Healthier alternatives for smokers

[His Divine Shadow]

I've read alot of discussions here on tobacco and the costs it would generate for the healthcare system and also discussions about marijuana and it's carcinogenic qualities and how to get rid of them using vaporizers.

This made me wonder, why can't tobacco smokers just get a vaporizer and put tobacco in it? Woldn't it give the approximate effects healthwise?
Seems alot better than cigarettes.

And it appears I was right, after some google searching I have found sites that sell vaporizers that can be used with tobacco. However these devices are large and cumbersome, I think somebody need to build something that can be portable and the size of a pipe.

Seems much much better than smoking tobacco the old fashioned way.
Or are the positive effects of using a vaporizer with tobacco exaggerated?

[Xenophobe3691]

Well, it´s not the smoking that kills. It´s the huge amount of carcinogens in the Tobacco that really get you, hence why doing dip, chew, snuff, cigars, etc. will also net you cancer in different places.

Marijuana wise, yes, baking it into brownies takes away that risk...

[gizmojumpjet]

They already have a nicotine inhaler.

The Nicotine Inhaler

What Is It?
The nicotine inhaler, also nicknamed "the puffer" is a thin, plastic cartridge that contains a porous nicotine plug in its base. By puffing on the cartridge, nicotine vapor is extracted and absorbed through the lining of the mouth. Each cartridge delivers up to 400 puffs of nicotine vapor. It takes at least 80 puffs to obtain the equivalent amount of nicotine delivered by one cigarette.

Temperature affects the amount of nicotine that is extracted from the inhaler device. At cooler temperatures, less nicotine is extractable. Specific information on this aspect is included in the product packaging inserts.

Research on the nicotine inhaler has demonstrated that it nearly doubles quit rates when compared with placebo inhalers. This is similar to other pharmaceutical products, like the patch, the gum and bupropion (Zyban/Wellbutrin SR®).

The nicotine inhaler was made available by prescription in June 1998.

I just quit smoking recently. Yaay!

[His Divine Shadow]

Well, it´s not the smoking that kills. It´s the huge amount of carcinogens in the Tobacco that really get you, hence why doing dip, chew, snuff, cigars, etc. will also net you cancer in different places.

According to what I've seen it's the combustion that releases the carcinogens, and I see no problems with that they also exist in marijuana when burned but not when vaporized.

And I've not seen any research that links snuff and other such things to cancer, I've heard alot of people make the opposite claim especially regarding swedish snuff(though that stuff rots your teeth), unless you have something that says otherwise there it seems this is very analogous to pot, though the processing and flavoring the tobacco companies does on tobacco could probably skew the results if that is being used.

[Sea Skimmer]

If you use a vaporizer then you'll be inhaling a whole lot more nicotine then you would from smoking the same weight, as burning tobacco destroys most of the nicotine, same for THC in pot. That could mean people would get a whole lot more addicted to it.

[RedImperator]

If you're just after avoiding withdrawal, a nicotine patch works fine. The thing about smoking is that there's a psychological component too. I don't know if I'd be satisfied hitting a vaporizer instead of lighting up a smoke. For damn sure it wouldn't be as convenient as a cigarette

[His Divine Shadow]

I was just thinking of a way that the economic damage from cigarettes might be reduced. Eh, longshot anyway.

[InnocentBystander]

Would a fake cigarette work? Make it functionally similar, just lacking all the nasty stuff. Add the patch if you want the chemical component as well.

[NapoleonGH]

If you use a vaporizer then you'll be inhaling a whole lot more nicotine then you would from smoking the same weight, as burning tobacco destroys most of the nicotine, same for THC in pot. That could mean people would get a whole lot more addicted to it.

Usually doesnt really work like that though as there is an upper limit to the amount of nicotine one likes to have at any one time. Most of my friends dont like the cigs I used to smoke before i quit (full flavor Camel Filtered with 1.3mg of Nicotine per cig) because they are "too strong". One would most probably just consume alot less tobacco if you were vaporizing such things.

That said with the availability of nicotine gum and the inhaler it is possible to get nicotine without tobacco. Now all they need to do is design a tobaccoless nicotine product which is intended to give you the fun of nicotine instead of intended to help you quit nicotine.

[FSTargetDrone]

Would a fake cigarette work? Make it functionally similar, just lacking all the nasty stuff. Add the patch if you want the chemical component as well.

As soon as I read this, I remembered how years ago I used to get candy cigarettes with little friends/cousins. We'd carry around the little boxes and pretend to light up.

And so out of curiousity I looked it up, and yes, candy cigarettes are still being sold! Can you imagine someone actually buying this for a child in this day and age?

More about it here.

Evil.

/shudder

[His Divine Shadow]

They're just candy cigarettes, I ate those when I was a kid too.

[darthdavid]

Nicotine is used as a pesticide. It might not have all the problems of smoking but tobacco causes cacer in all it's forms so vaping it won't help. Most of the harm from pot is caused by combustion so a well designed vaporisor could help reduce the risks of pot, but the ones currently on the market still have a ways to go, to say nothing of the home made ones.

[His Divine Shadow]

Nicotine is used as a pesticide. It might not have all the problems of smoking but tobacco causes cacer in all it's forms so vaping it won't help. Most of the harm from pot is caused by combustion so a well designed vaporisor could help reduce the risks of pot, but the ones currently on the market still have a ways to go, to say nothing of the home made ones.

Where is the evidence for this? I have not seen any. Seems to me more of a myth.

[His Divine Shadow]

Addendum, I knew I was remembering correctly.

According to what I read, albeit on a site dedicated to swedish snuff, recent studies have found no link between swedish snuff and cancer, apparently this made the swedish goverment remove the signs on the cans that said it caused cancer.

There are still the negative effects of nictoine itself though, and it does rot your teeth.

[wautd]

Patatoes[/blackadder]

[FSTargetDrone]

They're just candy cigarettes, I ate those when I was a kid too.

Yes, but such things should not be marketed or made appealing to children. Not that I've seen a lot of advertising, but clearly they were intended for kids.
We wouldn't market fake beer to children. This should be no different.

I remember some of the candy cigarettes were sticks of gum wrapped in paper and if you blew into the cigarette, a puff of powdered sugar came out the other end, like smoke.

Gah.

[John of the Dead]

Where is the evidence for this? I have not seen any. Seems to me more of a myth.

I don't know about Swedish snuff, but American smokeless tobacco (chewing tobacco and snuff) are linked to higher rates of oral, throat, and stomach cancer.

Here's a quick run-down from the American Cancer Society.

As anecdotal evidence (for what it's worth), growing up in the South, several male members of my extended family chewed tobacco. At least three of them ended up with oral cancer: two uncles and a cousin. So, in my experience, smokeless tobacco is not an acceptable substitute for cigarettes. Neither, I suspect, would the vaporizer. The carcinogens are simply a part of tobacco; burning it adds some more, but you're not going to get "safe" tobacco.