Tagged - cigarettes

My Cigarette Quit Recap: How am I Doing?

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

So, it’s been awhile since I posted about e-cigarettes, snus, snuff or the like. Basically I have yet to fully quit nicotine. The good news is I can pretty much not use it if I have to, so my dependence is much, much less than it was when I smoked.

Unfortunately due to the PACT act with Snus I started to use dip a lot. This caused gum recession very quickly, so I now try to stick with my snus when possible.

As far as e-cigarettes go, I still take a puff every now and then, but it’s really uncommon and only when I’m really stressed or something, I get a craving for a cigarette and just puff on that. I haven’t touched a cigarette for 2 years or so now, but I have smoked cigars, very rarely.

Pretty much I use my moist snuff or snus and that’s it all day, and I’m fine. I will be quitting that in the future as well, though I’m not sure about how to approach it.

So yes, the “harm reduction” path has worked for me, but who knows something else other than tobacco may kill me, it’s the risk you take living life. Stress, anxiety, and depression has caused me 100x worse health effects than cigarettes ever did.

Easiest Way To Stop Smoking – E-Cigarettes & Snus

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

First of all, I smoked a pack a day for 4 years. I picked up my first e-cigarette more than a year ago, I dropped it and started smoking again for a year. Then I picked up the e-cigarette again. I stayed with them for 3 months, and I still use it daily, a lot more than snus. (currently, anyway)

A number of things point to e-cigarettes being relatively safe (however there needs to be more research done) and I have used them for months, guess what? My lungs have cleared up, I can finally breathe again. I feel good, generally.

I’ve heard about snus being a pretty healthy alternative to cigarettes as well, and some people combining it with e-cigarettes to finally “lay down” cigarettes completely. One day I had no batteries for my e-cigarette and I was out and about, so instead of buying a pack of cigarettes (which would’ve broke my 3 month long cigarette free streak) I opted to pick up some camel snus. I felt something familiar, a “good feeling” not like when I vape on my ecig to kill withdrawal, that’s a completely different feeling. Then I remembered that there are MAOI’s in tobacco, and that’s what I was probably feeling more than anything. Remember, I didn’t use these MAOI’s for 3 months, however I think they were the problem. I was still holding on to my old cigarettes because I really felt something was missing from my e-cigarette, and it was bothering me.

Later on I decided to try swedish snus, and man is that ever stronger than camel. I had an “MAOI” rush. (I had been puffing on my e-cigarette like normal until the package came, and had just put it down prior to popping in some swedish snus.)

All of a sudden, I feel much better, and feel like I used to when I smoked. This resulted in me throwing away all my cigarettes (finally). I had been holding them because I wanted that MAOI feeling back. I missed it. I was going to ignore it as much as possible and try to get over it, however this makes me feel safer. Now I can say for certain that I don’t have any need to smoke.

Note: You have to realize that smoking is the WORST POSSIBLE WAY to get nicotine, period. I know a lot of people are brainwashed into thinking that smokeless tobacco is WORSE for you than cigarettes. That’s completely FALSE. Unfortunately, cigarettes have the highest rate of all cancers. Oral, lung, pancreatic, etc. Yes there are risks to snus, however those risks are very small in comparison with smoking. (90% – 98% safer)

Conclusion

In my opinion, combining e-cigarettes and snus is going to be the absolute best combination for anyone to quit smoking. Some people don’t care about the MAOI’s much, others do. However, I think e-cigarettes and snus are great choices for anyone willing to stop smoking. Pick up a blucig and see if e-cigarettes are right for you. Otherwise check out northerner.com.

Still, I would like to quit nicotine/tobacco completely, but I’m a pretty big addict. The least I can do is try to be healthier with my habit, and it’s so nice that the “powers that be” shield all harm reduction is secrecy.