Iqos

I'm a 45yo New Zealander, and I have absolutely no axe to grind, except one:

I smoked for 25 years. Therefore the tobacco companies have had more than their fair share of my money, and more importantly my health.

Thanks to vaping, using RBAs and mods, and diying my own ejuices - I've been smoke-free for 20 months.

One company that looks like winning, with all the fake news and hysteria being dredged up in USA over vaping is Phillip Morris International. And I'm not talking about their cigarette products - but rather their IQOS product.

A Device That Heats Tobacco, But Doesn't Burn It, Can Now Be Sold in the U.S. Here's What to Know About IQOS

The FDA have already approved this product for sale in USA. And how does the IQOS work?

the FDA says the pen-like IQOS device heats, but does not burn, “tobacco-filled sticks” wrapped in paper, creating an aerosol that contains nicotine. Marlboro, an Altria brand, will make the tobacco sticks used inside the cartridge, which will come in menthol and unflavored versions.
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It's pretty much a cigarette, that goes into a device which 'heats' the tobacco, so you can inhale it.

Here's Why IQOS Could Completely Own the U.S. E-Cig Market | The Motley Fool

And how safe is it?

Comparison of Chemicals in Mainstream Smoke in Heat-not-burn Tobacco and Combustion Cigarettes. - PubMed - NCBI

There is little scientific data, however, of the hazards and toxicity of iQOS. In this study, we evaluated several harmful compounds (nicotine, tar, carbon monoxide (CO) and tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs)) in the mainstream smoke and fillers of iQOS, and compared their concentrations with those from conventional combustion cigarettes.

The concentrations of nicotine in tobacco fillers and the mainstream smoke of iQOS were almost the same as those of conventional combustion cigarettes, while the concentration of TSNAs was one fifth and CO was one hundredth of those of conventional combustion cigarettes. These toxic compounds are not completely removed from the mainstream smoke of iQOS, making it necessary to consider the health effects and regulation of iQOS.
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iQOS may not be as harm-free as claimed, study finds

The University of California study found that, since the device could only be used for six-minutes before it needed to be recharged, it may cause some people to shorten the interval between puffs in order to make sure they did not waste any of the tobacco stick which could increase the possible toxic exposure.

But of greater concern was that the polymer filter melted slightly during use and released formaldehyde cyanohydrin, a toxic substance which could be fatal to humans. The compound is metabolised in the liver and broken down into formaldehyde and cyanide.

"This study has shown that the iQOS system may not be as harm-free as claimed and also emphasises the urgent need for further safety testing as the popularity and user base of this product is growing rapidly," the study concluded.

University of Otago public health and marketing Professor Janet Hoek said the findings led her to question whether it really was a "reduced harm" product as claimed by the manufacturers.

If users inhaled more frequently as it was suggested, it was likely they would "increase their nicotine intake and exposure to harmful compounds present in the inhaled aerosol", she said.

She said those who had tried unsuccessfully to quit smoking were better off considering e-cigarettes.
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Just my

 

They mention that the do use tobacco but heated them at a consistent rate of 350 Celsius. Recently I went to the iqos store nearby my house and the staff told me that you do not need iqos if vaping is working for you,I ended up buying one just to experience and it tastes close to cigarette but milder taste and hit.I heard that vaping heat not more then 315 Celsius,and assume it is totally safer then IQOS.

I find that I am more satisfy with vaping,mod ones as I drank more water.Comparing IQOS vs Sub ohm vaping where there is lots of cloud which one is safer to health,and which one to pick if I were to quit nic?

 

I've been thinking on why vaping with flavored eliquid is so effective at tobacco smoking cessation.

Smoking cigarettes was more than just a physical dependence for me, it also consisted of breaking the bad habits. I wanted to stop using tobacco, but there was more to quitting, and staying quit, than I first thought.

I tried nicotine gum, patches, chantix, etc. Nothing worked until I took up vaping. Here are my thoughts on why I think it worked, when nothing else did.

Physical needs

Tobacco contains several alkaloids and chemicals, in addition to nicotine, that change the effect nicotine has on our body and brain. Some of these alkaloids and chemicals likely have effects on their own. When changing from tobacco use to ecigarettes, I know that I initially experienced cravings that nicotine did not curb. If it was only nicotine I craved, vaping would have eliminated my cravings. This wouldn't happen for me until a little later on in vaping.

Behavior, eg. Habit

Repeating an action long enough creates a habit. Some habits can reinforce an addiction, or be a part of that addiction. Breaking those habits, in my experience, is more than half the battle when quitting.

One of the hardest habits for me to break was the ritual of smoking. It went something like this; Walk into the convenience store, buy a pack of smokes, pack them on my palm, open the cellophane, remove the top of the liner, smell that fresh pack of smokes. Take a cigarette out, light it up, smoke it, put it out. Repeat part two until your almost out, then go to the store and buy another pack.

In the beginning I had to avoid going in the store and just pay with a card at the pump. Over time this impulse has disappeared.

The act of smoking itself was the other major habit I had to change. I did this by replacement.

When I quit I found that mimicking the act of inhaling smoke, by inhaling vapor instead, helped me to satisfy the hand-to-mouth habit part of smoking. Raising my pv to my lips, taking a drag, then lowering it to my side is very similar to the way I used to smoke a cigarette. The feeling of drawing warm vapor into my mouth, then lungs, substituted for taking puffs on a cigarette.

So why are flavors so important then?

Even with the habit side of smoking more or less dealt with, I still felt I was missing something. The gnawing pull of a cigarette was still there. It only abated when I was actually vaping (and shortly after), even though I knew I had enough nic in my system.

What's going on then?

Flavors

I believe that adding flavors has a twofold benefit in successfully switching from tobacco to vaping.

When I enjoy a flavor, and I mean really enjoy it, my tastebuds and scent receptors light up in a flavorgasm. The thought of cigarettes gets pushed to the back of my mind, if only temporarily, as I focus on the sensations I'm experiencing with this vapor. That moment, and for a short time afterwards, I experience true relief from my cravings. When vaping a flavor I dislike, I don't feel as satisfied and vape more trying to fill that craving.

The two main processes that I believe are occuring to provide that relief are a shifting of focus (distraction), and pleasure.

Distraction & pleasure

Replacing an unpleasant stimulus with a pleasant one is a widely accepted method of behavior modification. Pleasure releases endorphins, sex & drugs release alot of endorphins for example. Taste & smell do this as well in smaller amounts.

I stated earlier that repeating an action long enough creates a habit. After vaping for a period of time, the association that vaping=pleasure became hardwired into my brain, and the longer that I vaped, the stronger the association grew. On the flip side the longer I avoided tobacco, the greater dissociation with the pleasure response became.

Today I don't even want to smoke, it's nasty.

Sometime later on my vape journey, heavily flavored vapor became unpleasant. I think that was after my tastebuds grew back more. I found that I used less and less flavor as time went by. Oversaturation of my tastebuds is unpleasant now.

I still enjoy flavors, but the percentages I use have been cut drastically. I regularly used 15-20% when I started, now I use from 1-5% on average. Also I started on 18-24 mg per mL of nicotine, and now use 6 mg.

I know that this stuff is common knowledge to most of y'all, same as me, but I haven't seen it presented this way in the same place before. Hopefully someone can get some good use out of this somehow.  

I smoked menthol cigarettes for 45+ years. Never cared for the taste or smell of cigarette tobacco, but I liked my menthol. When I tried Blu ecigs, the tobacco didn't taste like tobacco, it just tasted "meh". The menthol flavor was more meh with a mentholesque hint, and they were a freaking hassle. When I finally realized this weird vaporizer shop across the street from the hospital and next to the ambulance company actually sold E-cigarettes, not those things you steam up a room with Vick's Vapo-Rub, I went in and told them about my experience with Blu's and asked if they had anything better. I walked out with an eGo starter kit, some fruit flavors, and some menthol and mint juice to mix with them. Success! Got my menthol/nicotine fix and was able to put down the combustibles! For a year and a half I've been doing the same thing only DYI: Fruit and menthol and/or mint. Just had to have that menthol feel or it didn't do the trick for me.

Last week I got a bunch of new flavors from MFS. I mixed up some desert coffee and a key lime pie concoction, no menthol or mint, and it was GOOD!

Now if only somebody would tell this stupid spell checker there is no "u" in flavor!  

"
Vaping is supposed to be a form of harm reduction, that is, allow nicotine addicts to have access to the drug without the harmful tars and chemicals in cigarettes that cause cancer, heart disease, and other maladies.

Last year, the Journal of the American Heart Association published a study finding that vaping posed as great a heart risk as smoking itself. That study fueled public policies at all levels of government to stifle the industry. A lot of small business people had their livelihoods destroyed or damaged as a result.

Now, the study has been retracted — which is a very big deal in science — because the editors are “concerned that the study conclusion is unreliable” due to what appears to have been an uncompleted peer review process..........."

Major Anti-Vaping Scientific Study Retracted | National Review


Score one for our side. 'They will not stop until tobacco becomes regulated like a hard drug - 'We will not stop until our rights, especially our right to use a less harmful form of tobacco, such as vaping,
is assured.  

I smoked my last analog cig exactly one month ago today, when a vape kit arrived in the mail.

I still have more than one pound of unopened tobacco lying around in a drawer somewhere, just to remind myself of the past, and to prove that I don't desire it at all, even when it's in close proximity.

This post is perhaps a little bit boring, because I don't really have any issues to report. Everything is working out great with vaping, I haven't had any cravings at all for analog cigs, not once. I was a 2 pack per day smoker for 30 years.

I'm currently at 18 mg Nic, and I'm in no big rush to step down, but eventually, in maybe a few months time, I will step down to 12 and keep it at that level for a few months. I eventually plan to be 100% nicotine free.

Quitting analogs and switching to vaping is one of the easiest things that I've ever done. The only thing that I regret is that I didn't do it a few years ago.  

(I know this doesn't apply to all of us, but for me it sure does.)

I mean.. look at us. Spending so much time here on the forum reading about tips and tricks, what's your vape? what is the juice you vape? etc etc. I haven't joined a forum for 15 years or so. The last time i was on a forum i was a 16 year old boy, trying to figure out life and the best way i knew how was being anonymous on the internet asking and pondering life's questions.. like "*** am i supposed to do here on planet earth?"

Nowadays i watch daily video's about vaping. From health concerns to indoor smokers, from conspiracy theories (tobacco companies) to Rip Trippers. Outside the digital life whenever i'm home i either vape, try new juices, building another coil, wicking and make my girlfriend try a new taste oh.. almost forgot the most expensive part, checking out webstores for... whatever i think might be missing from my collection

Don't get me wrong though, i love it. It's fun, it's interesting, it's a bit of a nerd thing i guess. Trying to find the perfect vape. It's like a drug (and i know drugs, i like them.. from time to time with moderation offcourse
nicotine is a drug, caffeine is a psycho active drug, alcohol and offcourse all the illegal ones. From xtc to heroine, one worse then the other)

But i find it very interesting that since i started vaping that i somehow had this need to find fellow vapers and talk about it. Haven't had that feeling for years, to be part of something.

I also never ever attended a demonstration for anything in my life, but today in a couple of hours from now i'll be in Utrecht vaping with other vapers against the ****ty little regulations the EU forces on us vapers. I do this for multiple reasons;

1) i truly hate that whoever says i cannot do/buy/use something *as long i'm not hurting or bother someone else with it*
2) it pisses me off that the elite, may it be a person or the bigger companies use unfair tactics to get whatever they want
3) to meet fellow vapers and talk about... vaping..

Anyway yesterday night in bed i thought this and was wondering how you guys/girls feel about it  

Ive always vaped juices with 3mg Nic and have never been bothered by the taste of it. Now, a couple of weeks ago i quit smoking cigarettes and picked up my vapes again and orderes some new juices as well.

the problem is I get a strong and "peppery" taste of the nicotine and it feel like im vaping like 9mg juices. It really bothers me since I dont get the most flavour out of my juices.

Has someone experienced the same thing? what is going on? i bought 4 differens e-juices and there regular nic in 2 of them and salt nic-shots (for shortfills) in the other 2. they all taste the same in regards to that awful taste.

lets face it, im addicted to nicotine. i will eventually start vaping 0mg but if i do that right now, im afraid i will go back to the cancer-sticks  

Hey everyone! I've been casually vaping off and on for two years now, but I finally took the plunge and started vaping exclusively. I am almost 4 days tobacco free! It's the longest I've been without tobacco in 7 years!!! It's been a lot easier than I thought it would be.

Something that keeps me going is to think about the horrible realities of being a tobacco user.

What are the things about tobacco you are glad to have behind you? The smell? The taste? The money? What did you hate most about smoking?

I could really use the little reminders throughout the day.  

Hi guys! First of all sorry for my bad english. I started to vape at February and I love it, thanks to the e-cig I don't want a tobacco cigarette anymore. By the way, for some reason, about 15 days ago I realized that e-liquid nicotine gives me agitation and jittery that I've never had before. Sure, nicotine is a stimulant like coffeine but as we know it's a relaxant, too. And this stimulant/relaxant combo is what I've had with tobacco cigarettes and with vaping until 15 days ago. To be sure that (liquid) nicotine is the culprit, I've tried everything. With nic free e-liquid I have no agitation, even though I become a little sad because actually I can't stay without nicotine for a whole day. You may say: "reduce the nic dosage" and that's what I did, but unfortunately even with 1.5 mg/ml I have this issue And I don't vape too much. So I decided to do another test: for one day I smoked tobacco cigarettes. Guess what? No agitation and jittery. This is so weird, I can't believe it! Because I can expect it if I vape too much at high nic dosage, but I vape at only 3 mg/ml and not too much. And as I said before even with 1.5 mg/ml. I started to vape at February with 9 mg/ml, then I gradually lowered the dose without any problem (until 15 days ago). Also, I've tried different nicotine e-liquids but nothing has changed. Now I don't know what to think other than I suddenly become intolerant to liquid nicotine, even though I don't have nausea, dizziness, headache, stomach problems and other symptoms that make me think: "you're intolerant for sure". What do you think guys? Is there something that I can do? I don't want stop vaping, especially because I don't want to smoke again Thank you so much in advance guys.