pilot study on nicotine residues in houses of electronic cigarette users, tobacco smokers, and non s

[tblue37]

88. One of my friends is 2 years cig free now, the other just over one year.

What intrigues me is their lack of cravings. They think of cigs only when I ask, or when someone is smoking around them--but even then, no desire to smoke. Both have tried unsuccessfully to quit before, but this time it worked. The one who quit 2 years ago is 38; the other 25. The 38-year-old is a lawyer and under a lot of stress at work and at home, but still no desire to smoke. The other is a student who returned to college after screwing up the first time he tried college (right out of high school) and has been making straight A's for the 3 years since returning, despite taking on two difficult majors (neuroscience and math) after having been a math-phobic English major the first time. IOW, he is also working very hard and under intense (self-imposed) pressure. In both cases, I would expect the pressure to push them toward relapse into dependency, yet neither fees any need to smoke.

My ex (who is now 72) has quit smoking three times, for years at a time, but he never stopped craving cigs, and he always went back to smoking eventually. Smoking is soooo hard for most people to give up, and most who do give it up seem to continue to crave it and to think about it a lot, even if they don't relapse. Yet after reading that book, both my friends quit cold turkey and the break in their addiction seems to be real--and maybe permanent.

The older friend found the book first, so maybe his success subconsciously influenced our younger friend's conviction that he could also quit after reading the book. IOW, maybe a group dynamic is involved in at least one case.

Whatever the relevant factor, though, I applaud anything that gets a dangerous monkey off people's backs. That's why I am delighted to read DU posts by longterm smokers who have been able to use e-cigs to drastically reduce the amount of the most dangerous substances they are taking in as they smoke, and also by doing so eventually working their way free of the addiction itself.

I have always believed that the physical process of smoking is a major part if the addiction, an important part of what the smoker misses. E-cigs allow the smoker to continue with the comforting, familiar parts of the physical activity while gradually freeing themselves from the aspects that are most dangerous to their health and most threatening to others.

Good luck to all of you as you vape your way to freedom and better health!