Safer to Puff, E-Cigarettes Can’t Shake Their Reputation as a Menace

I'm creeped out by whatever's in e-cigs. I'm don't know why everyone is so sure that constantly inhaling propylene glycol for years on end is safe, or that all that's in that mystery imported off-brand liquid is propylene glycol. I of course find it extremely likely that it's less unhealthy than smoking.

I quit through using Swedish snus. I think it was crucial that snus isn't fun, and gives you nothing to do with your hands. To gradually wean off nicotene, just leave the portions in longer. Twenty-year smoker, two-year snuser, four years tobacco-free.

At the end of the day though, if you're a smoker, the choice is pretty straightforward, and you should use a "vape". You should however, be considerate of others, and unfortunately also accept that for a while you're going to be lumped in with the more anti-social element of society.

The nicotine delivery is less immediate and not as strong so for someone used to the immediate dose delivered by smoking, it sort of left me wanting more but at the same time, it was a much less intense "craving" than a smoker would feel when forced to abstain.

A big part of it for me was adjusting to this. Smoking delivers a large, immediate dose of nicotine which then drops off in your bloodstream over the course of the next half hour or hour, when (predictably) you sort of want another cig. With the vaporized nicotine solution, I had to get used to just having a puff every so often throughout the day (more like hookah I guess) and maintaining a more constant but lower blood level.

Anyway, maybe I'm overanalyzing it. The results were the same though. It was as much getting off the roller coaster of "dose, levels drop, crave, redose" and onto a more sustained but lower level. It made it much easier to go without and it made it easier to lower the nicotine in the liquid to the point where I keep some 3mg/ml stuff around for the occasional desire for a mild stimulant but otherwise, it was practically effortless to wean off.

Aside from just lowering my nicotine intake and habituation to something more along the lines of how I really could go for a coffee some mornings, stopping the constant deposit of tars and particulates into my respiratory system has made a huge impact on my general health. No more lingering colds and honestly I haven't had a major cold or other respiratory infection in years now. I used to get them all the time thanks to the constant irritation and level of crap I was inhaling.

And another cool thing is that I know exactly what's in the stuff I'm inhaling occasionally now. I can get MSDS sheets for the flavorings and the rest is just nicotine and a couple types of glycerine (like you'd use in a fog machine or asthma inhaler). The levels of anything potentially harmful are a miniscule fraction of what they'd be if I was smoking cigs still and I'm no longer getting the vast majority of harmful compounds or carbon monoxide at all.

I really hate to come off as a "booster" and I try not to be the guy who just has to tell you about "his vape" but I think this sort of anecdotal experience is appropriate and on-topic in threads like this. I think it's a real shame that something with maybe 1-2% of the risk of smoking has been so demonized and lobbied against when it's a bigger improvement than methadone for heroin addicts or AA for alcoholics.

I hope you can appreciate why some people would say the answer to that second question is "as little as possible."

When the government is offering carrots and sticks, there will inevitably be some group of people systemically discriminated against (either by not receiving the carrots proportionally or disproportionately receiving the stick). Tyranny of the majority and what not. The gears of government grind very slowly, and changing government policies often results in multiple generations of people experiencing discrimination before things are changed.

For a recent example, one argument (among others, of course) for same-sex marriage equality is that it's discriminatory for same-sex partners not to receive the carrots of legal and tax benefits that come with being married.

Is there an alternative? Maybe. Maybe not. I could spitball one, but it would likely be an inadequate solution. Still, I think it's prudent to be careful. Social control is a double-edged sword.