I don't want to fight tobacco

[ChaosTheory]

Hey all,

Just kind of wanted to get some feedback on some issues I've been having, some what political issues ;(

I switched to vaping about 1 month and half ago. Haven't smoked a traditional cigarette in a long time. I really enjoy vaping and I think it is, dare I say, revolutionary.

After just a week of vaping I was confident in making the assertion that ecigs would help millions of people quit smoking who wanted to quit. It's a cogent, reasonable, and realistic method for reducing the number of smokers in the world. When I initially made this claim, I did not mean to convey a message of anti-tobacco.

I'm a firm believer in personal choice. I think the anti-tobacco onslaughts were/are hyperbolic in nature and deserved to be resisted by rational people everywhere. I also understand the fact that people don't like tobacco smoke. It's been fought against for literally hundreds of years. In the 1600's the clergy put a ban on smoking in holy places, then the vatican excommunicated members of the church for smoking. It's been heavily taxed in Europe in the 1700's on. Even in America it has suffered a horrible reputation.

Despite some evidence that smoking tobacco is harmful (which I believe it is), I don't want my support of vaping to be construed as some sort of attack on the tobacco industry.

Something doesn't feel right about a bar or a casino where people cannot smoke tobacco if they want to.

Nevertheless that's beside the point. I will continue to support vaping.. as I said I think it's the wave of the future and a fantastic alternative to smoking. .. but I maintain that people should be free to decide, and that I in no way support the criminalization of tobacco.

Smoking honestly will never bother me, even though I choose not to do it any longer.

 

[otrpu]

Ya, having not done it in awhile, it stinks. JMHO

 

[firefox335]

I couldn't agree with you more. Do I think the tobbaco lobby is corrupt and vile? Undoubtedly. Do I think tobacco kills? Of course. But I have no intention of launching a moral crusade against it. Do I think it's foolish for people to contine to smoke when there's a much healthier alternative that blows rings around smoking? Yes.

 

[PaporPlas]

Smoking should be allowed for the individual, while not subjecting those around them to have to breath in their second hand smoke. I was pretty shocked when I returned to L.A. after being out of the country for a few years (95-98) to hear that people could no longer smoke in bars! That sounded flat out silly to me. But, over a decade later I see the reasoning in it. If you drink in a bar, nobody is forced to drink with you. If you smoke in a bar, pretty much everyone in there has to breath in our smoke.

It's sort of like freedom of speech allows us to say things that other so not agree with, but that doesn't allow us to shout "Fire!" in a theater.

 

[Warren D. Lockaby]

Hey all,

Just kind of wanted to get some feedback on some issues I've been having, some what political issues ;(

I switched to vaping about 1 month and half ago. Haven't smoked a traditional cigarette in a long time. I really enjoy vaping and I think it is, dare I say, revolutionary.

After just a week of vaping I was confident in making the assertion that ecigs would help millions of people quit smoking who wanted to quit. It's a cogent, reasonable, and realistic method for reducing the number of smokers in the world. When I initially made this claim, I did not mean to convey a message of anti-tobacco.

I'm a firm believer in personal choice. I think the anti-tobacco onslaughts were/are hyperbolic in nature and deserved to be resisted by rational people everywhere. I also understand the fact that people don't like tobacco smoke. It's been fought against for literally hundreds of years. In the 1600's the clergy put a ban on smoking in holy places, then the vatican excommunicated members of the church for smoking. It's been heavily taxed in Europe in the 1700's on. Even in America it has suffered a horrible reputation.

Despite some evidence that smoking tobacco is harmful (which I believe it is), I don't want my support of vaping to be construed as some sort of attack on the tobacco industry.

Something doesn't feel right about a bar or a casino where people cannot smoke tobacco if they want to.

Nevertheless that's beside the point. I will continue to support vaping.. as I said I think it's the wave of the future and a fantastic alternative to smoking. .. but I maintain that people should be free to decide, and that I in no way support the criminalization of tobacco.

Smoking honestly will never bother me, even though I choose not to do it any longer.

Politically, I've always believed, "That government is best which governs the least," which, I suppose, goes along with the notion that "my right to swing my fist ends where the next fellow's nose begins." For some time now though, even as a smoker I could extend that latter phrase to include "my right to blow my smoke ends....". OTOH, the smoke - rights only apply in an enclosed area as far as I'm concerned. Once outside in the open air all bets are off and it's every (wo)man's breath for (her or) himself, to make of it what (s)he will. Don't like my exhale? Try moving upwind... problem solved.

See? Us anarchists aren't all that hard to get along with. If folks don't start nothin', there won't be nothin'. Happy Vapin'!

 

[darkstorm]

I want to fight tobacco. It killed my father, my grandfather, my favorite uncle and would have killed me if not for vaping. Individual rights should be fought for, including the right to kill yourself with cancer sticks. Kind of have mixed emotions on this subject as I feel an individual or a business should be able to decide what they do or allow on their premises without government interference. People can vote with their feet by choosing to patronize or not patronize, work for or not work for, places that allow smoking.

 

[ambition]

Education is the problem.

We vapers are an enlightened lot that understand nicotine is not the problem, unfortunately for each of us there are millions of others that either lump vaping into the same pile as tobacco, or aren't even aware of vaping.

I'm not anti-tobacco, it's just don't want to burn the leaves, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't fight to increase awareness of vaping and fight for it's acceptance as a legitimate and acceptable alternative method for nicotine delivery at the very least.

Expecting vaping to become accepted indoors at major venues where smoking is banned is a bit much to hope for right now, but we must continue to differentiate our method from traditional methods. Most of the nicotine we consume originates from the tobacco plant, not synthesized in a lab, so we can't claim to be anti-tobacco.

Try living in Australia where the store clerks can't even suggest a cigarette brand or flavour to you if you can't ask for it by name, where you can't even see them on display (they're hidden away in unmarked cupboards), where we don't have cigar bars, where we can't smoke in casinos or pubs (although outdoor "beer gardens" are awesome in the summer), where smoking is banned inside any building except private homes, and where they're bringing in legislation for plain cigarette packaging.

Ridiculous when you also know that a large amount of government revenue is created from taxes on tobacco. Last I checked, my old brand is $14 a pack, about $10 of that is excise, tarrif, levy, duty and whatever other fanciful names they have for tax.

FYI, you can't buy nicotine eliquid in Australia. You must have it imported, except in QLD where you're not even allowed to do that.

My point is simply that I agree with the OP that we shouldn't become too anti-tobacco, because that's not a battle we want to fight, we'll surely lose even if we win. We want to fight for the ability to get our nicotine in a way that we choose and the ability to educate others openly about their options without being "tarred" by the same brush.

 

[pyxis5000]

I don't want to fight the tobacco industry, but I will tell everyone about the e-cig. This is such a better alternative.

 

[ChaosTheory]

I want to fight tobacco. It killed my father, my grandfather, my favorite uncle and would have killed me if not for vaping. Individual rights should be fought for, including the right to kill yourself with cancer sticks. Kind of have mixed emotions on this subject as I feel an individual or a business should be able to decide what they do or allow on their premises without government interference. People can vote with their feet by choosing to patronize or not patronize, work for or not work for, places that allow smoking.

Good sentiments. The free market has done for people what legislation could never do... provide a realistic alternative to smoking. .. and that of course is vaping. It's one thing to say, "Smoking kills, stop doing it!".. easy for people to say when it isn't a part of their lifestyle. Say, hey man, try this.. and hand 'em an ecig... if they still smoke, so be it.. their choice.. but at least there exists better options.

 

[Warren D. Lockaby]

Good sentiments. The free market has done for people what legislation could never do... provide a realistic alternative to smoking. .. and that of course is vaping. It's one thing to say, "Smoking kills, stop doing it!".. easy for people to say when it isn't a part of their lifestyle. Say, hey man, try this.. and hand 'em an ecig... if they still smoke, so be it.. their choice.. but at least there exists better options.

Precisely so, at least from my standpoint. I didn't start vaping specifically to quit smoking, but rather to gain the Freedom to choose NOT to smoke if I so desired. That is still what this is mostly about to me, and while I am closer every day to having smoked my last analog (I may already have, just not sure), I don't want to give up that freedom either. I cherish Freedom in all things... for myself and for everyone else too.