Switching to Decaf?

[stevejo]

So, I was talking to my father-in-law the other day about my switch to e-cigs. He shared a story with me that I think could be a great new campaign slogan to get across to people what we are actually accomplishing with e-cigs and harm reduction in general.

He is in poor health, and has recently been forced to stop drinking coffee. Upon hearing this from his doctor, he was horrified. He was one of those individuals that had lived on his morning cup of coffee for nearly 40 years. Coffee was an ingrained part of his routine; wake up in the morning, shower, get dressed, drink a cup of coffee.

When he told his doctor that there was no way he thought he could break the coffee habit, his doctor simply looked at him, shrugged, and said "So switch to decaf - it's not the habit that's harming you, it's the caffeine."

As my father-in-law related this story to me, the parallel to what we are trying to do with e-cigs, swedish snus, dissolvables, etc hit me. We all have an ingrained behavioral habit in smoking, and it is/was killing us. We have simply 'switched to decaf' -- not kicking the habit, just making it safer.

I can hear a legion of e-ciggers at an FDA meeting shouting out "let us switch to decaf!"

Thoughts? Comments?

 

[telsie]

I don't think it's a good comparison because most vapers use some level of nicotine in their ecigs, don't they? Some people reduce down to zero, but most seem to find a level that works and stick with it. So we're not exactly switching to "de-nic" version of cigarettes, we're switching to a different and less harmful nicotine delivery method. I think a better comparison is when someone switches from soda to coffee or tea. They still get the caffeine they want, but without the high-fructose corn syrup.

 

[robblundberg]

i think it is a good comparison actually. yes we're still using nicotine but i think most of us are aware that it's not the nicotine in cigarettes that was causing our bodies harm. it's the tar and the other 4,000+ chemicals in cigarettes that are now out of our bodies since switching.

 

[hairball]

I like the comparison. With us, get the nic fix without the carcinogens...same as coffee without caffeine.

 

[Running Wolf]

Sort of sounds like one of those blurred lines. But for the comparison it might do the trick. The media is only wanting sound bytes not a whole story and it would work with the press coverage.

 

[throatkick]

Sort of sounds like one of those blurred lines. But for the comparison it might do the trick. The media is only wanting sound bytes not a whole story and it would work with the press coverage.

Pretty much. If you really think about it, if it was strictly the nicotine, we'd stick a patch on our arm and be done. Obviously there's more to it. So, details aside, this de-caf thing may work!

 

[Retriever]

Sounds good to me.

 

[Shizzle]

whatever works to get the message out there!

btw, late at night, i drink decaf, vape zero nic, and chew sugarless gum...seriously.

oh, and if your father-in-law has difficulty finding a decent decaf, i've tried a slew of them, and believe it or not, good ol' Folgers is better than many fancier brands...i make it just a tad stronger than the diirections, with filtered water, and optional half & half and sugar. my die-hard caffeine fiend friends and relatives often comment on how fabulous my coffee is (and i never make them regular coffee -- bcuz i only drink decaf and i'm far too lazy to make decaf *and* regular!). not a one has ever suspected a thing...i also happen to keep my decaf in a red Folgers container...i'm EVIL, i tell ya!

 

[jammydodger]

Caffeine, tobacco (multi-alkaloid), and pure nicotine act quite differently in the central nervous system.

I see what you're saying, but just 12 hours of neuroscience as an undergrad and journalistic interactions with doctors while researching mental basis of addiction ("smoking is often self-medication for mild-to-moderate psychological complaints") lead me to believe that flavored 0nic is not going to the next decaf Nestle Crystals.

 

[KimberlyM]

I like the decaf idea - my ecig definately doesn't have all the tuff my old cigs did!

 

[Vocalek]

Wait a sec. I think a few people have missed the point. I can understand why, because caffeine and nicotine are both addictive chemicals. So you tend to zero in on whether or not the chemicals have been eliminated.

However in coffee, the element that's doing the harm is the caffeine.

In smoking, it's the delivery method (smoke) that's doing the harm, not the addictive chemical, nicotine.

Many people don't know that nicotine does not cause lung disease, does not cause cancer, and if it increases risks of MI or stroke over never-users, the increase is very tiny. See: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/NewsEvents/UCM232147.pdf
(Neal Benowitz is an expert on nicotine safety and toxicity).

It isn't totally harmless: It can cause preterm birth and pre-eclampsia.

So, yes there is a parallel. By switching to decaf, coffee drinkers eliminate the substance doing the harm. By switching to vapor, smokers eliminate all the harmful substances that are related to combustion.

 

[Trucapri]

Before going further, let me just apologize ahead of time to the UNC fans.

Since I'm from a big tobacco producing state, I might just have to get a front plate or bumper sticker made to proudly state:

I'm a Tar-LESS-heel!!


Now if we could just get the medical school at UNC to get on board with the idea, it could catch on!

 

[John Phoenix]

The problem I see with this is on the surface you think your comparing apples and oranges, coffee drinking (apple) and decaf (oranges) but your not. Your comparing apples (coffee with caffeine) and apples (vaping with nicotine).

Most doctors agree that nicotine risks with vaping are as great but perhaps no more, than drinking coffee with caffeine. If nicotine therefore equals caffeine than your argument isn't very strong. You are effectively telling people " Smoking is bad for you so switch to vaping but be aware people can have health problems from vaping just like they can with caffeine" as in the case of your dad.

In other words, vaping is the same as caffeine use. If you said to people "let us vapers have our decaf", People could say, "sure fine, as long as you take out the nicotine". Nicotine becomes The Apple.

I know the point is to reduce harm and stop people from outright dieing from smoking which this would certainly do, but for the reasons above I think vaping and nicotine would be more sharply criticized once more people make that connection. A national campaign would cause that connection to be made.

Do we have any proof that drinking coffee alone causes serious health problems in and of itself? I do not think we do. I think doctors tell people that because it helps reduce the risk factor for health problems. I think coffee, lifestyle, diet, stress etc all play a part in peoples diagnosis. There would have to be a control group of people that ate the perfect foods and lived perfect lifestyles and another group who did the same except they drank coffee for there to be a result you can blame on coffee alone. Of course this has never been done because it's not possible.

 

[Synf]

I think people are over-thinking it.

I think the whole idea is this: Decaf Coffee = Having your coffee in the most safe way possible. Is coffee still bad for you? (More so than water or juice?) Yes. But without the caffeine it is much better for you.

Vaping = Getting your nicotine without the 4000+ chemicals, carcinogens, poison... and most of all: Lung Cancer, Mouth Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer etc etc etc etc.

In a way, sure you are switching to 'decaf.' You are taking in your nicotine/habit in one of the safest ways possible without quitting altogether.

People need to remember that: We are not trying to get away from the nicotine. (At least not all of us.) We are trying to survive, and to dodge the bullet that is cancer.

Personally, I like it. I think it describes us as a whole pretty well.

 

[worstedcdogg]

i use 0-nic juice all the time, started with 24mg juice gradually worked my way down, now i carry some 0-nic and some 6mg juice with me. you can still get throat hit off 0-nic juices. (cigar flavours in particular)