[abhi182]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

Show me sources for this statement. Being universal, there should be hundreds for and very few against it.

IMO, this thread is wrongly named and that is the reason why these discussions even happen. It should have the word "nicotine" in place of the word "smoking".
As named, chewing tobacco is a great way to give up smoking. Or eating gutka.
PS: While I don't believe in NRT, note use of T - for Therapy - in the acronym. Using e cigarettes as an alternative nicotine delivery system isn't therapy, it is merely using an alternate delivery system.

I agree - It's just that the alternate delivery system is safer by orders of magnitude...

In any case, not sure what you would consider a reliable source but here a few ways to validate..
The first is from Forbes which in general is considered well regarded
https://www.forbes.com/sites/sallysa...can-save-lives

The second being the wiki entry for nicotine (plz read it with an open mind.. also it's fair to assume that a controversial subject like nicotine would be strongly peer reviewed thereby eliminating any bogus edits on wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine

In any case, I came here to share a mechanism that helped me quit smoking ...
In my view, if smoking was a 8/10 on a 10 point scale of things that harm me, vaping with 6 mg Nicotine is a 2/10 .. it could arguably be more (or less) but certainly nowhere close to the former..
AS I said before, Unlike some of you on this thread, a very large number of people continue to smoke as they cannot just break the dependence - And almost all of them know the ill effects / long term prognosis

Maybe 3 in 10 quit cold turkey and stick to it (which seems to be the majority of people on this thread)
Maybe another 4 try and keep relapsing over & over ( a lot of my friends)
while another 3 don't even attempt to (that was me BTW)

My post was meant not for the first group but rather for the latter 7

[Thad E Ginathom]

Yes, I think you are right. The title should be changed, then people would know the "terms of engagement." And we can cover gutka, chewing, tobacco-including paan, etc etc.

By the way: do people chew tobacco these days? Or do they just buy it to repel rats

The last person I knew who did this daily died (toothless) quite a few years ago. It scares the hell out of me. Mouth cancer! Maybe I'd rather die of lung cancer than live with half a face .

Must be around my 25th anniversary of becoming smoke/nicotine free (helped by a course of patches*). I am not in the least tempted to smoke again --- but I would not even try any tobacco/nicotine-ingredient substance, because I suspect that I might just like it.



*There is no requirement or expectation on this thread to do the thing cold-turkey. There are methods like "cutting-down-hahaha" which are usually doomed to failure, but there are also things that genuinely help. I took nicotine from patches for a few weeks after my last cigarette. That doesn't matter! My course-finishing date was part of my decision and plan, and I actually stopped them a week early when I found I didn't even notice forgetting to put one that day.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by abhi182

a controversial subject like nicotine would be strongly peer reviewed

So now "almost universally acknowledged" has changed to "controversial subject"?

For every one source you can quote on why nicotine isn't dangerous, there are ten that say the opposite.

Nicotine in accumulating intake over a number of years is linked to enough harm to the body for one to not play Russian roulette with its intake.

As I said, I also don't believe in NRT, but even that is used as therapy with the aim of reducing dosage to zero. I doubt that is what vapers do; most revert back to smoking cigarettes. I haven't heard too many discuss how they used vaping as a way to give up nicotine intake completely.

Cold turkey also isn't the "oh my God it is so hard to do" thing it is described to be. Listening to those that fail to do this isn't the right way to come to conclusions about how hard it is. In the last twenty years, millions of people globally have stopped smoking and the very large majority did it cold turkey. They have done this silently and not written in forums about how hard it was/or was not, so there is the fallacy produced by only listening to those that found it hard to do so.

I know what I am talking about, I did it twice, from a pack a day. Twice because I restarted smoking after 17 years and had to give up a second time. I don't ever now underestimate the power of the addiction of nicotine, but I don't believe that cold turkey needs abnormal will power.

Anyone can say anything on a forum such as this; so I can also say for anyone else that comes across this thread that vaping is a bad idea. All it does is address the risk of passive smoking.

[abhi182]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

So now "almost universally acknowledged" has changed to "controversial subject"?

For every one source you can quote on why nicotine isn't dangerous, there are ten that say the opposite.

.

We can argue about the semantics endlessly but I guess you already know what I meant when I called Nicotine to be a controversial subject (else we wouldn't even be having this discussion, would we?)

If you do however look around with an open mind, you will find a lot of people who quit smoking altogether by switching to vaping
And i think we would all agree that even at the worst case outcome, it is still safer than inhaling tar and the other chemicals in the smoke from a regular smoke..
Many of them have also progressively reduced their nicotine concentration with relative ease
It may be a crutch but I don't see how its so different from say a Nic patch..

In any case, my reason for my original post was to share my experience
I'll head out of this by just stating that

a) I was able to go down to zero cigs within a few days ..

b) My risk of relapsing is low considering the last cig I smoked just felt and tasted awful and I have no intent or even an internal desire to light another (which is not something a normal quit would have achieved)

c) Hopefully I will also taper down my Nic strength to zero over a few months and maybe quit vaping with relative ease in some time

d) All of the above is something that would have taken immense willpower ..vs the absolute cruise that this has been with this crutch/tool/thingamajig/whatever


Over & out!

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by abhi182

If you do however look around with an open mind, you will find a lot of people who quit smoking altogether by switching to vaping


Over & out!

I don't know even one, so I don't know where I should now look with an open mind.

As to the last bit quoted, I agree.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Sawyer, you are right: I guess it does not need abnormal willpower.

Some get withdrawal symptoms much more severely than others, but for most of us this battle is or was mostly psychological. Really, the patches worked for me. Gum worked for an old friend whose giving up was part of my inspiration. It is not about necessary, it is simply about making it easier.

[Sawyer]

Again, while I don't myself believe in NRT, I accept it cannot do any harm to give it a spin. Harmless, because I don't know of anyone that quit their addiction to smoking and got addicted to gums and patches in its place. The ones that fail go back to smoking because, let's face it, that is much more pleasurable.

With vaping, I don't know anyone that used it as a smoking cessation method, just as a replacement one, and that usually as a gimmick or in places where smoking was not allowed - that said, vaping is banned in many public spaces in the world. And as soon as the more convenient cigarette was possible, they go back to that.

Now if someone was to post here how vaping allowed them to go to zero nicotine intake, it might be useful for some people to read about that.

[mayankk]

One, you guys have seriously got to open your minds about vaping being an NRT rather than smoking replacement.
Two, read up, because you are all mis, as well as ill informed, coupled with an unnecessary bias.
Three, a majority of vapers start off with nicotine but graduate to lower percentages. Zero nic? I am on zero,and so are a lot of others. What do you want to know?

Someone is coming here, and telling you that they have managed to cut down, or they have not smoked, and you people go off on an elitist tangent, "no, you have to do it like this!!!! There is no other way! You should rather smoke, because........ " why??? . Let's say he is unable to come down entirely, so the word is, go on old fella, might as well enjoy a pack till you're completely ready. Hilarious
You quit cold turkey 10 years ago? With vapes that could have been even earlier. Geez, I've never seen such a closed thread on the forum, in terms of thought.

Here's the bottom line, vaping helps people to quit smoking. And it's safe. You want research, look for it, it's there.

[mav2000]

I agree with the above. I tried to quit smoking for a number of years and just could not manage. Maybe I am one of those who have less self control. I was a pack a day smoker for 20 years.

On a whim, I bought a starter vape kit and within a week I was smoke free. I can proudly say that I have now finished a year and two months without a single cigarette. My blood tests have never looked better and a number of health issues have sorted themselves out. For a person who could barely run 500 Meters, I now do 5k 4 times a week.

Vaping has been very good for me and I would urge other smokers to atleast try the alternative. But please take guidance from guys who have been vaping for a while.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Someone is coming here, and telling you that they have managed to cut down, or they have not smoked, and you people go off on an elitist tangent, "no, you have to do it like this!!!! There is no other way! ...

That is not the case, and I am part of the evidence for that. We have some contributors that do seem to support that view, we have others that do not.

I still feel, look guys, give up nicotine. One way or another, but do it. Or don't do it: that is a free choice.

I believe that, less harm or not, there is a world of difference between a fixed-period Nicotine replacement course, and vaping for as-long-as-whatever. If vaping is used in such a way, I can live with that. With respect, and hopefully a bit more politely than I said it last time, at least I'm doing myself less harm this way only scores 2/10 with me.

Giving up is giving up. It doesn't matter how it's sone. I'm no less of a non-smoker for having done it over three months than the guy who did it in a day (that's nicotine: my last cigarette was about two weeks in).

Cold Turkey is absolutely not obligatory. But it is a method. Like I said, giving up seems impossible before you do it, but not so hard afterwards. Perhaps the cold-turkey people do get it over more quickly with less fuss and cost. Their choice.

[abhi182]

While I did say I'll refrain from posting on this thread, found something from a fairly reliable source that was worth sharing:
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2017/02Februa...ark-study.aspx

[Thad E Ginathom]

Thank you for that.

I guess us hard-liners still want to see a nicotine-free world! Let us admit that vaping may not be much less bad, but we are still keen on absolute quitting!

[GTO]

Originally Posted by abhi182

Encouraged by the experience, I decided to go the whole hog and ordered a moderately powerful vaping mod with a large capacity tank (Innokin coolfire IV/iSUBG sub ohm tank in case you are interested in the details)

Am a vaper myself (although I still enjoy my cigarettes...though at a far lower frequency now). Check out www.vape.co.in. Authorised importer, sells the V2 Pro Series 3 which is universally acknowledged as the best e-cig out there. Almost 90% of the pleasure of a real cigarette - trust me. They also have flavours to match your brand - I use "V2 Platinum Red" which is scarily similar to a Marlboro Red.

What's more, the service levels of this company are outstanding. Try them out.

Originally Posted by noopster

^^You are still ingesting poison (nicotine) and feeding the addiction that is enslaving you by replacing smoking with vaping.

It's the lesser of the evil without a doubt, and do note that there are flavours with 0% nicotine. Furthermore, the reputable e-cig companies sell fluids that don't have the other 399 chemicals that a cigarette does. Take a look at the ingredients of V2 here and here.

Reducing to 2 cigarettes a day is no achievement

I disagree. There's a big difference between smoking 10 - 20 cigarettes a day, and only 2. Even if someone hasn't quit, cutting down substantially also is beneficial (although obviously not as much as quitting entirely).

Please don't take this the wrong way but there are people following this thread serious about quitting and posts such as yours do not help.

I choose not to quit as I enjoy my cigarettes. At the same time, I don't want to overdo it. Am down from 15 - 20 cigarettes a day to 2 - 4, thanks to vaping. Differences seen since February = no smoker's cough, enhanced capacity & stamina on the treadmill + cycle.

Before, I use to smoke throughout the day. Now I smoke only when I'm chilling (evenings, nights out).

Originally Posted by noopster

Smoking less does not statistically improve your chances of being disease-free as compared to quitting completely.

Obviously not. But overspeeding at 130 km/h is still a lot less dangerous than at 200 km/h. Eating a cheese pizza once a week is still better than eating a cheese pizza every single day.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by GTO

there are flavours with 0% nicotine.

And people "smoke" these flavours as an on going practice? What's the hook? And what's the point?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

And people "smoke" these flavours as an on going practice? What's the hook? And what's the point?

Yep, I'm down to 0.6% (had started with 1.8%) and will be trying the 0% next. The point = throat hit, habit, pleasure etc. Smoking is one of those things that some people enjoy without any justifiable reason for it.