Why Aren’t More Smokers Using The E Cigarette?

On 03.01.10, In Addiction, By Stevie Wonder

Have you seen anyone using an e cigarette yet when you are out at the pub? I’ve been using my electronic cigarette for a couple of years and it still surprises me how few people I see using this great device in public. I’m not exactly sure what the reason for that is, as every time I take mine out I get a load of people fascinated with it, asking me where they can get one for themselves. If there is one thing that is for sure, its the fact that the vast majority of smokers want to quit, and when you show them something that might make it easier to get of the tobacco you can be confident that they are going to be all ears.

There is of course the concern that e cigs might be bad for your health, but I thing the majority of people with an ounce of sense are going to realize that inhaling a little nicotine laced Propylene glycol is going to be far less dangerous than the real thing. Burning tobacco after all is crammed full of toxins that we already know are deadly. Most of us are willing to take the chance with the e cigarette, if we could only get our hands on one.

I think the major problem most people have is that its still not all that easy to purchase e cigarettes and the refill cartridges. Sure, its not difficult to find a retailer online, but the hassle of trying to time it so you always have cartridges at the ready and never run out, is a challenge.

There’s also the problem that many of the devices that are on the market currently asre not all that reliable. If the only friend you have who has used one had a negative experience with a dud battery then you are far less likely to give it a try for yourself.

My feeling is that once the technology becomes more efficient and they start to become more widely available on the high street, we are going to see far more people using electronic cigarettes. I can’t think of any reason why this wouldn’t be the case.

If you are interested in trying one out for yourself and are willing to buy online, I suggest you for the Green Smoke E Cigarette, which seems to be the best quality device available at the moment.

Tagged with: • • • •
 
0 Comments
Leave A Response

Should We Be Concerned About E Cigarette Safety?

On 02.15.10, In Addiction, By Stevie Wonder

Anything new and innovative causes people to wonder about safety issues, and the e cigarette is no different, perhaps even more controversial than other things that have been introduced to the public. The question of e cigarette safety has caused quite a stir amongst smokers and nonsmokers, legislatures and laymen, and everyone has an opinion and a theory, while there are few facts of any kind to make a solid statement.

The Safety of Tobacco Cigarettes

The question is valid: Should we be concerned about e cigarettes safety? And the answer is simple. Of course. If you are contemplating switching from tobacco to an electronic cigarette you’ll want to be sure that the scary warnings on the packages of cigarettes you are buying, that say Smoking Kills, will not be even worse should there ever be such a thing on the e cigarette starter kits – perhaps warning like “vaporizing kills faster than smoking”.

The Facts:

Although there are few clinical tests that have been conducted, and none that show conclusive results either totally positive or totally negative, the facts we do have are fairly clear for those who do not expect a seal of approval from lawmakers or an endorsement from the FDA. Here are the raw facts:

1. Tobacco Cigarette – If you’re a daily smoker of tobacco cigarettes you inhale the following ingredients which I will read off the box of cigarettes I have in front of me. It’s a pack of Camel Filters and they contain, 0.8mg of nicotine, 10mg of tar, 10mg of carbon monoxide, and that’s just what’s published on the cigarette package. So if you light up a cigarette you are poisoning yourself with carbon monoxide and tar, plus getting your nicotine fix.

2. E Cigarette – Lets compare what you’ll inhale when you puff a little vapor from an e cigarette. The e-liquid is comprised of between 65% to 90% propylene glycol or vegetable glycerin, which is also used as a food additive. The second ingredient is nicotine, diluted between 0.1% to about 6% in the strongest liquids. There are other things like flavor, and about 10% water in some cases where the propylene glycol is only 65% and there is also about 10% glycol in those formulas. There are traces of citric acid and in some formulas have other trace elements that are pertinent to the specific flavor, but there is 0% carbon monoxide, and 0% tar.

So I ask those who are questioning the safety of e cigs if inhaling vegetable glycerin mist with nicotine is worse than inhaling carbon monoxide, nicotine and tar?

Tagged with: • • • •
 
1 Comments
Leave A Response

How Not to Drink Alcohol

On 02.14.10, In Addiction, By Stevie Wonder

The greatest mystery that plagues alcoholics and drunks everywhere is how not to drink alcohol.  It is a baffling problem due to the nature of addiction, and the fact that booze does such a good job of medicating the alcoholics internal problems.  It is said that the alcohol consumption is not really the disease itself but more just a symptom of a deeper problem, and any alcoholic who has spent real time in recovery can see the truth in that.

The key to passing your first sobriety test, therefore, is not to simply abstain from alcoholic beverages and other addictive drugs–though of course this is a necessary baseline.  The key really is to get down to the root of who you are and what pushed you to self medicate, and then to find a way of life that can rise above those problems so that you do not have to self medicate in recovery.  In traditional recovery that relies heavily on 12 step programs, this is done through the bringing about of a spiritual experience, so that the alcoholic can find a higher power and come to rely on a spiritual lifestyle in order to maintain sobriety.  However, there are other paths to recovery that do not rely exclusively on the God concept.

For example, one recovery movement that teaches how not to drink alcohol focuses on physical exercise as a method of recovery.  The idea is to get fit, get in great shape, and keep pushing yourself to achieve new levels of fitness.  Some would argue that this is trading one addiction for another, and they may have a point.  But the same can easily be argued about traditional recovery, where many people become addicted to 12 step meetings or they become dependent on the spiritual quest itself.  There is no perfect method of recovery that does not involve some level of sacrifice.

Therefore, one of the best techniques that you can employ in early recovery is to keep trying until you find a solution that works for you.  It does not good to simply relapse and give up, as it takes most alcoholics at least 3 tries at recovery before they can make it stick.  Explore new methods of recovery and you will achieve a new life at some point in your journey.

Tagged with: • • • •
 
0 Comments
Leave A Response

Embracing Addiction Recovery and Sobriety

On 01.22.10, In Addiction, By Stevie Wonder

How can you embrace recovery and take your new life of sobriety to the next level?  How can you really change your life in a major way when trying to overcome drug and alcohol addiction, and make real strides that result in lasting change, rather than driving you back to relapse?  What are the real secrets to achieving this sort of success in recovery?

The first key to alcohol addiction recovery is surrender.  If you are still struggling to control things in your life, then you are not going to do well in recovery, nor are you even likely to break free from the denial that keeps you trapped in addiction.  You have to surrender in order to move forward and learn new things in your life.  Without this level of surrender, you will not become open to the new ideas that have the potential to change your life.

Now if you want to take your sobriety to the next level, then you need to go a step beyond surrender and start actively creating with real purpose in your life.  This is the point at which you form positive goals and start chasing positive action in your life so that you are always moving forward and building healthy self esteem.  Without this positive action, you will tend to get sucked back into negative thoughts and the threat of relapse becomes more and more real.

One way to embrace this creative action in addict recovery is to help other people.  This can be counter-intuitive because we would think that it is more important to help ourselves in early recovery.  On the contrary, helping others with their problem insures that you are doing what you need to do in order to help yourself as well.  Thus it becomes a powerful tool for insuring your own continued success in alcohol addictions recovery.

Tagged with: • • • •
 
0 Comments
Leave A Response
Go To Top »