Say I want to look cool with my friends and smoke, but I don’t want to become addicted to the stuff. What legal alternatives to tobacco do I have? Also, I’d like there to be a minimum of health issues.
I see they have nicotine-free cigarettes made by Quest. Anyone tried those?
Quest is not nicotine free. I’ve tried it, but the stuff left more of a stink on my clothes and hands than regular smokes. Plus, they gave me the shits.
Try clove cigarettes, maybe?
Unless they’ve changed since I was trying to be cool 20 years ago, clove cigarettes are just regular tobacco scented with clove.
As a current smoker I know I will be called a hypocrite for saying… don’t take up smoking “to look cool”. That is what Ii fell for 15 years ago… how lame I was to think people would like me more if I smoked. Now smokers are treated like the scurge of the earth (not by everyone, I know, not looking for a debate, just saying how I feel) It is so hard to quit, so don’t start. If your friends think you are lame/uncool because you don’t smoke- they are the ones that are lame.
Yeah, smoking is pretty bad. That’s why I don’t want the nicotine so I can easily stop it.
Here’s a novel thought: why don’t you simply not do it in the first place?
There’s the wonderful world of smoking salmon, ham, and even Gouda cheese!
(But seriously, I’m one of the only non-smokers left in my group of friends, and most of those guys didn’t get addicted until they were older than 25–and each one started “just to look cool.” They mainly smoke cloves, by the way.)
As long as you’re aware that nicotine is a very addictive drug, and you’re careful about it, you can probably avoid addiction. I smoke occasionally, but I’m not addicted (I’ve never had nicotine withdrawals, and I generally don’t smoke more often than once or twice a month). It’s more of a social thing for me. I’ve heard some good ways to help avoid addiction are:
[ul]
[li]set limits and stick to them[/li][li]only smoke in social situations[/li][li]try to avoid smoking alone[/li][li]don’t smoke to avoid emotional problems[/li][/ul]
I personally don’t like cigarettes enough to become anything more than a social smoker, so maybe that’s it.
As far as tobacco-free smokes go, you should check your local smoke shop (more tobacco-oriented (as opposed to “tobacco”-oriented, if you catch my drift) smoke shops are more likely to have a wide selection of what you’re looking for). If you don’t know where any smoke shops around are, ask a friend who does drugs; they’ll probably know. Some of your cig-smoking friends might know too, although a lot of smokers buy their cigs at gas stations and whatnot, so maybe not. I seem to recall seeing a few different brands of tobacco-free smokes at a smoke shop I used to go to (the only one I remember was called “Ecstacy”–interesting name for a legal product sold in smoke shops, but there you go). Online tobacco stores might have some, too.
Also interesting are the various ‘legal highs’, or legal drugs that supposedly work like grass. (Having done my fair share of grass, and not too much of the legal highs, I can’t vouch for this one way or the other, except to say that salvia (one legal hallucinogen often marketed as an alternative to dope) is nothing like weed, and is much more intense.) Make sure you do your research on any drug you take before you take it, regardless of its legal status. (My favorite website for drug research is Erowid–might not have a lot of info on tobacco-free smokes, but it does have info on various legal highs.) There are webstores out there that specialize in legal highs. Shouldn’t be too difficult to Google. Tobacco-free smokes shouldn’t be difficult to Google either.
Good luck in whatever you choose.
Dudes smoke for the drugs. Not the “taste” or anything else. Drugs. The tow main smokes are Tobacco & Pot- both drugs. There are a few other 'smokes"- all of which are supposed to give some sort of high.
Quest is a safe r tobacco smoking product. For that matter so are pipes & cigars. Still, they are all nicotine delivery systems.
If you *must * smoke, and get addicted to nicotine, then try a pipe.
Clove cigs are even worse that regular cigs for cancer and such- they are rank, cheap tobacco, flavored with cloves.
But they taste so good! (Especially the flavored ones…)
They’re a pretty bad deal overall, though. Yes, they taste better than regular cigs IMO, but as DrDeth said, they’re worse for you, and they’re more expensive.
Cloves have less nicotine in them per cigarette, BTW, but some studies have shown that you actually get more nicotine from smoking a clove than a normal cig. This is supposedly because you take more drags off of a clove, because it burns slower and lasts longer.
Yeah dont roll up salvia in a joint and smoke that, it tastes disgusting and although I doubt you’d get the psychadelic effects as you need to use a blue flame lighter in an empty bong for that, probably not worth the risk in a crowded bar or whathaveyou…
Remember that with tobacco it’s the tar as well as the nicotine that poses a danger, and I assume you’d still be getting tar with those nicotine-less cigarettes.
If you gotta smoke, I’d just go with regular cigs and try to keep in in control as fetus suggests. And if you come to California, don’t bother bringing the cigarettes. It’s still legal to possess and buy them, but that’s about it. Actually smoking them in public is illegal just about everywhere. Smoking is actually now illegal at many parks and beaches.
Somebody finally said it.
It is not just the drug!
It is bad to inhale smoke of anykind. Of course one need not inhale lots of hi-powered pot 
When I was in 6th grade, me and a friend smoked a dry oak leaf in attempt to be “cool”. I can confidently report that I did not become addicted. I was unable to find any cites on the legality of oak leaves. Oddly, as I look out my window today, I see that the oak trees in my neighborhood have been stripped of their leaves. Maybe I’m wrong.
Trust me. Anyone who smokes anything looks like a moron. If you want to look cool, be the one person in the crowd who isn’t sucking toxic waste into their lungs.
Or, better still, find some higher quality friends. If they expect you to smoke to look cool, they’re gold-star losers.
My mother started smoking because the movies made it look so glamorous. Yeah. Just take a look of a picture of Bette Davis as a young woman, and then a picture of her in the last ten years of her life. That’s glamour for ya.
My mother also could not stop smoking till she had a stroke. And she had movie-star looks herself, and ended up way old before her time.
Smoking stinks. In every way. I hope you can find a way to quit.
Besides nicotine, the other legal highs are psychoactive in more interesting and (non-pleasing, if not your cup of tea) ways. Not something to casually smoke outside. In any case, with those substances, the smoking is often a short “two quick inhales” process.
Don’t actors have access to special/fake cigarettes of some kind. I recall The X-Files’ Smoking Man actor talking about them in aninterview once.
I understand that smoking any type of organic product will produce harmful byproducts. The problem with cigarettes is not from smoking just one. It’s from smoking 20 cigarettes a day for 10 years.
I’ve smoked cigars before and I’ve enjoyed the experience, and not just from the nicotine. I liked the taste of the cigar. I wouldn’t mind doing that once in a while, but I wouldn’t want to become dependent on it.