New "Crutch" user

[Nota Realtechnician]

Hi, new forum user here whose ex-in-laws said "You know, it's just a crutch for weak minded people with no self-control..." on my using "Firelight Fusion" e-cigs to quit smoking cigarettes after 25+ years of smoking 1-2 packs a day. No "real ones" since 05/02/2013

Yesterday I helped my beloved NEW wife (The Princess) pick out her own "crutch" after lurking around here. (Thank you, to all you other "Crutch Users" for all your time and effort to help all the lurkers like me) She got herself a nice Dual EVOD kit at Extreme Vapour in The Valley of the 3rd Degree Sunburn (also known as Glendale, AZ - a suburb of Phoenix). She also picked up 3 juices and is on her way to quiting tobacco after 27+ years.

SO!!!! Now that I have said "Thank You" and to return the favor, I am a mechanic with 36 years experience (16 years @ Toyota), if I can be of service by providing help or advice (think Click and Clack of PBS' CAR TALK...however you should call me "Clunk and Bang" since I generally do most of the suspension work at the World Domination MotorCar Corporation facilities in Peoria, AZ) via e-mail, please feel free to contact me.

mods: If by offering free advice I have in some way violated the TOS by offering free advice, please flog me as you see fit.

BTW the "Nota Realtechnician" moniker was bestowed upon me by a ..... who would not know a "Real Technician" if one were to hit her in the head with a Snap-On Brand RD20 Master Spindle Rethreading Set. (Giving you the ability to repair and renew damaged threads on stub axles and spindles for most vehicles. Dies are manufactured from high tempered steel for strength and durability. Each die size is embossed in the case directly below each die for easy identification and selection. And a handy application chart is included.)

 

[Robino1]

I saw your post in the other thread about unsupportive in-laws. Thank goodness you have gotten out of their orbit! Congrats on your NEW wife's switching to vaping. Again

to the form.

 

[Nota Realtechnician]

Robino1, thanks for the welcome.

Seeing I am such a "laid back" kinda guy, I let most roll off my back... Mostly I just laugh at the stupidity of it all.

Thanks again.

 

[Ryedan]

Welcome to ECF and to vaping Realtechnician. You know this un-supportive family thing seems to be making the rounds here lately, so don't feel like it's just you.

Thanks for the offer for car advice. I've got an older Camry and will probably be in touch

 

[indoorsindica]

Congratulations buddy.

Cig free is the way to be!

 

[Nota Realtechnician]

Thanks, Ryedan. _MY_ own family supported me as do my kids, it's the out-laws who were being knuckleheads... Ahh well, good to see such an active group with so much good advice and experience...

Camrys are darned good cars...change the oil, keep air in the tires and they go forever...

 

[bosun]

I don't see e-cigs as a 'crutch' but rather a tool to get off of coffin nails. Get off cigs, then start cutting back on the nic if you would like to. Either way you'll be walking tall!
Welcome to the fold!!

 

[Nota Realtechnician]

Agreed, bosun. The ex-in-laws could never resist a jab at those beneath their supposed "social status", thus the "crutch" remark.

 

[bosun]

Agreed, bosun. The ex-in-laws could never resist a jab at those beneath their supposed "social status", thus the "crutch" remark.

I think I've seen movies with that story line (g). I figure if them type of people need to boost their egos, who am I to ruin their day by pointing out the obvious?

 

[nicetucu]

That is a very nice gesture. Nice of you to offer buddy.

 

[Hitmetwice]

You Sir, are a hoot!
Welcome aboard and congrats.
Too bad the outlaws have you disabled rather than liberated.
Everyone 'round these parts know the truth.
Love your scrap-on humour, used to work for 'em 'till the two huge China plants opened up.

 

[nomoe]

ill gladly take my crutch too. i choose to look at it as swaping habits. im making a choice to use a lesser evil.

ive spent 20 years as a dealer tech for Ford doing manily diesel work. I finaly made a much needed change there too. im now in oil and gas production. couldnt be happer

 

[zoiDman]

Hi, new forum user here whose ex-in-laws said "You know, it's just a crutch for weak minded people with no self-control..." ...

Tell your Ex-In-Laws that we liked to be Called WMPWNSC for short.

 

[djeleveneleven]

I have people still tell me that "they haven't proved it yet but those things are more dangerous than cigarettes!" What can you do..

 

[a.breather]

Are they fat?

 

[90quattrocoupe]

Bet they didn't say the same thing to their daughter, about a crutch.

Nice of you to offer car advise, but I drive Volkwagen/Audi products, 48 years. I had a couple of Datsuns, Fords and Chevys, too.

Greg W.

 

[Slots]

I have people still tell me that "they haven't proved it yet but those things are more dangerous than cigarettes!" What can you do..

Let's review what's in our e-liquids:

With regard to PG, if you were born in a hospital, the first breaths you drew on this earth were well laced with PG -- it's been in use in hospital ventilating systems for many decades. PG is a germicide. Because of the PG scum problem, it's mostly been replaced with micropore filters. Also, many surgeons and OR nurses have spent 12 hours per day, five or six days per week in operating theaters for their whole careers, and operating theaters used to get really heavy doses of PG via the ventilation systems. And an awful lot of stuff we breathe, put in our mouths or eat are well laced with PG. The FDA has called it "generally recognized as safe."

With regard to VG, you find it in an awful lot of foods, both natural and processed. For instance, nearly all wines have an appreciable amount of natural VG. All told, you've probably ingested gallons of the stuff over your lifetime. The FDA has also called VG "generally recognized as safe."

Nicotine, well you'll have to draw your own conclusions, but from what I've read, it's not a carcinogen, just a mild stimulant which has other beneficial properties for certain people. It's probably not good for you if you have an advanced case of congestive heart failure or blood pressure high enough to pop your eyeballs out of their sockets, but otherwise it's a "so what?" on the order of caffeine.

It also needs to be remembered that nicotine is a normal and natural part of the diet. Everyone tests positive for nicotine in the blood and for its metabolytes in the urine. There has never been a large-scale clinical trial of nicotine where anyone tested negative for nicotine. The last test by the CDC in the USA involved 800 subjects and all tested positive for nicotine at measurable levels, even where the subject was a non-smoker, had never smoked, and had no possible contact whatsoever with smokers.

The reason for this is because many vegetables contain nicotine, and also the co-located and similar compound nicotinic acid (also known as vitamin B3 or niacin).
Tomatoes, potatoes and several other vegetables all provide dietary nicotine. Tea often contains nicotine, which after all is one of the reasons it works as a pick-me-up. Some vegetables such as aubergine (eggplant) contain significant amounts. These vegetables are broadly (but not exclusively) members of the Solanaceae family, one of our most often-consumed vegetable groups.

Nicotine is a perfectly healthy, normal and natural part of the diet. Some individuals may need more than the usual dietary quantity, as is observable for many other dietary constituents. Just as some may need a very large supplement of 2,000mg of extra vitamin B3 (nicotinic acid) in order to normalise cognitive function, short-term memory and work capacity; so a similar increase of nicotine may be necessary for such persons. This has been demonstrated by clinical trials that showed the positive effects on stress, work capacity, memory and cognitive function for some individuals. Although research in this area is sparse at this time (due to the unfashionable reputation of nicotine since it tends to be conflated with smoking), it is reasonable to expect that:

Some people need more of a specific dietary component than others; it is why people take supplements.
Since similar effects can be shown for nicotine and nicotinic acid (vitamin B3), it seems possible that those who demonstrate a requirement for supplementary B3 may also require supplementary nicotine.

No one has ever demonstrated:
a. That nicotine is harmful in reasonable quantities - many vitamins or dietary ingredients are of course toxic or even fatal in large quantities, such as vitamin A, vitamin D and iron, so that this is a non-argument.
b. That nicotine is any more harmful than coffee (caffeine).

We know from the Swedish national health statistics that ad lib long-term consumption of nicotine by tens of thousands of people over periods of decades has no identifiable risk.

The key to all of this is to remove the smoke. Without the smoke in cigarettes, consumption of certain specific types of tobacco (and, especially, nicotine consumption alone) can be proven to be ultra low risk. If a large population of people consume nicotine ad lib for decades with no visible health impact, then the issue is not debatable.


Flavorings are the only real wild card: there's just not enough experience with inhaling these over a long period of time. But they're all safe to eat.

The heat to which we subject e-liquids is not enough to cause any of these ingredients to form new, noxious compounds.

And, remember, your lungs are not garbage cans! Something you inhale just doesn't sit there until the day you assume room temperature. Since you've quit cigarettes, all the little ciliae in your lungs and bronchial passages have become unparalyzed, so they constantly shove anything your lung tissue doesn't like up your windpipe to the point where you either cough up the offending goop or swallow it.

 

[vicflo]

welcome to the Electronic Crutch Forums. congrats on the quit and enjoy your stay with all of us healthy, weak minded vapers with no self control.

in my opinion, Calling someone other than yourself weak minded is another way of saying "im better than you"...

 

[DasBluCig]

Slots....
If you haven't done so already....PLEASE!! Submit your treatise to CASAA...ASAP!!! And THANK YOU!!
The "anti-vapes" are going to go after us, any way they can!! BUT.....if we can "arm" ourselves with enough FACTUAL, INFORMATIVE info....we stand a MUCH better chance of staving off the many UNFOUNDED attacks on vaping that have been - and ARE being - spread like wildfire!!
We took the time to join (or at least come to) ECF...
Together.....we can -and WILL - STAND STRONG!!

 

[rubblebucket]

I love my "crutch". Remember crutches are o.k. if you're "crippled". They just don't get it. Give them the rigjt to be wrong. Happy vaping and welcome.