Smoking

[CaaC (John)+]

The 'Quit Tracker' I have on my mobile I showed my Docter last week when I had a check-up and she was quite impressed with it and asked me to give her the link and she said she would show patients she has that are trying to stop smoking, she like said "WOW..." when she saw the amount of money saved in two years coming up. 

[CaaC (John)+]

Over two years now and I feel 10 times better, no wheezing or losing my breath walking long distances, I prefer winter time anyway than summer with my asthma and hay fever attacks if one of the neighbours mow their lawn or cut their hedges.

 

  

[CaaC (John)+]

The US announces countrywide ban on flavoured e-cigs

The US has announced a countrywide ban on some e-cigarette flavours amid concerns about vaping among teens.

The ban applies to mint and fruit flavours that are offered in cartridge-based e-cigarettes, like the popular pods sold by Juul.

The US will continue to allow menthol and tobacco flavours, as well as fruit flavours delivered in other ways.

The action has been under consideration for more than a year, with several states passing similar rules.

South Korea, India, Brazil are among the dozens of countries that have announced sweeping vaping bans. Others, like China, have announced restrictions.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said the Trump administration wanted to continue to offer adults an alternative to traditional cigarettes while responding to concerns about growing addiction to a new product among teens.

"By prioritizing enforcement against the products that are most widely used by children, our action today seeks to strike the right public health balance," he said.

Vaping: How popular are e-cigarettes?

'Big industry'

Fifty-five people have died and more than 2,500 people have been hospitalised with injuries linked to vaping, US health regulators say.

Investigators have said they believe vitamin E acetate, which is sometimes added to marijuana vaping products, is playing a role.

Citing the crisis, President Trump said in September the US would ban all e-cigarette flavours except tobacco, but the administration loosened its position after pushback from the industry.

"We have to protect our families. At the same time, it's a big industry. We want to protect the industry," Mr Trump said this week.

Juul, the biggest e-cigarette company in the US, had already pulled its flavoured pods from the market, but Thursday's action forces competitors to make a similar move, within 30 days.

Advocates for stricter rules have said that teens will switch to menthol if other options are eliminated.

But officials said they would take steps against menthol and tobacco flavoured e-cigarettes if the Food and Drug Administration sees that their use among teens is rising.

The US also recently raised the age for purchasing tobacco products to 21. E-cigarettes are also governed by those rules.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50978321

[Dr. Gonzo]

I think vitamin e acetate is a byproduct of heating up vegetable based oils, which pretty much all vape juice has. So I have a hard time believing any of it is safe.

[Mel81x+]

5 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I think vitamin e acetate is a byproduct of heating up vegetable based oils, which pretty much all vape juice has. So I have a hard time believing any of it is safe.

Its not and anyone that has ever tried it by going from cigarettes to a vape will attest to it too. I remember trying one and feeling like I had this strange sensation in my throat and the damn thing wouldn't go away for atleast a day. 

[Dr. Gonzo]

3 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

Its not and anyone that has ever tried it by going from cigarettes to a vape will attest to it too. I remember trying one and feeling like I had this strange sensation in my throat and the damn thing wouldn't go away for atleast a day. 

I used a juul to get of cigarettes for a bit. I agree, it really fucks with the back of your throat. Tbh tho it was helpful in weaning me off nicotine and I haven’t smoked any sort of tobacco/had nicotine enter my bloodstream for months. But it never ever felt healthier than smoking, which obviously doesn’t feel very healthy in the first place. Tbh I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s worse for us in the long term

[Mel81x+]

36 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I used a juul to get of cigarettes for a bit. I agree, it really fucks with the back of your throat. Tbh tho it was helpful in weaning me off nicotine and I haven’t smoked any sort of tobacco/had nicotine enter my bloodstream for months. But it never ever felt healthier than smoking, which obviously doesn’t feel very healthy in the first place. Tbh I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s worse for us in the long term

It is actually worse long-term just because of the delivery mechanism. When you vaporize something and use it as the delivery mechanism you inadvertently create a situation where you can intake more and vapor is far more harmful for your lungs with whatever its delivering. I used to smoke a Shisha every now and then with friends and the next day I'd go running and it would make me hack a bit till I realized it was the vapor that was still able to deliver stuff just because its water/whatever the solvent is. You're better off trying to ween yourself off cigarettes than going with any alternative imo.

[Dr. Gonzo]

51 minutes ago, Mel81x said:

It is actually worse long-term just because of the delivery mechanism. When you vaporize something and use it as the delivery mechanism you inadvertently create a situation where you can intake more and vapor is far more harmful for your lungs with whatever its delivering. I used to smoke a Shisha every now and then with friends and the next day I'd go running and it would make me hack a bit till I realized it was the vapor that was still able to deliver stuff just because its water/whatever the solvent is. You're better off trying to ween yourself off cigarettes than going with any alternative imo.

Fortunately I’ve been able to get myself off smoking any fags for months now, hopefully I won’t need to ween off with anything else. But imo, the juul worked for what I used it for. I just can’t recommend anyone else use it because it’s clearly not safe. Nor is any vape

[DeadLinesman]

2 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Fortunately I’ve been able to get myself off smoking any fags for months now,

Don’t you live in the US? That could be misconstrued big time.

[CaaC (John)+]

Menthol cigarettes and rollies to be banned in 2020

Menthol cigarettes and rollies will be banned later this year in an attempt to stop young people smoking.

Smokers will no longer be able to buy cigarettes and rolling tobacco with any "characterising flavours" after May 20. The ban, under the new EU Tobacco Product Directive laws, also covers skinny cigarettes and click dual cigarettes - such as Sterling Dual - that change from normal to menthol.

It is part of a four-year phasing-out period which began in 2016. And Brexit is unlikely to affect the ban, Action on Smoking and Health charity said.

The new rules mean no one can manufacture or sell a cigarette or hand-rolling tobacco with:

• a filter, paper, package, capsule or other component containing flavourings;
• a filter, paper or capsule containing tobacco or nicotine; or
• a technical feature allowing the consumer to modify the smell, taste, or smoke intensity of the product

Cancer Research UK says two-thirds of smokers start before the age of 18.

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, Amanda Sandford, from Action on Smoking and Health said young people find it easier to smoke menthol cigarettes because they relax the airways and mask the harshness of the smoke.

She added it is a myth that menthol cigarettes are less harmful than normal ones.

In 2017, 10 packs of cigarettes and smaller packs of rolling tobacco were banned - forcing smokers to pay more for larger packs of cigarettes or tobacco.

And tobacco products are already hidden under the counter and stripped of branding.

https://www.guardian-series.co.uk/north_london_news/18136139.menthol-cigarettes-rollies-banned-2020/

[nudge]

Should also ban flavoured vapes while they're at it. 

[RandoEFC+]

My birthday on Thursday will mark two full years without a smoke. Never even think about it now to be honest.

[CaaC (John)+]

Lungs 'magically' heal damage from smoking

Your lungs have an almost "magical" ability to repair the cancerous mutations caused by smoking - but only if you stop, say scientists.

The mutations that lead to lung cancer had been considered to be permanent, and to persist even after quitting.

But the surprise findings, published in Nature, show the few cells that escape damage can repair the lungs.

The effect has been seen even in patients who had smoked a pack a day for 40 years before giving up.

The thousands of chemicals in tobacco smoke corrupt and mutate the DNA in your lung cells - slowly transforming them from healthy to cancerous.

The study uncovered that happening on a massive scale in a smoker's lungs even before they had cancer.

The overwhelming majority of cells taken from a smoker's airways had been mutated by tobacco, with cells containing up to 10,000 genetic alterations.

"These can be thought of as mini time bombs, waiting for the next hit that causes them to progress to cancer," said Dr Kate Gowers, one of the researchers at UCL.

But a small proportion of cells went unscathed.

Exactly how they avoid the genetic devastation caused by smoking is unclear, but the researchers said they appeared to "exist in a nuclear bunker".

However, after someone quits smoking, it is these cells that grow and replace the damaged cells in the lungs.

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In people who quit, up to 40% of their cells looked just like those from people who had never smoked.

"We were totally unprepared for the finding," Dr Peter Campbell, from the Sanger Institute, told BBC News.

He added: "There is a population of cells that, kind of, magically replenish the lining of the airways.

"One of the remarkable things was patients who had quit, even after 40 years of smoking, had regeneration of cells that were totally unscathed by the exposure to tobacco."

Motivation to quit

The researchers still need to assess how much of the lungs are repaired. The study focused on the major airways rather than the small structures called alveoli, where oxygen crosses from the air we breathe into our lungs.

There are about 47,000 cases of lung cancer in the UK each year. Nearly three-quarters of them are caused by smoking.

Studies have already shown that people cut their risk of lung cancer almost from the day they quit.

The assumption had been that this was simply because any further mutations caused by smoking were avoided.

Dr Rachel Orritt, from Cancer Research UK, said: "It's a really motivating idea that people who stop smoking might reap the benefits twice over - by preventing more tobacco-related damage to lung cells, and by giving their lungs the chance to balance out some of the existing damage with healthier cells."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51279355

[CaaC (John)+]

I am still going strong and it will be 3 years coming up in Dec that I stopped smoking the lung busters viruses an all  

[nudge]

1 minute ago, CaaC (John) said:

I am still going strong and it will be 3 years coming up in Dec that I stopped smoking the lung busters viruses an all  

Well done!

The question is though, did you really save all that money or rather just spent it on something else?  

[CaaC (John)+]

31 minutes ago, nudge said:

Well done!

The question is though, did you really save all that money or rather just spent it on something else?  

Well, with this lockdown bit the old boozing has been aplenty because I hardly go out the door and I blackmail our son by asking him if he wants any lagers and he jumps at the chance and nips up the shops for us. 

Seriously though two bottles of wine I normally drink ( @Bluewolf calls it Teso's vinegar) is cheaper than a packet of lung busters and as I said to the wife we hardly go to pubs or clubs nowadays and having a wee drink indoors is cheaper than going out.

The money we have saved really has been spent on the grandsons and family and we have saved a fair bit too, happy days lung wise and paying monthly bills and look at the dosh we have over, we both would smoke about twenty lung busters a day and the cheapest cigs then were £7.35 for twenty and that would work out at £14.70 for both of us, you look at that on a monthly and yearly basis and it would knock you for six, I think the cheapest cigs nowadays are over £10 odds for twenty.   

[nudge]

8 minutes ago, CaaC (John) said:

Well, with this lockdown bit the old boozing has been aplenty because I hardly go out the door and I blackmail our son by asking him if he wants any lagers and he jumps at the chance and nips up the shops for us. 

Seriously though two bottles of wine I normally drink ( @Bluewolf calls it Teso's vinegar) is cheaper than a packet of lung busters and as I said to the wife we hardly go to pubs or clubs nowadays and having a wee drink indoors is cheaper than going out.

The money we have saved really has been spent on the grandsons and family and we have saved a fair bit too, happy days lung wise and paying monthly bills and look at the dosh we have over, we both would smoke about twenty lung busters a day and the cheapest cigs then were £7.35 for twenty and that would work out at £14.70 for both of us, you look at that on a monthly and yearly basis and it would knock you for six, I think the cheapest cigs nowadays are over £10 odds for twenty.   

Yeah, I quit smoking about 6 years ago, the costs were not really a part of the decision as I still have access to relatively cheap cigs, but still it's good for the wallet nevertheless...

[CaaC (John)+]

Glad I did stop with this bloody virus and the lockdown.

[Guest]

@CaaC (John) when I saw you posted on this thread I thought you were gonna say you started again. My dad gave up for 5 years then started again. Don't have one mate, not even one

[CaaC (John)+]

7 minutes ago, Gunnersauraus said:

@CaaC (John) when I saw you posted on this thread I thought you were gonna say you started again. My dad gave up for 5 years then started again. Don't have one mate, not even one

No chance me starting again buddy not in a million years, the wife, daughter & son would cut my bollocks off if they saw me smoking and that's no joke.

Serious though I have COPD, asthma, sciatica and a heart failure condition plus I am 71 now and I want to at least reach 100 before I go into the wild blue yonder and drift around in space I hope. 

[Pyfish+]

Well done @CaaC (John), that's seriously impressive without patches or anything like that. 

[CaaC (John)+]

3 minutes ago, Pyfish said:

Well done @CaaC (John), that's seriously impressive without patches or anything like that. 

Even if I am standing next to someone who is smoking I start coughing and have to walk away from the person in question, I can't stand the smell anymore.  

[Lucas]

On 14/06/2020 at 17:04, CaaC (John) said:

Glad I did stop with this bloody virus and the lockdown.

£12,422.81p well saved I'd say mate.

Well done John boy.

[Stan]

58 minutes ago, Lucas said:

£12,422.81p well saved I'd say mate

Imagine how many decent lunches could be bought with that

[CaaC (John)+]

3 years coming up around December I quit smoking, not bad for an old bastard like me and to think a collapsed lung and 2 weeks in a hospital made me quit, no patches gums or whatnot just the thought that I want to live a good old age and see our grandsons grow into teenagers and maybe see the day when they have kiddies and me and the wife becomes a great granddad and great grannie.