Trading addictions: the inside story of the e-cig modding scene

[dragonpuff]

I found this article quite interesting:
www
.engadget.com/2014/10/01/inside-story-e-cig-modding-uk/

The article seems generally positive to me, and it is interesting to read about what our hobby may look like from an outsider's perspective.

I do take issue with the repeated statement of "trading one addiction for another" without even mentioning the significant decrease in health risks that comes with such a trade. He implies, quite explicitly at the end of the article, that it doesn't seem to be healthier because it is just another addiction I have become quite sick of having to argue with people that addiction in and of itself is not automatically bad, i.e. addiction is not bad simply because it is an addiction (meaningless tautology). Not to mention the fact that "addiction" to a hobby is not technically an addiction...

Aside from that, I think this article is worth the read

 

[csardaz]

Nicotine dependancy. Its real, you feel wrong when you haven't got your nic.
Its an addiction when its causing you to do harm to yourself, like inhale smoke.
So smoking, due to nicotine dependancy, is an addiction.
If theres no harm, then its just a dependency.

I depend on caffeine and a fizzy drink fixes my belly so I depend on those too. Also rather have shoes and shampoo than not.
If I don't have those things, I feel wrong. But they aren't required. Some ancestor lived his whole life without them.

So is our vapor causing harm - enough harm - to call nicotine dependency a vapor addiction?
It does have benefits as well, don't they offset harm? some? enough? Does the benefit of
keeping you from smoking count? That would have to take the risk level into negative numbers.

I suppose vapers obsessed with hardware has some economic cost but do they feel bad when they aren't tinkering?
Its a hobby, obsession ? But there are benefits like exercising math skills creative expression is good for you. Collecting
never appealed to me, but its considered a hobby as much as tinkering.

 

[Kent C]

The "trading one addiction for another" is also incorrect. It's the same addiction - nicotine. And it conflates smoking with vaping - again - wrong...

Trog, an early poster here in 2008 is the guy who created the Screwdriver.

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...smoking-device-comments-please.html#post37658

I'm seriously considering the Gizmo shown on the piece

 

[Nate760]

So smoking, due to nicotine dependancy, is an addiction.

Not in every case it isn't. Who among us hasn't known people who only smoke casually/occasionally, are not nicotine dependent, and smoke because they enjoy it?

 

[williamclarkonet]

Thanks dragonpuff for the link. I agree with you on the issues you have with the article

 

[Uma]

It's nice to see an upbeat article that covers a new aspect for the consumer readers, instead of the same ol same ol crazy talk that even we can't bare to read anymore.
Our modding fanaticism is famous now. A new Cheero 12000mah phone charger just arrived at my house, and the safety instructions warn me not to modify or repurpose it in any way.

 

[DC2]

Not in every case it isn't. Who among us hasn't known people who only smoke casually/occasionally, are not nicotine dependent, and smoke because they enjoy it?

I smoked around 7 cigarettes per day for 27 years and I'm not sure if I was ever addicted to nicotine.

Granted, I absolutely had to have that first cigarette of the day.
But after that one, if I didn't have another all day, it wouldn't bother me at all.

And I have reason to doubt that it was ever the nicotine that I needed from that first cigarette.

As it is now, I know for certain I'm not addicted to nicotine through vaping.
And I usually don't even take my first vape until the afternoon, and quite often not until after work.

I also once went two days without vaping just because I was too lazy to unpack after coming back from vacation.
Didn't miss it a bit.

 

[Nate760]

I smoked around 7 cigarettes per day for 27 years and I'm not sure if I was ever addicted to nicotine.

It was 10 and 25 for me, so for all intents and purposes, we had the same smoking habit. I've also begun to doubt whether I was ever nicotine dependent.

Granted, I absolutely had to have that first cigarette of the day.
But after that one, if I didn't have another all day, it wouldn't bother me at all.

I'd have one every 2-3 hours if it was convenient, but it wasn't the end of the world if I couldn't. I never had anything remotely resembling the stories I hear from people about not being able to sit through a movie, or a cross-country flight, or a ballgame without desperately fiending for a cigarette.[.

And I have reason to doubt that it was ever the nicotine that I needed from that first cigarette.

The first-smoke-of-the-day thing is another area where I guess I was an atypical smoker. I preferred not to have my first one until I'd been up for an hour or two; I'd get a bit woozy if I tried to smoke too soon after rising.

As it is now, I know for certain I'm not addicted to nicotine through vaping.
And I usually don't even take my first vape until the afternoon, and quite often not until after work.

The idea that nicotine dependence and smoking addiction are the same thing has likely caused more needless deaths than I'd prefer to contemplate. It's one of the cornerstones of the entire ANTZ worldview, it informs public health policy the whole world over, and it's pretty much the whole reason why THR is opposed by so many people who say they're trying to reduce smoking-related morbidity and mortality.

 

[philoshop]

I'm quite pleased to announce that I've become addicted to living, and everything that it entails.There are 'cures' everywhere for this addiction but I'm managing to avoid them all.

 

[WhiteHighlights]

Setting the addiction argument aside for a moment, I couldn't help but put an economists hat on and go -- look at all that consumer spending! Isn't that just what the doctor ordered for a stagnating economy? IIRC, the economic growth outlook for the UK and Europe is worse than the US's 2% +/-

Yes, I'm happily ignoring the loss of cigarette revenue and associated taxes