Been trying to get away from regular cigs and into e-cigs with nicotine. Seems like it is doable at least compared with quitting cold turkey, which I have tried many times and failed within a week.
No nicotine craving, no stinky clothes and hair. No yellow teeth and fingers. Lungs won’t get plugged up with tar so breathing should be better. Lungs should clear with time and eventually be like a non smoker’s. No offending others around me. (Except for the hypercritical). Cheaper than real cigarettes I think.
The nicotine part bothers me though. Isn’t it the nicotine that raises blood pressure, causes clogged arteries and strokes, gives you facial wrinkles, ruins your gums and probably a few other things I can’t think of right now.
So anything that injects nicotine into the body…nicotine patch, nicotine lozenges, nicotine gum or E-cigs…all are restricted in their benefit.
You can do a search cause this gets asked here often, but basically yes, nicotine is not good for you. It’s an addictive stimulant, worse than caffeine but not as bad as meth.
But it is the noxious compounds created by the combustion of the burning cigarette ember which cause the majority of the serious health issues (i.e. cancer, emphysema etc.) These compounds only exist by way of the high temperatures of tobacco burning (+1000° F) so e-cigs are **immensely **less dangerous.
I smoke e-cigs, and I don’t think they would help one quit smoking. I believe they are not advertised as a stop smoking aid by the folks who make them.
QtM linked to a study some time back that he said suggests that nicotine alone can result in acute endothelial dysfunction. I think the jury is still out on nicotine.
On the other hand, nicotine has major advantages as an organic insecticide (one favorite concoction was sold as BlackLeaf 40). Deadly to many bugs, breaks down quickly in the environment - what’s not to like?
Of course, it was dangerous enough to handle that the EPA banned it about 20 years ago*.
*durn regulators got all fussy over label warnings like “inhalation may be fatal”.
“There is no evidence that nicotine causes any substantial risk for cancer, and the research shows that the risk for cardiovascular disease is minimal.”
Part of the problem is that while there have been many studies on the effects of smoking, there have been relatively few done on the effects of nicotine by itself. I’ve heard that many nicotine only studies were done by the tobacco companies themselves - in an effort to promote smoking as possibly beneficial I presume. And the problem there is that any study done by the tobacco companies is viewed as less than trustworthy.
There is evidence out there that nicotine, as a drug, has therapeutic effects with respect to alzheimer’s and certain digestive problems.
Also be aware that nicotine is present in varying levels in pretty much all plants in the nightshade family such as tomatoes and potatoes.
While e-cig manufacturers and sellers will not advertise them as smoking cessation aids, it’s been about a month since I last had an analog cigarette. I can’t speak for anyone else but after using an e-cig the thought of going back to analogs disgusts me.
That’s great. Hope it last for you but I suspect that part of it may be psychological in that people are not harassing you about smelling or tasting like smoke anymore. People aren’t giving you those glances when you go out for a cig break. Positive reinforcement at work. Still if it keeps you from smoking a “real” one it can’t be bad.
It doesn’t disgust me, but I’ve got very good blood pressure now. I’ve been using e-cigs instead of cigarettes for a couple of years.
I guess we could say that we have quit smoking, though.
Nicotine is poisonous in higher dosages and is addictive. The issue with e-cigs might be quality control in cheap one where too much nicotine is released all at once. This could be deadly.
But as a way to stop smoking it has much going for it.
The nicotine is in a solution that tops out, I think, around 45mg/ml. Wikipedia lists a lethal dose of nicotine at 30-60mg. I don’t see how it’s possible, short of drinking the liquid, to get a lethal dose from the tiny amount vaporized by and e-cig (i.e. you are not going to vaporize and inhale and entire ml of the liquid). Even if the person mixing the solution adds too much nicotine they would have to be off by about two orders of magnitude to reach a lethal dose through vaporization. I see the solubility in ethanol is 50mg/ml so I doubt it’s possible to screw up that bad.
This has never happened, and there’s no reason to suspect it’s even a faint possibility. There is physically no way to get a fatal dose of nicotine unless you drink the liquid from the bottle.
If the nicotine concerns you, choose an ecig or personal vaporizer model that uses zero nicotine liquid. Or, like me, start with nicotine and work your way down in a series of steps.
Manufacturers are generally very careful not to advertise them as a smoking cessation device, because that puts them in the area of making health claims that have to be backed up with science and put through the FDA approval process. That’s very expensive.
On preview: 45mg/mL? Holy cats! I thought I was taking my heart into my hands when I started with 23 - the highest I could find! :eek:
That’s a small part of it, yes. A much larger part is the absence of chest pain, coughing fits, and all of the other bad effects I used to get from smoking.
Something I wasn’t aware of but just read in a USA Today article - virtually all e-cigs are imported from China.
Yep, China, the nation famous for poor quality control and adulterating drugs and supplements with dangerous additives. It’s probably just a matter of time until something sleazy is discovered in e-cigs (either marked nicotine dosage variance at odds with labeling, or unacknowledged additives). I’d wonder especially about those “flavored” e-cigs.
