The Promise of Vaping and the Rise of Juul
newyorker.com
newyorker.com
Getting hooked on nicotine isn't a very good idea, but if you are going to do it, Juul or vapes is a relatively healthy way to do it, simply because it won't kill you like cigarettes might.
I think all the hysteria from these people in the article is because these people can't disassociate vapes with cigarettes, particularly after the 2 decade long marketing campaign against cigarettes (with quite a bit of hyperbole as evidenced in the article).
Long story longer, Juul might finally get me to quit (fingers crossed). Kids are doing it which is dumb, but that's what kids do. Kids my age did the same with cigarettes during my time, so it's going to happen. Thank goodness that today having a nicotine addiction isn't as unhealthy as it was 20+ years ago.
One final thought; the only complaint I have with Juul is the disposable pods. They should have some sort of recycling program or something. I can go through a pod a day / day and a half.
The only real hurdle was getting used to the change in how you use it versus smoking. With smoking, you have a cig, get a massive dose of nicotine, and then it tapers off in your bloodstream over the course of the next hour, leading to that craving for another dose. It's a stimulant so I'd feel a bit cranky and foggy until I had another smoke.
With vaporizers it's more like a hookah where I just sort of puff on it throughout the day, getting a lower yet more steady dose. It took a bit of getting used to but it was entirely more effective than any other nicotine replacement I'd tried. More importantly, it was still enjoyable which is something the gums and patches and sprays miss.
Since then, I've lowered the amount of nicotine to barely anything (maybe 2-3mg/ml) and read up on how to mix up the liquid so I'm not spending a fortune and I know exactly what goes into that mist I'm occasionally inhaling.
I hear so many comedians and read articles where people make fun of "vaping" as super lame and uncool, but I never gave a shit about that to begin with. I just accepted that much like my morning coffee, I like the bit of mental stimulation provided by a bit of nicotine and am thankful that I don't need to inhale tars and carbon monoxide and particulates and all the nasty products of combustion in order to get it. The idea that this is a "cool" thing the way some insist that smoking is just makes me shake my head.
RE: the disposable cartridges, I could never really get into that either. I don't like the waste or the cost and always gravitated to the things I could just fill up myself and maybe swap out the wick every week. I'll always spend that 5 minutes a week to avoid buying and tossing packs of plastic bits every couple of days.
My only comment is that most stuff ive read claims hookah is a lot worse than having a few cigs.
(I dont think you were claiming it was healthy, i just wanted to clarify since you had compared the experience of puffing a vape to hookah)
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...
This comes as a surprise to me, as the majority of people vaping are hipsters, where I am.
I do know someone who tried to use it to quit smoking, but that lasted about a week.
Vaping quickly became a way to get his fix in between his regularly scheduled cigarettes.
The problem: What liquid to trust since you are inhaling the thing to your lungs. I don't have an answer for that and wish there was some kind of highly reputable brand to buy from. There is also the option to do it yourself (DIY is very popular in this community) but I have yet to try that.
~ I'm in no way associated with the company and only mentioned it because of the experience.
It's actually pretty shocking how not-bad-for-you weed is by comparison. I used to think smoking cigarettes was bad because you're inhaling smoke, but it turns out they're bad because you're inhaling a specific kind of pro-inflammatory, oxidative-damage-causing smoke. Whereas something about cannabis, whether it be the antioxidant effect or the different particle size, makes it actually ridiculously safe.
[Sorry if I was off topic, but I see a lot of misconceptions about tobacco vs nicotine vs cannabis in terms of relative harm)
In what way? A summary [1] I have read some time ago does not seem to suggest nicotine is really harmful in any obviously offputting way.
You can get moderate nicotine poisoning from vaping or smoking too much too quickly: headache, nausea, it feels gross.
I got it real bad from those old Eclipse cigarettes which were basically flame activated vaporizers way ahead of their time. You just couldn’t pause it once it was chooching like you can with every battery operated vape.
And again, tobacco is an order of magnitude worse most likely (if not more). But I highly doubt nicotine is completely harmless to the lungs, throat etc
What now? When you burn and inhale any organic matter it deposits a lot of tar in your lungs (pot much more so than modern cigarettes). Are you suggesting that has no ill effects?
Is it the money they'll waste, that they might shorten their lifespan by a couple of years, or just because they'll be addicted?
You could say the same things about Coffee, Video Games, or TV. There's so much to be addicted to and so little time. At the same time it helps adults that are already addicted to cigarettes extend their life span, save money, and maybe become less addicted.
I fail to see an issue.
I might be wrong but I am pretty sure that nicotine is way more addictive than coffee, TV, or video games and the problem is that teenagers are already addicted.
“You fall asleep with your Juul under your pillow,” my other friend said.
“With Juul, the pattern of use isn’t kids having a cherry vape every now and then,” he said. “It’s kids sneaking off to the bathroom, kids vaping consistently throughout the day.”
That is not true. The federal smoking age is 18, and many states do not have a minimum smoking age set at all, only a minimum purchase age.[0] This means they simply defer to federal law. Some states made 21 the purchase age, but it is not federally mandated.
As far as the relevant quotes go, you could say the same thing about smart phones.
“You fall asleep with your phone under your pillow,” my other friend said.
“With smartphones, the pattern of use isn’t kids having a peek at their phone every now and then,” he said. “It’s kids sneaking off to the bathroom, kids looking at their phones consistently throughout the day.”
Believable, huh?
Nicotine improves mood, focus, concentration, and short-term memory [2](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20414766).
Smart phones, on the other hand, reduce available cognitive capacity, just by being around [3](https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.1086/691462).
Maybe teens are self-medicating for the attention deficit their smart phones are causing. Would you rather have them on amphetamines?
As to being addicted to nicotine itself and consume it in the form of vapour: much less worrisome. Still, it's not great: withdrawal feels awful and is psychologically debilitating.
As to being addicted to nicotine as a high schooler: this is quite bad because the brain is still in heavy development and drug habits picked up in this timeframe tend to stay with you forever. Quite a compromise.
Once you grow up, most people can navigate on their own. You are then allowed to take risks because you are better at calculating. If you don't, you get eliminated but that's life right?
When you are young you'll always get eliminated because you are too vulnerable. There is a reason animals don't leave their babies and carry their journeys.
I think if you are in high school, then you should be out of that zone..
> If you don't, you get eliminated but that's life right?
Exactly my point
To add to this. I think it is a fallacy that adults are better at "calculating" and is not as vulnerable. But I think this is just an image projected so that adults can be exploited in various ways while still being oblivious to their vulnerabilities...
For example, doctors think they are not influenced by ads and promotions. People here in HN/Reddit think they are above/not vulnerable to propaganda and is not actually as much vulnerable as the uneducated plebs they sympathise for being vulnerable and manipulated....