So I was having dinner with a couple of friends/aquintances last night and I thought I'd share with ECF.
So out happiness of my new found manner of nicotine intake, I told one of my friends (not very close) , that I have only smoked 2 cigarettes in a week because I started using e-cigs. He's never smoked and had commented a few times about my smoking in the past, so the reaction I was expecting was "wow, that's greats, good for you..." or something along those lines and lets just say that's not the reaction I got.
So the first thing out of his mouth was "...oh, I can't stand those things. I see people smoking them in movies and around malls, I think it's very rude and I still don't think it's ok to breath in their smoke, even it's a little healthier than second-hand smoke". Another friend also said something similar, but not as .....y
As soon as I heard smoke, my ears perked up and did one of those scooby doo out-takes "UURRHH?"
So I explained, "you know it's not smoke, right? It's heated liquid, turned to vapor ..."; And then I get "Well of course it's smoke, I can see it when people exhale..."
Mind you, this friend is very intelligent and I respect , but I started to get frustrated, and said "...again, it's vapor. What you are seeing is exhaled vapor ... Normal cigarettes are burning dried tobacco leaves with thousands of chemicals added to them...E-cigs are omitting vapor, filtered by the lungs"...
I shared about the ingredients, about a number of articles from doctor's opinions, how much better I feel after one week and how I don't wreak of cigarette smoke anymore, and also how a couple of studies I have found show no risk for second hand vapor (which can be found on the ECF forum somewhere or googling for it) ... And of course after all that I still get "Well, I don't know about those studies, it's still chemicals I'm being forced to breath...."
Banging my head against the table now I politely ask ... "How much time have you spent researching e-cigarettes? No really, I'm serious, how many hours have you spent reading article after article?" and the response, "none, I just don't like it"
So my final response was, "Well, quite frankly, I've spent many hours and days reading countless articles on e-cigs. I feel very comfortable in my decision to stop smoking cigarettes in favor of vaping, and so the next time this topic comes up, do everyone a solid and provide a little disclaimer before you speak, something along the lines of ... I know absolutely nothing about e-cigs so any opinion I share is completely misinformed and biased because of my distaste for smoking cigarettes ... "
We all stopped talking for a couple of minutes after that...LOL, I'm not joking
So anyway, as much as this conversation was frustrating, it made me think of the bigger picture ... People out there know absolutely nothing about e-cigarettes and cling to completely biased opinions on it because they associate it with normal cigarettes and that second hand vapor is just as unhealthy as second hand smoke. It's maddening to the say the least ...
I never said long-term use of vaping e-cigs are completely healthy (not enough studys done) ... But it would be nice if vapors can get some good PR and help change the minds of so many uneducated people out there.
Sorry for the long post, but just wanted to share, thanks for reading
So out happiness of my new found manner of nicotine intake, I told one of my friends (not very close) , that I have only smoked 2 cigarettes in a week because I started using e-cigs. He's never smoked and had commented a few times about my smoking in the past, so the reaction I was expecting was "wow, that's greats, good for you..." or something along those lines and lets just say that's not the reaction I got.
So the first thing out of his mouth was "...oh, I can't stand those things. I see people smoking them in movies and around malls, I think it's very rude and I still don't think it's ok to breath in their smoke, even it's a little healthier than second-hand smoke". Another friend also said something similar, but not as .....y
As soon as I heard smoke, my ears perked up and did one of those scooby doo out-takes "UURRHH?"
So I explained, "you know it's not smoke, right? It's heated liquid, turned to vapor ..."; And then I get "Well of course it's smoke, I can see it when people exhale..."
Mind you, this friend is very intelligent and I respect , but I started to get frustrated, and said "...again, it's vapor. What you are seeing is exhaled vapor ... Normal cigarettes are burning dried tobacco leaves with thousands of chemicals added to them...E-cigs are omitting vapor, filtered by the lungs"...
I shared about the ingredients, about a number of articles from doctor's opinions, how much better I feel after one week and how I don't wreak of cigarette smoke anymore, and also how a couple of studies I have found show no risk for second hand vapor (which can be found on the ECF forum somewhere or googling for it) ... And of course after all that I still get "Well, I don't know about those studies, it's still chemicals I'm being forced to breath...."
Banging my head against the table now I politely ask ... "How much time have you spent researching e-cigarettes? No really, I'm serious, how many hours have you spent reading article after article?" and the response, "none, I just don't like it"
So my final response was, "Well, quite frankly, I've spent many hours and days reading countless articles on e-cigs. I feel very comfortable in my decision to stop smoking cigarettes in favor of vaping, and so the next time this topic comes up, do everyone a solid and provide a little disclaimer before you speak, something along the lines of ... I know absolutely nothing about e-cigs so any opinion I share is completely misinformed and biased because of my distaste for smoking cigarettes ... "
We all stopped talking for a couple of minutes after that...LOL, I'm not joking
So anyway, as much as this conversation was frustrating, it made me think of the bigger picture ... People out there know absolutely nothing about e-cigarettes and cling to completely biased opinions on it because they associate it with normal cigarettes and that second hand vapor is just as unhealthy as second hand smoke. It's maddening to the say the least ...
I never said long-term use of vaping e-cigs are completely healthy (not enough studys done) ... But it would be nice if vapors can get some good PR and help change the minds of so many uneducated people out there.
Sorry for the long post, but just wanted to share, thanks for reading
Last edited: