e-cigs -- request for recommendations and anecdotes

[papawinkle]

My son's new son, my grandson, is slightly asthmatic, which is no joke when you have the lung capacity of a three-year-old. So his condition has pushed my son's cigarette smoking out into the garage.

I just got a birthday wish from my son for an e-cig kit. I've returned the usual questions: what color, shape, etc, might be wanted -- but neither of us know much about the whole deal, even after an hour or two on the appropriate forums.

Does anyone here have any tips -- preferred manufacturers, dealers, usage hints? What about the different nic levels in the formulae? How do they compare with various cigarette types/brands? (We tended toward Camels and Camel Light 100s before we went MYO.)

I'm thinking of a kit for my wife as well. If I can get her to quit the MYO cigarettes made with delicious Daughters and Ryan Turkish blends, there will be no more temptation sitting around the house for me... (I'm still doing four to six cigs a day, one year into my conversion to snus.)

Unlike me, neither my son nor my wife is especially addicted to nicotine -- they've both quit easily a dozen times! but they are habituated to the PUFFING routine, and come back to cigs with each period of stress or long boring drive.

I'm leaning toward a kit from NJOY. It sounds like the brand is the current standard and well-enough-established to survive any shakeout in the e-cig market.

[sagedil]

Post a PM to Tropical Bob, he is Snuson's resident e-cig expert. We have a few, you should get some responses here. But find Tropical Bob if you can

[deeanne59]

Maybe I can help you there, Papawinkle. I had been using an e-cig for 4 months, until I started snusing. One thing that you need to know up front....you will NOT get any model of e-cig or e-liquids that match any cigarette that you smoked. They can "simulate" it, but they are not the same.

The e-liquid that you buy comes in 0 mg. to 36mg. strengths, and many flavors, including menthol.

The model that you choose depends on what you are looking for, ie strong throat hit, alot of vapor, very little "fiddling" with the equipment.

As far as Njoy, they are in a court case right now with the FDA, so you might want to hold off on them until that is over. If you PM me what you are looking for, I can steer you in the right direction as far as your needs

[lxskllr]

I recommend not getting one at all. Consider this editorial commentary from a curmudgeon, and not necessarily advice ;^)

Ecigs are an expensive dead end imo. Their days are numbered for Americans, and if one did happen to like them, they won't be able to easily get the supplies after awhile. Also, most of them are made in China. Think about it. They can't even make safe drywall(!?). Is it really a good idea to inhale Chinese mist?

In general, ecigs strike me as being lame. It's more like a junky's apparatus than an aficionados pastime where you do something for the flavor and sensory experience. Imo, it's like injecting a caffeine solution with a syringe, instead of drinking a nice cup of coffee. They both work for a caffeine fix, but one is clearly lacking in style and substance.

I would suggest your son explore snus and snuff alternatives. They have hundreds of years of history backing them up, and are more or less safe. They also have more sensory appeal, and are the more elegant way of getting nicotine,

[deeanne59]

I agree, lxskllr, that the future is looking bleak for the e-cigarette...but I also know from experience that it got me off of cigarettes, AND it eventually led me to snus and snuff.....so I don't consider it such a bad thing. Many people need something like this as a "stepping stone" to something better.

[papawinkle]

Thanks all.

Deeanne and Tropical Bob via Brother Sagedil: I'll be in touch if I get into trouble.

Lxskllr: Thanks for the buzzkill -- it seems you and I tend to think along the same Eeyore-ish lines. FWIW, though, Njoy is "100 percent American made" and Gamucci products are all made-in-UK, so it's unlikely we'll find any lead, cyanide or cat-meat in them. As to prohibition laws -- they're just a routine risk here in Workhouse U.S.A. I just pace back and forth in the Yard and try not to worry about them 'til I have to.

Lord knows I've tried turning son and wife on to snus; they just pick at 'em and shrug. Part of their deal, I think, has to do with the throat-hit and the bronchial-filling satisfaction of the cigarette vapor -- it comforts them more than the nicotine, I think. My son does little more than a pack a week, and suggests that a zero-nicotine e-liquid would be fine by him. I know there's no way something called "e-liquid" could ever approximate the flavor of any particular cigarette brand.

[justintempler]

(Edit) videos were removed by the original poster......

[sheilalynn]

If you want an e-cig, I'd say to definitely go with the 510 model. The battery is a manual one, which means it won't cut off on you halfway into dragging off of it, the batteries are sealed so the liquid doesn't get into them and ruin them like it will with alot of other models, neither of my 2 atomizers have conked out yet after using them exclusively since August and combined with my other ones for a couple months before that, and they only take an hour to charge the batteries. Hands down it's the best one I've used!

[vodkaniac]

Check out http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/

Tropical Bob has a big presence there, and it is a wealth of information.

I spent about $200.00 on my e-cig infatuation. In fact, it was from the above forum that I found out about this one. In the end, for me, snus is far, far more pleasurable the e-cigs. And safer imho. Good luck.

[papawinkle]

Yah, after boiling away a couple of hours on the forum mentioned above, checking out the references made in the YouTube video above, I've decided to go with the 510s used by that oddly-trustworthy-seeming video guy. I'll buy them from the dealer mentioned in the video (rave reviews in the e-cig forum), along with an array of the e-liquids that are purveyed by said dealer (several flavors are ranked highly in the throat-hit department).

I suspect the e-cig gadgets will wind up jumbled in desk drawers eventually, but there they may act as talismans against smoking: "If I ever get the urge to pick up a pack of cigs again, I'll just take a few puffs on the gadget here in my desk drawer. Now which drawer is it in, under what? Ah nevermind, forget the whole thing." Remember, the recipients of these gadgets have only the slightest dependence on nicotine.

Another factor: I'm hard-pressed this year trying to come up with gadget-gifts for Christmas. The great-grandparents have already stolen our idea of buying the grandkid a Big Wheels. (Maybe I can get the kid a 510? After all, he already has experience with inhalers!)

Sorry. Sorry.

Anyway, thanks everyone again for the feedback.

[chadizzy1]

Just get him a good can of los, and an Icetool, IMO - way better, and way "cooler" an E-Cig.

No, but seriously, from what I've heard about those who use e-cigs, they said it's not a worthwhile habit, and doesn't really help you get off "smoking", just transitions you from one form to another.

The two people in town I know who use(d) e-cigs, I transitioned to snus, and they no longer use e-cigs.

So I'd strongly urge snus.

[tom502]

Well, the same could be said of snus, your still on tobacco.
I find the e-cig interesting, have contemplated it, but probably won't do it. Snus and snuff is enough for me. But the gadget and idea I do find interesting, and from what I have read, it's way better than inhaling burning leaf and paper and whatever else.

[sagedil]

No it's not the same. The e-cigg is not tobacco. It is solely a nicotine dlivery device, has nothing to do with tobacco.

[justintempler]

Just get him a good can of los, and an Icetool, IMO - way better, and way "cooler" an E-Cig.

No, but seriously, from what I've heard about those who use e-cigs, they said it's not a worthwhile habit, and doesn't really help you get off "smoking", just transitions you from one form to another.

The two people in town I know who use(d) e-cigs, I transitioned to snus, and they no longer use e-cigs.

So I'd strongly urge snus.

Chad,
Reread the original post.

The son specifically requested an e-cig as a gift, he claims he is not addicted to cigarettes (has quit a dozen times) but enjoys the puffing ritual.

You also have to be careful when you tell people how great snus is for quiting smoking, if your other recently acquired habits include snuff and pipe smoking.

[tom502]

No it's not the same. The e-cigg is not tobacco. It is solely a nicotine dlivery device, has nothing to do with tobacco.

Right, I didn't mean snus was the same as e-cigs. He said e-cig was the same as smoking, just an alternative, and I mean snus is an alternative to smoking as well. What I am trying to say, is e-cig is a better transition from regular smoking, as is snus.