Hey again everyone,
I've recently been having some interesting revelations regarding smoking, vaping, and the way my brain relates to tobacco in general. One of things that's made it kind of difficult to pin down exactly what I find appealing is that I really don't have a constant urge to smoke/vape, etc. My desire to participate in addictive behaviors is so conditional, I find that I can only really tell if something is satisfying a need, as opposed to allowing me to do something purely out of habit, if I'm in a particular state of mind. It's pretty much the same with everything. I'll go weeks or months without drinking or smoking and not miss it at all, but once I get into a particular frame of mind, I feel an intense need for those things.
Anyway, what prompted my thinking about this is that I recently ran out of juice and cleaned cartomizers (burned cartomizer filler really is the worst), so I decided to buy a pack of snus. I'd never tried it before, so I figured it would be an interesting experiment, especially since I don't want to incur the financial or health costs of cigarettes anymore. I've had a bit of vodka now and was reading about some things that made me go into thinking mode, and now I'm finding that I really want to smoke or vape. I have three snus packets in my mouth right now, because I wanted to make sure I was getting enough nicotine so I could determine whether I was craving nicotine and whatever short term MAOIs are in tobacco, or whether I was just craving the activity.
I'm finding that even with three snus, I currently still have a strong desire for an inhalation based delivery system. I'm thinking that, to some degree, the neurological circuitry that allows me to quit smoking so easily is also responsible for my failure to recognize a non-inhalation based delivery system as a satisfactory experience. One of the things that I notice when I stop smoking/vaping is that I definitely do go through withdrawal symptoms; I get irritable for no reason, eat more, etc., but interestingly, even though I can clearly recognize that on an intellectual level as a symptom of nicotine withdrawal, my brain doesn't translate that into a need to smoke. So I think that, for me, the actual physical act of putting something up to my mouth and feeling something fill my lungs has become so intimately connected to whatever pleasurable effects it has that my body and brain have come to so strongly associate that action with pleasurable effects that the actual direct action of nicotine and tobacco alkaloids becomes secondary.
I'm also still taking into account the possibility that I have a pretty high nicotine tolerance and need to hit a pretty high threshold in order to trigger a recognition that it's actually in my system, but even so, I realize that I'd still prefer 12mg juice to having snus in my mouth. Just as an experiment, I'm thinking of switching to just snusing for about a week to see if my brain will be able to reassociate with that delivery method, but I still find it interesting that I want to smoke so much right now despite having adequate nicotine.
Anyway, what have your experiences been like? I'm particularly interested in people who were heavy smokers but have now switched to low-nicotine juice. Do you still find it as satisfying? I remember as a kid, I simply couldn't understand why anyone would want to smoke. Similarly, I now don't really understand the feeling of needing a cup of coffee in the morning, etc. Part of it, I know, is just the way the brain wires itself in adolescence and early adulthood. I know this is something that differs greatly between different people, but it's still interesting to hear about individual experiences.do you guys think?
I've recently been having some interesting revelations regarding smoking, vaping, and the way my brain relates to tobacco in general. One of things that's made it kind of difficult to pin down exactly what I find appealing is that I really don't have a constant urge to smoke/vape, etc. My desire to participate in addictive behaviors is so conditional, I find that I can only really tell if something is satisfying a need, as opposed to allowing me to do something purely out of habit, if I'm in a particular state of mind. It's pretty much the same with everything. I'll go weeks or months without drinking or smoking and not miss it at all, but once I get into a particular frame of mind, I feel an intense need for those things.
Anyway, what prompted my thinking about this is that I recently ran out of juice and cleaned cartomizers (burned cartomizer filler really is the worst), so I decided to buy a pack of snus. I'd never tried it before, so I figured it would be an interesting experiment, especially since I don't want to incur the financial or health costs of cigarettes anymore. I've had a bit of vodka now and was reading about some things that made me go into thinking mode, and now I'm finding that I really want to smoke or vape. I have three snus packets in my mouth right now, because I wanted to make sure I was getting enough nicotine so I could determine whether I was craving nicotine and whatever short term MAOIs are in tobacco, or whether I was just craving the activity.
I'm finding that even with three snus, I currently still have a strong desire for an inhalation based delivery system. I'm thinking that, to some degree, the neurological circuitry that allows me to quit smoking so easily is also responsible for my failure to recognize a non-inhalation based delivery system as a satisfactory experience. One of the things that I notice when I stop smoking/vaping is that I definitely do go through withdrawal symptoms; I get irritable for no reason, eat more, etc., but interestingly, even though I can clearly recognize that on an intellectual level as a symptom of nicotine withdrawal, my brain doesn't translate that into a need to smoke. So I think that, for me, the actual physical act of putting something up to my mouth and feeling something fill my lungs has become so intimately connected to whatever pleasurable effects it has that my body and brain have come to so strongly associate that action with pleasurable effects that the actual direct action of nicotine and tobacco alkaloids becomes secondary.
I'm also still taking into account the possibility that I have a pretty high nicotine tolerance and need to hit a pretty high threshold in order to trigger a recognition that it's actually in my system, but even so, I realize that I'd still prefer 12mg juice to having snus in my mouth. Just as an experiment, I'm thinking of switching to just snusing for about a week to see if my brain will be able to reassociate with that delivery method, but I still find it interesting that I want to smoke so much right now despite having adequate nicotine.
Anyway, what have your experiences been like? I'm particularly interested in people who were heavy smokers but have now switched to low-nicotine juice. Do you still find it as satisfying? I remember as a kid, I simply couldn't understand why anyone would want to smoke. Similarly, I now don't really understand the feeling of needing a cup of coffee in the morning, etc. Part of it, I know, is just the way the brain wires itself in adolescence and early adulthood. I know this is something that differs greatly between different people, but it's still interesting to hear about individual experiences.do you guys think?
