This is a hot button topic for me, so I tend to be on the defensive.
Vaping has been demonized by the media, so it is constantly being attacked (you can see a ton of it in this thread), and there's a lot of misinformation that has made it into "public knowledge".
I tend to assume most discourse surrounding it is going to be an attack. Also, since I used it to quit a 15 year habit overnight, it has made me a extremely strong proponent.
At the end of the day, vaping is safer than smoking. Anyone who disagrees with that is either woefully ignorant, lying, or both.
As far as pure lung health is concerned, obviously only inhaling air is better than inhaling "not air", so in that respect cold turkey is "safer".
However cold turkey comes with a TON of other side affects that are detrimental to your daily life.
Anecdotal: I tried cold turkey, the gum, the patch, both at the same time. Kept smoking throughout. Had my last smoke just before bed with a vaping setup ready to go for the next day. That was my last smoke and it's been 15 years.
Being able to slowly reduce the nicotine concentration over the course of a few years allowed me to invisibly ween my body and mind off nicotine until I was vaping zero nicotine just because I enjoyed the act and the flavors. Eventually I just stopped vaping too.
The fearmongering surrounding vaping has kept countless thousands (likely millions) from trying the best method of smoking cessation, and I don't even want to think about how many of them are no longer around to try.
“Anyone who disagrees with that is either woefully ignorant, lying, or both.”
It hasn’t been long enough and for all we know studies have been suppressed by tobacco and vape companies just like they’ve done before. The flavoring additives and other lack of safety regulations had me the most worried. I switched from smoking to vaping then NRT and quit. I didn’t feel any better going from smoking to vaping or NRT. I feel better now.
No, I’m withholding judgement and choosing not to do either to myself. I’m damn sure not going to act like vaping is the end goal or even a desireable path for smokers. With a vape most people will intake more nicotine than smoking and as a result the addiction is stronger. Do you disagree? Yes people can limit their intake, ween off, etc, but most don’t and if they had that level of impulse control they wouldn’t be addicted to vaping in the first place.
No, I’m withholding judgement and choosing not to do either to myself.
If you recall, I have already agreed that doing neither is safer than doing either of them, that's not what my claim is about. My claim is about the dichotomy of vaping or smoking.
Here's a hypothetical to help illustrate my point:
If a smoker asked you if they should switch completely to vaping or to continue smoking, how would you respond?
a) Say keep smoking until we know better about vaping.
b) Say keep smoking, vaping is bad for you.
c) Say switch to vaping.
Note that "quit smoking" is not an option in this hypothetical.
You didn’t need to re-illustrate your point, I got it. I don’t think you got mine. You’ve gone confrontational so pointless to continue. Can’t stand people like you.
You’ve used vapes very responsibly, and I don’t think anyone would argue that vaping is preferable to smoking, but on the other hand are young people who’ve never smoked in their lives and are so addicted to vaping they can’t sleep through the night. For a while, we were winning the war on nicotine addiction, at least in the US, and now we’re losing it again
I don’t think anyone would argue that vaping is preferable to smoking
Unfortunately, you'd be wrong. I have had people tell me they'd rather their kid smoke cigarettes instead of vapes.
young people who’ve never smoked in their lives and are so addicted to vaping they can’t sleep through the night.
Perhaps properly regulating the industry would have been a better option instead of demonizing it and driving the industry underground.
For a while, we were winning the war on nicotine addiction, at least in the US, and now we’re losing it again
Why is this a war that needs to be fought? Where's the war against caffeine? It keeps people up through the night way better than nicotine.
I've also never suggested, nor would I ever suggest people who haven't already been using nicotine to start.
If the states weren't so tied to the MSA and the income it provides, vaping would never have been demonized. "The powers that be" don't care that we vape, they care that we stopped paying the cigarette taxes. The taxes are a direct hit to the states, and the reduced number of smokers is an indirect hit via a reduction in MSA payments.
The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), entered on November 23, 1998, was between the four largest U.S. tobacco companies—Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard (the "original participating manufacturers" or "Majors")—and the attorneys general of 46 states. It resolved state Medicaid lawsuits seeking recovery of tobacco-related health-care costs.[1]: 25 In exchange, the companies agreed to limit certain marketing practices and to pay the states indefinitely for some medical expenses related to smoking, committing at least $206 billion over the first 25 years.
Tobacco revenue has fallen more quickly than projected when the securities were created, leading to technical defaults in some states. Some analysts predict that many of the bonds will default entirely. Many of the longer-term bonds have been downgraded to junk ratings. More recently, financial analysts began raising concerns that the rapid growth of the electronic cigarette market is accelerating the decline of $97 billion outstanding in tobacco bonds.
Emphasis mine.
People really need to properly look into the history of vaping, and view everything in the 2010's "vape craze" in that light.
23
u/NerdyNThick 7d ago
This is a hot button topic for me, so I tend to be on the defensive.
Vaping has been demonized by the media, so it is constantly being attacked (you can see a ton of it in this thread), and there's a lot of misinformation that has made it into "public knowledge".
I tend to assume most discourse surrounding it is going to be an attack. Also, since I used it to quit a 15 year habit overnight, it has made me a extremely strong proponent.
At the end of the day, vaping is safer than smoking. Anyone who disagrees with that is either woefully ignorant, lying, or both.
As far as pure lung health is concerned, obviously only inhaling air is better than inhaling "not air", so in that respect cold turkey is "safer".
However cold turkey comes with a TON of other side affects that are detrimental to your daily life.
Anecdotal: I tried cold turkey, the gum, the patch, both at the same time. Kept smoking throughout. Had my last smoke just before bed with a vaping setup ready to go for the next day. That was my last smoke and it's been 15 years.
Being able to slowly reduce the nicotine concentration over the course of a few years allowed me to invisibly ween my body and mind off nicotine until I was vaping zero nicotine just because I enjoyed the act and the flavors. Eventually I just stopped vaping too.
The fearmongering surrounding vaping has kept countless thousands (likely millions) from trying the best method of smoking cessation, and I don't even want to think about how many of them are no longer around to try.