Greetings fellow vapists! (What do we call ourselves? Not smokers...vapers? Vapologists? Vaporators? No, that would be the device, not me...)
First off, my name is Kurt, and I am a chemist/instructor in Philly finishing my doctorate, hopefully this year. I've been a 1 pack/day combustor for about 12 years solidly, and off and on previous to that. My combustion habit really took hold when I contracted a rare nerve disease in 1995 (Guillain-Barre syndrome), which rapidly paralyzes the body temporarily (if you are lucky), followed by about two years of extreme fundamental nerve pain throughout the body. Few drugs can medicate this pain, but nicotine, especially when smoked, can shut the pain down right away for brief periods. Scientists do not know why this is, but there is an effort now to create nicotine analogs (like codeine is an analog of morphine) for this very purpose.
I just realized that this noob just used nicotine and analog in the same sentence without it meaning what everyone in the vape scene means by a nicotine analog. Hmm....
Episodes of pain now are less frequent, but tobacco is an evil and needy friend, and 12 years of planning to quit every other week, and not quitting, are starting to take their toll. Not in cancer, that I know of, but just lethargy, attenuated breathing, stink, nasty ashtrays, dirty looks, sanctimonious comments, etc. I do martial arts, and up until now I have been able to keep up with the physical demands, but then something changed in cigarettes...the paper. This is important.
Cigarette paper now does not burn on its own, they claim for fire hazard reasons. But there is another aspect. If the cig does not burn 1/4 inch or so between drags, then by the time you have finished the cigarette, you have inhaled FAR MORE THAN YOU DID BEFORE THEY CHANGED THE PAPER!! Think about it. I believe this was yet another way to get us to up our cigarette consumption, and thus the nicotine addiction. They just made me feel toxic and laden. See big tobacco WANTS you to be addicted to nicotine, just as long as your primary source is tobacco combustion.
Then I saw an ad for Smoke Everywhere online, and it didn't take me long to find out there is a quality alternative, smart, clean, safe, non-cancer causing, controllable, and delicious! So after viewing/reading 100s of reviews, I realized that if I do this, I must do it right. I decided to invest into a couple of types of e-cigs, and see over time which I like best. The idea of making my own juices made the chemist in me SO HAPPY!!
So I went with Greensmoke first, knowing I could open the cart/attys and add juice, and a Joye 510 from e-smokytreats (Phil is the MAN!), knowing I could drip with that. I got a passthrough, since I am a computational chemist and always on a computer, and some juices, bottles, droppers, etc. I decided to spend 2x how much I spend in a month on cigarettes...and my b-day is coming up, so happy birthday me! Can there be a better birthday present for a smoker than to find something that MAKES YOU FORGET ABOUT CIGARETTES?!?
One last thing (I can go on and on...). Today we had a seminar lecture in our chemistry department from a researcher who studies the biochem of tobacco consumption damage of DNA...this is both smoking and chewing. Turns out one of the chemicals that starts lung cancer is from a tobacco treatment process that actually reacts with a bit of the nicotine to form a nitrosamine-nicotine product. Take this compound (NOT nicotine) and INJECT into a rat anywhere on its body and they get lung cancer. This compound is not present in at least the Totally Wicked liquids (GC-MS printout on the website, totally awesome, Totally Wicked!
).
I was sitting in the back off by myself during the lecture, reached into my shirt pocket, and discretely took a tiny sip of my 510 e-smoky chocolate. No one noticed (hardly any vapor), and I could not resist.
It was a sublime moment.
Hope to interact here a lot, as I have time. I've learned a bunch from many of your already. Thanks for the info, vids, how-to's, tips, tricks and love! You have changed my life. Cigs are not yet entirely gone, but down from 1+ pack a day to 2 or 3, and that is huge. Off entirely very soon! A miracle!
Happy vaping!
Kurt
First off, my name is Kurt, and I am a chemist/instructor in Philly finishing my doctorate, hopefully this year. I've been a 1 pack/day combustor for about 12 years solidly, and off and on previous to that. My combustion habit really took hold when I contracted a rare nerve disease in 1995 (Guillain-Barre syndrome), which rapidly paralyzes the body temporarily (if you are lucky), followed by about two years of extreme fundamental nerve pain throughout the body. Few drugs can medicate this pain, but nicotine, especially when smoked, can shut the pain down right away for brief periods. Scientists do not know why this is, but there is an effort now to create nicotine analogs (like codeine is an analog of morphine) for this very purpose.
I just realized that this noob just used nicotine and analog in the same sentence without it meaning what everyone in the vape scene means by a nicotine analog. Hmm....
Episodes of pain now are less frequent, but tobacco is an evil and needy friend, and 12 years of planning to quit every other week, and not quitting, are starting to take their toll. Not in cancer, that I know of, but just lethargy, attenuated breathing, stink, nasty ashtrays, dirty looks, sanctimonious comments, etc. I do martial arts, and up until now I have been able to keep up with the physical demands, but then something changed in cigarettes...the paper. This is important.
Cigarette paper now does not burn on its own, they claim for fire hazard reasons. But there is another aspect. If the cig does not burn 1/4 inch or so between drags, then by the time you have finished the cigarette, you have inhaled FAR MORE THAN YOU DID BEFORE THEY CHANGED THE PAPER!! Think about it. I believe this was yet another way to get us to up our cigarette consumption, and thus the nicotine addiction. They just made me feel toxic and laden. See big tobacco WANTS you to be addicted to nicotine, just as long as your primary source is tobacco combustion.
Then I saw an ad for Smoke Everywhere online, and it didn't take me long to find out there is a quality alternative, smart, clean, safe, non-cancer causing, controllable, and delicious! So after viewing/reading 100s of reviews, I realized that if I do this, I must do it right. I decided to invest into a couple of types of e-cigs, and see over time which I like best. The idea of making my own juices made the chemist in me SO HAPPY!!
So I went with Greensmoke first, knowing I could open the cart/attys and add juice, and a Joye 510 from e-smokytreats (Phil is the MAN!), knowing I could drip with that. I got a passthrough, since I am a computational chemist and always on a computer, and some juices, bottles, droppers, etc. I decided to spend 2x how much I spend in a month on cigarettes...and my b-day is coming up, so happy birthday me! Can there be a better birthday present for a smoker than to find something that MAKES YOU FORGET ABOUT CIGARETTES?!? One last thing (I can go on and on...). Today we had a seminar lecture in our chemistry department from a researcher who studies the biochem of tobacco consumption damage of DNA...this is both smoking and chewing. Turns out one of the chemicals that starts lung cancer is from a tobacco treatment process that actually reacts with a bit of the nicotine to form a nitrosamine-nicotine product. Take this compound (NOT nicotine) and INJECT into a rat anywhere on its body and they get lung cancer. This compound is not present in at least the Totally Wicked liquids (GC-MS printout on the website, totally awesome, Totally Wicked!
).I was sitting in the back off by myself during the lecture, reached into my shirt pocket, and discretely took a tiny sip of my 510 e-smoky chocolate. No one noticed (hardly any vapor), and I could not resist.
It was a sublime moment.
Hope to interact here a lot, as I have time. I've learned a bunch from many of your already. Thanks for the info, vids, how-to's, tips, tricks and love! You have changed my life. Cigs are not yet entirely gone, but down from 1+ pack a day to 2 or 3, and that is huge. Off entirely very soon! A miracle!
Happy vaping!
Kurt
and hopefully some of us here will be able to answer any questions you might have.
