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Anyone Tried These Newfangled E-Cigarettes?

Posted: Tue Jun 25, 2013 2:13 pm
by CounterPunch
Ashamedly, I am a smoker. I recently tried to quit and wasn't able to, as the saying goes "you can only quit when you want to quit" and obviously I didn't really want to. Had a recommendation to try out these e-cigarettes and so picked up a starter pack and have been using it for a few days now.

I'm aware that there are questions regarding the safety of e-cigarettes, as I believe what actually goes in to them isn't especially stringently regulated, and they aren't required to do clinical studies (afaik).

I know there are/were some smokers on the board, so was curious as to whether anyone else has tried out an e-cigarette and what your experiences are?

I'm a bit cautious at the moment, I'm not really a chain smoker, where I smoke until I can't smoke anymore. I usually have 1, then leave it a while, and so I've always self regulated by finishing the cigarette, whereas now I'm having to self-regulate by either how long I'm using it, or whether I feel like having any more, which is strange to me.

So, thoughts?

Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 8:59 pm
by Clay
Never smoked myself, but I sell cigarettes and tobacco where I work, so my perspective is a bit removed.

Frequent comment about the ecigs is that, yes, it's hard to know when to stop versus a normal cigarette that burns out. They also may or may not be healthier than normal cigarettes; they don't possess any of the tar that would build up in your lungs otherwise, but nicotine by itself is still a carcinogen.

Overall though, I'd say from my entirely anecdotal and non-scientific experience of watching a few hundred smokers' buying habits for the last three years, quitting smoking is more about overcoming the habit than it is about breaking a chemical addiction. I think the overlap comes from most of the people who smoke a lot having OCD tendencies: they have to have a certain kind of cigarette, no substitute, and at certain times of day/situations, combined with a culture that describes cigarette consumption in X packs per day that encourages a high rate of consumption to begin with. To me that speaks more of the difficulty of breaking obsessive habits than a chemical addiction, although other obsessive habits don't tend to have the health risks.

The people I have seen quit are the people that didn't smoke as a routine. They'd hop back and forth among brands and, while being addicted to the nicotine, didn't seem to smoke as a habit.

If all else fails, just buy the nastiest, non-filtered cigarettes you can find. Then you just won't want to smoke.

Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 9:28 pm
by Sades
I used to smoke- still will have a cigarette (despite Hound's dirty looks) if I get a bit tipsy. It's the only time I crave a cigarette, and I think a part of that is the social aspect. Rarely drink that much nowadays (and like a good Mummy I haven't had any to drink since we decided to have the young'un). That said, the first time I saw e-cigarettes was when I was in the US- seems like a good idea, though I don't know that much about them. My first thought was about possibly buying them for relatives who still smoke and have had a hard time kicking the habit.

Personally, I don't know- they may be unregulated, but could they be any worse for a person than a cigarette?

Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 9:54 pm
by Skyquake87
There's a bit of a debate in the UK about these things at the moment in trying to regulate the market for these things...over health concerns. I can't remember the details - some of it is the construction and so forth, but I suspect a large part of it will be what Clay said - when do you stop?

As for giving up, well smoking lost its appeal to me when it ceased to be quite such a cheap thing. I think working in an environment at the time where if you wanted to smoke, you had to walk away from the building an use the garden area of the retail park, which was used by smackheads and dealers thanks to its proximity to a canal towpath (easy to get away from the Police on their frequent visits), made giving up quite easy.

As with Clay's example I found it easier to quit as I didn't have a routine and had no brand loyalty (although Marlboros and Death were my preferred brands).

Posted: Thu Jun 27, 2013 12:29 am
by CounterPunch
Clay wrote:Never smoked myself, but I sell cigarettes and tobacco where I work, so my perspective is a bit removed.

Frequent comment about the ecigs is that, yes, it's hard to know when to stop versus a normal cigarette that burns out. [...] most of the people who smoke a lot having OCD tendencies: they have to have a certain kind of cigarette, no substitute, and at certain times of day/situations
The when to stop thing is a... slight worry for me I guess, because it's there and ready, it could be very easy for me to actually use it more than i realise, whereas with roll-ups i know how much i'm having because of when i bought he pack, how much I have left, how many papers I have left etc etc. That combined with not really knowing when to stop compared to a normal cigarette makes me worry about whether it could actually increase the addiction.

I'm definitely a routine kind of smoker, there have been times where I've ran out of cigarettes late at night and been so unable to sleep because I haven't had a cigarette (I usually have 1 right before bed) that I've not been able to sleep, gone to our local 24 hour shop (which thankfully is only 5 minute walk) and bought some. If I get too caught up in my life then the routine goes out the window because I'm distracted (like spending the day with friends, or something) but if I'm sat at home and my routine is broken I feel awful.

While I'm aware that e-cigs aren't seen as a way to quite smoking, more marketed as a "healthier" alternative, I'm hoping I do get to grips with this, as I wouldn't mind not smelling of tobacco :P

And Sades, I agree with you, the e-cigarettes may be unregulated, and there may be health concerns about them, but in a society now where the media is so quick to jump on even the possibility of something having negative effects I think it's something I can look past (but still keep an eye on), since, as you said, could it possibly be any worse than smoking what I do.

Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 1:30 am
by Cliffjumper
E-cigs just make me want to smoke.

Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 2:08 am
by Aero Blade
I also work in a location that sells a lot of the e-cigarettes, and though I can't speak from experience as a non-smoker myself, I can offer a bit of advice from my observations and customers. If you do decide to try out the e-cigarettes, remember they're like any other product you might try, that the brands are gonna vary greatly from one another. If you try one and wind up hating it, it might just be that particular one. You may have to try each brand first until you find whatever one you like. Just like food and drink, it's all about your personal tastes.