Comment by willholloway | Hacker News Reader

Comment by willholloway | Hacker News Reader

I've been able to get two people to quit smoking by giving them a superior option in every way, including the subjective effect and satisfaction that they feel: vaporizing a full spectrum extract of the tobacco plant.

Everyone has seen electronic cigarettes in convenience stores everywhere, and they are billed as smoking cessation devices. The problem with them lies in that they only contain nicotine. The tobacco plant contains other psychoactive alkaloids like anabasine that smokers are used to and enjoy.

Whole tobacco alkaloid is a new type of juice for these devices. The two smokers I helped quit hated regular e-cigs because they are lacking. Very quickly they preferred vaping WTA juice to smoking. Smoking is dirty, smelly and socially discouraged.

Give them a better option and they will switch in droves.

I've examined all the tobacco extracts on the market, and the cleanest by far comes from a guy named Jeff at wholecig.com

He created his own process using only non-toxic solvents, it takes him 4 days to make one batch. He is an innovator and a nice guy.

In the future no one will burn raw tobacco, they will vape a full spectrum extract.

Update: I got an email saying this was the best written ad he's seen in a while, and I wanted to publicly say I have no ownership in wholecig and am not employed by them. I called Jeff about an order and got to talking to him and we swapped chemistry notes, I really like the guy and want his business to succeed because I think he's doing gods work, and saving lives through innovation.

When you say you got two people to quit, does that mean they eventually gave up the e-cigarettes, or just that they've switched from one form of smoking to another?

If you're vaporizing tobacco extract, is that any better than smoking from a health perspective?

(On a related note, since you mentioned toxicity... the lack of any sort of standards or certification for e-cig "juice" really makes me nervous about the whole field. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the brands out there could cause damage to your lungs in the long term... we just don't know yet.

I've got a friend who makes juice as a business, and it really is just something done in his kitchen, and faith that his ingredients aren't harmful when inhaled.)

Hopefully this doesn't come off as sounding too critical. Just questions I keep thinking of, especially since I've had several friends go from non-spokers straight to using e-cigs (rather than using them to quit smoking), since they're promoted as being safe.

One of them has been switching to patches with the intention of quitting.

I believe that damage to the lungs is a real possibility, especially if the voltage is too high in the coils.

I can see no possibility that vaporizing tobacco extract is more harmful than smoking raw tobacco, either from a lung health or a cancer perspective.

I think vaping wta is a prudent harm reduction technique.

I hope that day comes soon. Convenience is key. I'd switch in a heartbeat. Juul claim something similar, they use nicotine _salts_ which they say give vapers a similar hit to smoking which they don't get with regular e-cigs. I'd not heard about anabasine (what are psychoactive alkaloids?)...

Alkaloids are chemicals in plants, like caffeine for example.

Psychoactive meaning having an effect on the users brain.

I'm always preaching this sentiment - it is far superior, yet it seems like most governments want to stamp it out before the mass market innovation really kicks in.

There are vaporizers that can be fed regular tobacco:

http://vaponic.com/

That one is more intended for mj and needs a torch lighter, so I guess it isn't as convenient as electronic ones, but it's much cheaper.

Disclaimer: I quit smoking before, so I can't really talk from long time experience, just tested it once.

Is there similar for giving up (or at least reducing) alcohol consumption? Giving up smoking is easy (no vaping required), alcohol less so IMHO.

Ahhh, the holy grail! I think there are a lot of people who would prefer an alternative to alcohol as a social lubricant.

I myself really detest the way even moderate amounts of alcohol make me feel the next day, and the effect of alcohol on my sleep.

Its all well and good to go out to a bar and not drink but you are on a different wavelength than the rest of the crowd and it's just not the same.

So not drinking definitely puts a damper on my social life in this small coastal village I live in.

You can try phenibut, and it will work as well for your purposes as anything else on the market.

its my second favorite nootropic from behind the iron curtain. Phenibut, as the story goes, was created for cosmonauts who needed something to calm the nerves while stuck in tiny metal capsules risking their lives. The existing drugs all dulled the senses. So phenibut exists as a kind of smart benzodiazepine alternative.

It is habit forming though and you want to avoid a dependency.

Update because I can't reply:

Phenibut is not a benzo, and I don't use it in place of alcohol, but for the questioner, its probably the closest replacement to alcohol that I know of, but still very different. And for those who would otherwise drink to relax a far healthier choice IMHO.

Sounds pretty dangerous, using a benzo instead of alcohol. Why not just drink a lot of water before bed?

I guess my question is why do we accept alcohol as a safe choice? There is some unknown number of drinks in some unknown amount of time where alcohol becomes neurotoxic and diminishes memory and general intelligence. The best approximations I have seen is about 4-5 drinks.

For those at risk alcohol can push them over the threshold into sleep apnea.

Over time alcohol makes one less attractive. Broken blood vessels, and looser skin from the inflammation from going to sleep intoxicated.

But clearly alcohol is useful and enjoyed by most adults, its ubiquity at social events is clear evidence, I believe its a critical social imperative to develop and promote healthier alternatives.

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