You guys can thank leaford for this He wrote it and posted it on his site which I will post at the end of the post. I wanted to post it here because I know there's a lot of new e-cigarette users that come here.
Most of my blog posts to date have been aimed at current e-smokers, not at new users, or people who are interested but dont know much about them. Well, I am going to start doing more for those who are interested or curious, starting with talking about WHY e-cigs work for so many people.
Recently, I was writing a letter to someone whose friend has been trying desperately to quit smoking. Her friend had tried gums, patches, fake cigs, even acupuncture and hypnosis. All that time, money and effort, with no success.
No real surprise there. Its an old story, and an older struggle. Traditional stop smoking methods just dont work for most smokers. The statistics are dismal. Even the most optimistic studies show only a 15% one year success rate with pharmaceutical aids such as NRTs and pills. Longer term studies show less than a 6% success rate.
So, why have so many people succeeded, and succeeded so EASILY, at switching from cigarettes to electronic cigarettes?
First of all, I should note that e-cigs are not really meant as a stop smoking aid. They are an alternative to traditional cigarettes, and were never intended to be used for quitting. The original intent of the design was simply as an alternative for those times and places where a smoker could not, or chose not to, smoke. Like in bars, restaurants, and so on. Or around children. But users found them so enjoyable that before long most were using them as a full time replacement for tobacco cigarettes.
It is possible to use them intentionally to step down nicotine use until you reach zero nicotine, especially with the wide range of strengths Vapor4Life carries. But again, they arent really intended for that, and most users dont really have any intention of doing so.
And why should they? We enjoy nicotine the same way most people enjoy the effects of caffine. We just want to consume it in a way that isnt proven to kill us.
So, while we have stopped smoking in a literal sense, in that we are no longer burning and inhaling tobacco, most people in the general public think of quitting smoking as stopping consuming nicotine, and for most of us, thats neither the case, nor the goal.
But anyway, most of us have found the change from tobacco cigarettes to electronic cigarettes to be easy and painless. Many have even quit using tobacco entirely on the FIRST DAY of using e-cigs.
Why is it that easy, when other methods of delivering nicotine, like patches, gum, and lozenges, are very nearly as difficult on the smoker as going cold turkey?
Part of it is the nature of nicotine addiction. Nicotine changes the smokers brain. Dopamine and serotonin receptors are PERMANENTLY changed to nicotine receptors. The majority of smokers will NEVER succeed in quitting because of this. And most of those who do, will eventually return to it. The addiction and the changes to the brain are just too much.
Part of it is also that traditional methods simply dont address ALL of the habit. Smokers arent only physically and neurologically addicted to the nicotine, they are behaviorally addicted to the habits and rituals of smoking. Lighting up, inhaling, and exhaling a cloud of smoke. Holding the cigarette in the hand. The hand to mouth action. The oral fixation. Etc.
And of course, even for those who WANT to quit, theres always the fact that we ENJOY the act of smoking, the effects of nicotine, maybe even the flavor, and part of us will always crave those pleasures even when we have gotten sick of the unpleasant and unhealthy downsides to smoking.
E-cigs arent a perfect replacement for cigarettes, but they are SOOOO close that the transition is nearly painless for most who try it. They give us the nicotine we crave and are addicted to, they allow us to continue most of the habits and rituals, and give us some new habits and rituals to fill the few gaps. And as for the pleasures of smoking, most of us find that e-cigs are actually MORE pleasurable, because the flavors are much, much better.
S0, we can keep everything we love about smoking, without all the HUGE downsides, like coughing constantly, reeking of smoke, having ashes everywhere, and stinky ashtrays. Not to mention lung disease or the big C.
Taken from leaford's site.
E-smoker Forever – by Leaford
Most of my blog posts to date have been aimed at current e-smokers, not at new users, or people who are interested but dont know much about them. Well, I am going to start doing more for those who are interested or curious, starting with talking about WHY e-cigs work for so many people.
Recently, I was writing a letter to someone whose friend has been trying desperately to quit smoking. Her friend had tried gums, patches, fake cigs, even acupuncture and hypnosis. All that time, money and effort, with no success.
No real surprise there. Its an old story, and an older struggle. Traditional stop smoking methods just dont work for most smokers. The statistics are dismal. Even the most optimistic studies show only a 15% one year success rate with pharmaceutical aids such as NRTs and pills. Longer term studies show less than a 6% success rate.
So, why have so many people succeeded, and succeeded so EASILY, at switching from cigarettes to electronic cigarettes?
First of all, I should note that e-cigs are not really meant as a stop smoking aid. They are an alternative to traditional cigarettes, and were never intended to be used for quitting. The original intent of the design was simply as an alternative for those times and places where a smoker could not, or chose not to, smoke. Like in bars, restaurants, and so on. Or around children. But users found them so enjoyable that before long most were using them as a full time replacement for tobacco cigarettes.
It is possible to use them intentionally to step down nicotine use until you reach zero nicotine, especially with the wide range of strengths Vapor4Life carries. But again, they arent really intended for that, and most users dont really have any intention of doing so.
And why should they? We enjoy nicotine the same way most people enjoy the effects of caffine. We just want to consume it in a way that isnt proven to kill us.
But anyway, most of us have found the change from tobacco cigarettes to electronic cigarettes to be easy and painless. Many have even quit using tobacco entirely on the FIRST DAY of using e-cigs.
Why is it that easy, when other methods of delivering nicotine, like patches, gum, and lozenges, are very nearly as difficult on the smoker as going cold turkey?
Part of it is the nature of nicotine addiction. Nicotine changes the smokers brain. Dopamine and serotonin receptors are PERMANENTLY changed to nicotine receptors. The majority of smokers will NEVER succeed in quitting because of this. And most of those who do, will eventually return to it. The addiction and the changes to the brain are just too much.
Part of it is also that traditional methods simply dont address ALL of the habit. Smokers arent only physically and neurologically addicted to the nicotine, they are behaviorally addicted to the habits and rituals of smoking. Lighting up, inhaling, and exhaling a cloud of smoke. Holding the cigarette in the hand. The hand to mouth action. The oral fixation. Etc.
And of course, even for those who WANT to quit, theres always the fact that we ENJOY the act of smoking, the effects of nicotine, maybe even the flavor, and part of us will always crave those pleasures even when we have gotten sick of the unpleasant and unhealthy downsides to smoking.
E-cigs arent a perfect replacement for cigarettes, but they are SOOOO close that the transition is nearly painless for most who try it. They give us the nicotine we crave and are addicted to, they allow us to continue most of the habits and rituals, and give us some new habits and rituals to fill the few gaps. And as for the pleasures of smoking, most of us find that e-cigs are actually MORE pleasurable, because the flavors are much, much better.
S0, we can keep everything we love about smoking, without all the HUGE downsides, like coughing constantly, reeking of smoke, having ashes everywhere, and stinky ashtrays. Not to mention lung disease or the big C.
Taken from leaford's site.
E-smoker Forever – by Leaford
