Jackson Co. Ohio gives ecigs to county employees

[sofarsogood]

I have read a lot of ecig news stories and have not seen another item like this. May be this is not unique. Bravo Jackson County commissioners.

"King informed the commissioners that the electronic cigarettes are still available for those employees wanting to quit smoking, but several who started out with the electronic cigarettes, had started smoking again. Only three employees had successfully kicked the habit and remain smoke free."
http://www.timesjournal.com/news/article_c774ca13-4f16-53a8-b764-51f816a8fb17.html?mode=jqm

 

[pianoguy]

Great! They should hand out an ECF link, too - bet that would increase the number of successful converts.

 

[SupplyDaddy]

Not much useful information there. Of course, most veteran ECF users can tell you why they didn't stay with the e-cigarettes.
1. Wrong type for the individual.
2. User didn't want to actually quit smoking
3. Devices were too limited
4. Users were not given enough information on upkeep/care of the devices
5. The eliquid(s) were too low or too high on the nicotine content
and a thousand other reasons are available.

 

[sofarsogood]

Not much useful information there. Of course, most veteran ECF users can tell you why they didn't stay with the e-cigarettes.

Quick success is not so important. Lot's of people on this forum could report they didn't finally quit for some months. Two smokers I successfully encouraged took 6 months to finally quit. The employer needs to be supportive and patient. If one employer is doing this there are others. May be there is a way to identify more of them and see how things are going.

 

[VictorC]

Even one is better than nothing.

 

[OldBatty]

Bravo Jackson County commissioners.
(snips)
http://www.timesjournal.com/news/article_c774ca13-4f16-53a8-b764-51f816a8fb17.html?mode=jqm

Why do I get an story on flu shots when I click the link?

 

[puffon]

Why do I get an story on flu shots when I click the link?

That's what I get too?

 

[Painter_]

Read the whole article. It is the second to last paragraph you are looking for.

 

[Jman8]

Dual user like me has different take on this. My take would uphold the recreational, free choice decision for why eCigs are a very good thing in current society. That anyone uses them successfully to quit smoking is a wonderful thing and worthy of promotion. But when it becomes the only viable reason for why anyone, ever, should be vaping... well all I can say to that is good luck with that rhetoric. You're going to need it.

 

[AndriaD]

Dual user like me has different take on this. My take would uphold the recreational, free choice decision for why eCigs are a very good thing in current society. That anyone uses them successfully to quit smoking is a wonderful thing and worthy of promotion. But when it becomes the only viable reason for why anyone, ever, should be vaping... well all I can say to that is good luck with that rhetoric. You're going to need it.

One of the ridiculous arguments against e-cigs that irks me THE MOST, is "people only use them where they can't smoke." Well, YEAH, since Big Brother has self-righteously declared that no one shall smoke anywhere ever! What smoker WOULDN'T use them in that situation!!! I mean... DUH!

Andria

 

[wiredlove]

One of the ridiculous arguments against e-cigs that irks me THE MOST, is "people only use them where they can't smoke." Well, YEAH, since Big Brother has self-righteously declared that no one shall smoke anywhere ever! What smoker WOULDN'T use them in that situation!!! I mean... DUH!

And also, why not? It's not smoking. The nannies seem to not be able to grasp that fact. I want to see them gripe about people using nicogum and patches where they can't smoke.

On a related note, I was dual use for several years (late 08 -> early 14) been vaping only since.

 

[AndriaD]

And also, why not? It's not smoking. The nannies seem to not be able to grasp that fact. I want to see them gripe about people using nicogum and patches where they can't smoke.

Exactly this!

On a related note, I was dual use for several years (late 08 -> early 14) been vaping only since.

I only dual-used for about a month, both times I switched from smoking to vaping, but I had my reasons -- I'd been wanting to quit for decades, but till vaping, never could find a way to do it. So I had a lot of skepticism to overcome, and I already knew that pressure would make it much harder. But I wanted to get to vape-only as quickly as I comfortably could... so I'd have more money to spend on vape gear. The expense of cigarettes was one of my foremost reasons for wanting to vape instead.

Andria

 

[wiredlove]

Exactly this!
I only dual-used for about a month, both times I switched from smoking to vaping, but I had my reasons -- I'd been wanting to quit for decades, but till vaping, never could find a way to do it. So I had a lot of skepticism to overcome, and I already knew that pressure would make it much harder. But I wanted to get to vape-only as quickly as I comfortably could... so I'd have more money to spend on vape gear. The expense of cigarettes was one of my foremost reasons for wanting to vape instead.

Andria

I really really liked smoking, and back in the beginning days the options weren't so plentiful -> cig-a-likes and Trog's Screwdriver, used to pull the cotton out of the cartridges and drip directly onto an 801 or 901 atomizer. Was a complete pain. I never quit analogs intentionally, just stopped one day. Was sitting there, out of cigs and vaping at home, and realized I didn't want or need to buy more cigs.

 

[AndriaD]

I really really liked smoking, and back in the beginning days the options weren't so plentiful -> cig-a-likes and Trog's Screwdriver, used to pull the cotton out of the cartridges and drip directly onto an 801 or 901 atomizer. Was a complete pain. I never quit analogs intentionally, just stopped one day. Was sitting there, out of cigs and vaping at home, and realized I didn't want or need to buy more cigs.

I used a cigalike at first, an eRoll, because I really thought the familiar form was necessary. I actually got all the way down to quitting, using that, but just a couple weeks into it, I realized what a pain it was to only have .4ml in the "tank," and having to constantly switch them in and out of the PCC, so I ordered a full-kit iTaste vv3. Found immediately that I absolutely hated the top-coil iClear16, so I had to get a BCC at a local store just to give the vv3 a real try-out -- and loved it immediately! That was my first full day smoke-free.

About a month, 6 wks later, I started learning to build coils, and a few weeks after that, got my first Kayfun -- and it was as big an improvement over the T3S, as the T3S was over the eRoll.

Anria

 

[Jman8]

I feel pretty unique as dual user. I feel very confident I could stop smoking entirely and only vape as I've gone cold turkey numerous times, so I already have experience of liberation from smoking.

But perhaps a key reason why I don't is because they are two distinct activities which is point made on this thread and routinely made by us politically aware vapers. It sometimes seems like using vaping to quit smoking would be like using vaping to quit drinking alcohol. If that doesn't make sense, then it is because you must see vaping and smoking as virtually the same activity. I can see the similarity, but both are recreational products and they are so distinct in many ways that I don't even fully understand why we have the term dual use in play other than it isn't something we've entirely worked out just yet. I mean I also enjoy watching TV, so if I vape and watch TV, am I dual using?

Vaping has reduced my cravings for smoking down to near zero. But I'm thinking a) I can remove it to actual zero via cold turkey, or b) I could reduce it via some other NRT product. Yet, I enjoy benefits of nicotine, and enjoy the way smoking tastes. I strongly prefer the way vaping tastes, but for me it is not either or. Like I strongly prefer the taste of soda over alcohol, yet just cause I drink soda doesn't mean I should never drink alcohol again even if soda is superior to alcohol in many many respects.

 

[sofarsogood]

I feel pretty unique as dual user. I feel very confident I could stop smoking entirely and only vape as I've gone cold turkey numerous times, so I already have experience of liberation from smoking.

The day I started vaping on a $15 vape pen my daily cigs declined from 25 to 5 and stayed there with no effort or will power. I was impressed, considered that victory because 5 cigs weren't going to hurt me like 25. But instead of victory I called it 80% control and wondered if I wanted 100% control? In the end I decided to be smoke free. My motivation, I believed at the time, was I wanted the credibility so I could encourage other smokers. So I did finish the job and I do go out of my way to encourage other smokers and having 100% control does give me more credibility.

 

[Tache]

@818 Absolutely see your point. It just happened "organically" for me. I never, ever had the intention to quit smoking (particularly right then). I still have my own permission to smoke a cigarette - if I want to. That just hasn't happened since three days after starting vaping. Sure, I've "tested the waters" occasionally over the past two years just to "check", but have yet to finish a full cigarette. Love my vanilla custard flavoured vapour!

 

[Jman8]

The day I started vaping on a $15 vape pen my daily cigs declined from 25 to 5 and stayed there with no effort or will power. I was impressed, considered that victory because 5 cigs weren't going to hurt me like 25. But instead of victory I called it 80% control and wondered if I wanted 100% control? In the end I decided to be smoke free. My motivation, I believed at the time, was I wanted the credibility so I could encourage other smokers. So I did finish the job and I do go out of my way to encourage other smokers and having 100% control does give me more credibility.

I am currently smoking a pack every 2 to 3 weeks. As it gets colder where I live, that will likely go to a pack a month or even longer. In early 2015 (during winter months), I was routinely taking days off, and up to 10 days without smoking.

I am now a moderate smoker. I have 100% control over my recreational choice to continue smoking. When I had previously gone cold turkey, moderate smoking was not seemingly possible and it was all or nothing. Had I smoked a couple of cigarettes a day for at most 3 days, I would've felt a loss of control and likely gone up to my PAD habit. I can't recall the last time I smoked a PAD, but if I somehow managed to do that tomorrow, I strongly believe I could exercise (100%) control to be down to moderate smoking within 3 days.

I get what you're saying about credibility, but have thought about that enough to say there would be even more if one were to not smoke and not vape but still advocate for vaping. I look forward to meeting those type of people, as long as they are not anti-smoking. If they are, I'd probably tolerate them, but not really see them as consistent with their rhetoric and/or I'd love to enter into discussion, possible debate, about what it is they really think (about smoking and vaping).

For me, vaping like smoking, needs to be established as a recreational activity. That it is currently 50/50 on it being a recreational activity and a smoking cessation wonder is okay given that it is still new and that there is a visible transition occurring in our (world) culture. It can be both recreational and smoking reduction/cessation, but I really feel strongly that foremost it ought to be treated as recreational activity. I think we have set ourselves up politically by marrying the use of eCigs to smoking (cessation) and that we then have to jump thru political hoops to claim it is so not like smoking, and is entirely distinct. If it is truly distinct, then it wouldn't be a cessation activity, for in that way it really is advocated like a wonder drug. And is something we've been nailed on, yet won a court battle based on idea that it is actually, as in really really, a recreational choice. Scolded publicly to stop claiming it will lead to smoking cessation, unless industry really wants FDA to treat it as a drug. IMO, no vaping vendor needs to go there as word of mouth in the information age can easily cover that. If industry sticks to recreational aspect, then politically aware vapers can stick to correcting zealot rhetoric and stave off their attempts to treat vaping as if it is just like smoking.

 

[englishmick]

I am currently smoking a pack every 2 to 3 weeks. As it gets colder where I live, that will likely go to a pack a month or even longer. In early 2015 (during winter months), I was routinely taking days off, and up to 10 days without smoking.

I am now a moderate smoker. I have 100% control over my recreational choice to continue smoking. When I had previously gone cold turkey, moderate smoking was not seemingly possible and it was all or nothing. Had I smoked a couple of cigarettes a day for at most 3 days, I would've felt a loss of control and likely gone up to my PAD habit. I can't recall the last time I smoked a PAD, but if I somehow managed to do that tomorrow, I strongly believe I could exercise (100%) control to be down to moderate smoking within 3 days.

I get what you're saying about credibility, but have thought about that enough to say there would be even more if one were to not smoke and not vape but still advocate for vaping. I look forward to meeting those type of people, as long as they are not anti-smoking. If they are, I'd probably tolerate them, but not really see them as consistent with their rhetoric and/or I'd love to enter into discussion, possible debate, about what it is they really think (about smoking and vaping).

For me, vaping like smoking, needs to be established as a recreational activity. That it is currently 50/50 on it being a recreational activity and a smoking cessation wonder is okay given that it is still new and that there is a visible transition occurring in our (world) culture. It can be both recreational and smoking reduction/cessation, but I really feel strongly that foremost it ought to be treated as recreational activity. I think we have set ourselves up politically by marrying the use of eCigs to smoking (cessation) and that we then have to jump thru political hoops to claim it is so not like smoking, and is entirely distinct. If it is truly distinct, then it wouldn't be a cessation activity, for in that way it really is advocated like a wonder drug. And is something we've been nailed on, yet won a court battle based on idea that it is actually, as in really really, a recreational choice. Scolded publicly to stop claiming it will lead to smoking cessation, unless industry really wants FDA to treat it as a drug. IMO, no vaping vendor needs to go there as word of mouth in the information age can easily cover that. If industry sticks to recreational aspect, then politically aware vapers can stick to correcting zealot rhetoric and stave off their attempts to treat vaping as if it is just like smoking.

I can see this intellectually. I'm far enough down the road now that I'm not as scared of cigarettes as I used to be. But for a lot of people vaping is like a lifebelt that someone threw to them when they were drowning. I have COPD and I knew that smoking was a really bad idea but I couldn't stop. I've pretty much got my lungs back now. The idea of vaping being a recreational choice as opposed to a lifebelt is hard to get your head around when you are still in the water. A year after my last cigarette I have a feeling that I could probably smoke one now without going under, but I'm not sure about that. I think that fear is why so many vapers can't see past vaping as a cessation device, that's how it's been for me. I guess it's easier for someone who hasn't smoked, or a smoker by choice like yourself. I'm getting to where I think I might be able to stop vaping without going back to cigs, so it's getting to be something I do because I enjoy it.

A lot of this is emotional rather than intellectual. For many ex-smokers it's a lifebelt. For a lot of non-smokers it's a form of smoking because it looks like smoking, and that impression is reinforced by the bull they are fed by the press. Like you said the whole thing is in a transitional stage at the moment, and who knows how it will be seen a few years down the road.

 

[sofarsogood]

I'm not as scared of cigarettes as I used to be. But for a lot of people vaping is like a lifebelt that someone threw to them when they were drowning.

One of my brother's has been dual using since I started him vaping last Christmas. In August I smoked one of his and tossed it aside to make the point that I'm now immune for practical purposes. And it's true, his cigarette didn't taste good, gave me a tiny headache and I felt no need for another. I smoked that cigarette to make a point. I don't smoke otherwise for the same reason, to make a point. The political part of vaping vs cigarettes has become important to me. I'm greatful for my outcome. I want to give back, help others.

A week ago I started DIY and it's a game changer and creates one of the most powerful arguments to demoralize the people who want to interfere with vaping. I was spending $3,000 a year to smoke. Now I'll spend $45 on e liquid for a year of vaping. That's a 98.6% decline, 2 orders of magnitude. Vaping is free. This isn't so different from what the internet is doing to communications and media.

P.S. My brother told me last night he hasn't smoked a cig in a week.