So after about 8 years of smoking regularly, I quit last Saturday. For good. Now for anyone who knows me, (or for anyone who is a smoker for that matter) this sounds unbelievable at best if not impossible. But it isn't. I didn't use the patch, the gum, the lozenges, Chantix, or hypnotherapy and I'm not going through nicotine withdrawal either. By now, I'm sure you don't believe me, but it is true. I quit smoking by using an ECig ( which for those of you who aren't hip is an Electronic Cigarette. )
So how does it work?
An E-Cig is basically a vaporizer which is powered by a battery. The atomizer ( a heating element) heats up the e-liquid ( which comes in varying strengths of nicotine and a plethora of flavors ) and you get your nicotine fix quickly and cleanly by inhaling the resulting water vapor. So I still get my nicotine while avoiding the 4,000 chemicals in traditional smoke, (43 of them known to be carcinogenic). I also get to stop coughing all the time, which is no small wonder, given what I was breathing in.
The following are some lesser known ingredients in a cigarette.
Ammonia (used in household cleaners) , Arsenic (used in rat poisons) , Benzene, Butane ( I thought that was for my lighter, not my cigs) Carbon monoxide (they make detectors for this one since it can friggin kill you) Cadmium ( used in batteries), Cyanide ( again, a deadly poison), DDT (a banned insecticide) Lead ( yum more poison) Formaldehyde (used to preserve corpses) Methoprene (another insecticide) Methyl isocyanate ( An accidental release of this stuff killed 2000 people in Bhopal, India in 1984) and Polonium ( a radioactive element known to cause cancer. )
Now I knew that smoking was bad for me for lots of reasons and that there were lots of chemicals in ciggarette smoke. But I had no idea that most of these were in there. What I find really odd is that most of these chemicals are strictly controlled by Federal Regulations, but these regulations actually EXEMPT these products for use in tobacco products.
Smoking related illnesses actually kill more people in a matter of days than cocaine does in a year's time. ( not that I'm by any stretch of the imagination condoning cocaine use- I'm just trying to wrap my brain around the lies and hypocrisy that protect Big Tobacco from abiding by federal laws that were supposedly put in place to protect the general public from harm.)
Who is really to blame? The tobacco companies who want to protect their investment (tobacco) or the government who doesn't want to protect it's people...
This is a toughie. Either way, I don't smell like smoke anymore and the mere smell of a lit cigarette makes me kind of nauseous. I'd say that qualifies me as a non-smoker.
The moral of the story?
The Ecig has helped me immensely and I will eventually stop using it as well, but for the time being it is cost effective and has helped me quit smoking rather painlessly and without the traditional unpleasant side-effects associated with quitting. Choose whatever method you like, but if you enjoy living - you should quit smoking. NOW! Stop paying good money to kill yourself slowly.
Also, you SMELL like an ASHTRAY.
This has been a public service announcement from a former ciggarette smoker. If you disagree with anything I have said in this psa- you should check my facts- and then promptly QUIT SMOKING.
I'm getting down off my soapbox now. I am going to go sniff myself some more. I just love smelling like Tide instead of ashes. *happy dance*
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