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People hooked on vapes try a new way to quit: cigarettes

248 points · 335 comments · alephnerd

  1. sph · · focus · HN ↗
    For the past 3 years I have replaced my ADHD stimulant medication with nicotine patches and they’ve been great, cheap, and legal in the country I live in now.

    Recently I got the urge to try vaping again, bought all the paraphernalia and started vaping like a chimney 24/7. Got light nicotine poisoning as well. After two days, I caught myself compulsively reaching for the vape.

    So I threw everything away and I’m back to patches. Took me a week to forget the compulsive hand-to-mouth urge. I now believe intradermal nicotine is the superior method of administration. At least with cigarettes the smoke is such an intense irritant you self-regulate pretty quickly compared to a cupcake flavoured vape you can just suck on all day long.

    1. Melatonic · · focus · HN ↗
      Isn't that way shorter acting ?
      1. sph · · focus · HN ↗
        What is?
      2. thfuran · · focus · HN ↗
        And carcinogenic
        1. lunchbucket · · focus · HN ↗
          Nicotine is not carcinogenic and neither are nicotine products like patches or gum. Nicotine products are distinct from tobacco products, and tobacco contains a lot more than nicotine, and that cocktail is both carcinogenic and more addictive. That's why nicotine products are used for nicotine cessation, they are strictly less harmful and easier to quit. (That doesn't make nicotine safe but it's in an entirely different league than tobacco. Nicotine products almost certainly won't be the reason you die, whereas tobacco products often are.)
          1. thfuran · · focus · HN ↗
            I don’t really know anything about the field other than having heard somewhere over a decade ago of a then-recent study showing that it is in and of itself carcinogenic, but it seems like nicotine and several metabolites have various cancer-promoting properties: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;articles&#x2F;PMC4363846&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov&#x2F;articles&#x2F;PMC4363846&#x2F;

            But yes, it’s certainly less bad than getting the same amount of nicotine by smoking tobacco.

            1. [deleted] · · focus · HN ↗

              [deleted]

            2. lunchbucket · · focus · HN ↗
              Totally true. But the bottom line is that one of these things kills you and the other doesn&#x27;t. That doesn&#x27;t mean it&#x27;s safe but I do think it is important not to imply they are equally harmful or that nicotine products are carcinogenic. Nicotine isn&#x27;t carcinogenic and they are not in the same ballpark of harm.
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