I want to thank everyone for the responses, and for their input, I really do appreciate it. I also want to apologize for not being clear in my posts.
A BRIEF SMOKING HISTORY:
I have attempted to smoke cigarettes on three occasions: (1) grammar school (8 year old) borrowed my uncles Camels, (2) middle school borrowed my cousins Marlboro, and then (3) my sophomore year of high school a friend thought I was too straight lace and put one stick in my backpack with a note. All three attempts made me sicker than a dog and best friends with the toilet bowl. I swore I never would do it again each time.
I started to smoke around October, November, or December of 2009to be honest I cannot remember. I consider myself a closet smoker and usually smoke at night in my backyard, rarely did I smoke inside.
Around this time work was getting stressful with the City (like other cities) going through their budget cuts. I didnt know from day to day whether I had a job or not, and management strived on feeding the rumor mills. To cope with the stress I was walking on the tread mill and eating. I talked to a few guys that worked with me and they said that handling stress for them was drinking and smoking a good cigarette or cigar.
I bought a pack of Marlboro Reds that night at the local gas station; the guy knew me from filling up at the station and told me that if I am serious about starting to purchase a few brands, so I did. Yeah I know it was stupid but the guy made sense about finding the right brand if I am serious.
I started to smoke on my Fridays as a reward for a long week. I would go outside with my ice tea, sit on my glider, and just relax. I do not know if it was psychological or what, but I became calmer and more relaxed than normal. Each Friday I would sample from each brand. If I wasnt in the mood for a cigarette I tried one of the cigars that the attendant gave me to try.
I did not really think one or two a week was going to do anything to me health-wise. I escalated my smoking from once a week to days that were really crappy. I went from once a week to maybe one or two every other day. Towards the end of the year, I was up to three to four sticks a day and cigars.
NOTE: Cigars werent anything special or expensive the guy gave me cigarillo (Swishers) Perfectos (Swishers), and another one that I think was called Black Beard or something.
The beginning of the year I have escalated again after being transferred to an unfamiliar department. A Perfecto Cigar, and a few sticks every night, all depending on my mood and availability. During my furlough, I have smoked a pack a day, which I found was easy to do if you dont have anything else to do.
Put simply I am not addicted to them like some of the members on the board smoking for years (some decades). I am relatively new to the smoking world. I have gone weeks and a month or two without smoking without much of problem. I will admit that I like it when I walk by someone and smell the aroma of a particular cigarette. I will admit that I dream about it sometimes, waking up with the smell of it and taste of it. Addicted, who knows?
Reading through my original posts, I see that I was not very clear. I now realize that electronic cigarettes for some are means to end their addiction to cigarettes.
My original question was whether or not electronic cigarettes would be safe for me to start?
I should have posed my question in the following: An individual is interested in smoking if he has to choose between cigarettes or electronic cigarettes, what would be the better choice?
I know everyones answer is dont start at all, and that you wouldnt recommend someone starting smoking either. My question entails that an individual already has their mind made up on to smoke regardless of others trying to deter them.
V1JOHN: Thank you for the informational on smoking analog cigarettes, I am most definitely shocked at all the ingredients that go into one little cigarette, many of them I have never heard of. Kind of makes me wonder if the same stuff goes into cigars?
I think part of it is that I dont want any part of getting someone addicted to e-cigs thinking they are safe and finding out otherwise later on
I appreciate this sentiment and feel that I might have been to vague in my original post as to what I was seeking in terms of answers.
OP, the reason were pretty opposed to non-smokers picking up PVs the more people out there like YOU, (and please, no offense), the more you prove the people trying to ban these wonderful, LIFE SAVING DEVICES, right.
Theyre trying to BAN electronic cigarettes. One of their points is that non-smokers, (like you!), will be attracted to them because they think theyre COOL.
Thats YOU in a nut-shell.
They are NOT cool
They are NOT toys.
So please, do us ALL a favor, and find something else techie to amuse yourself with, the rest of us are trying to keep things legal.
When I stated: When I started to read about ECs I was attracted to them because I am a technological geek and it intrigued me.
I was attracted to the technology and did not intend on buying them until I did further research. I was more curious about the functionality of the product than the actual smoking of it. I will admit I am a tech geek, but I would not buy a product unless I intended to utilize it.
In my opinion, I am a smoker, and even though I am not trying to quit a decade old addiction, I still smoke and am looking for an alternative form. My thinking is that I would be going from smoking analogs, which everyone agrees is bad for you, to smoking an electronic cigarette that is safer than analogs.
Heres MY opinion/non-solicited advice..stop smoking and dont start vaping, you dont need either.
Thank you for your opinion, I really do appreciate it. Like I mentioned prior I am just researching it and weighing the pros and cons of the product. In the end, I will most likely put the money that I would have spent on a PV and accessories to a new computer or something for the house.
Thank you all for your information and opinions, I really do appreciate it.
Blake.
, where e-cigs got lumped into the smoking ban, well...
