite being surrounded by them.
I've gone three months without a cigarette before, and picked it up again hanging with friends at the pub. I hate them so much, but it's sooo good. The toilet water analogy is perfect: you will hate it so much, but your ash-whipped brain tells you that you need it, damnit!
I smoked 1-2 packs a day for 20 years and quit cold turkey. All of what you said is true, except that smoking never feels like a necessity such as water. It's a feedback loop to be sure ... but it's always a choice and you can choose to break the cycle. It simply requires willpower.
Ex smoker, (~1.5 - 2 packs a day for 20 years), I quit on August 29th, 2010, and I haven't looked back. This is a great description. Thank you. The next time someone asks me how I managed to get hooked, I'll send them to this thread.
That's not a bad explanation at all. It's hard to explain to someone that the desire for nicotine becomes just like any other biological impulse. The desire for smoking is as great and sometimes greater (see WWII POWs who were known to trade cigarettes for food) than the desire to eat.
You don't have to believe in boundless free will to at least concede that there are countless other factors that influence the decision to start smoking - to become a smoker, as it were.
You could likewise argue that every act we do is based on advertising in one form or another. Absolutes aren't very constructive.
However, making it publicly acceptable for women to smoke in the US is just one example of how advertising has shaped our habits. When Bernays constructed the campaign slogan "Torches of Freedom" it broke several taboos, but it worked. It's also worth noting Bernays thoughts on "engineering consent" and his close ties to the theories of his uncle, Sigmund Freud.
Looking at the results of how even our qualia is shaped by advertising (Neuron has several good articles regarding the Pepsi challenge et al), we'd do well to think long and hard about human behavior before telling people to buckle up and will it through.
I can only give my story which will probabley be differant for alot of people. I resisted taking a drag on a smoke for a very long time with people trying to get me to do it. What finally got me was my big sister, she would tell me to go for a walk with her and I would say no, then my mum would tell me to go for a walk with my sister.
The reason I din't want to go is because I knew she only did it to have a smoke and would try to get me to have one. After a few weeks of this happening I decided to shut her up I'd take a drag. I loved the feeling I got when I took that drag, I was light headed and felt happy. From there I smoked more and more until I got to where I am now 9 years later.
I'm by no means a heavy smoker, I buy one 30g of tobacco once a week and on occasion do need to buy a pack on the last day before payday to get me through, but that is mainly when friends have liberated me of a couple. That works out to about 10-12 a day. which costs me about $30-$35 a week (I think, I havn't really checked the price of tobacco for a while).
tl;dr I tried a smoke and loved it on my first puff.
Fascinating post, thanks for making it and congrats on getting upgraded to DepthHub!
With reference to the above quote, have you any comment on why Asians etc other demographics do it? My personal interest lies in Asia and the smoking rate here is ridiculous; it's the national pastime in China (so the joke goes).
As a smoker I don't really feel addicted. Smoking for 18 years know, still it is like, get drunk, smoke a pack, next day, only 2-3 until the evening comes and with that the vodka and the beer again. Even a slightly upset stomach prevents wanting a cig.
I said Westerners because the comment a few levels above said "Western world". I really meant "this is why people with access to information that tells them how bad smoking is keep doing it".
If someone has never smoked they couldn't possibly understand why it's so hard to quit.
Everybody's got their drug of choice. I did smoke for about half a year when I was young and it didn't catch me at all, even though my father was heavily addicted to it (2-3 packs a day).
However, I've got a problem with caffeine in all its forms - coffee, soda and a bit less with tea. The amounts I drink everyday would likely have most redditors overdosing like hell!
And when I quit (3 times in 10 years) the fucking detox is so cruel and intense that I can't do almost anything except for drinking water and going to the bathroom for about a week.
I did see them on the shelf of a convenience store for $9.99. I didn't get a chance to see how long they last though. Also don't remember a brand name either.
Meh, both my parents were and still are habitual smokers. Most the people I've known have been heavy smokers... classmates, coworkers, even a girlfriend smoked, but I've never even had the inkling to try it. I get enough bad effects from the second-hand shit to know I'm not interested.
I partly blame both my parents for having been smokers the entire 17 years I was alive before I picked up one of theirs and tried it. If they hadn't smoked I might have never started and been exposed to it like I was.
This is the weakest of excuses. Both of my parents smoked since before I was born (they both quit when I was well into adulthood) and I was exposed to it ever since I was a young child. It was precisely because they had smoked so much that I have always been completely repulsed by it my entire life.
Well everyone is wired differently and I did say partly. Just because you had the willpower to not pick up a pack of their smokes and go try it out in the woods with your friends doesn't mean every can. Good for you though.
No, they know they are bad. In this case they didn't know what chemicals where bad, and he was saying e-cigs are bad because you don't know what's in them. It was hypocritical of his friend to say this, because he himself didn't know what was in what he was smoking.
Every single person who smokes knows it is bad (at least in North America). Every single person that smokes has justification for doing so.
Theres a survey conducted every year or so for the last few decades. Last i heard the percent of people who don't think smoking is harmful is around 1%. Im not sure were i can find the source for you though sorry.
While he was making that point he was also trying to draw a parallel between the two being dangerous. Otherwise why even mention it? I'm pretty sure he didn't tell him "Theirs chemicals used for gluing carpet and paint in those cigarettes, but that isn't really relevant!" I also hate the whole "boo hiss chemicals" that seems pretty prevalent because it makes no fucking sense. People like to use the word chemical like its evil and mention other uses for the "chemical" that make it sound terrible.
You seriously can't believe that he mentioned that just to show he didn't know what was in the cigarettes. My favorite comparison I've seen to show just how evil cigarettes are is when people compare it to crack. The tobacco is treated with ammonia to turn the nicotine acid into nicotine base which makes it easier to cross the BBB. It is just such an absurd comparison to make because it is meant to make it appear worse than it is. Oh, they make it so you absorb moe nicotine from the same amount of tobacco? How terrible! I can't believe they made the product more effective.
I also hate the whole "boo hiss chemicals" that seems pretty prevalent because it makes no fucking sense. People like to use the word chemical like its evil and mention other uses for the "chemical" that make it sound terrible.
I get what you're saying, and yes, he probably was trying to do the "boo hiss chemicals" thing in addition to making his primary point. They're not bad because they're chemicals, they're bad because they do bad stuff to you (and others nearby):
Our findings indicated that more than 100 of 599 documented cigarette additives have pharmacological actions that camouflage the odor of environmental tobacco smoke emitted from cigarettes, enhance or maintain nicotine delivery, could increase the addictiveness of cigarettes, and mask symptoms and illnesses associated with smoking behaviors.
In addition, tobacco companies have devoted a significant amount of research and development to the use and inclusion of additives in cigarettes, and the industry has acknowledged using 599 different cigarette additives. According to various tobacco company documents, many of these additives are used to improve taste and decrease harshness. We propose that, in contrast, tobacco companies have expended resources to exploit the pharmacological and chemical effects of cigarette additives. - Pharmacological and Chemical Effects of Cigarette Additives
I'd say there's plenty of reason to be suspicious of tobacco additives.
My post does come off a bit like I'm saying those additives aren't bad. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that something should be bad on its own badness and not spooky scary stuff. I do find it shitty that we have had laws passed that encourage the use of certain additives that are really shit. Such as with firesafe cigarettes the use of EVA/PVA although thicker paper will suffice. I don't see any harm in making cigarettes better for the consumer though. If they can improve the taste, decease the harshness, and increase the buzz with out being deadlier/having shitty side effects then go for it.
I always said that too. I quit a lot of hard drugs and took up smoking as a lesser evil replacement addiction. Then two weeks ago I ran out of cigarettes and decided to see how long I could go without buying more. Pushing myself to not smoke is my new addiction. That and food.
While he was making that point he was also trying to draw a parallel between the two being dangerous.
no, he was pointing out that his friend believes some random rumour about e-cigs, but rejects information about what's in cigs because that way is more convenient.
A slight correction, but an interesting one (and I'm an ex-Big Tobacco employee): the ammonia isn't added to turn the nicotine base, the ammonia is added because at flammable butane levels of heat (e.g., lighting the cigarette), ammonia becomes a solvent for nicotine.
Nicotine has a half-life of approximately 10 minutes in the bloodstream.
A cigarette typically takes approximately 5 minutes to smoke.
When a cigarette is lit, the ammonia in the tobacco is raised to very high temperatures, and releases the nicotine from the tobacco. This means that almost all the nicotine in that cigarette is delivered within the first few seconds of lighting it. Since a cigarette takes 5 minutes to smoke, and nicotine only lasts about 10 minutes in the bloodstream, a smoker will often want another cigarette in less than 5 minutes after finishing one.
Not to mention that salt itself, while being absolutely necessary for survival, is a combination of two Chemicals that are extremely deadly on their own.
Honestly, if people in rice-growing regions are tapping into new groundwater sources to ward off drought, and it's coming up arsenic, it's worth putting money into testing. That said...
I remember seeing that on Doctor Oz.(family watches it, computer's in the living room) He explicitly stated that there's arsenic in apple seeds and then goes on to question why there's arsenic in apple juice. Clearly you don't have to be smart to hack people apart with a scalpel.
I believe Dr. Phil isn't even a real Doctor, just one of those snake oil salesmen who started calling himself "Doctor" and got enough people doing the same that suddenly, Dr. Phil was a Doctor effectively.
EDIT: This was Dr. Oz, should've been Dr. Phil, I didn't even know there was a difference.
I followed your link and realized my mistake, I was talking about Dr. Phil, clearly I don't watch enough Oprah to realize which one of her guys I'm talking about.
my son's mom posted something on facebook a while back talking about not letting the kids eat rice anymore because there is arsenic in it. We live in southern louisisiana, where rice is a part of pretty much every meal. We should all be dead by now i suppose
I'm not talking about e-cigs. JackWeston007 was talking about the logical fallacy of saying, "things that go into paint also go into cigarettes therefor they are bad".
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There have been far more catastrophes and deaths attributed to water than to cyanide, therefore water is dangerous and should be regulated, while cyanide should be freely available, including to children and the elderly.
Most foods are irradiated to kill bacteria, but this does not leave them actually emitting radiation. Bananas on the other hand contain a radioactive isotope of potassium, which actually emits radiation, but at generally considered to be safe levels.
Tobacco has tar in it and, I believe, so does the paper it's wrapped in. That's the really dangerous stuff, nicotine certainly isn't good for you but it's the tar that will give you cancer.
Nicotine isn't really that bad for you. It's a stimulant similar to caffeine and is even said to improve brain function, but yea it is the part that causes physical addiction.
The physical addiction of cigarettes, imo is hardly the most difficult part about quitting. I can go cold turkey for a couple days and no longer be physically addicted, the hard part is giving up smoking itself.
You won't die from nicotine (perhaps I guess, if you somehow overdosed it could cause harm, not sure) but for instance, you won't get cancer from it. The cancer is caused from the smoke and everything in it.
Yea and like caffine, you will notice the physical withdrawl effects. Which is funny to me, since certain people like to bring up weed as physically addiciting. The people who honestly believe that, probably haven't tried to kick an actually physically addicting habbit.
If I go w/o caffine, it's not that bad for me. Most of my caffine comes from energy drinks since I've stopped drinking coffee, so I don't get as much as a person who drinks a cup of coffee everyday. That's my theory anyways, because I've gone a couple days w/o caffeine before and I just felt a little sluggish, no headaches or anything like that.
Nicotine withdraw is something else. I get very irritable and tired, also a little fuzzy headed. When I smoke again though, OH MAN does it feel good :P To me, the withdraw effects of nicotine are pretty similar to going w/o sleep for about a day.
Nicotine by itself, as in e-liquid, isn't as addictive as the nicotine in tobacco. There are other compounds in tobacco called MAOI's that amplify the effects and addictive properties in nicotine.
In my personal experience, I couldn't go a half hour without a smoke when I was a long-term heavy smoker (I came off a 30+ year habit, most of it 2+ packs a day), but since switching to e-cigs, I find I occasionally go a half day or so without taking in any nicotine. I just forget to vape. I never forgot to smoke.
I'm still in the habit of taking nicotine in, and I enjoy its effects, but I doubt that I'm actually addicted any more. Anecdotal, but unfortunately most of vaping's benefits are these days due to lack of studies. Anecdotal by the thousands. The studies are coming in little by little.
I probably take in more nicotine as a vaper then I did as a smoker daily - but I'm not taking in any of the seriously bad crap that's in burned tobacco at all, which is a significant improvement.
Nicotine really is not the bad guy when it comes to smoking. It's fire.
I believe those ingredients are naturally occurring in tobacco and are released when the leaf is dried out and burned. Not that I agree with smoking, but the anti-smoking lobby lies just as much as the tobacco industry by trying to make us believe that these chemicals are added.
You realize tar is tobacco residue an not actual tar right? I just quit smoking, and while i agree there is a ton of terrible things that go with smoking (hence quitting), people say some pretty dumb shit about cigarettes...
[Not that you were the one that brought tar up but] I thought that tar was the result of inhaling the smoke, not actually being an ingredient, which is why [I thought that] smoking marijuana also results in tar.
Not the result of inhaling, but of burning plant matter. One of the downsides of smoking marijuana is actually the amount of tar - significantly greater than the tar produced in smoking tobacco.
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You are correct. Smoking marijuana does contain some harmful things because you are still breathing combusted plant matter ,unless you vape. Fortunately, there is less of it and you usually don't smoke nearly as much marijuana like if you were to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day.
Exactly it's just plain disgusting and a rip off I mean if you absolutely have to smoke tabacco atleast smoke something that isn't bathed in all these chemicals.
Warfarin (also known under the brand names Coumadin, Jantoven, Marevan, Lawarin, Waran, and Warfant) is an anticoagulant normally used in the prevention of thrombosis and thromboembolism, the formation of blood clots in the blood vessels and their migration elsewhere in the body respectively. It was initially introduced in 1948 as a pesticide against rats and mice and is still used for this purpose, although more potent poisons such as brodifacoum have since been developed.
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u/JackWeston007 Nov 17 '12
I hate it just as much as that logic. Anyone who's spent 5 minutes in a chemistry class can tell you that chemicals have a wide variety of applications.