vaping is NOT smoking!!

[bluecat]

My wife said this exact thing to me 2 years ago when I started vaping. Fortunately I had mastered the selective hearing we men develop. Fast forward a little over 2 years later and she now calls it vapor.

First thing I learned.. quit for yourself not for someone else, family friends kids. It is okay if they were the jolt that got you here. Next is, it is okay to celebrate our accomplishment within ourselves. I don't need the whole world to slap me on the back and say way to go Blue, nice job quitting smoking. I am internally happy that I did so. That is what counts.

Face it the vapor looks like smoke. I no longer try to educate people. I always get the "deer in the headlights" look when explaining.

 

[Amraann]

We have two friends who agreed that upon a certain date they would both quit. One quit cold turkey, the other started using e-cigs.

The CT one was at my house one day and saw my vape gear. Now he was not judging me persay but did go off about how our ther friend did not really quit.
I asked why he said that and he said "it is the same thing"

When I asked him "how so?" He really did not have an answer. Of course I then went on to explain. In the end he agreed with me. But I am certain that is a rare occurance.

 

[turbocad6]

I hate to even do this because believe me, I am on your side, but if you look up the definition of "smoke" you will see that smoke doesn't always come from combustion, smoke is a visible suspension of carbon or other particles in air, typically one emitted from a burning substance. as a verb "smoking" is to emit smoke or visible vapor, so in a sense yes we are still "smoking".

ever hear of a smoke machine? it's emitting a vapor much like our vaporizers do, but it still emits what almost anyone will regard as "smoke", technically it is smoke which is why it's called a smoke machine.... again I am on your side so please don't think I'm trying to belittle anyone but when you blow a cloud of vapor it would not be incorrect to call that vapor smoke and in that sense it's not completely incorrect to say you are "smoking"

again I say who cares about labels, do what you do for you

 

[Buggainok]

The older I get, the more I realize how pointless it is to argue with people like your SIL. In the interest of my own mental health and serenity, I don't even try to change someone's mind once I realize they are locked into their own mindset!

I just smile and say, "Well, we will just have to agree to disagree" - and then I change the subject.

PS This includes lots of other topics, like politics and religion.

 

[RosaJ]

Hi friends, I got confronted by my sister in law the other day. I had not seen her in some time and we were talking and I said, I quit smoking, it's been over 100 days now. I have been vaping instead. She looked me straight in the eye and said, " so, your still smoking, just vape". I argued my point then she continued to belittle my acomplishment by saying. "It still has nicotine". I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. I said yes, I'm still using nicotine, however I'm no longer getting the hundreds of toxins that cigarettes have! She looked at me again and said, your still smoking it. I tried to defend myself and vaping once more and said. It's not smoke, it's vapor.... she looked at me again and said, your still smoking!! At this point I dropped it. I get so angry when people say it's smoking!! We are NOT smoking!! Maybe I could have handled it better but I felt so badly that she didn't even consider what I've done a accomplishment! Well vaping is not smoking and I think I have accomplished something! I just wish others saw it the way we see it. Bottom line, vaping is not smoking and I think we all have accomplished something great by quitting smoking!!! Just wish others saw it the same way...

Realsis, don't give her power over your peace of mind. From the outside looking in, it seems she found one of your buttons and she kept pushing it. For whatever reason it's important for her to put you "in your place." I bet it doesn't have anything to do with whether you're vaping or smoking. Her message is "you're weak."

So with that in mind, how are you going to react the next time she pushes your buttons?

 

[Towmotor]

Turbo, you are correct. I just felt that you were harsh on yourself and if anything had diminished your own accomplishment not anyone elses. It is semantics after all, I am certainly not gonna get my knickers in a knot over what we call it, smoking/vaping whatever.

 

[Wiccan85]

I could care less what most people think of me vaping. I quit the cancer sticks and I no longer hack up a lung in the morning. I fell the benefits of switching out weigh what other people think of it.

 

[DaveP]

If you haven't already done it, blow a big stream of vapor through a paper towel and show it to her. If you do that with cigarette smoke, the paper towel turns brownish yellow. With ecig vapor, it just makes a clear wet spot.

Or, just show her this image. It's not smoke and it won't make your lungs look like the upper one from cigarette smoke.

 

[turbocad6]

Turbo, you are correct. I just felt that you were harsh on yourself and if anything had diminished your own accomplishment not anyone elses. It is semantics after all, I am certainly not gonna get my knickers in a knot over what we call it, smoking/vaping whatever.

I am always harsh on myself and I don't like making excuses for anything. obviously the SIL here was also harsh on the OP, weather it was done out of genuine concern or her motives were to belittle, that I can't know, all I'm really saying is I can see where she was coming from and she may not have been completely wrong and totally coming out of left field. my answer would have been yeah call it whatever you want but I'm happy with it as an alternative and that's what really matters to me, not what you think

of course this is a topic for debate if you care to debate it with anyone I guess, I usually just smile nod and vape when I'm confronted by those who think it's just as bad or worse, yeah, whatever, lifes to short

 

[Mogar]

I had this "discussion" with a member of my evening group in our neighborhood. About 10 of those I have already gotten off analogs and onto a vape of one type or another, so they let me take the lead.
I explained the definition of what smoke was (burning something)
I explained that most (not all) cigarettes have gunpowder in the paper to keep it lit (the little gray lines in the paper)
I explained the products that are additives in most tobacco.
She kept saying that she "saw on the internet" that vaping was worse than smoking. I asked her to show me where and she could not find it.
I was able to look up VG and PG and explain what they were and what they did to the body, separately and in groups.
She told me that it still smelled bad and therefore was bad for you... *sigh*

I explained that it was dependent on the juice you were smoking and the flavors you chose. With that I called her "best friend" over and asked her to take a good sniff and tell me what she thought. The naysayer smelled her friend and gasped congratulating her for quitting smoking and how wonderful her perfume smelled (sorta like butterscotch). I then explained that I took her to the local BM and had her pickup an ego and some vapor. She had not picked up a sig since then.

I am taking her husband to the local shop tomorrow......

 

[iamthevoice]

I don't understand the need of some vapers to "convince" anyone of anything. It's a choice we make to become healthier. For some, it became more than just a hobby. A lifestyle if you will.

If a stranger asks legitimate questions about vaping in general, I'll be more than happy to enlighten them. As for the people that have their mind's made up, I have no desire to convince them otherwise.

I second that; we owe explanations and justifications to no one. If someone is unhappy about a person switching from smoking to vaping, then they would not really and truly care an iota more had the person just quit everything. Some people are just like that and the most satisfying thing you can ever remember about them is that they have to live their own miserable lives! They get to be that kind of person all the time, each and every day of their lives.

And to that, I can only add one thing: Hahahahahahahaha!

 

[Ed_C]

I kind of feel the same as turbo. I'm not saying the rest of you are wrong, or that you shouldn't be happy or proud that you're no longer smoking cigarettes. With me, I've been a serial smoker, on for 8-10 years and then off for 8-10 years. I've quit cold turkey twice before and this third go-around I've switched to vaping. Now that I'm vaping, I don't feel quiet the same as I did when I quit altogether. When I quit cold turkey I felt like I was free of the addiction and now I feel like I'm much better off, but still an addict. I also weaken once in a while and have a stinky. When I quit altogether I had no desire for cigarettes. And I do know that many switch to vaping and then never want a cigarette again. Maybe I'll get to that point someday.

 

[dragonpuff]

Congratulations Realsis on your accomplishment! Quitting smoking is a big deal, no matter how it's done.

I've gotten that argument before too. Even back when I tried quitting using nicorette gum it wasn't good enough, I was told that as long as I was using it I hadn't "really quit" and now we are told the same about e-cigs. Unfortunately the current anti-smoking propaganda has convinced most people that in order to "truly" quit smoking you have to quit both "the habit" (whatever that means, who doesn't have habits?) and all nicotine, and that unless you "truly" quit you are always at a high risk of disease.

The problem with this (ill)logic (besides the fact that it's flat out wrong) is that many smokers who can't go 100% in that direction give up trying and continue to smoke a pack a day! Some years back a study came out showing that light smokers cut their risk for smoking-related disease in half compared to heavy smokers; this was so big it even made the nightly news! So guess what happened when I tried to convince my heavy smoking people that cutting back cuts their risk? "Yeah but there's no point in that, I need to just quit." And they kept on smoking a pack a day.

When I started using e-cigs my sister was like, "So you're only going to use that when you really need it right?" assuming my intention must be to cut down to nothing. I said no, I'm gonna use it as often as I feel like, because that's what's going to keep me from smoking. If I quit vaping or quit nicotine, I'll end up going full circle back to smoking, and I know it.

Don't worry about it. People are gonna think what they wanna think, and we've had the "quit everything" ideology beaten into our heads for so long that it'll take just as much time to undo. You know how you feel. You know what it's like to really take a breath of fresh air now. You know what it's like to have more energy. You know what it's like to no longer live with the specter of disease hanging over your head.

When I first started vaping, I was at my doctor's office and she was going over a checklist of questions. She asked me if I smoke and how much. I explained to her my situation, that I used to smoke a pack a day, but I now just use electronic cigarettes with nicotine instead. She said, "Ok then, you're a non-smoker," and wrote that down. That's all the encouragement I need.

 

[rzil]

 

[Lurch]

Congratulations on your 100+ days!!

I have learned not to really care about other's opinions! Took me a long time to come to the realization that only I can control how I feel. When we say that someone else did something to make us mad, it is really us that allowed ourselves to become mad.

The fact they may have a different opinion, or, be totally ignorant, is their problem, not mine!

Again, congratulations on your accomplishment, I know how hard it is and how proud you must be!!!

 

[skoony]

concerning nicotine there hasn't been any studies of nicotine alone as far as its addictive properties. there however have been many clinical studies where nicotine has been used to test its medicinal properties in the treatment of various ailments. in many of these studies the reverse has been observed. no additive qualities were observed. that just leaves the question,what is addiction?the classical description of addiction is habit that causes harm.since nicotine in the doses we use is proven to be virtually harmless,there is no harm,just habit. you can call it a good habit,a bad habit,even an annoying habit but its just a habit. i hope this helps in any future discussions one might have.
regards
mike

 

[zahzoo]

Lots of good, logical and well thought out advice already given... Congrats on the 100 day milestone!!

Advise your brother he needs a good divorce attorney!! His current unit is defective...

 

[turbocad6]

Congratulations on your 100+ days!!

I have learned not to really care about other's opinions! Took me a long time to come to the realization that only I can control how I feel. When we say that someone else did something to make us mad, it is really us that allowed ourselves to become mad.

The fact they may have a different opinion, or, be totally ignorant, is their problem, not mine!

Again, congratulations on your accomplishment, I know how hard it is and how proud you must be!!!

this is truth, what impacted me with the original post was not what the sister in law said, it was that you felt it as if it was a punch in the stomach, and that you felt you needed to prove yourself. peoples words can only hurt you if you let them.

 

[bluecat]

....
I explained the definition of what smoke was (burning something)...

Turbo is correct on the definition of smoke.

You gave them Webster definition correct?

Smoke - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary

a : the gaseous products of burning materials especially of organic origin made visible by the presence of small particles of carbon
b : a suspension of particles in a gas

: fume or vapor often resulting from the action of heat on moisture

Just like almost any word in the English language the definition is in the context of the sentence.

 

[Ed_C]

concerning nicotine there hasn't been any studies of nicotine alone as far as its addictive properties.

I would question that comment.
nicotine addiction - Google Scholar