E-cigs

[LordEoin]

Anyone else find themselves addicted to this lesser of two evils?

[Garry]

They are too convenient. Maybe if the battery only lasted the duration of an average cigarette then you wouldn't be puffing it every 5 minutes?

[Eoin]

I gave up smoking a little over ten years ago. I used the Nicorette inhaler to help me with the cravings etc and then stopped using it in the space of about three weeks as I weaned off the smokes.

I think if you use the e-cig in the same fashion that you could be off ciggies pretty fast.

That said if you were wanting to keep smoking you have massively reduced your intake of nasty chemicals and reduced it to Nicotine and a few flavourings, even that's a win.

[johnrm]

It was like a Pow-wow on Saturday night with Garrys Big Bong.
Smokers and non-smokers all had a go, my missus is well on the way to having a smokers cough already.

Johnny Dangerously...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1k_k8IYf58

[LordEoin]

I'm feeling better with them for sure, and my bank account mysteriously has money in it again 
They don't hide the taste of beer, and they are great with whiskey.

I'm not sure about 'a Pow-Wow with Garry's Big Bong' though... is that code for your Saturday Night swingers' club?

[Covey]

Have to say Champix really help me when i was giving up, i still miss them when i have a beer but does get easier

[LordEoin]

a friend of mine tried that. It gave him weird dreams, but it worked. for a while anyway....

[Will_D]

Fancy a bit of science:

Chemical: Nicotine is one of the least adictive substances that we encounter. Typically withdrawl symptoms last for 3 or 4 days only. They are the mild stomach fluctuations/wobbly feeling and hunger pangs

Psycological: Nicotine addiction is a "learned trait" fostered by smokers and passe don to those who are trying to give up. The irritability and crankiness are a "learned behaviour model" (nowt to do with the clinical effects as above).

This learned behaviour is used by the smoker to elicit the desired response from friends and family "Oh for Fecks sake you are a pain, have a cig for Gods sake"

This gives the smoker the excuse that it wasn't him/her who persuaded them to restart!

My credentials: Smoked from age 14 until about 55 years old. Was smoking 40 a day, loved a pipe and good cigars.

Took 2 weeks to get over the cravings and after nearly 10 years still clean. Have not smoked since. Mrs Will is a smoker and sometimes when she is driving will light a cig for her - No problem also she smoke at home - no problem

One secret: Put away the money you save - either real or imaginary:

For example: She smoke I don't! So every week my "No smoking spread sheet" clocks up €60 for my hobby spends"
(this is what it used to cost me in germany years ago)

40 a day x 7 @ €9 for 20 would be about 136 a week plus another 20 or so on cigars and pipe tabacco

So the lesson is "DONT WASTE MONEY ON PATCHES / SPRAYS or WHATEVER"

Nicotine is an incredibly cheap chemical and paying 30 or 40 quid for "patches" you don't need is not very sensible

HTH Will

[Garry]

I'm not sure about 'a Pow-Wow with Garry's Big Bong' though... is that code for your Saturday Night swingers' club?

I think I might have been date-vaped 

Fascinating stuff Will. I would have thought that nicotine was more addictive but you seem to know what you're on about. I can happily stay off the cigs for weeks but when I get a few beers in me I crave them. I'm hoping the e-cig will cut my spending and should be healthier. I definitely feel better the next morning and I don't have that after taste (phlegm) that makes you spark up another one. My plan is to keep the battery flat, then charge it up if I'm heading out for a few beers.

[HomeBrewWest]

I was a nicotine gum fan, but the problem was that peer pressure at the weekends and the social scene in smoking areas of pubs meant that I became a weekend smoker and a gum chewer during the week. Also the gum was very messy with bits stuck to everything. I suppose E-cigs could be "smoked" in the pub smoking areas though?

In the end, I quit all nicotine products 3 years ago.

[LordEoin]

Legally, I think you can smoke them anywhere, even inside the pub. But most bouncers and barmen seem to push them out to the smoking area.

@Will. I'm not sure experience counts as science. but if I understand what you're saying, I should just kill all of my friends, right?

[Eoin]

Fancy a bit of science:

Chemical: Nicotine is one of the least adictive substances that we encounter. Typically withdrawl symptoms last for 3 or 4 days only. They are the mild stomach fluctuations/wobbly feeling and hunger pangs

I would strongly contest this, as it ignores the social aspects that make it one of the most addictive.

How fast before it enters the brain compared to other substances?

Take heroin, give that up, take nicotine, give that up, now walk down the street and find a heroin user who will let you cadge a hit, do the same with cigs...I bet you end up with a ciggarette and no heroin.

[johnrm]

I recall a study saying that nicotine was more addictive then Heroin.
Maybe it was just some statistician working the numbers to make a headline.

[Will_D]

I would strongly contest this, as it ignores the social aspects that make it one of the most addictive.

The social aspect of an addiction is hardly Chemical! I am talking about the pure biochemical/neurological aspects of addiction!

Just ask a heroin addict whats the difference between 2 cold turkeys: Cigs or Heroin!

[LordEoin]

There are ex heroin addicts that can't stop smoking, and ex smokers that can't give up heroin.
Everyone's different. They're completely different addictions, and comparing the two is a fool's errand (or an expert's).
Anything that can wean you off an addiction and avoids the need for cold turkey is a good thing, especially if in the meantime it saves cash and improves health.

On a side note, if you pop off the little white cap from the mouth end of a spent cartomizer you can refill it with e-juice and cut the cost by about a third again. A €7 bottle seems to last about 2 weeks.
It also has the added benefit of choosing your own flavour, not just 'tobacco' or menthol. Mine's currently banana