You are correct, TheBlueAdept. Although 'hacking' is the media term for cracking/phishing/blahblah.
Real hackers are humans that take things apart. Or enjoy model rail-roading at MIT.
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Nicotine Myth Busted - Nicotine does not cause adiction IMO
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You are correct, TheBlueAdept. Although 'hacking' is the media term for cracking/phishing/blahblah.
Real hackers are humans that take things apart. Or enjoy model rail-roading at MIT.
Carbon Monoxide is created and inhaled when smoking cigarettes. Carbon Monoxide has a stronger attraction to hemoglobin than to oxygen, which may be part of the addiction.
In my opinion, it is partially the nicotine but more so the sucking reflex, the hand to mouth motion that is most desired.
Humans are born with very few instincts to aid in survival, this is evidenced by the relatively long weaning period humans go through- not ready to leave the nest for 18 years! Also we have to follow kids around and instruct them what not to put in their mouths, unlike some other animals that instinctively know.
The sucking reflex is very powerful, it is located in the hindbrain, which is very primitive as well as the sucking takes us back unconsciously to when we were children, we received nourishment, and comfort from our sucking. This is part of the principle that cigarette manufacturers have used since day one to keep people addicted.
There is also the social reinforcement that takes place. The vast majority of people start smoking when they are young, they do it to fit in and be grown up. Social reinforcement is very strong.
It's also an escape. The payoff is immediate, most animals are hard wired for immediate gratification.
I am sure that certain drugs are physically addictive however I see that as only a small part of the addiction, the larger part being mental.
Look at our culture, we are bombarded daily by advertisements saying to use this or use that if we are sore, tired, too active etc... There must be a desire for it or it wouldn't be there.
In my opinion, it is partially the nicotine but more so the sucking reflex, the hand to mouth motion that is most desired.
Humans are born with very few instincts to aid in survival, this is evidenced by the relatively long weaning period humans go through- not ready to leave the nest for 18 years! Also we have to follow kids around and instruct them what not to put in their mouths, unlike some other animals that instinctively know.
The sucking reflex is very powerful, it is located in the hindbrain, which is very primitive as well as the sucking takes us back unconsciously to when we were children, we received nourishment, and comfort from our sucking. This is part of the principle that cigarette manufacturers have used since day one to keep people addicted.
There is also the social reinforcement that takes place. The vast majority of people start smoking when they are young, they do it to fit in and be grown up. Social reinforcement is very strong.
It's also an escape. The payoff is immediate, most animals are hard wired for immediate gratification.
I am sure that certain drugs are physically addictive however I see that as only a small part of the addiction, the larger part being mental.
Look at our culture, we are bombarded daily by advertisements saying to use this or use that if we are sore, tired, too active etc... There must be a desire for it or it wouldn't be there.
People don't walk down the street using drugs, as was pointed out by te crack house thing. What makes cigs so dangerous is you walk down the street, especially here in ky, and see 20 people
Per block smoking. Don't expect a heroine addict to quit if everyone around him is also using heroine. I use that as my example because I had a friend addicted to the stuff. He said quitting a 1 year issue with that was easier than cigs, but only because everyone smokes cigs, everywhere!
Per block smoking. Don't expect a heroine addict to quit if everyone around him is also using heroine. I use that as my example because I had a friend addicted to the stuff. He said quitting a 1 year issue with that was easier than cigs, but only because everyone smokes cigs, everywhere!
I definitely still feel addicted to nicotine, but i can tell in the past 3 months since switching from analogs my cravings are far lighter. I do still get the nic rage, if its been too long my temper becomes very short! But ive noticed i feel less drive to smoke/vape now than i did before. I think eventually, maybe someday down the road i may be able to cut my mg, but its hard when my biggest craving is for a big painful TH and thats what makes my mind at ease.
If nicotine was truly addictive ? then non-smokers would be eating the hell outta vegetables like egg plant and tomatoes which have nicotine in them ..
i transitioned to zero nic rather easy ,,
what makes nicotine addictive is the added chemicals in the stinkies which essentially give you a major hit of nic
once you have stopped the stinkies,,the transition is easy
i transitioned to zero nic rather easy ,,
what makes nicotine addictive is the added chemicals in the stinkies which essentially give you a major hit of nic
once you have stopped the stinkies,,the transition is easy
The OP''s theory is interesting. I'd actually wondered if nicotine really was the chemical that I was addicted to as a smoker.
About a year ago, I happened to come across Smokin' Joe's brand cigarettes at my local tobacconist. He explained that they were nicotine-free tobacco cigarettes. Out of curiosity, I bought a pack. I didn't feel any different than when I was smoking normal cigarettes. I went back and bought several more packets and ended up smoking them for around two weeks. During this time frame, I did not feel any withdrawal symptoms, craving or feelings that something was missing. My rate of smoking was consistent with the way I'd always smoked (i.e. heavily).
At the time, I wondered how it was possible considering the strong emphasis that is placed on the nicotine-addiction aspect of cigarette smoking. That said, without conducting scientific analysis of the ingredients of these cigarettes, I can't be completely sure that they really were nicotine-free. However, assuming that they were, perhaps the OP is correct.
Having now switched exclusively to vaping, I've begun to suspect that the presence of nicotine, while not necessarily addictive, probably helps trick the brain into believing that it is still smoking. Perhaps the addictive nature of nicotine is somewhat exaggerated, which is why traditional replacement therapies such as gum, patches etc. are generally ineffective for most people.
By the way, I'm not 100% sure, I just have a suspicion that the OP is correct.
I smoked close to 3 PAD for 18 yrs. I was able to switch to 24mg overnight. I chained the heck out of 24 for a couple months. I experienced 0 with drawls or side effects. However if I went more than a couple of hrs without heavily vaping (even 2 -3 months in) I would experience hard core with drawls. Vape for 10 mins and be fine.
I decided I wanted to lower my nic consumption. I was able to lower it a whole step every month until I was down to 0. After a month of 0 I was missing the TH so I now vape 4-6. I can go days without vaping without any issues at all.
I decided I wanted to lower my nic consumption. I was able to lower it a whole step every month until I was down to 0. After a month of 0 I was missing the TH so I now vape 4-6. I can go days without vaping without any issues at all.
Some people are able to quit smoking by hanging a peppermint stick in their mouths. That didn't work for me.
To replace nicotine with nightshade vegetables, you'd have to eat a bushel a day. Even nicotine lozenges have only a 7% quit rate for smokers and most go back after they quit using them. I think that simulation offered by ecigs, coupled with the nicotine replacement is significant in the 70% to 80% quit rate claimed by vapers.
It's said that ecigs supply about 10% to 30% of the nic we got from smoking cigarettes. This tells me that the combination of hand to mouth and low level nic replacement is a good alternate to smoking. I've absolutely never looked back after finally giving up those last few cigs while vaping. I hung on to the last few for a long time before finally deciding to quit. When I did, I experienced no withdrawal, which was remarkable to me. My previous cold turkey attempts were agonizingly difficult.
To replace nicotine with nightshade vegetables, you'd have to eat a bushel a day. Even nicotine lozenges have only a 7% quit rate for smokers and most go back after they quit using them. I think that simulation offered by ecigs, coupled with the nicotine replacement is significant in the 70% to 80% quit rate claimed by vapers.
It's said that ecigs supply about 10% to 30% of the nic we got from smoking cigarettes. This tells me that the combination of hand to mouth and low level nic replacement is a good alternate to smoking. I've absolutely never looked back after finally giving up those last few cigs while vaping. I hung on to the last few for a long time before finally deciding to quit. When I did, I experienced no withdrawal, which was remarkable to me. My previous cold turkey attempts were agonizingly difficult.
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I just Googled Smokin' Joe's cigarettes and they look like regular cigarettes made by American Indians
I've realized that after few months of vaping. I never hang out for vaping like I used to for smoking. Don't even take my vape out of home unless I'm out for whole day. I think many of you probably notice the same.
I just came across this thread.
I smoked for over 40 years. The last 3-4 years I smoked Am. Spirit who touts being unprocessed. I think there is something to the effects of the usual cigarette compared to what I smoked.
When smoking my Camels I would get a rush, especially in the mornings or after going several hours without. The jitters and agitation felt were also no longer noticed. With the Spirits I never had that happen. I was still being affected by the burning paper and tobacco but feel that many smoking symptoms, such as described, were no longer present.
I smoked for over 40 years. The last 3-4 years I smoked Am. Spirit who touts being unprocessed. I think there is something to the effects of the usual cigarette compared to what I smoked.
When smoking my Camels I would get a rush, especially in the mornings or after going several hours without. The jitters and agitation felt were also no longer noticed. With the Spirits I never had that happen. I was still being affected by the burning paper and tobacco but feel that many smoking symptoms, such as described, were no longer present.
I know this thread has been around awhile. I have contributed in other nic threads in the past as well. There seem to be a couple of extremes on ECF. One group likes to quote that "nicotine is no more harmful than caffeine" and another group likes to quote "nicotine is a powerful poison." I fall in the middle. I don't think nicotine is greatly harming me, but I don't find potential for harm synonymous with addictive potential. Sometimes when I read posts from people who claim that nicotine is not very addictive because they personally vape very low mg, I get angry. I feel that their tone is self-righteous and condescending, and they sound very much like the anti-smoking crowd in their fervency. Then I take a deep breath, avoid posting, and remind myself that I also tend to believe that other people's realities are the same as my own.
Here is my reality: In two years of vaping and various experiments with my nic level, I have managed to reduce my nic from 36mg to 33mg. Two years. A week ago I mixed a fresh bottle of juice at 28mg. That's still a high nic level. I'm not thinking to myself, "Wow, what a drastic cut," or "I'm going to notice those few missing milligrams." I'm a very introspective and analytical person at times, and I constantly question my own motives and perceptions. Here is what I have perceived this week - I'm having mild cravings for cigarettes. This is something I do not normally experience. I've also been a little depressed, and I have been eating a bit more.
I transitioned to the e-cig almost painlessly. It was easy. I didn't feel that anything was missing. I knew nothing about WTA at that time. I've also recently given snus a try. It got rid of my nic craving with no additional benefit felt. I believe very much that there are other psychoactive compounds in tobacco and cigarette smoke, but I also believe those compounds are not something I personally need or have ever missed.
Yet here I am 2 years later, and 28mg nic is causing me to vape non-stop and have minor withdrawal symptoms. My next bottle will be mixed at 20mg nonetheless. If I can control the milliliters I use per day, I am sure I can do it.
Another thing that is true for me: I was asked what a nic craving felt like the other day. I feel a burning. My throat gets a bit sore and my body, especially my chest, burns. My lungs burn. I don't mean like I'm on fire; I just can't explain it better than a burning sensation. I'm irritable and unfocused. This happens to me approximately an hour after I have last vaped, or in the past, smoked, and it is separate from the almost instinctual urge I feel to hold my PV ( or cigarettes in the past ) and inhale.
I talked to my mother the other day about nic fits. She has smoked 2 PAD for 45 years. She told me she has never had a nic fit. She just has an urge to light and cigarette and puff.
I have experience with addiction in my past. Nicotine is not the only substance I have ever used, though it and caffeine are the only substances I have used in several years. Cigarettes are a two-part addiction - psychological and physical. In my reality, both are very much present for me in vaping as well.
Here is my reality: In two years of vaping and various experiments with my nic level, I have managed to reduce my nic from 36mg to 33mg. Two years. A week ago I mixed a fresh bottle of juice at 28mg. That's still a high nic level. I'm not thinking to myself, "Wow, what a drastic cut," or "I'm going to notice those few missing milligrams." I'm a very introspective and analytical person at times, and I constantly question my own motives and perceptions. Here is what I have perceived this week - I'm having mild cravings for cigarettes. This is something I do not normally experience. I've also been a little depressed, and I have been eating a bit more.
I transitioned to the e-cig almost painlessly. It was easy. I didn't feel that anything was missing. I knew nothing about WTA at that time. I've also recently given snus a try. It got rid of my nic craving with no additional benefit felt. I believe very much that there are other psychoactive compounds in tobacco and cigarette smoke, but I also believe those compounds are not something I personally need or have ever missed.
Yet here I am 2 years later, and 28mg nic is causing me to vape non-stop and have minor withdrawal symptoms. My next bottle will be mixed at 20mg nonetheless. If I can control the milliliters I use per day, I am sure I can do it.
Another thing that is true for me: I was asked what a nic craving felt like the other day. I feel a burning. My throat gets a bit sore and my body, especially my chest, burns. My lungs burn. I don't mean like I'm on fire; I just can't explain it better than a burning sensation. I'm irritable and unfocused. This happens to me approximately an hour after I have last vaped, or in the past, smoked, and it is separate from the almost instinctual urge I feel to hold my PV ( or cigarettes in the past ) and inhale.
I talked to my mother the other day about nic fits. She has smoked 2 PAD for 45 years. She told me she has never had a nic fit. She just has an urge to light and cigarette and puff.
I have experience with addiction in my past. Nicotine is not the only substance I have ever used, though it and caffeine are the only substances I have used in several years. Cigarettes are a two-part addiction - psychological and physical. In my reality, both are very much present for me in vaping as well.
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As others have noted, this is an old thread... but new to me, as I'm new to vaping and to ECF.
Interesting thoughts in that quote.
I think taking care of that reflex is a large part of why I (two pack a day smoker for 50 years) had been able to stop cold turkey three times in those years -- immediate cessations of anywhere from 3 months to 6 months straight. Simply because I used a cut-off BIC pen shell as if it were a cigarette. Holding the pen as if it were a cig, sucking on that pen as if "inhaling," and then "exhaling" slowly as if blowing out smoke.
There were some slight cravings to smoke "for real" the first week each time I quit, but just going through the motions with the BIC pen took the edge off. I sure chain-smoked that pen for the first days!
But then, I had been chain smoking "for real" for years.Sucking on an e-cig and blowing out visible vapor -- I'm quite content with pleasurably being a vaper for life now. I use 11 or 12 mg nicotine strength. I probably could go with 0 nicotine, but I'll just stick with what's working so well for me.
As a side note, my mother told me I sucked my thumb until I was five years old. That good old hindbrain. For me...yep.
Same for me as for your mother, subversive. I never had a nic fit. That must be sooo much harder to deal with for people who have not taken up vaping and found a level of nicotine to suit them.
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As to the first question on the harm of nicotine, it is both an extreme poison and about as harmful as caffeine. As with most things in medicine and nearly all drugs, the dose is everything. In the dose tobacco/nicotine users consume it appears to be about as harmful as caffeine. If it is more harmful it is not by much. It is also true that a drop of two of pure nicotine on the skin will very likely kill you. Taking two aspirin is therapeutic, while consuming a whole bottle is very toxic. It's not either/or, it's both.
As far as reducing your nicotine level the question is why. If you are contented with a certain level what's the point of reducing it to the point where you are having problems. Unless your plan is to get off all nicotine just stay where you are. If you do plan on quitting all nicotine (which I don't) that's a whole other question.
Different people react differently to nicotine, just as people react differently to alcohol, caffeine, etc. For some it is highly addictive (and I might add beneficial), and for others it has little effect. Some can easily quit nicotine while for others it is nearly impossible. Welcome to the human race.
Hmm.. I beg to differ with the orig. poster of this thread.. after trying to quit smoking cold turkey a few years ago (and having the worst time at it) i did much studying on nicotine. It is more addictive than ......, and effects the chemistry in your brain (dopamine) which is why it has a calming effect.. and when someone is a habitual smoker your brain stops producing dopamine naturally and thats why its so hard to quit- your brain chemistry has been altered.. for many even when they do succesfully quit they are still not the same people they were when smoking (cause no more dopamine) but many do not manage to quit. Nicotine in itself is not deadly, the tar and 4000 other chemicals are, but it is addictive and alters your brain chemistry.. that is why those people won that billion dollar class action lawsuit against philip morris a few years back- they claimed they got a deadly cancer from cigarettes they couldnt quit and won. Of course, after that philip morris had to change their name and let everyone know how addictive smoking was and the dangers of tobacco so that couldnt happen again..
anyways, not to sound like a downer, im sure if your were nic free for a long time your brain could heal but just saying- it IS very addictive and mind altering, nothing like coffee at all. And the deadly delivery system they make the people addicted use.. smoking.. thats why im so interested in vaping... finally.. no more tar and toxins and a way to wean off of it if one wants to in the right manner.
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