Ignorant question regarding menthol

smacuser

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  • Jan 22, 2012
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    Thought I did. Which subforum are you seeing here? I thought it was Law & e-cigarettes. It applies there because apparently Biden is looking at making menthol illegal because of health stuff. If there is a non health damaging alternative that matters.
    lol. That extra bit of information makes a difference. I thought maybe you were allergic to menthol.

    We’re talking about eliquid, right? I wasn’t aware menthol eliquid was on the table.

    I never used menthol, but there are several alternatives I’ve heard through the years; mint, Koolada, WS-23. I believe they get close, but not exact. The last two are more like cooling agents.
     

    cats5365

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    Just ran into a thing that said it was. I knew it was on the table on a city and state basis but I didn’t know nationally until just recently. If the cooling effect of menthol can be done without the health effects it may make the difference. Go ahead and make menthol illegal then. The other non-damaging stuff can be used instead and everyone can just keep going.
    I think they are targeting the combustibles primarily, but it could hit the liquids for similar reasons. I was a menthol smoker (V Slims only) and preferred them over the regular tobaccos. I couldn't handle the menthol blend in RJR or the others because it was just too harsh. The claim is, and I may believe them, that the menthol additive makes it easier to tolerate the smoke from regular cigarettes because it cools the throat and makes a more pleasant taste, thus making it easier to addict someone. I've heard from other smokers that the menthol itself can be addictive, so it is harder to quit the cigarettes and the menthol at the same time..

    When I was starting vaping, I tried the menthol liquids, but found they were too much like RJR and made me feel the same nausea as the RJR smokes. I don't like any mint flavors in anything (like candy and food) other than wintergreen. Fruits were the key to my accidental quitting.

    I think the do-gooders are lumping in all of the minty flavors for smokes and juice in their efforts to reform all the nicotine addicts. As never smokers, they don't realize that different products do have subtle differences in flavor, and that vapes don't really taste "just like" cigarettes. If they succeed in making the non-combustible products so unpleasant to force folks back to the Winston/Camel/Marlboro smokes, everybody wins. <--snark
     

    Rossum

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    I can see big tobacco using synthetic menthol and instead of calling them "menthol", they call them something else - like "green label" - and get away with it.
    The catch, at least in principle, is if they change anything, and certainly if the introduce a new brand, they need to go through the PMTA process.

    I hated menthol when I was a smoker, but I've smoked many when I had no regular cigs on me. A smoke's a smoke. I suppose most menthol hardcore smokers would do the same.
    I started out smoking menthols. I lived in West Philly at the time, and menthols were popular there. Also, they were what my mother smoked (Benson & Hedges menthol, to be specific).

    Since I was used to them, I pretty much hated non-menthols on those rare occasions when I bummed one from somebody. Then somewhere between 15 and 20 years into my 36 year smoking career, there was a quit attempt. As expected, I was climbing the walls, and decided to cheat with some non-menthols. I figured there was no way I'd smoke very many of those, 'cause they were nasty! Well guess what? A week or two later, I was smoking just as may non-menthols every day as I'd smoked menthols previously, and I never went back to menthol, not even with vape.
     

    Rossum

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    I still say a federal ban is likely to hit the toilet, yet again.
    I'm not in favor of banning much of anything, so I hope you are correct.

    I'd have never thought that I would be a minty vaper.
    To each their own. :)

    That is of course, one of the great things about what vaping used to be, and still is, for most of us here who've made ourselves FDA-proof.
     

    bombastinator2

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    Hey bomb. You might want to redirect your question to the appropriate subforum.

    Thought I did. Which subforum are you seeing here? I thought it was Law & e-cigarettes. It applies there because apparently Biden is looking at making menthol illegal because of health stuff. If there is a non health damaging alternative that matters.
     
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    bombastinator2

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    lol. That extra bit of information makes a difference. I thought maybe you were allergic to menthol.

    We’re talking about eliquid, right? I wasn’t aware menthol eliquid was on the table.

    I never used menthol, but there are several alternatives I’ve heard through the years; mint, Koolada, WS-23. I believe they get close, but not exact. The last two are more like cooling agents.
    Just ran into a thing that said it was. I knew it was on the table on a city and state basis but I didn’t know nationally until just recently. If the cooling effect of menthol can be done without the health effects it may make the difference. Go ahead and make menthol illegal then. The other non-damaging stuff can be used instead and everyone can just keep going.
     
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    Rossum

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    The issue is menthol is a crop. The plant has to be grown and if it is made illegal ...
    Funny, I've never heard of a plant called "menthol".

    According to Wikipedia:
    Menthol is an organic compound, more specifically a monoterpenoid, made synthetically or obtained from the oils of corn mint, peppermint, or other mints.
     
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    Rossum

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    UncLeJunkLe

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    Funny, I've never heard of a plant called "menthol".

    According to Wikipedia:
    Menthol is an organic compound, more specifically a monoterpenoid, made synthetically or obtained from the oils of corn mint, peppermint, or other mints.

    Cuz there isn't. Menthol is extracted from the mint plant and the variations of mint plants, like peppermint plant and and whatnot. It's also synthesized.
     
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    UncLeJunkLe

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    I've only seen menthol bans referring to cigarettes.

    I agree. But it seems that this thread was about menthol cig bans and some sort of general ban on menthol, Maybe I'm wrong. Regardless, I haven't seen evidence of a general ban on menthol.

    "Menthol" is such an ill used term in marketing. That's why all the variations and confusion as to what it is, but menthol is a thing that can be defined scientifically. But to the large portion of the public, "menthol" and "mint" are the same thing, but really it's not.
     
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    UncLeJunkLe

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    The catch, at least in principle, is if they change anything, and certainly if the introduce a new brand, they need to go through the PMTA process.

    We'll see. I still say a federal ban is likely to hit the toilet, yet again.

    I started out smoking menthols. I lived in West Philly at the time, and menthols were popular there. Also, they were what my mother smoked (Benson & Hedges menthol, to be specific).

    Since I was used to them, I pretty much hated non-menthols on those rare occasions when I bummed one from somebody. Then somewhere between 15 and 20 years into my 36 year smoking career, there was a quit attempt. As expected, I was climbing the walls, and decided to cheat with some non-menthols. I figured there was no way I'd smoke very many of those, 'cause they were nasty! Well guess what? A week or two later, I was smoking just as may non-menthols every day as I'd smoked menthols previously, and I never went back to menthol, not even with vape.

    I totally would have switched to menthols if I was forced to or in a circumstance like yours. Some menthols were not as bad as others. Today, I almost exclusively vape peppermint with a little coolada. Luv it. I'd have never thought that I would be a minty vaper.
     
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    bombastinator2

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    I don't know.

    Just guessing, I suspect some will switch to non-menthol. Those who live close to state borders will probably make the trek to other states to get their menthol cigs.

    Perhaps, and hopefully, it will drive some to vaping. Maybe some will quit altogether.
    Apparently people switching to non menthol are dipping them in dilute menthol liquid or painting it on or using what look a lot like the clove “spikes” that made the rounds when kreteks became illegal. If this follows the trend of cloves though interest will die out in a few years.
     
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    Rossum

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    Apparently people switching to non menthol are dipping them in dilute menthol liquid or painting it on
    If I were still smoking menthols and they were banned, I expect I'd be doing something like that too. I mean a 4-oz bag of menthol crystals for $10 would probably last a very long time.
     
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    Rossum

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    rJX4g6u.jpg


    :greengrin:
     

    smacuser

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  • Jan 22, 2012
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    Is there a product that does what menthol does without causing the health issues of menthol? I assumed there was but I could be wrong here
    Hey bomb. You might want to redirect your question to the appropriate subforum.

     

    bombastinator2

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    I think they are targeting the combustibles primarily, but it could hit the liquids for similar reasons. I was a menthol smoker (V Slims only) and preferred them over the regular tobaccos. I couldn't handle the menthol blend in RJR or the others because it was just too harsh. The claim is, and I may believe them, that the menthol additive makes it easier to tolerate the smoke from regular cigarettes because it cools the throat and makes a more pleasant taste, thus making it easier to addict someone. I've heard from other smokers that the menthol itself can be addictive, so it is harder to quit the cigarettes and the menthol at the same time..

    When I was starting vaping, I tried the menthol liquids, but found they were too much like RJR and made me feel the same nausea as the RJR smokes. I don't like any mint flavors in anything (like candy and food) other than wintergreen. Fruits were the key to my accidental quitting.

    I think the do-gooders are lumping in all of the minty flavors for smokes and juice in their efforts to reform all the nicotine addicts. As never smokers, they don't realize that different products do have subtle differences in flavor, and that vapes don't really taste "just like" cigarettes. If they succeed in making the non-combustible products so unpleasant to force folks back to the Winston/Camel/Marlboro smokes, everybody wins. <--snark
    The issue is menthol is a crop. The plant has to be grown and if it is made illegal even just for combustibles (which I think unlikely. If they do it they’ll likely do both. It’s too easy) the stuff may become unavailable or wildly expensive anyway. It also goes into some medical stuff like cough drops, but cigarettes dwarf eliquid sales. As to the dangers of menthol itself, I smoked newports for a while and I coughed up blue. I believe. My understanding is the tar and stuff is so bad for you that menthol issues more or less got lost in the noise and were only really noticed when e-cigs came out because they’re so much less bad for you. Just like nicotine addiction isn’t reduced though menthol problems were not reduced. What makes it a hot potato though is the ethnic aspect. Most black smokers smoke menthol cigarettes, so making menthol cigs illegal affects that group (which normally votes heavily Dem) disproportionally affected. E-cigs are more or less just collateral damage. If there is something that DOESN’T do it though, both mentholated cigarettes and eliquid could move to it and it becomes a non-problem.
     
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