France Hates Pappa

[Jason]

@Coito
Sounds plausible. It's really only in the last 60 years that the tobacco-cancer thing has struck large and, coincidentally(?), it was about 80(?) years ago that prerolled factory made cigs started becoming very popular (I think factory produced cigarrettes started in the 1910s or something).

Anyhow.. my maternal grandmother smoked most of her life and until her death at age 78 (from gangrene). Anecdotes!

[Coito ergo sum]

One big question -- does smoking e-fags make you smoke more (I guess in terms of more nicotene intake)?

Another -- do your lungs feel better -- i.e. do you start to lose that phlegmy smoker hack feeling -- or do you lose that sort of, "man, I can't run" feeling? Do you get your cardio back?

I'm thinking of buying one for my dad, who is a fairly old guy, but he can't quit smoking. He's been on the fags for like 50+ years. So, could we at least rid him of the smoke and tar? Would it help him feel better lung-wise? He has no smoking ailments, thankfully. He and my mom have been lucky so far, and they're both in the neighborhood of 70 years, so they've about dodged the bullet as it is. But, if this would make them feel better, and if it would keep the efag smoke out of their house, I think that would be a bonus.

[Jason]

I smoke regular fags personally. e-fags are more expensive here.

You only have to buy the e-fag once, and e-fag juice is far cheaper than cigarettes over the long term.

Compared to buying by the pack or carton? Because I buy tobacco and tubes and roll my own which cuts the price roughly in half compared to if I smoked by the pack.

My bro used to buy cartons, and he says his e-fag expenses are a tiny fraction of what he used to spend on real smokes. And as a side benefit, he now can jog longer than five minutes without hacking up a lung.

I don't smoke though, so I'm just going by what he says.


Dunno how it compares to rolling your own.

Strangely I've never had the shortness of breath/hacking thing and I used to keep up a pretty strenuous daily exercise regime (about 3 hours a day consisting of ~40km cycling, 100 situps, 100 chinups, 300 presses (weights), 300 curls (weights), 300 lifts (leg weights). Since last summer, when I cut down 4 giant fir trees (smallest was about 40" at the base) for firewood I've had a bit of a respiratory problem though. Apparently the dust from the bark (which was about 3" thick) is very bad for you. My dad has been remarking on e-cigs in an attempt to get me to switch. I'll have to look into it.

Also, I saw an advert on KTLA a week ago for a new e-cig that actually looks just like a real cig so you don't look like a complete ponce puffing on it.

[Blind groper]

I have a gut feeling that the real health risks are with the manufactured ciggies with the filters and such. I am willing to bet that if we did away with them and rolled our own out of good loose cigarette cut tobacco, we'd have less of all the cancers -- I bet those cancers come from all the ammonia and such that their adding to the ciggies.

Although, that may just be the woo I want to believe...

Gut feel must give way to science.
Sorry, but your gut feel us incorrect. A list of the cancer causing agents in tobacco smoke was compiled decades back, and it is not ammonia.

[mistermack]

Many many many years ago, I worked for a while in a chest xray department, developing the xrays.
The xray lady asked me if I wanted my own done, and I said yes.
Looking at it, she mentioned my smoking, and I said, no, I don't smoke. She said, yes you do, I said, no I don't.
I hadn't smoked for so long, I considered myself a non-smoker. But the evidence was still there clear to see.

It's the particles of carbon from the smoke, which lodge in your lungs. They take a very long time to clear.
The difference on an xray is striking. I believe that carbon is carcinogenic, so that's probably one cause. I think the chemicals in tar are the other, and carbon monoxide is the one that damages the heart, and causes strokes.

Don't quote me, that's just my guess.

If e fags are cheaper, and only give you nicotine, which I don't think is carcinogenic, then you can't really lose, unless they taste foul, or are more addictive.

I'm tempted by the e cigars, I don't crave fags but I do like cigars.

[Jason]

I used to smoke $50 cubans instead of fags. It was in my 'ironic' days I suppose.

[mistermack]

I used to smoke $50 cubans instead of fags. It was in my 'ironic' days I suppose.

I was the opposite. I like any cigars, but the bigger cheaper ones from low duty spain were what I liked best.
I can smoke the more expensive ones, but I just prefer the cheap shit, the bigger the better.

I don't smoke now because there is so much duty to pay, it's not the money, it's being ripped off that I don't like.
( plus the knowledge that it's harmful, of course ).

[Tero]

Radon. You need radon, to kill yourself faster. They dont sell it, but you can collect it out of the ground.

[Jason]

Cubans aren't outrageously priced in Canada, unlike the US.. but yeah, back then I was making more money than I could reasonably spend.. now I roll my own fags..

[Jason]

Radon. You need radon, to kill yourself faster. They dont sell it, but you can collect it out of the ground.

Honestly, the whole '10 years off your life' doesn't put me off. Those last 10 years by all accounts are shit (literally while you wait hours for the orderly to change your diapers) so I won't miss them. Also cancer, untreated, is not a bad way to die (a relative term, I know).

[klr]

I once had to have a radon dosimeter in my office for a few months. I don't think they ever told me the results.

Radon. You need radon, to kill yourself faster. They dont sell it, but you can collect it out of the ground.

Honestly, the whole '10 years off your life' doesn't put me off. Those last 10 years by all accounts are shit (literally while you wait hours for the orderly to change your diapers) so I won't miss them. Also cancer, untreated, is not a bad way to die (a relative term, I know).

Very relative. I saw my father die in his mid-50s from pancreatic cancer, on top of a lifetime of heavy drinking and smoking. It wasn't pretty.

[mistermack]

Cubans aren't outrageously priced in Canada, unlike the US.. but yeah, back then I was making more money than I could reasonably spend.. now I roll my own fags..

Do they still sell McDonald's export in Canada? I remember that was the best rolling tobacco I ever tried, back years ago.
I was heart broken when I came back to the UK and couldn't get it anywhere.

[Jason]

Yes, but they've changed the name.. I forget what it's called now. It still has the lass in the kilt on it though.

Oh yeah, it's just called 'Export' here with a few varieties.. I think 'Export A' is one.

[Jason]

I've been smoking 'Number 7' for the two years+ since I discovered it while I was working in Alberta. It's a middle of the road blend in terms of quality and price.

[Trinity]

I smoke roll ups but have been thinking about getting the pretend ones but there's absolutely no point until I stop enjoying smoking. It's my only vice and it's mine I tell you!!!!