Smoking is... good?

[loreta]

Thanks Rhiannon for you answer. Really, I am more lost than before. I had the impression that many members of this forum were very happy with this ecigarette. I will read the thread from the beginning taking in view your experience in my mind. Thanks!

 

[Keyhole]

"But now doctors have raised concerns about e-cigarette vapor separate from those about nicotine. A 42-year-old woman who had used e-cigarettes for seven months experienced shortness of breath, cough, and fever over the same period. The diagnosis was lipoid pneumonia—a chronic inflammation caused by fatty substances (lipids) in the lungs—due to e-cigarette use. The specific cause was repeated exposure to glycerin-based oils found in e-cigarette nicotine vapor. The patient’s symptoms improved after she stopped using e-cigarettes.1"

Apparently Lipid pneumonia is caused by the inhalation of oils... However in regulated liquids, oils are not used... So Im not sure how it would be possible for it to cause lipid pneumonia.

Thanks Rhiannon for you answer. Really, I am more lost than before. I had the impression that many members of this forum were very happy with this ecigarette. I will read the thread from the beginning taking in view your experience in my mind. Thanks!

I recently was given a vaporizer pen as a gift for christmas by my dad and have also become very fond of it - smoking it in bed as well!

The main thing I would be careful of is the different flavours used in the liquid, some contain a chemical called diacetyl which could be harmful when inhaled. I have just order some 100% Vegetable Glycerine 100% organic unflavoured liquid from a website in the US which ships internationally. Its from a company called Virgin Vapors

Also, for those allergic to glycerine it is probably best to stay away from it. However, I dont seem to have any reaction as of yet...

 

[loreta]

Thank you Keyhole!!! I will order next month in Virgin vapors. I wanted organic liquids, absolutely. Even if I continue to be lost in this subject because if they lie with tobacco they also lie with e-cigarettes. That's for sure.

Thanks.

 

[Josi]

Thank you Keyhole!!! I will order next month in Virgin vapors. I wanted organic liquids, absolutely. Even if I continue to be lost in this subject because if they lie with tobacco they also lie with e-cigarettes. That's for sure.

Thanks.

Hi Loreta,

I had ordered a lot from Virgin Vapors and really liked them. I would just say, if at any point you feel any weirdness, like front teeth feeling numb, stop vaping. Just say'n!

 

[Matai]

As with many of the members in this thread and elsewhere on the forum, I smoke American Spirit Organic tobacco.

I find that this blend has helped me tremendously. I feel more relaxed, sleep better and have found that I can focus more clearly.

Recently instead of simply inhaling the smoke, I have performed pipe breathing once the tobacco smoke is in my mouth.

I have noticed a more intensified feeling of calm than when I simply pipe breathe without the additional tobacco smoke.

Perhaps this method of smoking is delivering more nicotine to the Vagus nerve than simply inhaling? I am wondering if any other members have attempted smoking in this way and what their thoughts are?

 

[patty2292]

As with many of the members in this thread and elsewhere on the forum, I smoke American Spirit Organic tobacco.

I find that this blend has helped me tremendously. I feel more relaxed, sleep better and have found that I can focus more clearly.

Recently instead of simply inhaling the smoke, I have performed pipe breathing once the tobacco smoke is in my mouth.

I have noticed a more intensified feeling of calm than when I simply pipe breathe without the additional tobacco smoke.

Perhaps this method of smoking is delivering more nicotine to the Vagus nerve than simply inhaling? I am wondering if any other members have attempted smoking in this way and what their thoughts are?

I too smoke American Spirit. From the additive free tobacco i have tested, its the best suited for me aswell :).

Also, ive tried after inhaling the smoke to pipe breath it out and found it to be very pleasant. I have also wondered on if this effects the V nerve in a different way due to the tobacco. Either way, it feels nice and relaxes me

 

[Keyhole]

As with many of the members in this thread and elsewhere on the forum, I smoke American Spirit Organic tobacco.

I too smoke American Spirit. From the additive free tobacco i have tested, its the best suited for me aswell :).

Hi Matai and Huxley, fwiw I used to smoke american spirit "additive free" version and found it was more pleasant than the Pueblo brand. However, what I have come to learn is that additive free does NOT mean organic, and the fertilizers that are used are pretttttyyy nasty. This video was shared by Shijing earlier on this thread. It shows how American spirit "Organic" still shows positive for radioactive isotopes - the guy who was doing the video hypothesied that maybe the radiation from Fukushima has contaminated the soil in which American Spirit is actually grown in. So i would be very cautious smoking that stuff. Here is the original post by Shijing for the video:

There is supposed to be an important difference between big-brand processed tobacco and organic tobacco, owing to the fact that the former has a large number of additives and is normally grown in calcium phosphate based fertilizer. However, I'm trying to find more information about American Spirit, which is the kind of organic tobacco I smoke, and am having a hard time coming up with much straightforward information on it. I did a heavy metal provocation test recently, and the results showed that I've got very high amounts of lead and a respectable amount of mercury in my system. I haven't been exposed to any of the typical sources of lead as far as I know, so I'm trying to figure out how it got into my body, and am trying to look into all possible sources.

One thing that I've learned is that polonium and lead co-occur in tobacco grown in calcium phosphate based fertilizer. A search on this brought up the following two videos from organicslant.com:

https://youtu.be/8B4nSxQuM_I

https://youtu.be/Jdyk--XiuIs

There's nothing here about lead, and he's having to infer the presence of polonium from the radiation levels he's measuring. If there is polonium in the tobacco though, it could mean that American Spirit hasn't been forthcoming about the kind of fertilizer they use, which could also mean that there's lead in there too. This is merely speculative at this point, and I hope there's nothing to worry about, but if anyone can find more information one way or the other, it would be good to know more.

If you would like a 100%Organic additive free tobacco - Go for YumaOrganic. It is the nicest brand I have tried so far and they claim is completely organic, grown in Brazil.

I live in the UK and it is difficult to get here, however I actually ordered recently from a german tobacconist about a KG of this stuff at about 4.50 euros for 30g and only about 15 euros postage, so MUCH cheaper than buying from the UK. Here is the link for you guys

http://www.tabak-brucker.de/themes/kategorie/index.php?kategorieid=781&dataoffset=45

Happy smokes!

 

[patty2292]

Thank you so much for the warning and information Keyhole!!!
I was under the assumption everything marketed as 'Additive Free' was pretty much the same as organic.
(My American Spirit heart now hates you a little for telling me this :P )

Recently just ordered some tubs of A.S from Germany aswell with my partner. SO i will relate this information to her, and once they are finished we will look into an alternative shmoke :)!

 

[Keyhole]

Your welcome ;D

It just goes to show how quality marketing and buzzwords can entice even the most cautious of customers. Anyhow, it must be better than smoking the NON-additive free stuff...

 

[Mr. Premise]

Thank you so much for the warning and information Keyhole!!!
I was under the assumption everything marketed as 'Additive Free' was pretty much the same as organic.
(My American Spirit heart now hates you a little for telling me this :P )

Recently just ordered some tubs of A.S from Germany aswell with my partner. SO i will relate this information to her, and once they are finished we will look into an alternative shmoke :)!

Additive free means they don't put chemicals and flavorings on it after the harvest. But they can use non-organic pesticides and chemical fertilizers on it. Organic shouldn't be using the phosphate fertilizers that are a bit radioactive, but I think to get certified organic your field must be fallow without and chemicals applied for five years. But if those phosphates were added even 10 years ago I would guess there is still some radioactivity.

 

[davey72]

I remember reading somewhere about someone that makes his own water based extract and that it works very well.

 

[Ariadna]

FWIW, I bought organic tobacco from _http://www.leafonly.com/ Came all the way from the US to Spain, and I had no taxes or EU importing issues.

Hi,
The website shows two types of organic tobacco, Canadian and American. Do you know which one has blonde taste? I used to smoke blond a few years ago.

I bought 1 pound of each... They're both equally blond to me, but they say that the Canadian one is blonder

Hi, I made an order to organic tobacco on this page and shipping costs are $ 32 for Spain. I would check this before ordering definitely.
Thanks Gaby

 

[H-KQGE]

Just saw this nonsense:

mobile.biopharma-reporter.com/Bio-Developments/Nicotine-vaccine-could-vanish-cigarette-habits-in-a-puff-of-smoke#.VLokN6tFBcs

Nicotine vaccine could vanish cigarette habits in a puff of smoke
16-Jan-2015
Last updated on 16-Jan-2015 at 12:27 GMT - By Fiona Barry



The Scripps Research Institute has created a nicotine conjugate vaccine it says could also treat cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine addiction.
The vaccine stimulates the immune system to identify nicotine as a foreign antigen. This elicits antibodies that alter nicotine’s pharmacokinetics, reducing nicotine levels in the blood and ultimately entry into the central nervous system.

It consists of a large carrier protein, needed because nicotine particles alone are too small to trigger the immune system, conjugated to haptens – molecular mimics of nicotine which provoke an immune response.

The team improved on an anti-smoking vaccine trialled by Nabi BioPharmaceuticals (now Biota) that failed in Phase III clinical trials in 2011.

Nabi’s nicotine conjugate vaccine was effective only for “one-third of clinical trial participants,” said the Scripps scientists, “likely due in part to its use of racemic nicotine hapten, (±)-3’-AmNic.”

Scripps’s study on rats found better binding to nicotine and a greater antibody response is achieved with enantiopure (−)-3′-AmNic haptens – that is, “left-handed” chiral haptens.

“Our vaccine work demonstrates that careful consideration must be made in hapten design,” co-author Jonathan Lockner told BioPharma-Reporter.com.

“A previous nicotine vaccine clinical candidate may have failed partly due to the fact that it contained a mixture of “left-handed” and “right-handed” nicotine haptens.

“Our improved version, which contains only “left-handed” nicotine haptens, is superior to that failed vaccine, which was a mixture. Our vaccine is better optimized for eliciting antibodies that can recognize “left-handed” nicotine molecules, which are the prevalent version of nicotine in tobacco smoke.”

Companies taking nicotine vaccine candidates to clinical trial should incorporate these enantiopure haptens into their design, he said. “There might even be more effective haptens out there.”

Vaccine make-up

The Scripps team created an adjuvant vaccine, using a combination of Alhydrogel (a type of alum common in vaccines) and CpG ODN (oligodeoxynucleotide), a short single-stranded DNA molecule newer to vaccine use.

“CpG ODN stimulates innate immunity and stimulates B cells, monocytes, and dendritic cells. In essence, the combination of Alhydrogel and CpG ODN stimulates the immune system to respond more robustly to whatever is co-formulated with it,” said Lockner.

The antibody therapy is a departure from small molecule-based smoking cessation methods currently on the market. These use synthetic agonists or antagonists to target brain receptors – but “do not help much” and have side effects, said the Scripps researchers.

Lockner told us the team has “been in conversations with various suitors” to license and commercialise the vaccine.

The research was funded by the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program.

Source: A Conjugate Vaccine Using Enantiopure Hapten Imparts Superior Nicotine-Binding Capacity, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, December 10, 2014.

Never mind. Don't need acetylcholine do we. Let's all jack-up. Since people still believe that vaccines are good or necessary, it'll come as no surprise when the public flock to dose their kids, or pull on emotional strings of their nearest & dearest to rid themselves of the "tobacco menace." Whatever.

 

[Gaby]

Hi, I made an order to organic tobacco on this page and shipping costs are $ 32 for Spain. I would check this before ordering definitely.
Thanks Gaby

I think that sounds right. I recently bought another pound of organic tobacco, plus the standard tobacco shredder and shipping costs were 35 dollars.

 

[SeekinTruth]

@Ascien

I wonder what that stupid vaccine would do to natural nicotinic-acetyl-choline in the system? You gotta be outta your mind to try something like that! I'll keep lighting up and getting the benefits of smoking tobacco instead!