[quote=“GulliverFoyle, post:19, topic:8869”]
I have zero problem with smokers so long as they don’t pollute the air in public places we share.[/quote]
I feel that way about internal combustion engines.
It’s not pure nicotine. It’s this stuff http://www.totallywicked-eliquid.co.uk/products/e-liquid/mix-your-own/nicotine-solutions-products.html (I’ve never used that company, and I’m not suggesting them. Just picked the item off Google to give the example)
I actually don’t smoke. O just happen to take issue with that attitude, because some things I do like to do are subject to even more draconian regulations. As I said already, my issue is with extending the illegality of smoking in places like bars to these. It seems to me that you’re all too happy to force your views on the proprietors of establishments that are public places, rather than letting them make their own decisions about what is acceptable conduct in their venues, and making your own decision about whether to patronize their establishments.
The regulatory evolution is fascinating, and the tech/maker/hacker community that has sprung up around these things is amazing too.
On the table next to me right now is a futuristic-looking magic-wand like device, currently set to load a minty, nicotine-bearing fog into my lungs whenever I want it.
A rechargeable 2000mAH battery from one manufacturer sits inside a housing/controller unit from another manufacturer, with a holding tank / heating element combo from a third manufacturer screwed to the top, filled with flavored nicotine liquid from a fourth manufacturer.
Everything but the battery comes from small businesses started by hacker-enthusiasts, who scaled up their experiments to cottage and then industrial production in order to meet demand. Good designs are produced all over the world; cheaper knockoffs are quickly produced in places like China for those who want them.
The components work together because of emerging community standards for things like threading, electrical protection cutouts, leak-blocking seals, etc. you can watch this stuff condensing out of folk wisdom and home experimentation on the forums and YouTube videos.
My control unit has some intelligence baked in – for example, I can set a heat level that I like, and then the unit automatically detects the resistance of whatever heating element I happen to have loaded, and adjusts its power output to keep my preferred heat level active.
My heating element is rebuildable, so that I can experiment with different wicking materials and resistance wire and wiring patterns and etc.
People are sharing success stories and experiment logs online all the time. New home brew techniques come out constantly.
So: there’s part of the appeal.
Another part is that I smoked almost 2 packs daily of full-strength “analog” cigarettes for more than 15 years before switching over to e-cigs in 2012.
I am asked about it on the street daily, by current smokers who are interested. I now have a “starter’s kit” buying guide that I email out to people who ask for help (hacker community info is not always super-accessible to non-hackers who just want to try something likely to work).
I know nicotine ingestion is not “safe”. I have a huge confidence that e-cigs are vastly safer than traditional tobacco, though. They offer a path to harm reduction. I am so happy to have convinced my younger brother, my boss, and others to try this route as a harm reduction strategy.
I can’t stress enough how much better it was for me to keep the oral fixation stuff, the feel and look of inhaling and exhaling “smoke”, as a crutch. I knew for years and years that smoking was going to kill me; e-cigs give me a realistic hope of not dying early or spending my life in a fog of health problems, unable to get my lungs to power my muscles to do the things that I want to do.
I go trail running. I go rock climbing. I go on multi-day backpacking trips.
I’m down from 24mg-strength nicotine liquid to 1.2.
I can breathe.
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
