Electronic Cigarettes Could Help You Quit Smoking

Mini E-Cigarette (ecis) 

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If you or someone you know is a smoker, you may have heard by now about electronic cigarettes — small cigarette-shaped devices that create nicotine-filled vapor for you to inhale instead of smoke, simulating the smoking experience.

 

There are a number of benefits that come with using an electronic cigarette:

  • No smoke: Nicotine is carried to your lungs on water vapor.
  • No secondhand smoke: The vapor smells very little and doesn’t leave residue on anything.
  • No ash: Electronic cigarettes don’t burn, so they don’t drop ask anywhere.
  • No fire hazards: Electronic cigarettes only heat when you are inhaling on them.
  • No bad breath: Electronic cigarettes don’t stink like regular tobacco cigarettes.
  • No coughing: The phlegm buildup that leads to coughing and hacking in serious smokers is caused by the smoke, not the nicotine.
  • No extravagent prices: One electronic cigarette cartridge is equal to a pack of cigarettes.

While they are not officially marketed as smoking cessation devices, electronic cigarettes have several beneficial traits that can help someone quit smoking if they so please:

  • Selectable nicotine levels: Gradually use cartridges with less and less nicotine to wean yourself off of the addiction to it.
  • Safer than smoke: Smoke dries out your lungs — the water vapor in electronic cigarettes might actually moisturize them.
  • Easy to switch to: Because electronic cigarettes simulate the look, feel and taste of smoking tobacco cigarettes, you get the same hand to mouth habits that you’ve become accustomed to, and even the feel of inhaling hot vapor.

Try switching from tobacco cigerattes to electronic cigarettes, and you’ll be a big step closer to switching to no cigarettes at all.

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Quitting Smoking with the Patch

Quitting smoking with the patch can be relatively easy — but at times, very difficult.  Many state or city governments are now providing patches for free or for little cost, they are available in generic brands and they are available in any drug store, over the counter, with no prescription.  Talking to your doctor, however, may be a good idea to set up a plan for quitting smoking and seeking his or her guidance on the subject at hand.

Once you receive your patches, make sure to follow the guidelines as much as possible.  You should start out on the highest dose possible, so it resembles your current cigarette intake.  There can be many issues that arise from the oral fixation of smoking, and with the patches, you can have a tough time getting over that right away.  However, you can try to suck on a lollipop or use straws when you drink to wean yourself off of this very easily.  If you still need that oral aspect of getting nicotine, you may want to try an e cigarette instead of patches at first.

Slowly, after a couple of weeks or until you feel confident with taking the highest nicotine possible through the patches, you can start to lower your dosage, slowly at first.  Getting over smoking the physical cigarette is the toughest challenge, lowering the nicotine may just be easy!  Of course, there are many other things in the cigarette other than nicotine, like chemicals and toxins, so your body is getting over those as well — so don’t be alarmed at the shock your body has experienced in the past few weeks.

Eventually, you can wean yourself completely off nicotine patched, but still keep some lying around in case of emergency.  Try to stay out of stressful situations when you may be craving a cigarette and you can eventually be smoke free in no time!

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Never Smoke, No Problem

While many fight smoking addictions every day, one of the best tools of prevention can be not smoking at all in your life and thus never having to fight such a horrible and crippling addiction.  There are many methods that you can use to resist smoking in your life.

First, just say no.  If anyone offers you a cigarette, you have the right to refuse, which can be pretty easy if you keep your mind focused on using that as an answer.  Even though cigarettes are valuable in modern times, due to high taxes, you must not let their value impede your judgement on the health risks.  Even if a friend offers you a cigarette, just say no to them, and go on your way without it.

Secondly, stay away from second hand smoke.  If you are around second hand smoke a lot, you may even experience withdrawal when not around it for a period of time and you may feel the need to even take up smoking yourself to get that “high” that you would otherwise experience.  Second hand smoke can be just as deadly as regular smoke so please stay away from it as much as possible.

Third, the media brings to the attention of many that cigarette smoking is cool and a fad, but really, it should be avoided like the plague.  While you may “look cool,” you may be getting cancer, throat disease, wrinkles, addiction and more.  The media has banned a lot of cigarette smoking from taking place on television, as it hasn’t in the past, but it can still be seen in movies and films, so be wary that it is not always “cool” to possibly get a deadly disease from smoking cigarettes.

Forth, don’t lose your inhibitions.  Many socially smoke when drinking, but even when intoxicated, rembember to just say no — keep it drilled into your memory so you always remember no matter what.

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How the Price of Cigarettes Correlates with Smoking Rates

ContentOne of the most important campaigns for anti-smoking activists is raising the effective price of cigarettes by encouraging a “sin tax” from individual states. But does raising the actual cost of a pack of cigarettes deter smoking?

The cost of a pack of cigarettes obviously will vary widely from brand to brand and from store to store. Additionally, individual states in the United States are all over the map when it comes to cigarette tax, which can vary from less than 50 cents to more than four dollars, which adds to the price of a pack of cigarettes.

For instance Missouri has the lowest cigarette state tax in the nation at 17 cents per pack of cigarettes and round out the top five of states that have the highest percentage of adult smokers. This would seem to indicate that a lower tax on cigarettes lead to a higher percentage of smokers. But New York, which has the highest per pack cigarette tax in the nation at $4.35 but sit almost exactly in the middle when it comes to percentage of adult smokers there. If half the nation smokes more than the highest-taxed people in the United States, how effective can raising the price of cigarettes really be?

Turns out, New York is an outlier. While the numbers don’t correlate perfectly, most states that charge a higher tax for cigarettes have a lower percentage of adult smokers in their population. Take the second highest taxer, as an example. The state of Rhode Island charges smokers an extra $3.46 for every pack and less than a handful of states can boast to have less smokers than them. The third highest taxer is Washington at $3.02 a pack and has the same claim to fame (they are the 47th state when it comes to population of adult smokers).

It’s pretty clear that emphasizing (and trying to raise) the money that is coming directly out of the pocket of the consumer may be the best way to reduce smoking rates.

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Consider Your Environment When You Quit

ContentWhen you commit to quitting smoking, there are a number of obstacles that you will face. Preparing yourself for these obstacles can help you to overcome them as they arise. One of the hardest things to face may be spending time with other smokers while not smoking yourself. Consider your environment and the people you spend time with to help you to stay on the right track.
Different states have different laws about smoking in public areas and specific venues will have their own regulations. As a person trying to quit, you can use these regulations to your advantage. If you plan to go out for dinner and drinks this weekend, consider planning your outing only at places that do not allow smoking. Many places will even ban smoking outside on the patio or near the front door. These are even better for someone trying to quit because they remove all temptation. Think of this as a safe space where you can be free from seeing or smelling any reminder of your former addiction.
Likewise, if you decide to spend time in a place that allows smoking, be prepared to be faced head-on by your addiction. When you were a smoker, you may have spent every Sunday watching football at your favorite bar where everyone had a few cigarettes while during the game. By choosing to go back to that bar, you will be surrounded by the sights and smells of others smokers. You may be offered or even encouraged to smoke by your peers there. If you were accustomed to smoking while drinking, engaging in one behavior without the other may be particularly challenging.
When you have first committed to quitting or may be at risk of losing your resolve, plan ahead and avoid environments that will encourage you to pick up your old habit.

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Smoking Addiction

If you’ve been smoking cigarettes for a long time, you’ve probably tried to quit many times and failed. Cigarettes contain nicotine, which is what people become addicted to.

It can be hard to stop smoking cigarettes, almost as hard as quitting a drug or alcohol addiction. Many people go to Rehab-International.org to get more information on how to stop an addiction, and a smoking addiction is no different.

There are many ways to stop smoking cigarettes. Some people go cold turkey, which means they stop completely without the help of any aids. Going cold turkey can be extremely difficult, but it can be done. If you want to quit, you just pick the day you want to quit smoking, and when that day arrives you throw your last pack of cigarettes away as well as anything else such as lighters and ashtrays. You also want to make sure to clean any place inside your house that you smoked so the smell of smoke doesn’t tempt you to start up again.

Other people use nicotine patches or nicotine gum in order to quit smoking. These products contain a small amount of nicotine that releases into your system when you use them. Patches or gum help to slowly wean you off of your smoking habit, as it lowers your dose with each step you use.

If you find that it is too hard to stop smoking, there are also prescription pills you can take that may help you. There are negative side effects to taking these pills, so you’ll want to discuss with your doctor before you decide to use them.

While there are many ways to quit smoking, there can only be one way that works for you. You will find out which one is best when you finally realize you no longer need that cigarette.

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The Effectiveness of Anti-smoking Ads

ContentA variety of techniques have been used over the past 10 years in an effort to de-glamorize the act of smoking. These ads – most notably, those of the “Truth” campaign – are aimed toward teenagers. Since the likelihood of becoming a smoker is greatly reduced if a person hasn’t started smoking by the age of 21, this demographic is particularly important to anti-smoking activists when it comes to reducing the numbers of smokers in the United States and worldwide.

The techniques often employed during these “Truth” ads include short-term and long-term health benefits of smoking as well as emphasizing the detrimental effect that cigarettes can have on social relationships – for instance, the smell of cigarettes on one’s clothes or breath can be seen as unattractive. While many ads tend to go for more shocking depictions of cigarettes, some use humorous appeals to get their point across.

Are the ads effective? A study published in the American Journal of Public Health indicates that it probably is. The percentage of youth smokers has gone down in every grade level that the researchers tracked from 1997 to 2002. The average decline was 36 percent. But how much of that decline is the natural progression of United States that smokes less and the effect of the anti-smoking advertising? The declines clearly accelerated after 2000 (after the first “Truth” ad aired on television) and continued to accelerate over the next two years. Before the first “Truth” ads ran on television, the rate of decline was an average of 3.2 percent per year, but double to 6.8 percent per year after launch.

Overall declines, both before and after the “Truth” ads started airing, were more noticeable in younger students than in older students, but that result seems to reinforce the idea that stopping teenagers from picking up the habit early on is the largest deterrent to the growth of the smoking population.

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From Smoking to Rehab

"Marijuana Cigarette"
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In the face of all the other dangerous substances one could be abusing, it seems absurd to consider that cigarette smoking can be as dangerous as drug use itself. This is due to the fact that cigarettes and nicotine are considered the gateway drug, or starter drug. It is now known that some people can be genetically predisposed to addiction, and the seemingly innocuous cigarette may lead to the abuse of far more deadly substances.

Consider the social setting. Many young people begin smoking cigarettes in their teens, when they first fall prey to peer pressure or the need to fit in and belong. This need to belong is carried over into other social settings where drugs and alcohol are introduced. The teen who has already displayed an inability to resist, falls prey easily to the use of these other substances and it may not be long before they’re addicts.

In addition, the physical addiction to nicotine awakens within some the feelings of euphoria and withdrawal that perpetuate the addiction. The euphoria of the first puff on the cigarette is easily replaced by the first high of stronger drugs. Once alerted to the ease of addiction, one’s willpower and ability to resist future temptation become compromised.

Once the art of smoking a cigarette has been mastered, it’s not a far leap to marijuana. Your lungs are already accustomed to the burn of the smoke, and the marijuana high is quickly sought after on a regular basis.

The usual progression of addictions begins with nicotine followed by alcohol, and marijuana by the average age of 14. From there it is not difficult to progress to more sophisticated drugs or even pharmaceuticals. The message here is just to not start smoking. While that won’t guarantee you’ll never become a drug addict, your chances of staying out of rehab facilities like those listed at Rehab-International.org are that much greater.

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My Biggest Reason to Avoid Tobacco

f6 are famous for their short filters
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As a former smoker, I often have to remind myself that there are better ways of getting through tough days than reaching for a cigarette. I originally quit because I was sick of spending a lot of money on a product that was just going to have such a negative impact on my health. The thought of dying didn’t bother me much. It was the thought of dying a painful death caused by cancer or emphysema.

These days, I still avoid cigarettes because by reading Tax News, I know that cigarettes are one of the highest taxed products. Cigarettes not only eat up our hard earned money but  they tax the human body in a dangerous ways as well. Moreover, I have new reasons to quit smoking i.e. my kids. Children with parents who smoke are much more likely to pick up the habit than children who grow up in non-smoking households. Parents really do serve as role models, and everything that we do has an impact on how our little ones see the world.

Research has shown time and time again that children imitate their parents’ behaviors. That includes bad habits like smoking. You can’t simply tell them to do what you say instead of what you do. That doesn’t make any sense to an impressionable young mind. Even children that watch their own parents die of tobacco-related cancer have a higher risk of developing the habit. They have seen firsthand how destructive smoking is, and yet that modeling influence is strong enough that they start smoking.

I never want my kids to become smokers. I know that they’ll probably have a few here and there. That’s normal experimentation for curious teenagers. I wish that wouldn’t happen, but I can accept it. What I can’t accept is that something I do could contribute to one of my children living an unhealthy life. With that kind of responsibility on my shoulders, it’s much easier to pass up the opportunity to smoke, even on the most trying days.

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Anti smoking aids – do they really help

Quitting a bad habit like smoking can be very difficult, however it is not impossible. After you quit you will notice how good you start to feel, your food will taste better and your clothes and hair will not longer smell of smoke.

There are several products that you can buy to help you quit smoking and you just have to try them to see how they work for you. Not every product will work the same with every person. Quite a few people have success with at least one of these products.

The way to choose an anti smoking aid is to read the instructions and figure out which one is most convenient for you. The aids can be quite expensive however smoking cigarettes is getting more expensive every day it seems. Consider the price of one product an investment in your health.

The least expensive product would have to be the nicotine gum. Every time you crave a cigarette you pop a piece of this gum into your mouth. Be sure and read the instructions so that you know how many you can chew safely in a day. The gum delivers nicotine into the body thorough chewing the gum.

The next product would be anti smoking patches. You place one on your arm each morning and it delivers nicotine through your skin. There are three different strengths which are called steps. Step one is the strongest, step 2 is about half as strong and step three is rather weak. Each step you use for a number of weeks or days to gently wean you off the nicotine. One warning that goes with using this method is you can not smoke while using the patch because you could have a stroke or heart attack. This is stated on the package.

Whatever method you choose to use if it does not work try something else immediately while your mind is on quitting smoking, you will be successful.

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