New to the Forum

[MichelleMinton]

Hi all,
This is my first post in this forum! I've been a long time advocate of tobacco harm reduction and other types of consumer freedom issues (cannabis, alcohol, food, gambling, etc.) Basically, I think if people are making voluntary choices the government should .... out.

I mostly operate on twitter, but I'm looking for other places to connect with vapers and I figured this forum would be a great place to start.

For full disclosure, I will probably mostly be posting here about the Veritas Cohort study for which I'm helping to recruit subjects. If you haven't heard about the study: look it up. It's going to be a game-changer if we can get enough people to participate because it will be the first long-term study of never smokers (or those who barely smoked) who are now regular vapers. But, since almost all vapers were smokers this is going to be a big challenge. I'm hoping folks here on the forum will help with ideas, feedback, and maybe some will even end up participating in the study!

 

[Carolyn Synychak]

Michelle, I love your work! You are an incredible vaping advocate! I try to read everything you tweet. I smoked for 23 years before switching to vaping, so I’m not eligible to help with this study but I will mention it to everyone I can think of that may qualify. Thank you for all you do.

 

[FlyerTom]

 

[vicsch]

Hi all,
This is my first post in this forum! I've been a long time advocate of tobacco harm reduction and other types of consumer freedom issues (cannabis, alcohol, food, gambling, etc.) Basically, I think if people are making voluntary choices the government should .... out.

I mostly operate on twitter, but I'm looking for other places to connect with vapers and I figured this forum would be a great place to start.

For full disclosure, I will probably mostly be posting here about the Veritas Cohort study for which I'm helping to recruit subjects. If you haven't heard about the study: look it up. It's going to be a game-changer if we can get enough people to participate because it will be the first long-term study of never smokers (or those who barely smoked) who are now regular vapers. But, since almost all vapers were smokers this is going to be a big challenge. I'm hoping folks here on the forum will help with ideas, feedback, and maybe some will even end up participating in the study!

I was a 35+ year smoker & now a 4 year vapor, so I'm of-no-help ! ... But good-luck ! ✌❤

 

[vicsch]

Hi all,
This is my first post in this forum! I've been a long time advocate of tobacco harm reduction and other types of consumer freedom issues (cannabis, alcohol, food, gambling, etc.) Basically, I think if people are making voluntary choices the government should .... out.

I mostly operate on twitter, but I'm looking for other places to connect with vapers and I figured this forum would be a great place to start.

For full disclosure, I will probably mostly be posting here about the Veritas Cohort study for which I'm helping to recruit subjects. If you haven't heard about the study: look it up. It's going to be a game-changer if we can get enough people to participate because it will be the first long-term study of never smokers (or those who barely smoked) who are now regular vapers. But, since almost all vapers were smokers this is going to be a big challenge. I'm hoping folks here on the forum will help with ideas, feedback, and maybe some will even end up participating in the study!

Daughter !! ✌❤

 

[vicsch]

Daughter !! ✌❤

I didn't mean to just put daughter Michelle, i was gonna say/write, my daughter has the same 1st & last name !

 

[Coyote628]

The majority of folks on this forum are ex smokers who use vaping to quit cigarettes, as you can pretty well figure. And even though people should be free and able to make their own choices, there are some of us here who try to discourage never smokers from picking up vaping as a habit for the simple reason that nicotine is still addictive. Us older people see vaping as life saving and in most if not all cases, this is true. And we kinda view never smokers who want to start vaping just for the sake of it in a somewhat negative manner. None of us know what long term effects vaping will have. People like me, who smoked for years and years, 42 yrs in my case, view vaping as a godsend because it is likely way safer than smoking cigarettes and with the damage already done by smoking long term, personally I feel like vaping cant hurt me any worse and I'll probably die of old age before any real long term studies produce conclusive data.

 

[vicsch]

The majority of folks on this forum are ex smokers who use vaping to quit cigarettes, as you can pretty well figure. And even though people should be free and able to make their own choices, there are some of us here who try to discourage never smokers from picking up vaping as a habit for the simple reason that nicotine is still addictive. Us older people see vaping as life saving and in most if not all cases, this is true. And we kinda view never smokers who want to start vaping just for the sake of it in a somewhat negative manner. None of us know what long term effects vaping will have. People like me, who smoked for years and years, 42 yrs in my case, view vaping as a godsend because it is likely way safer than smoking cigarettes and with the damage already done by smoking long term, personally I feel like vaping cant hurt me any worse and I'll probably die of old age before any real long term studies produce conclusive data.

Really I wish I had quit the smokin' -thing years & years earlier, if I had known about vaping & it being so much-tastier & better to me than smelling & tasting like a stale-cig !

 

[BrotherBob]

I'm hoping folks here on the forum will help with ideas, feedback, and maybe some will even end up participating in the study!

Welcome and glad you joined. Good luck.

 

[MJCSD]

Hello and welcome to ecf

 

[MichelleMinton]

...even though people should be free and able to make their own choices, there are some of us here who try to discourage never smokers from picking up vaping as a habit for the simple reason that nicotine is still addictive...

I'm with you on that and my post is certainly not meant to encourage never smokers to pick up vaping. But, since this type of vaper is very rare (which is good) it is making it difficult to find enough for a proper study. I figured that if any of those "unicorns" happen to be on the forum, it wouldn't hurt to ask them to consider participating.

 

[Katya]

I'm with you on that and my post is certainly not meant to encourage never smokers to pick up vaping. But, since this type of vaper is very rare (which is good) it is making it difficult to find enough for a proper study. I figured that if any of those "unicorns" happen to be on the forum, it wouldn't hurt to ask them to consider participating.

Well, I wish you luck, but you won't find many (if any) never smokers here. I've been here for almost 11 years and I'm yet to meet a never smoker who became a long-time vaper.

 

[Katya]

But, since this type of vaper is very rare (which is good) it is making it difficult to find enough for a proper study.

Sorry, but this is just baffling. If, as you say, "this type of vaper is very rare," why study them in the first place? Wouldn't it be more useful to actually study smokers who successfully quit smoking with the help of vaping?

There seems to be a lot of researchers interested in studying never smokers who vape, but nobody is interested in studying former smokers. Curious.

This person was also looking for vaping never smokers. She quickly disappeared from the forum when she found out that most if not all of us are former smokers.

Mod/mechanical mod difference?

(snip) I am interested in the device characteristics and user behaviors of users with minimal history of cigarette smoking.

 

[Tor R]

Hi and welcome to ECF, Michelle

I’m not sure we can constribute to your research, but I don’t think it will be a bomb if those new young vapers started to vape because it is a new trend.
Thats how most of us old people started to smoke when we where young. Our parents where happy that we didnt try out drugs and didnt party hard through the weekend, most of our friends smoked, and our parents accepted that we did. It wasnt the worse who could happen us they thought.

Those who has teenagers nowadays probleby think the same as my parents did.

I agree with what Katya said, why are no one interested to study us old smokers who started to vape and quit smoking?

 

[vicsch]

Sorry, but this is just baffling. If, as you say, "this type of vaper is very rare," why study them in the first place? Wouldn't it be more useful to actually study smokers who successfully quit smoking with the help of vaping?

There seems to be a lot of researchers interested in studying never smokers who vape, but nobody is interested in studying former smokers. Curious.

This person was also looking for vaping never smokers. She quickly disappeared from the forum when she found out that most if not all of us are former smokers.

Mod/mechanical mod difference?

Very Well Said, Katya !! FIVE THUMBS UP !! ✌❤

 

[somdcomputerguy]

Hi all,

Welcome to ECF, Michelle. I smoked for more than 30 years and beat the 50 pack limit decades ago. In fact, if I had not started vaping and continued smoking for the last six years, I would've burned thru (pun intended) more than 1500 packs! I applied for the Veritas study when it was first mentioned on this forum months or so ago. I was pretty sure I wouldn't qualify, and I received a confirmation email that I wouldn't, that's why I haven't participated in this thread until now. I just read an article that you authored that @kristin posted in the CASAA forum here, HEADS UP - NEWS - UPDATES! (When we know, you'll know!). As others have said, most if not all the members here are former smokers and way past the 50 pack limit also, but good luck in your endeavors.

 

[evan le'garde]

I think it's interesting that people, probably young people, who vape but never smoked because of the reason why.

It seems obvious to me, and probably everyone else, that picking up a vaping habit, rather than smoking, would be the sensible choice.

If vaping wasn't an option then it's likely these same people would typically pick up a smoking habit. Given the likelyhood that habit may continue, then vaping as an alternative is the harmless option !, short or long term. Whereas smoking is the exact opposite.

So vaping, for never smokers, newbies.....whoever, is the smart choice. And i wonder if these folks see things the same way whether it's an informed choice, or something they might have put some thought into themselves.

I also wonder how far these people go. The vaping industry is now quite complex, or can be.

But sticking to something like an "All In One" (AIO) device such as Pods or "Pod Mods", which are simply to use would make vaping much more accessible to those people who are quite simply just curious. I'd imagine those who, in the past, might have just tried smoking or dabbled for a short period of time, are now able to try something similar but is harmless to their health. Whether they continue to vape long term or not they won't damage their health in either case.

Long may it continue.