Smoke-free cigarettes

[Christopher]

Smoke-free cigarettes

Or, how I learned to stop smoking and feed my chemical addiction

Colin Schultz

http://www.theontarion.ca/viewarticle.php?id_pag=2164

I'm sure every smoker has thought of their health at least once when going to light up. But, maybe that same smoker can't, or doesn't want to, kick their cancer sticks. What if I told you there was a way to keep your nicotine, but lose all the nastiness? That seems to have been the line of thought researchers had when they developed electronic cigarettes.

Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigs from here on out, contain a few marvels of modern electronics. Inside the small metal casing are a rechargeable battery, a miniature atomizer and a chamber for a nicotine cartridge. The cartridges contain water, nicotine and propylene glycol. When the user inhales, the battery warms up the atomizer, which causes nicotine vapour to be sprayed into their mouth.

At $80 for the e-cig itself and $12.50 for 100 cigarettes worth of refills, it seems competitive.

Of course, none of this means anything if a few important questions aren't answered: What are the effects of nicotine on your health? Will anyone actually use these contraptions? Additionally, if they do catch on, will people start who never smoked before?

"I definitely see people taking interest in it if they've already smoked, because most smokers are aware of all the things that smoking does to you," said Kristin Earles, team leader for Leave the Pack Behind campaign at the University of Guelph. "I see it as maybe being an alternative, but I don't see it as something that people are going to start doing . . . because they're told that it's safer."

One of the common complaints about other nicotine delivery devices used by smokers is that they don't satisfy the routine involved with smoking. To try to address this concern, e-cigs contain a small red LED to simulate a smouldering tip, while the user blows out water vapour instead of smoke.

But are they really safe?

The cartridges contain a hazardous, or even lethal, dose of nicotine. The magic number in toxicology (the study of poisons) is the LD50, or the dose required to be lethal to fifty per-cent of the population. The LD50 for nicotine is 0.5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. This means that it would take 22 mg to kill the average cheerleader or 55 mg to kill the average defensive lineman. Your weight likely falls somewhere in between, but at 16 mg of nicotine per cartridge, you'll probably at least get pretty sick.

What makes the cartridges especially dangerous is the possibility that nicotine could enter the body as a liquid, rather than strictly as a gas, if you're clumsy. In that case, it would only take between four or eight milligrams to do serious damage

"None of the medical doctors have ever said that this is a healthy alternative," said Earles. "They are taking out all of the carcinogenic compounds, but there is research being done proving that nicotine might actually have different transformable compounds. That once they are in your body, they can transform and become carcinogenic."

The studies linking tobacco to diseases usually consider the cigarettes as a whole, instead of just the nicotine. So, not much is known about nicotine's effects or metabolites.

To try to cope with the risk of overdosing, manufacturers have installed safety devices that cut off the e-cig's operation if too many puffs are taken in a short time frame, or if they last over eight seconds.

E-cig users must realize that nicotine is a potentially lethal substance, and should be treated respectfully. Still, it's better than getting nicotine and all that other nastiness.

"From what I can understand talking to smokers [is that] even though nicotine is what they're addicted to in the smoke, I don't think they're going to feel that sense of relaxation or euphoria that they get from the cigarette," said Earles.

The chemical addiction to nicotine that smoker's feel should be satisfied, but whether the smoke and mirrors are adequate to replicate the routine of lighting up is up to them to find out.

[crabs]

After reading this, kind of makes me want to get the low juice from now on. Does the danger of nicotine poisoning using high carts sound realistic to you guys?

[Christopher]

You know at this point in time it's really to hard to tell. But I'm sure if you had a NIC overdose you would know right away.

I think the most important tool that we can use to avoid a nicotine overdose it to listen to our bodies. I personally smoke the medium e-juice. For the most part I haven't had any issues, what I have noticed however seems to be a constant headache. Now this could be a number of things, either A: I spend WAY to much time on the computer B: I'm using to much nicotine or C: I just found I need special reading glasses for the computer. I was smoking high carts at first but I have since switched over to medium I may move to low but I'm not sure yet. Every so often I get a strong urge to smoke an Analog and the medium doesn't cut it, I have a few high carts laying around and as soon as I smoke those I"m good to go.

The honest truth is we are guinea pigs in this brave new world of smoking. There really isn't enough research to back up the long term effects.

[Royce]

After reading this' date=' kind of makes me want to get the low juice from now on. Does the danger of nicotine poisoning using high carts sound realistic to you guys?[/quote']

No first of all just like any other "mind altering" substance us smokers build a tolerance to nicotine. Secondly they have their facts a bit shall we say off just because your smoking a high cartridge classified as 18-24mg you're not smoking that all at once I have a super mini that manufactures claim one cart will equal 8-10 analogues form personal experience however I would say that number is closer to 4-7 depending on how much you smoke and how "wet" the cart is. So lets take the middle road and call it 5 a high cart @ 24mg/5smokes=4.8mg per smoke where the avarege analogue contains between 8 and 9mg of nicotine per stick granted we Esmokers probably absorb more of the nicotine because were not dealing with burn off and burning plant matter also nicotine poisoning is treatable and you can see it coming.

taken from http://judgegeorgegreer.com

Signs and Symptoms of Poisoning

Early and prominent symptoms of poisoning include salivation, sweating,

dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Burning sensations in the mouth and

throat, agitation, confusion, headache, and abdominal pain are reported. If dosage

has been high

So no I wouldn't worry just don't eat a cart or drink the liquid, I have heard of it happening from Esmoking but the only cases i ever heard about were people smoking the fierce strength (36mg) and doing it ALOT.

-Happy Vaping