[ilikecats]

I just had my first cigarette tonight. I kind of liked it, and I kind of didn't. I think I want to try it again sometime, but I don't want to get addicted. I just want to be able to do it once in a while when I feel like it. How do I avoid getting addicted though?

[Permacultural]

Some can handle periodic use, I cannot. One smoke leads to a few then half a pack....its during really stressful times that people smoke more.

So, don't establish a smoking routine / don't let it change your current use of healthy coping skills.

But honestly, having smoked for years, I love it..I just can't handle it. So I don't. You might want to seriously not get started. Nicotine is addictive. You avoid getting addicted by avoiding any source of nicotine.

[Sabrina]

Oh, please don't start!! I'm an all or nothing kind of person and had to give up completely. (Many years ago) Now I've become completely intolerant to anything smoking related. So much so that I gag and almost vomit if anyone smokes around me, if there is a dirty ashtray near me or even at the look of a cigarette box. It is extreme, I know but I really hope for your sake that you don't start.

Originally Posted by ilikecats

I just had my first cigarette tonight. I kind of liked it, and I kind of didn't. I think I want to try it again sometime, but I don't want to get addicted. I just want to be able to do it once in a while when I feel like it. How do I avoid getting addicted though?

It took a pack to get me addicted, it took 20 years to quit. Addiction is more than just the drug....it's also the obsession. We addicts obsess on addictions which compounds the physical attribute.

Best way to not get addicted is to not start.

Besides, smoking is foul smelling, tasting, xpensive, why?

Don't start it is a nasty habit.

[gayleggg]

Originally Posted by AlwaysChanging2

It took a pack to get me addicted, it took 20 years to quit. Addiction is more than just the drug....it's also the obsession. We addicts obsess on addictions which compounds the physical attribute.

Best way to not get addicted is to not start.

Besides, smoking is foul smelling, tasting, xpensive, why?

I had the same experience. One pack and I was hooked. It took me 20 years to quit too. Miserable habit.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[green0cake]

All who get addicted to any substance started at their first smoke. You wouldn't know later on what can lead you. For me, you should stop thinking about smoking occasionally. It's like baiting yourself in a trap.

[DechanDawa]

Find something else to kinda like.

[Septembersrain]

Depends, do you have an addictive personality? Do you easily develop habits? At any rate, I'd recommend if you do decide to smoke, it's a huge benefit to vape. Regular cigarettes smell very gross and will make you feel like crap. If you vape, you'll be able to have the nicotine without the smell or nasty heaviness in your lungs.

Sent from my iPad Mini 3 using Tapatalk.

[Random]

Smoking is awful, I think most people who enjoy their first cig eventually find themselves addicted. To me the best parts of quitting were not having to drive to the store at 3am to buy a pack, to be able to walk up stairs without being winded, be able to smell food in the kitchen cooking. Plus, that feeling you had tonight with your first? After a while it stops and now you just have an expensive heavy habit chained to you. I would beg you to reconsider.

[DechanDawa]

Originally Posted by Septembersrain

Depends, do you have an addictive personality? Do you easily develop habits? At any rate, I'd recommend if you do decide to smoke, it's a huge benefit to vape. Regular cigarettes smell very gross and will make you feel like crap. If you vape, you'll be able to have the nicotine without the smell or nasty heaviness in your lungs.

Sent from my iPad Mini 3 using Tapatalk.

Latest studies are now out that vaping is extremely toxic. Please don't smoke cigarettes or vape. Find something else interesting and fun to do; take up a new hobby, learn to juggle, play the flute, sing, air kiss, make your own jewelry or other art...anything but stupid uncool smoking and vaping which will destroy your looks on top of everything else.

[Angelique67]

Originally Posted by DechanDawa

Latest studies are now out that vaping is extremely toxic. Please don't smoke cigarettes or vape. Find something else interesting and fun to do; take up a new hobby, learn to juggle, play the flute, sing, air kiss, make your own jewelry or other art...anything but stupid uncool smoking and vaping which will destroy your looks on top of everything else.

Can you post a link to the studies that show vaping is extremely toxic? I have read the exact opposite to that statement. The truth is that vaping holds the highest success rate for people to escape the truly toxic cigarettes. In fact, England recently embraced vaping as a smoking cessation method.

The study most often referred to claiming vaping is bad involves vaping in a way that no one ever would. Vaping reduces harm of smoking by at least 95%.

I'm sorry to swoop into this thread to defend vaping, but those vague "studies" are corralling people away from a harm reduction method that can truly make smoking cessation a reality for those of us who'd die still smoking. It promotes death. Why are those "studies" erroneously out there? Follow the money.

[DechanDawa]

Originally Posted by Angelique67

Can you post a link to the studies that show vaping is extremely toxic? I have read the exact opposite to that statement. The truth is that vaping holds the highest success rate for people to escape the truly toxic cigarettes. In fact, England recently embraced vaping as a smoking cessation method.

The study most often referred to claiming vaping is bad involves vaping in a way that no one ever would. Vaping reduces harm of smoking by at least 95%.

I'm sorry to swoop into this thread to defend vaping, but those vague "studies" are corralling people away from a harm reduction method that can truly make smoking cessation a reality for those of us who'd die still smoking. It promotes death. Why are those "studies" erroneously out there? Follow the money.

This was on the Bing news feed this past week but I am not going to find it and post it because it will soon become mainstream knowledge. (Also, I sheepishly admit I always have a hard time finding and posting links. Not technically good at it. So anyone else, please be my guest.) Vaping often involves ingesting nicotine and nicotine is a harmful, addictive substance. This report also cited that the other things being vaped such as flavorings can be harmful. Our lungs are not equipped to deal with processing all this crap being vaped.

I guess going from cigarettes to vaping is like going from heroin to methadone. At some point you have to get off the methadone. I am simply not going to take the time to argue against the idea that vaping (which is still ingesting foreign and potentially extremely toxic substances into the lungs) is a proper cessation tool. It's absurd.

Perhaps there should be more emphasis placed on the genuine tools that create a good cessation program i.e knowledge, group support, medication for anxiety and depression if needed, life skills building, therapy, creative living; proper nutrition, sleep hygiene, and exercise; frustration tolerance etc. As well, a bunch of elders kicking the butts (no pun intended) of young people who think it is cool to smoke, and/or vape. Nicotine is a hard core addictive substance. Vaping is still new and experimental, with unknown long-term side effects. If nicotine is being vaped then the person vaping is leaving themselves open to the possibility of developing hard core nicotine addiction, and everyone on this thread who has gotten free of nicotine has been pleading and begging others not to start playing with fire, or vapor, whatever!!! Why put anything but clean air into young lungs?????????? It is just a BAD IDEA.

Why is vaping being touted as a cure? Follow the money...

[Angelique67]

Originally Posted by DechanDawa

This was on the Bing news feed this past week but I am not going to find it and post it because it will soon become mainstream knowledge. Vaping often involves ingesting nicotine and nicotine is a harmful, addictive substance. This report also cited that the other things being vaped such as flavorings can be harmful. Our lungs are not equipped to deal with processing all this crap being vaped.

I guess going from cigarettes to vaping is like going from heroin to methadone. At some point you have to get off the methadone. I am simply not going to take the time to argue against the idea that vaping (which is still ingesting foreign and potentially extremely toxic substances into the lungs) is a proper cessation tool. It's absurd.

Perhaps there should be more emphasis placed on the genuine tools that create a good cessation program i.e knowledge, group support, medication for anxiety and depression if needed, life skills building, therapy, creative living; proper nutrition, sleep hygiene, and exercise; frustration tolerance etc. As well, a bunch of elders kicking the butts (no pun intended) of young people who think it is cool to smoke, and or vape. Nicotine is a hard core addiction. Vaping is still new and experimental, with unknown side effects. If nicotine is being vamped then the vaper is leaving themselves open to hard core nicotine addiction, and everyone on this thread who has gotten free is pleading and begging others not to start playing with fire, or vapor, whatever!!! Why put anything but clean air into young lungs?????????? It is just a BAD IDEA.

Why is vaping being touted as a cure? Follow the money...

I'm sorry, but those are the same FUD arguments that have been circling around despite actual studies that show the opposite is true. Here's just one article http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technol...effect-6072036

I have no plans to stop vaping. It has saved my life, and the lives of millions of people. Most vapers might use nicotine but there is nothing about nicotine itself that is so bad. It's just one of thousands of chemicals in regular cigarettes, and those other chemicals are carefully made to keep you smoking cigarettes. Not only is big tobacco involved, but government taxes on smoking cigarettes.

[DechanDawa]

I just read that article and I literally cannot believe it. Vaping nicotine is as safe as breathing air? Well, I guess I am addicted to breathing air. lol

I understand that people feel that vaping saved their life but this is simply not 100% true. The job of cessation is not finished. I successfully quit smoking cigarettes this year and I used NRT (nicotine replacement therapy) and I thought the same as you did about vaping, that NRT had saved my life, and I was thinking I would just use NRT for the rest of my life. But I then found out that my process of cessation was not finished.

I started to read the reports about long-term use of NRT. People with mouth cancer, hair falling out, teeth falling out, lowered immunity, and CANCERS OF ALL TYPES. I stopped NRT (patches and gum) and sure enough went through nicotine withdrawal although not as bad as from cigarettes. After that I started to feel progressively better. I couldn't believe it until I experienced it. The nicotine (sans all the other 6,000+ chemicals) had been keeping me ill. I am now nicotine free, and craving free. I feel healthy and cannot imagine putting anything but oxygen into my lungs. I cannot imagine ingesting nicotine in any form. It is nasty, and cannot be 100% harmless, or why why why would it be sooooooooooooo hard to stop????

My reply on this thread was to someone trying to decide whether or not to smoke cigarettes which I think is nuts. This is also a person who doesn't need to start vaping.

I don't want to dismiss vaping because I know people are very attached to it. All I am saying is that is it probably not as harmless as people think.

Saying that vaping nicotine is as safe as breathing air is like saying drinking alcohol is as safe as drinking water. It's....journalism. Not facts.

All the other chemicals added to cigarettes are to boost the addictive quality of nicotine by making it easier to metabolize etc. That is why people who have smoked for a long time find it harder to quit now than decades ago. The other chemicals are nicotine boosters.

I am really only addressing someone who has not started smoking and vaping. I am just saying...don't start.

[Angelique67]

I'm glad you were able to quit smoking. Many of us have tried numerous times only experiencing failure and hopelessness. Here's an informative and fun video about nicotine

[hazn]

It's not a good habit... you haven't smoked for all your life, why start now? It's not good for your health, it's expensive, you'll smell of cigarette smoke... if you never start, then you can't miss it.

[DechanDawa]

Originally Posted by Angelique67

I'm glad you were able to quit smoking. Many of us have tried numerous times only experiencing failure and hopelessness. Here's an informative and fun video about nicotine

I will follow reports on vaping but I don't want to argue about it. It took a long time for the general population to become convinced that smoking cigarettes was bad. And even with all the information out there, smoking cigarettes is still prevalent in many countries. I want to say that I also failed at many attempts to quit smoking - so much so that others and myself thought I would never quit. I was forced to quit because I....simply could not breathe and my chest hurt when I smoked, like I was being stabbed with sharp knives. I had to quit, and fortunately I was simply unable to smoke because it hurt. I didn't try vaping because I just didn't want to put anything in my lungs but oxygen, and steam from a steam vaporizer, which I hung over for four months. Of course, other times I quit and went back to smoking after I started to feel better, but this time I just got very stubborn. I have had a real problem this year with anxiety, which is what brought me to this site. I never had panic attacks and general anxiety after quitting smoking, so it's been hell. I have a "quit partner" and she and I quit together. She went back to smoking and since then she has tried to quit at least two dozen times. (She doesn't want to vape.) I still am her quit partner because as long as she has the desire to quit I will stand by her. I guess you and I are very evangelical about our sides of this issue. Sorry, all, for hijacking this thread.

[DechanDawa]

Originally Posted by Angelique67

I'm glad you were able to quit smoking. Many of us have tried numerous times only experiencing failure and hopelessness. Here's an informative and fun video about nicotine

This video was produced by vaping companies and associations! Keep following the money...

[DechanDawa]

http://www.thestar.com/life/health_w...-confirms.html

[Angelique67]

https://www.researchgate.net/profile...s/publications

The only potentially bad thing we so far don't know about vaping is anything related to long term use. Otherwise, it's documented, according to the science we do know, as a generally safe thing. It reduces harm from traditional cigarettes by at least 95%.

I'm not really interested in arguing about this. I address inaccuracies when I can because the FUD and disinformation surrounding vaping can cause vulnerable smokers to be afraid of vaping and continue on smoking cigarettes. That was me up until last March. I'm very, very glad I started vaping. My PCP was astonished when he listened to my lungs and said they sound clear. When I was smoking, they sounded like an accordion from my wheezing.

If just one hard-case smoker sees this, and feels ready to try vaping and get off the cancer sticks, it was worth it to me to spend some time here.

Originally Posted by ilikecats

I just had my first cigarette tonight. I kind of liked it, and I kind of didn't. I think I want to try it again sometime, but I don't want to get addicted. I just want to be able to do it once in a while when I feel like it. How do I avoid getting addicted though?

That's kinda like wanting to put
your hand in the fire and not get
burnt!

The best way to avoid addiction
to cigarettes is to:

Quit Now! ... It's Already Got You Jonesin' For Another! ... This Is How Easily Addiction Begins!

Sincerely,
Pfrog!



*Advice From A former 3 Pack-A-Dayer!

[Artchic528]

A Harvard study found many flavored Vaping fluids to contain the chemical Diacetyl, which is commonly linked to serious lung diseases like Bronchiolitis obliterans, which is an irreversible inflammatory lung disease. Those with Bronchiolitis obliterans ususally have such severe damage to their lungs, they have no other choice but to undergo lung transplants. Yeah...oh, and the link:

EHP ? Flavoring Chemicals in E-Cigarettes: Diacetyl, 2,3-Pentanedione, and Acetoin in a Sample of 51 Products, Including Fruit-, Candy-, and Cocktail-Flavored E-Cigarettes

I wont buy into how seeming "harmless" vaping is. It's just as bad, if not worse than, smoking cigarettes.

[jbuttz]

I turned green and puked when I had my first cigarette. I didn't enjoy it much. After 13 years of smoking I'm still saying I don't enjoy it. Don't start because it's really hard to stop. It's as hard to stop as it would be to say stop feeling sad when you're feeling down. It's not worth the headache and after the years it won't be worth your health.

[Mountainbard]

I think you've gotten some good advice so far. I smoked for years before I quit-- and it really is a nasty, nasty habit. Some people can, I guess, just smoke periodically, but they're few and far between. I was addicted after my first pack. I really hope you won't smoke anymore. It's just not worth it.