Is the e-ciggie for quitting?

[Oliver]

I would have thought that most smokers would choose another method for quitting than the e-cigarette, which seems to me to be an alternative for people that want to carry on with their habit but without the damaging health effects caused by tobacco smoke.

In fact, given that "e-smoke" delivers nicotine in much the same way as cigarettes, it may be harder for smokers to break the habit using the e-cig than by using Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) products.

The reason for this is that the nicotine in NRT is absorbed through the mucous membranes in the mouth, nose and throat, not through the lungs - resulting in a much longer time for it to reach peak levels in the bloodstream. Smokers don't get the same "hit" with NRT that they get with smoke, and it is the "hit" that provides much of the psychological addiction to nicotine.

However, on further analysis, the e-cig may offer one distinct advantage over NRT products: Cost.

In the UK, USA and Europe, NRT is roughly equivalent in price to smoking cigarettes. Although the initial outlay for an e-cigarette is quite large, over a relatively small period of time it becomes far cheaper - especially if you refill your own cartridges with nicotine solution.

 

[woody]

I would have thought that most smokers would choose another method for quitting than the e-cigarette, which seems to me to be an alternative for people that want to carry on with their habit but without the damaging health effects caused by tobacco smoke.

In fact, given that "e-smoke" delivers nicotine in much the same way as cigarettes, it may be harder for smokers to break the habit using the e-cig than by using Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) products.

The reason for this is that the nicotine in NRT is absorbed through the mucous membranes in the mouth, nose and throat, not through the lungs - resulting in a much longer time for it to reach peak levels in the bloodstream. Smokers don't get the same "hit" with NRT that they get with smoke, and it is the "hit" that provides much of the psychological addiction to nicotine.

However, on further analysis, the e-cig may offer one distinct advantage over NRT products: Cost.

In the UK, USA and Europe, NRT is roughly equivalent in price to smoking cigarettes. Although the initial outlay for an e-cigarette is quite large, over a relatively small period of time it becomes far cheaper - especially if you refill your own cartridges with nicotine solution.

I quit smoking a year ago and really missed it but enjoy the health benefits so I bought an e cig in September and use it often. I do think there is room for improvement in the taste but that will come with time. Also I use the e liquid but the taste is very weak. Anyone know of any suppliers other than e-cig in China?

 

[Oliver]

Hey Woody,

Have you thought about getting some from Ruyan? it may be a little more expensive, but I suspect they will have done more R&D to get the flavor right than the generics.

There are absolutely masses of suppliers, as I'm sure you've found out. I'm afraid i'm still too new to this game to tell you with any certainty where to go for it.

Also, have you considered that it may be the quality of the e-cigarette itself that affects the flavor?

Thanks for joining up and I look forward to chatting with you more!

SJ

 

[woody]

Hey Woody,

Have you thought about getting some from Ruyan? it may be a little more expensive, but I suspect they will have done more R&D to get the flavor right than the generics.

There are absolutely masses of suppliers, as I'm sure you've found out. I'm afraid i'm still too new to this game to tell you with any certainty where to go for it.

Also, have you considered that it may be the quality of the e-cigarette itself that affects the flavor?

Thanks for joining up and I look forward to chatting with you more!

SJ

Hi SJ
My favourite e smoke is from "njoy" in the USA. It has a good flavour and seems to have more "guts" than the e cig. However, the shipping is so expensive that I do not order replacement cartridges. I emailed my concern to njoy but did not receive a reply. Therefore I tried e-liquid from "e-cig" which has plenty of vapour but not much taste. I will check out Ruyan. Thanks for your advice. I hope that e-smoking really takes off so that we might find consistent quality products in the UK retail market.

 

[TropicalBob]

I don't think the e-cigs, cigars, pipes are for quitting, either, even though that promise has obvious advertising and sales appeal. Is there a smoker out there who hasn't tried something like "One Step at a Time"? The idea is to gradually reduce nicotine intake until you're at zero. Then quit!

Same for quit methods that reduce daily cigarette use.

At some point, the smoker goes nuts and returns to his/her regular cigarettes, and usage quickly returns to whatever previous level existed before the quit attempt. All of these methods can be analyzed while listening to Mick Jagger sing "Ah cain't get no-oh satisfaction."

In the U.S., there's a cigarette called Quest that offers a unique step-down method. The story is that tobacco genes were altered in a lab so that plants with the altered genes did not produce nicotine. The leaves could be treated as any other tobacco leaves. The product could be smoked like any other cigarette. And Big Tobacco was so upset by this that it threatened anyone growing nicotine-free tobacco with bankruptcy or worse. It even stopped plants being grown in South America. Only the Amish showed no fear of Big Tobacco. They agreed to grow the plants.

There are three strengths of Quest, from regular to no-nicotine at all. I began the program, buying the far-more expensive regular Quests to begin with. Then I stepped down. And smoked more cigarettes. Then I went to no-nicotine Quests. I drew in smoke, saw it exhaled, but felt absolutely no "kick" or satisfaction of any kind. Yep, these are about as useful as herbal cigarettes for quitting. Not useful at all.

I returned to my favorite cigarettes.

I believe trying to quit with an e-cig will have similar results. Best to look at these new products as part of a healthier, more sustaintable lifestyle. Sustainable is the buzz word now for the environment. It can be the same for smokers. We need to find a routine that doesn't involve inhaling tars into our throats and lungs, but satisfies a life-long addiction and habit. I have high hopes an e product might find a place in my own sustainable, harm-reducing routine.

But the jury is still out.

 

[Super-Smoker]

I agree e-cigarettes are an alternative to cigarettes, not a way to stop smoking. E-smoking does seem to help some people to stop, though. For me, it didn't help me to stop, but it did help me to smoke less.

 

[TropicalBob]

From research I've been doing, I believe claims of helping smokers quit will get a seller in dire straits. It won't be the FDA that comes after them, but the Federal Trade Commission. That agency regularly slaps quit-smoking hucksters with million-dollar fines and puts them out of business. It has one simple mandate for all ad claims: Prove it. And the FTC means prove it with unbiased, in-depth studies. Those don't exist for e-smoking devices. The fact that your Cousin Fred hasn't had a cigarette since he got his e-cig doesn't count.

On the other hand, if e-cigs are advertised as an "alternative" to cigarettes, then they might be considered a nicotine delivery device and need medical equipment status. That means years of expensive research and time spent waiting for federal approval. As things stand now, there is no place for nicotine as a recreational drug. There is no alternative to cigarettes, as far as the government is concerned. There's only unregulated tobacco products and Big Pharmaceutical's smoking cessation failures.

Hard to say where this will fall as far as legal sales in the U.S. are concerned. My hope is that they somehow slip through unregulated while federal agencies try to figure out which department should ban or strictly regulate them. I'm just glad I got my cigar and pipe and have been enjoying them for more than a month now. I'm stocking up on e-liquid -- just in case.

 

[Meltrex]

Obviously, it will vary from person to person. My experience with E-smoking has just helped me cut down on real ciggs. Once I pick up the E-cig and start puffing.. I don't stop.. next thing I know.. 20 minutes have passed and I'm forcing myself to put it down.. Then, I have the feeling of wanting a real cigg.. several times now... I'll end up smoking a real cigg after the 20min e-puffing.. and get light headed and a daze type feeling for a little while... OVERDOSING symptom I'm assuming. I am planning on going totally E-ciggs for my nicotine needs. Just need to get regular ciggs out of my mind and reach. One good thing after the E-puffing.. The real ciggy tastes nasty and doens't give me the pleasure as before. For all these companies advertising E-ciggs will help you quit smoking just to boost sales is definately a mistake IMO. They need to keep it straight as a smoking alternative for nicotine.

I find it fun to use the E-cig for the most part.. Taking a few short puffs to get a decent amout of vapor to hold in my mouth, I will allow some to escape and then inhale up thru my nose and then back out my nose. Will repeat until all the vapor is gone from my mouth.. By doing this I get a cool feeling type vapor sensation around my nose.. AWESOME feeling to me...lol Its like zoning in on something once you do it a few times.. very relaxing.

 

[TropicalBob]

That was called "French inhaling" when I was a teen. You'd suck in a mouthful of smoke, part your lips and then sniff the smoke into and through your nose. I'd almost forgotten. We spent hours practicing ..

Today, I can blow vapor rings from my e-pipe.

Times change. Fun doesn't.

 

[karenwest1961]

Well, at LEAST I quit the stinky cigarettes, so I do consider that I have "quit smoking." I just have another nicotine delivery system that resembles smoking. To each their own how they look at it, if you ask me. I use e-cigs exclusively and actually enjoy it more than I ever did smoking. (Gawd, I didn't think that was possible.) My husband is a NON-smoker and he considers me quit.

I think eventually Uncle Sam will try and get his hands on it since it is a nicotine delivery system. It's just a matter of time.

 

[leaford]

Our best defense is to preach the word far and wide, so more people will know something about it when the gov starts looking at it.

 

[no_butts]

Could you tell me where you get the Nicotine refill for cartridges? I live in the Washington State, USA...Thanks much, Nancy

 

[TropicalBob]

http://www.e-cig.com

Terriby expensive shipping from China, however, plus myriad other problems I won't go into. E-Bay has some U.S. sellers of liquid, too. More expensive than E-Cig, but better service.

There's another place called Freesmoke, but the prices there will turn you prematurely gray.

 

[garyl43]

I'm going to use the e-cigs as a stepping stone to quitting. The e-cigs have allowed me to take a couple of puffs now and then to break the habit of smoking an entire cigarette at once. I've ordered some snus for when my e-cig stuff runs out (or dies ) so that I can gradually cut back on my nicotine intake. I quit for 6 years once using Skoal long cut and gradually cutting the amount back over a 9 month period. When I quit using the Skoal I only felt a real mild urge for about 4 days then I felt fine. It's a lot cheaper than using the big pharma stuff and it allows you to control the dosage alot better.

 

[TropicalBob]

That's a good plan, Gary. You were also wise to leave Skoal dip, which unquestionably causes gum and tooth diseases. Snus don't and have a long history of use to prove it. Elsewhere on this forum today, you'll find a poster whose e-cig failed him and he's almost at the point of returning to cigarettes. E-cigs will fail. Snus will fill in while e-cig replacement parts are enroute. I would suggest everyone trying to leave cigarettes behind have more than one way to cope with nicotine addiction. Try everything that's legal! Don't put all your eggs in one Chinese basket. Even temporary use of Nicorette gum is better than buying that pack of cigs after you've been off more than 72 hours.

 

[TheEmperorOfIceCream]

For me it's about quitting smoking, not nicotine. Thet's where all my failures are. I'm waiting for my first e-cigs and if these little darlings can get me off smoke, then i'll say job done. But good luck to everybody who is trying to use e-smoking as a vector to quitting completely. I know there's no evidence supporting e-smoking as a cessation aid, but I'd say it's in there with at least as good a chance as gum or patches.

Oh, hello everybody - newbie on the block!

The Emp

 

[magic dragon]

Hi, rather than using e-cigs to help me give up I am planning to use one with zero nicotine cartridges to prevent me from starting again after giving up for 10 months. Really struggling at mo and feel I need the hand to mouth ritual rather than the nicotine? Super cigarette on order will let you know how I get on.

 

[dnakr]

Good Luck - hopefully it will fix that craving your having. I think the hand to mouth ritual rather than the nicotine is the hardest to break - that's why I'm e-smoking, however, I am using medium/low... Eventually I will go to no nicotine...

 

[magic dragon]

Hi, thanks for good luck wishes,
Well it arrived today and here are my initial thoughts:

Vapour - Yum, Just what I was craving for, as someone else said 'like saying hello to an old friend' I really have missed inhaling and exhaling

Taste - Yuk!, did get better (either I got used to it after a while or maybe a new atomiser needs 'breaking in'?) but think would prefer the flavours as when you haven't smoked for a few months smoke flavour doesn't taste good!
I suppose there is really no need to have 'stale smoke/smelly sock' flavour if there is cherry on the menu is there?

Weight and feel of e-cig - Bit heavier and slightly larger than imagined but overall felt ok in hand

Overall very impressed and feel will stop the craving as seems to be just what I was looking for.Well ,battery on charge for 8 hours as the great advice in this forum says, will post again soon.

 

[Mr.Darcy]

ha ha!i know that taste!dont worry mate,youll get used to it...in fact youll grow to like it.and flavours are available,youll get one you really like after a bit of experimenting.remember your first ...?bet that didnt taste too nice at the time either!