Electronic Cigarettes -- A Better Alternative To The Real Thing?

[MA-Caver]

I still smoke and while I've cut down to roughly 1/4 pack a day I am still working on quitting... just can't quite give it up totally cold turkey. Though it's possible at this point... of course MT would suffer from horrendous mean posts from me for the duration of my withdrawls :lol: (just kidding)...
Still, looking at this as an alternative... :idunno: Considering what I spend a month is about the cost of one of these gadgets.
Of course quitting altogether is the BEST alternative I know that... but looking at this article and the concerns that the dept. of health and so forth and labeling it as a new drug... read the (full) article and say what you think.

Chinese electronic cigarettes gain ground amid safety concerns
The e-cigarettes vaporize a nicotine solution, rather than burn tobacco, using a battery in the shape of a cigarette with a red LED that lights up when inhaled By Chi-chi Zhang, Vinnee Tong AND Carley Petesch
AP , BEIJING AND NEW YORK
Sunday, Mar 01, 2009, Page 12
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/bizfocus/archives/2009/03/01/2003437283
With its slim white body and glowing amber tip, it can easily pass as a regular cigarette. It even emits what look like curlicues of white smoke. The Ruyan V8, which produces a nicotine-infused mist absorbed directly into the lungs, is just one of a rapidly growing array of electronic cigarettes attracting attention in China, the US and elsewhere — and the scrutiny of world health officials.

Marketed as a healthier alternative to smoking and a potential way to kick the habit, the smokeless smokes have been distributed in swag bags at the British film awards and hawked at an international trade show.

Because no burning is involved, makers say there’s no hazardous cocktail of cancer-causing chemicals and gases like those produced by a regular cigarette.

There’s no secondhand smoke, so they can be used in places where cigarettes are banned, the makers said.

Health authorities are questioning those claims.

The WHO issued a statement in September warning there was no evidence to back up contentions that e-cigarettes were a safe substitute for smoking or a way to help smokers quit.

It also said companies should stop marketing them that way, especially since the product may undermine smoking prevention efforts because they look like the real thing and may lure nonsmokers, including children.

“There is not sufficient evidence that [they] are safe products for human consumption,” Timothy O’Leary, a communications officer at the WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative in Geneva, said this week.

I think who could be all up in arms against this product might be the tobacco companies themselves... think of the monies LOST on such a venture...

 

[arnisador]

This may be an improvemnt vs. actually smoking, but it amounts to admitting that tobacco companies are just drug pushers.

 

[Drac]

Hell, I'd try it..May be the Chief would allow us to use them in the cruisers since smoking is now a no-no, even if you are riding alone..

 

[Rich Parsons]

I still smoke and while I've cut down to roughly 1/4 pack a day I am still working on quitting... just can't quite give it up totally cold turkey. Though it's possible at this point... of course MT would suffer from horrendous mean posts from me for the duration of my withdrawls :lol: (just kidding)...
Still, looking at this as an alternative... :idunno: Considering what I spend a month is about the cost of one of these gadgets.
Of course quitting altogether is the BEST alternative I know that... but looking at this article and the concerns that the dept. of health and so forth and labeling it as a new drug... read the (full) article and say what you think.
I think who could be all up in arms against this product might be the tobacco companies themselves... think of the monies LOST on such a venture...

Caver,

I thought "zyban" was originally prescribed for depression, but a side effect was that many people quit smoking. I do know that locally a few years ago doctors were prescribing it in low doses to help quit smoking. I know a couple of people who used it to quit. One for good, the other still has weak moments of once or twice a year, but that is much better than daily.

As to those against it, the previous version of this became a "Crack" delivery system. It would heat up and "burn" and the person would inhale.

I know I have spent some time recently in Chicago (* A weekend here or there for weddings and birthdays *) and the bars that were totally smoke free were great. People were still in them and the smokers went outside to smoke even n the freezing cold and the air was mostly breathable through out the night.

 

[JadecloudAlchemist]

It would be interesting if the Vapors were beneficial. Such as using the Electronic Cigarette to release vapors like Ephedrine or other related medicine used to treat respiratory stress.

 

[Twin Fist]

thats interesting, I would try it

 

[Carol]

This may be an improvemnt vs. actually smoking, but it amounts to admitting that tobacco companies are just drug pushers.

True, but wasn't that bridge already crossed with nicotine gum and nicotine patches?

I think its an interesting idea. Most of my friends don't smoke. The ones that do...I hate to ask them to step out on the balcony or go outside when they want to light up, but I get too nasty of a reaction from cigarette smoke to allow it in my home. I'd likely have no issue with anyone "smoking" an "e-cig".

 

[Jade Tigress]

Caver,

I thought "zyban" was originally prescribed for depression, but a side effect was that many people quit smoking. I do know that locally a few years ago doctors were prescribing it in low doses to help quit smoking. I know a couple of people who used it to quit. One for good, the other still has weak moments of once or twice a year, but that is much better than daily.

You are correct. Zyban is exactly the antidepressant Wellbutrin.

 

[Steve]

You are correct. Zyban is exactly the antidepressant Wellbutrin.

I started smoking in 1984 as a freshman in High School and smoked between 1 and 2 packs per day until 1998. I took zyban for 3 weeks back in 1998, when it was first being introduced in the States as an aid for quitting smoking. I was supposed to take it for 6, but didn't like the way it made me feel. That said, I quit and, other than 2 to 5 cigars per year, I haven't smoked a cigarette since. I don't know if it was the zyban, or if it was just time for me to quit or what, but it worked.

My problem with e-cigs, nicotine gum, patches and things like that are that they prolong the agony and, in my opinion, increase the likelihood of failure. You can't moderate an addiction. If I were the tobacco industry, I'd buy stock in these nicotine alternatives and push them, because prolonging the addiction will keep the door open for a relapse.

 

[Jade Tigress]

More on eCigs.

No more smoking for Scott Riddle.


Now he vapes.


"Vaping" means he inhales the vapor from an electronic cigarette, a battery-powered device that typically looks like a cigarette, but delivers nicotine without the tobacco and smoke.
Electronic cigarettes, Riddle say, lets him enjoy the pleasures of smoking without its downsides

Article.