So do you consider yourself a "smoker"?

[Swampey65]

I don't smoke. If someone 'tells' me I'm a smoker I'll say no, but I .........e excessively. I will and occasionally do say these things. You don't have to beat someone with a baseball bat when it's so easy to horrify them.
Stupid people are the problem and this country is packed with idiots. Kind of like the Congressman who said the earth is 9000 years old a few days ago. 'People' elected this idiot and he's making laws for America. "Evolution is an idea from the pit of hell." Guess what bozo, there is no hell. Even if there was I want to go there for the company and not heaven for the weather.
I'm not overly concerned with the health effects of vaping other than chipping a tooth with this steel drip tip. I inhaled car exhaust for over 40 years. What, is Ecto Plasma going to turn my liver green?

Oh, are you referring to one of those brainiacs like this guy here?:

I'm guessing that it took everything this Admiral had in him not to jump up, run over and chicken choke this idiot. Only thing scarier than this guy being a Representative in congress...is the idiots you speak of that voted him in.

 

[Skyway]

Oh, are you referring to one of those brainiacs like this guy here?:

I'm guessing that it took everything this Admiral had in him not to jump up, run over and chicken choke this idiot. Only thing scarier than this guy being a Representative in congress...is the idiots you speak of that voted him in.

OMG, that is hilarious. On a side note, I lived on Guam for 2 years when my father was stationed there.

 

[Swampey65]

Skyway, do you recall if when you rode your bike from one side of the Island to the other...did it "rock the Island"?

 

[DaveyC]

Personally, I don't consider myself a smoker. I vape, and as you said, it isn't smoking. It is nicotine. The main reason I don't besides that is because as of now, since I started vaping a short while ago, I haven't had a strong desire for cigarettes. I used to always want one whenever my friends were smoking, but I find now that the smell, turns me off, it clings to your clothes, and it's just not the same, so I just whip out my e cigarette and whatever little temptation to smoke was their, completely leaves and I enjoy vaping, and not having to worry about my lungs hurting, or coughing, or any old side effects to analogs.

 

[Skyway]

Skyway, do you recall if when you rode your bike from one side of the Island to the other...did it "rock the Island"?

You know I never thought about it when I was a kid but I do remember it when I hit the beach, it seemed like the Ocean was going higher up the shore whenever I got close to the water!

 

[Robert T]

I am not a smoker. I haven't smoked a cigarette since Oct. 1, 2010. End of story.

 

[Buggs5347]

I think for anyone to be truly honest about whether they are now a non-smoker is to ask, if you were stuck somewhere for a few days without the ability to have your vape, but cigarettes were readily available - would you light up a cigarette? My answer would be yes.

The way I see it, though technically not "smoking", I'm still a smoker. I'm still purposely ingesting some nicotine and other elements into my lungs (other than normal breathing). I do believe it is better than ingesting a lot more elements as in cigarettes, but just because it's better doesn't make it good for you or something to be terribly proud of. To me, it's a wasteful addiction, regardless. I've cut down the amount of nicotine greatly and I hope to give up vaping, as well.

 

[Skyway]

I think for anyone to be truly honest about whether they are now a non-smoker is to ask, if you were stuck somewhere for a few days without the ability to have your vape, but cigarettes were readily available - would you light up a cigarette? My answer would be yes.

Again, no, I would not go back. I tried a cigarette after quitting for 6 months and I got physically sick to my stomach just trying a few drags. My wife will sometimes have a ryo and I have to cover my mouth and nose when she does it in a closed room. I will not nag at her about it either. I know how hard it is to quit.

 

[kushka]

I think for anyone to be truly honest about whether they are now a non-smoker is to ask, if you were stuck somewhere for a few days without the ability to have your vape, but cigarettes were readily available - would you light up a cigarette? My answer would be yes.

The way I see it, though technically not "smoking", I'm still a smoker. I'm still purposely ingesting some nicotine and other elements into my lungs (other than normal breathing). I do believe it is better than ingesting a lot more elements as in cigarettes, but just because it's better doesn't make it good for you or something to be terribly proud of. To me, it's a wasteful addiction, regardless. I've cut down the amount of nicotine greatly and I hope to give up vaping, as well.

I agree - I have not smoked a cigarette in 2 years - but I am just a addicted to nicotine as I ever was - and not just addicted to nicotine, but I am addicted to inhaling nicotine into my lungs. If I could not vape, I would not last 3 hours before I would be buying a pack of cigarettes.

 

[B.Traven]

Not any more. I started using ecigs a week ago and have not had a smoke since. And don't miss it, no withdrawal symptoms or PMS(Psychotic Mood Swings). I smoked at least 30 cigarettes a day for 40 years or more and was never able to quit for this long before. Tried everything, patches, gum, lozenges--everything except dip--and nothing worked.

Now I puff like crazy in the morning with my coffee--get my nicotine level up to near-toxic--and carry an 808 stick with me most of the time, take a few puffs whenever I feel a craving, like when I smell someone smoking nearby. That does the trick, don't even think about it after that.

The only thing I don't like is the word "vaping", sounds vaguely skeezy to me, more like something I'd say to get in someone's face rather than neutral. I don't smoke or "vape", I puff. Yeah, I know sounds sorta faggy, but at my age I don't care.

btraven

 

[Buggs5347]

I know what you mean, B.Traven. The term vaping does sound like something negative. In fact, I was perusing a cruise travel forum, where someone asked about bringing their "vaping" gear aboard - meaning what we know as vaping. Nearly half the respondents replied with the idea they were talking about drugs.

 

[moondragon]

I had my first check up with my doctor last week after quitting cigs. My doctor asked if I was still smoking. I said I stopped regular cigs and now was using e-cigs. She congratulated me for quitting, and I am now listed in my med chart as a former smoker. And that's how I view myself - as a former smoker who still has a nicotine addiction/habit.

 

[klynnn]

For me I would probably just vape without the nic. I just have to carry something around with me. Don't think I could go back to cigs.

 

[Kemosabe]

in the eyes of Life Insurance providers, if youve got nicotine in your system, you are a smoker. theres no two ways about it.

its unfortunate bc vaping is hardly smoking. however, their view is that if you are addicted to nicotine, the chances of you using cigarettes is large. until this industry grows, and people see how satisfied we are with our PVs, and that the chances of using cigarettes is nil, we are fighting an uphill battle.

but OTOH, the OP proves the insurance companies' speculation that a nicotine addict has a likliness to use cigarettes.

 

[Cyrene]

in the eyes of Life Insurance providers, if youve got nicotine in your system, you are a smoker. theres no two ways about it.

its unfortunate bc vaping is hardly smoking. however, their view is that if you are addicted to nicotine, the chances of you using cigarettes is large. until this industry grows, and people see how satisfied we are with our PVs, and that the chances of using cigarettes is nil, we are fighting an uphill battle.

but OTOH, the OP proves the insurance companies' speculation that a nicotine addict has a likliness to use cigarettes.

This is unfortunately very true. Until it's proven that vaping is not as harmful, and there is pressure put on the insurance companies, they will not change their minds. They don't really care. It's another way of them being greedy. Shoot, half the people that work for the insurance company itself can vape and they wouldn't care. It probably won't happen in my lifetime that it's seen as not smoking.

 

[Robert T]

In my second year I cut my nic from 24 to 12. For this third year I'm going to try 6. If that works out I can see myself being done with the nic.

 

[Swampey65]

Here's how it goes. Let's use something other than Nicotine for this example, shall we??

Let's say, indeed, that I'd been smoking h.e.r.o _i_n (FFS, the swear filter replaced the full word - how nannying is that?) sprinkled in tobacco for the last 40 years. Would I be called a smoker? No - I'd be called a junky. Now, let's say I switched from smoking H to injecting - and in so doing, I wasn't taking in the 4000 nasties and carcinogens. I'd still be a junky.

As "smokers" what we sought was nicotine. The carcinogens and chemicals we ingested came as an unwelcome by-product of our habits. As in the H example above, all that has changed is the method of delivery - we're now using clean nicotine, not a source contaminated by a whole host of nasty stuff.

So no - I haven't quit - I'm no less of a nicotine junky - "smoker" - than I ever was. That will probably piss a few people off, people who like to trumpet that they have "quit" using e-cigs. They haven't - but they most certainly have achieved the most important part - they've got rid of the only part of a cigarette that'll kill you - and surely, that's what it's actually about??

I don't think anyone will be ...... off hifistud, but the title of the Op's post was "Do you still consider yourself a Smoker". It wasn't "Do you still consider yourself a nicotine addict".

Unless you BURN something and inhale the by-product, you're not smoking. You can call it (vaping) smoking if you like I guess but, factually it's not smoking. Are the majority of us here nicotine addicts? I know I am! I'm no longer a smoker though and yes, it's only because I have another option for nicotine ingestion and once made aware of another option, I chose it.

So, to me; that's like looking at someone who has not smoked for ten years because they chew or use Snus exclusively and saying "No dude...You're still a smoker!" Huh? No they're not. What about the folks who have never picked up a cigarette in their life but chew or use snus? I know quite a few people that fit that bill...Are they smokers too?

We are all in the "Nicotine Addiction family" if you like. We are not factually all smoker's.

I'm an ex-smoker. I have a different and much healthier delivery system now. It's called vaping.

Chewer.
Snus user.
Smoker.
Vaper.

All partake in delivering Nicotine to their bodies but, one is not the same as the other. Some ways of doing it are worse for you, some are infinitely better and healthier for you. Well, I know one for sure is...my body reminds me everyday with the way it feels.

I'm a Vaper.

 

[Dishona]

Interesting question that I still struggle with - it has been almost two years since I touched an analog and have long since put all the ashtrays and other stuff away - but I still have to sit in the smoking section if I go to the casino because otherwise I have people complaining about my "smoke". A lot of my neighbors and friends keep asking when I am going to quit vaping, why am I spending any $$$ on e-cigs and (in general) asking annoying questions and getting upset about the vapor. When I was smoking I belonged to a pretty small "club" outside by the ashtray - now I am in an even smaller club of one-two people over in the corner vaping. Discrimination continues I guess but I'm happy so ?????

 

[Skyway]

in the eyes of Life Insurance providers, if youve got nicotine in your system, you are a smoker. theres no two ways about it.

They could not hold to this since there are things organically that carry nicotine. With this reasoning, you could say someone that eats a lot of tomatoes or eggplant is a smoker. My insurance company does not do this. Not sure who you use.

 

[Dauyd]

I inhale nicotene. I may not smoke analogs, but I'm still smoking- just in a much better/healthier manner. If/when I ever get down to 0 nic, then I will revisit the question. Until then, I'm a smoker.

I'm not in to semantics games.