E-CIGS: ALL SMOKE AND MIRRORS?

Before I begin, I need to preface this with the fact that I was a smoker for close to 20 years. I quit cold turkey five years ago, which I think is the only way to quit. Recently, smokeless electronic cigarettes, or E-Cigs, have been all the rage for smokers who have been trying to quit, but is it really helping? Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that "vaping," as users have been calling it, is starting to lose its novelty already. 

Stats did show, though, that about 21% of adult smokers tried e-cigarettes in 2011, which was up from the 10% who tried it in 2010. Current smokers say that they were more likely to try them than those who quit smoking or who had never smoked. I quit smoking and to be honest, I don't miss it! So, why would I start another bad habit with an e-cig? To look cool? I'm not against smoking. I say to each his or her own. I just don't need to smell like it when I come home. It wasn't until now that I realized what some of my non-smoking friends hated about me when I smoked around them. The health effects of inhaling smokeless nicotine are still a mystery. A director from the CDC said that they're still not sure whether these products will decrease or increase the use of traditional cigarettes. It is also not known whether e-cigarettes can help smokers quit altogether, though a number of brands are marketing them as quitting tools or a way to wean off nicotine without the harmful effects of inhaling smoke. 

 The New York Daily News posted a story about a 35-year-old guy from Queens, Eric Cire, who was ready to quit smoking. He swapped his regular cigarettes for the e-cigs. Cire admitted to enjoying them at first because they don't give you the same lung-filled sensation that a regular cigarette does. There is also a bit of a convenience factor with these e-cigarettes because they emit smokeless vapor, they are permitted in bars, restaurants and virtually any public place that won't allow cigarette smoke. Cire said that because he was able to smoke these things practically anywhere, he found himself smoking more. For instance, he couldn't get away from work to smoke, so he would puff to his heart's content right at his desk. After about two months of e-smoking, he had to admit that he was nowhere closer to quitting. He says, "I thought that e-cigs would help with quitting, but I honestly think they hampered it."

E-cigarette use is only beginning to be studied. In its early round of research, one of the things that they found interesting was that non-daily smokers, as well as, the heavy, over a pack a day smokers are the groups using e-cigs the most often. Then there's Todd Kunkel, a 36-year-old  IT professional from Long Island, who had been smoking since he was 16. He says that he has not had a real cigarette since August 2012 and credits e-cigarettes with helping him quit. He is no longer using the e-cigarettes either. I would have to say that Kunkel's story is in the minority though. 

 The bottom line is, as a former smoker myself, it's all mind over matter. You have to want to quit. Those who really want to quit, will quit. Those who say they want to quit, will never quit because they will always use crutches like an e-cigarette or the gum or the patch. I have to give credit to those smokers, who say they will never quit. At least they're not lying to themselves and those who love them. After five years of not smoking, I do feel healthier, I still hack up a lung from time to time, but I'm sure that will end. Hopefully, I added some years to my life and not to mention, my wallet has been thanking me. Like I said, if you really want to quit, just do it! You don't need any stinking crutches! And to those of you, who say you want to quit and keep using the crutches, quit lying to yourselves! I've seen it all and you all go back to smoking eventually!