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Association of e-cigarette use with quitting smoking

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Re: Association of e-cigarette use with quitting smoking

#11
post #8
post #2

4 of my friends who smoked 1-2 packs/day were able to transition to smoking alternatives, 2 went to nicotine pills, 4 Mg from Walmart, stayed on 2-3 of those/day from the morning. The other 2 went to suck-in inhalers. None of them went to visible cloud of smoke emitters. They all eliminated their prior shortness of breath problem, when biking/jogging. I never ever smoked, but I find the 4 Mg pills are good for appeti…

It never occurred to me to use nicotine pills as an appetite suppressant, though I don't doubt at all that it works. I wonder what other side effects it might have, aside from being potentially habit forming. Does it increase blood pressure? That's the main thing that keeps me from ever indulging in tobacco use.

Well, it does raise BP, and I am on BP medication and I only use them sparingly and I chart my BP and am fairly fit. They also have 2 mg, so get a Walmart BP tester -$40 or so. They have a wrist one, which I tried and found it a battery eater as it powers a small air pump that is the main power drain = eats a set a week and the NiMh have too low a voltage as well as need recharging after 2-3 days.

Re: Association of e-cigarette use with quitting smoking

#12
post #8
post #2

4 of my friends who smoked 1-2 packs/day were able to transition to smoking alternatives, 2 went to nicotine pills, 4 Mg from Walmart, stayed on 2-3 of those/day from the morning. The other 2 went to suck-in inhalers. None of them went to visible cloud of smoke emitters. They all eliminated their prior shortness of breath problem, when biking/jogging. I never ever smoked, but I find the 4 Mg pills are good for appeti…

It never occurred to me to use nicotine pills as an appetite suppressant, though I don't doubt at all that it works. I wonder what other side effects it might have, aside from being potentially habit forming. Does it increase blood pressure? That's the main thing that keeps me from ever indulging in tobacco use.

Is there a pill that makes me wait for hunger before I eat? That's what I need :P

Re: Association of e-cigarette use with quitting smoking

#13
post #2

4 of my friends who smoked 1-2 packs/day were able to transition to smoking alternatives, 2 went to nicotine pills, 4 Mg from Walmart, stayed on 2-3 of those/day from the morning. The other 2 went to suck-in inhalers. None of them went to visible cloud of smoke emitters. They all eliminated their prior shortness of breath problem, when biking/jogging. I never ever smoked, but I find the 4 Mg pills are good for appeti…

> you could quickly use a lower gear freewheel on the other side -(if you rotated to drive the other axle)

Wait, what? You had a sprocket on each side of your rear wheel and you flipped the wheel around to change gears?

Or did you exchange front/rear wheel, each having a different sprocket?

Re: Association of e-cigarette use with quitting smoking

#14
4 years ago I quit smoking. While the first week was hell because of the nikotin withdrawal. Getting rid of the habit itself took longer. Waiting outiside, after a meal etc. it is all habit. What I did was buying a vape with nikotin free filling just to have something if my.mind craves the habit. This went on for 3 months reducing the amount I vaped linearly. By month 4 I stopped touching the vape and the only times I had a craving was while waiting for the bus with tons of smokers around. FYI location Berlin Germany.

But even this craving in such an environment stopped after a few more months.

Re: Association of e-cigarette use with quitting smoking

#15
The first time I quit smoking, I used an e-cig to help quit, and it was great.

But eventually I started smoking again, and so I tried to use an e-cig like the previous time. But circumstances were different, e-cigs were different (nicotine salts), and now I consume 2x the nicotine than I did from a pack of smokes.

It's too good. It's convenient, always on you, always ready to go. No unpleasant taste or smell. No need to go outside in the winter. And cheaper, despite the increased intake noted above.

There's a lot more we need to know, and for now I still believe that vaping is not as bad as cigarettes, but I'm sorry to see we once again hooked a generation on an addictive harmful substance.

Re: Association of e-cigarette use with quitting smoking

#16
post #4

Yes obviosly, as any smoker that was into vaping could and did tell you. I had the chance to follow the whole development of vaping from a niche scene to an industry and it really has been eye opening. How news and studies were deployed offensively to spread FUD and then regulated just enough that all the value created by innovators and communities could be captured by the big tobacco companies.

Well the problem is it might originally have been about giving a better alternative for cigarette smokers, a habit that has been on a massively downward trajectory in the US, it quickly started gaining hard core usage amongst the youth who weren’t smoking. Flavors aimed at kids like bubblegum doesn’t help.

It’s not so black and white, and it’s definitely not niche anymore.

Re: Association of e-cigarette use with quitting smoking

#17
post #2

4 of my friends who smoked 1-2 packs/day were able to transition to smoking alternatives, 2 went to nicotine pills, 4 Mg from Walmart, stayed on 2-3 of those/day from the morning. The other 2 went to suck-in inhalers. None of them went to visible cloud of smoke emitters. They all eliminated their prior shortness of breath problem, when biking/jogging. I never ever smoked, but I find the 4 Mg pills are good for appeti…

I have ridden as a courier in Toronto. For me, it was the 80s, and IIRC, I rode for Sunwheel Couriers, who had an old-school (even by the standards of the 80s) touring/randonneur culture. I was riding a bike very similar to what you describe: Flip-flop hub from a BMX bike with a fixed gear on one side and a freewheel on the other. Frame was an old CCM that weighed a ton.

What can I say, I idolized Nelson Vails!

The owners admonished me to get a bike with gears before I destroyed my knees. I did not listen, and perhaps that—or twenty years of Ultimate, or twenty-five years of rock climbing—did them in for me.

When I was riding most of the couriers I met were chain-smokers, often cruising the streets with a cigarette hanging from their mouths. Very insular counter-culture, very opinionated about bikes. And in my limited experience, very little overlap with the rest of cycling culture.

Re: Association of e-cigarette use with quitting smoking

#18

4 years ago I quit smoking. While the first week was hell because of the nikotin withdrawal. Getting rid of the habit itself took longer. Waiting outiside, after a meal etc. it is all habit. What I did was buying a vape with nikotin free filling just to have something if my.mind craves the habit. This went on for 3 months reducing the amount I vaped linearly. By month 4 I stopped touching the vape and the only times…

I started with nicotine patches and after 2 weeks switched over to Wellbutrin (prescribed by psychiatrist). On Wellbutrin I had couple rough days but nothing too bad, I mostly used music for distracting myself from this hole that i felt. Now i'm 124 days clean and feel so happy to be free from this bullshit

Re: Association of e-cigarette use with quitting smoking

#19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep to be honest the whole vaping scene is a good template for what regulatory capture looks like in the USA. I'm not sure if it's due to lawmaker/parent ignorance, or an actual plan by larger tobacco companies. Probably a mix of both.

Both the incumbent tobacco companies and the state have a huge financial interest in ensuring that a) competition stays out or b) they get the right sized cut from any competitor. The states scrambled to delay and regulate ecigs just enough to figure out how to tax it because they were afraid of losing revenue from cigarette taxes. They were not just haplessly corrupt but active in that effort.

> states scrambled to delay and regulate ecigs just enough to figure out how to tax it because they were afraid of losing revenue from cigarette taxes

I hear permutations of this theory mentioned a lot, but I'm not sure I buy it. The political incentives just aren't there on an individual level. It would require politicians on both sides of the aisle to be actively interested in budgetary policy. The reality is that there is a strong survival bias among politicians to be almost obsessively focused on party fund-raising and perpetual campaigning. It has become exceedingly rare for politicians to be bothered working on bi-partisan legislation that isn't culture war bullshit.

Re: Association of e-cigarette use with quitting smoking

#20
post #13
post #2

4 of my friends who smoked 1-2 packs/day were able to transition to smoking alternatives, 2 went to nicotine pills, 4 Mg from Walmart, stayed on 2-3 of those/day from the morning. The other 2 went to suck-in inhalers. None of them went to visible cloud of smoke emitters. They all eliminated their prior shortness of breath problem, when biking/jogging. I never ever smoked, but I find the 4 Mg pills are good for appeti…

> you could quickly use a lower gear freewheel on the other side -(if you rotated to drive the other axle) Wait, what? You had a sprocket on each side of your rear wheel and you flipped the wheel around to change gears? Or did you exchange front/rear wheel, each having a different sprocket?

First one is correct, you can even have a fixed / freewheel combo with one on each side. Gears have to be close in size to allow chain slack to be taken up by the axle slots. Second one would only work on a few bicycles as generally the front hub is narrower tan the rear.
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