The existential questions: Why smoke e-cigarettes?

[Thucydides]

The name of the forum is not "e-smoking".

edit: Oh, you meant this particular sub-forum, not the site. My bad.

I don't know. -- Forum, sub-forum, whatever the f@@@ they call that thing that says at the top "Forum: General E-Smoking Discussion."

 

[_more_]

This post needs to be a sticky because it helped me understand the hold smoking had on me. Not just the nicotine part although that was enough. It was a part of my life happily now taken over by vaping.Yeah I do like nicotine but prefer to take mine by vaping...

Smokers don't bother me and I don't hate the smell of smoke. I just love the smell and taste of vapor better.

 

[subversive]

To the OP, this was an exquisite and honest look at why we smoke and then why we vape. I am disappointed only with the responses that once again parrot the language of the anti-smoker. I am so sorry that we are manipulated into using that language since it shows how easily society can be brainwashed. I see the usual "stinky" "filthy habit" "slave to nicotine" hogwash that has been ground into us for a couple of decades. If smokers really believed that they were so vile, it stands to reason that they would simply quit in order to appease the Puritans. Personally, I love the smell of a freshly-lit cigarette...one reason I have not completely given them up after 4 years of vaping. The other reasons include my enjoyment of that first cigarette with morning coffee and of course a defiance triggered by anti-smokers. Oh, and who really gets yellowed hands anymore? I have smoked for over 40 years and have never had a trace of yellow on my hands. I think that might have come from decades before when most people smoked unfiltered cigarettes. Really, people, you are not slaves of the tobacco companies: you made a conscious choice to start smoking and another conscious choice to not really try to quit smoking until e cigs came along.

I never got yellowed hands, either. I still stand by my comment that "smoking is filthy." I smoked indoors, and something that stinks up a place, leaves residue in the form of ashes everywhere, and also seems to make everything much more dusty qualifies as filthy to me. I would not say that an occasional pipe was filthy, because I have smelled some very yummy smelling pipe tobacco. Snus is not filthy because it doesn't do anything other than sit in your mouth. Chewing tobacco, however, is gross. Brown teeth and spitting? Ew. Cigarettes, to me, only smell good while still in the pack. I don't think that's anti brainwashing. I didn't hate myself for smoking nor do I preach at friends and family who still smoke. I think outdoor bans and tobacco-free workplaces are completely illogical.

It wasn't my intention to do quit smoking. I became too sick to smoke without a severe coughing fit due to bronchitis/sinus infection/cold trio in the beginning of 2011 and needed something to get by until I got better. I ended up doing a lot more than just getting by; I had found a replacement and it wasn't even intentional. I had made fun of electronic cigarettes before that. I was not a self-loathing smoker.

I am also sure that there are vapers out there who did make long, determined attempts to quit and then went back to cigarettes after months or years of abstaining. It's not just a matter of willpower. If quitting was something that just required some mental power, we wouldn't have this enormous forum of people who have switched and who have many, many stories of cold turkey and NRT failure. There would be no need for PV's. Nicotine is just as addictive as street drugs out there and a 95% relapse rate for drug addicts doesn't mean that 95% of them are just weak-willed individuals.

 

[jtpjc]

The developed, post-industrial age world suffers from the virtually universal delusion that what something "is" can be revealed by a purely empirical analysis in a vacuum, which is both epistemologically narrow and ontologically wrong. On a political level, this prevailing empiricism functions to enable the designation of quick, knee-jerk tags such as "good", "bad", "right" or "wrong", providing an ever-ready justification for the oligarchic power blocs inherent in complex capital-driven social orders to proscribe this and prescribe that. The puritanical impulse to control human behavior by decree from the top-down has merely changed tactics, substituting the god of health science for the god of Abraham. But spiritually, it's the same people doing the same thing for the same reasons. Functionally, it's what the anthropologists call "the fear of contamination", exploited for the furtherance of economic and political control.

You are just making this stuff up, aren't you?

 

[fwellers]

I smoked for nearly 40 years, anywhere from 1-2 packs a day. Most of that time it was disgusting to me, but I was addicted so terribly I could never stop. It was a rare cigarette that even tasted good for most of those years. I find nothing culturally enhancing in the habit. I suspect that I, and most of us that are in my same position, are already dead because of it and just don't know it. I've ranted and raved at my children their whole lives not to do it.

It does not symbolize leisure, relaxation, fortitude, success, amorousness, nonchalance, or defiance. It is not glamorous. It is a filthy, disgusting habit that kills us and our loved ones. Cigarettes are a carefully engineered device designed to addict us and then kill us. Praise them all you want, I'll never agree.

I also think it was a very well done post. Although I admit that the OP could probably sell ice to Eskimos, he's that good at stating his points.
I think Tobacco is a plant in nature that is very enjoyable when smoked. And I believe it would cause no harm if it were done in moderation. I seriously doubt that a person who smoked a pack a week or less would ever reap harmful benefits from it. Especially if they smoked pure tobacco without all the nasty additives put in by most Amercian manafacturers.

I'm very glad for Vaping, because I was one who could not smoke in moderation and it was affecting my health. But I bet Nicholas Black Elk didn't have health issues from enjoying the Peace Pipe.

 

[fwellers]

Outstanding post!!

I don't like that I don't have to go outside to vape.

I can really relate to that one. It's probably what I miss most about smoking. I loved getting away, usually to a cooler and quieter place. I also loved the mental relaxation involved with smoking.
I guess I can vape in the same way, but human nature being what it is, I don't.

One more interesting thing about smoking. At work, I've always met and talked with more people in the smoking areas than I would ever meet or talk to now. Smokers, having the cigarette in common, and being thrust into the outer realms together, have a certain bond of commonality I guess, that eventually brings them together. I used to always know things going on in other departments and in other companies within my building, due to my experiences with the "smoking buddies".

 

[Jerms]

One more interesting thing about smoking. At work, I've always met and talked with more people in the smoking areas than I would ever meet or talk to now. Smokers, having the cigarette in common, and being thrust into the outer realms together, have a certain bond of commonality I guess, that eventually brings them together. I used to always know things going on in other departments and in other companies within my building, due to my experiences with the "smoking buddies".

That's also something I've always enjoyed. During break at a workplace people who normally wouldn't stand together to chat end up getting to know each other. I've known non-smokers who would join us at the break after seeing that's where the fun conversation was taking place. Even tho I freely stealth vape in the bathroom and have no problem going hours without a vape, I still choose to join the smokers in the sub-freezing weather during breaks for the socializing.

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[Thucydides]

This post needs to be a sticky because it helped me understand the hold smoking had on me. Not just the nicotine part although that was enough. It was a part of my life happily now taken over by vaping.Yeah I do like nicotine but prefer to take mine by vaping...

Smokers don't bother me and I don't hate the smell of smoke. I just love the smell and taste of vapor better.

So how does a post become stickified?

 

[Thucydides]

It wasn't my intention to do quit smoking. I became too sick to smoke without a severe coughing fit due to bronchitis/sinus infection/cold trio in the beginning of 2011 and needed something to get by until I got better. I ended up doing a lot more than just getting by; I had found a replacement and it wasn't even intentional. I had made fun of electronic cigarettes before that. I was not a self-loathing smoker.

That's a great story! I love how you rejected vaping, embraced (almost by accident) it for merely utilitarian purposes, and then ended up finding it preferable. It's funny how often we find ourselves in a great place in spite of our own best intentions! I think that's one of the things I like best about life.

 

[Jerms]

So how does a post become stickified?

Elmer's. If it's really important sometimes Gorilla.

I'm sure the mods of a particular sub-forum make that decision. I doubt this thread would become a sticky but you could pm a mod to inquire.

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[Jerms]

It's funny how often we find ourselves in a great place in spite of our own best intentions! I think that's one of the things I like best about life.

My own best intentions rarely lead me to where I want to be, but despite myself I usually end up where I need to be.

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[sherid]

I honestly agreed with this in the not so distant past. Drug addicts, over eaters, alcoholics, whatever, I felt deep down that if they really want to quit, they could. But then I realized that if I couldn't quit smoking, how in the world could I believe that. I tried NRT's to handle the physical addiction, but I always returned to smoking.

Sure there are millions who have quit smoking, and drinking, and over eating, etc., but I would say there is an equal number, at least, who want to stop but can't. I'm not blaming anybody or anything, it's just the fact that some people just can't let go of their vices, no matter how hard they try. I was one. If this makes me weak, then so be it.

Perhaps you're one of the lucky ones that can give up your vices at the drop of a hat, but others aren't so fortunate.

No, I am not a "lucky one" that can give up at the drop of a hat. Never said that. I let my weight get out of control a few years ago and said I was just tired of always watching it, always dieting, etc. etc. That was a lie. I just did not want to go through denying myself the food that had made me fat. Then, I got really tired of being fat and knew there was only one answer: deny myself those foods and get back to myself. I started walking and eating only when I was actually hungry rather than when I saw food that smelled and looked delicious. Was it easy? Of course not, but I wanted to be thin again more than I wanted a bowl of chips. Within a few months, I had lost the 30 lbs I had gained and was able to again look in the mirror. I believe quitting anything that is bringing pain to your life is like that. You just have to want it enough to follow through. Then, you have to maintain without resorting to old habits.

 

[Faylool]

Wanting to stop bad enough is the answer. Personally it's tied in to my self esteem. If I am loving myself then all the good reasons to stop a bad habit are very appealing. When I'm down on myself I choose to continue punishing me. Finally after years I decided the benefits of loving myself outweighed the benefits of being down on myself. Why did that take most my life? I really don't know! But late is better than never. (. :

 

[Jerms]

Finally after years I decided the benefits of loving myself outweighed the benefits of being down on myself. Why did that take most my life? I really don't know! But late is better than never. (. :

Amen. Learning how to do that took work, by the rewards are immense. I was my own worst enemy, but only because my thoughts and actions allowed that to happen. Finding out that it is actually a choice to be miserable was one of my most important lessons, and opened up a world of possibilities.

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[Tail11]

Usually when I set my mind to something I want, I do it. I decided to get healthy and wanted to quit cigarettes. I slapped a NRT patch on and away I went. The ads scared the daylights out of me about having a stroke/heart attack if you smoked while wearing the patch. It worked. I started running, doing marathons and triathlons. I even finished an Ironman event. I lost my job, but stayed away from cigarettes. I had quit smoking for 5 1/2 years only to let a weak family moment push me back into cigarettes.

This time it's different. I'm not going through the heebie geebies leaving cigarettes. Sure, my mind is conditioned to think about them, but I leave it at that - a thought and a habit that I was in. Now I have a new habit. I vape in the house and car and not worry about the stink it doesn't leave. My sense of smell is coming back and my allergies are not so bothersome any longer.

You may leave cigarettes behind, but your mind will wander back to old habits because of the conditioning it had while you were smoking. Tell yourself it's only a thought and vape some good juice instead! Those thoughts will subside, maybe never go away (certainly in my case) but I have a better alternative now. This is something that NRT never did for me. All it did was leave me with my hands empty and a constant craving. Vaping has changed that for me, and I hope it does for all of us!