E-cigarettes and vaping will normalize quitting, not smoking

Can you tell if she's smoking or vaping?

One of the favourite arguments of the anti-e-cigarette movement these days seems to be that vaping and e-cigarettes will "re-normalize" smoking. This argument has no proof to back it up, and seems to be constructed due to the lack of good arguments.

First of all smoking is not at all de-normalized as some of these guys claim. This is just not true. In 2012 18.1% of the adult population in the US was smoking (http://goo.gl/EWmCM), in the UK the number is around 20% (http://goo.gl/ZUoj0B), and European Region countries have rates varying from 20-40% mostly (http://goo.gl/FhhkTr). I would say that something that 20% of people does is pretty normal. In fact it's more normal to smoke than to be left-handed (around 10%: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handedness), or having blue eyes in the US (around 17%: http://www.ask.com/question/eye-color-percentages). So to look at smoking as abnormal behaviour is just narrow-minded and wrong.

Then there is the question of why vaping and e-cigarettes would make smoking more normal. Why? Cause it look like smoking and has the same ritual? I don't think so. With the exception of some of the cig-a-likes that the TPD allows, it is pretty easy to see that someone is vaping, not smoking. It's also pretty easy to tell by the smell. There is also no scientific evidence at all that people go from vaping to smoking. Cause why would they? There is just no reason that someone would want to do that, except for ex-smokers who for some reason like the taste of normal cigarettes so much better (because of limited flavours in e-liquid due to the TPD maybe?) that they are willing to kill themselves for it. Vaping will not normalize smoking. In fact as more and more people start vaping it will become more normal to vape, it will normalize vaping, and smoking will finally be de-normalized.

Think of it, when you see someone using an e-cigarette, do you think that "this is someone who is trying to start smoking"? No-one in their right mind would think that, not even kids if told once what it is. You'd probably think that "this is someone who used to smoke, and has now quit, or is trying to". So vaping and e-cigarettes will in fact normalize quitting, and in the end de-normalize smoking.

However, there are some things that can be done to make the anti-e-cigarette movements "normalizing-argument" a tiny bit more plausible. One could, for example, try to make sure that e-cigarettes look as much as cigarettes as possible, try to limit the range of flavours or maybe put a limit on nicotine content to make sure smoking becomes the only way to get a sufficient nicotine hit for some... oh wait... this is starting to look familiar.

photo credit: alexanderferdinand via photopin cc

E-cigarettes proven to be the most effective way of quitting

A couple of days ago I wrote about the consequences of over-regulating e-cigarettes and that you really only need common sense to figure that one out. But, as we all know not everyone will listen to common sense, so some times it's nice to get some empiric evidence to back it up with right? My common sense, and my own experience have already convinced me long ago that e-cigarettes are the most effective way to stop smoking. I know a lot of people that has tried over the counter NRT, but I don't know anyone who succeeded. I know some people who have tried cold turkey, and a couple of them have succeeded. But out of the people I know that has tried with e-cigarettes, only one of them is still smoking cigarettes today... my mum :) To be fair I only know 5 people who have tried quitting with e-cigarettes but when combining that 80% success-rate with my own experience, I figured that this had to be the best way of quitting pretty quickly. And now, I have science to back that up as well: goo.gl/F57oKC. This study shows the same results that I have observed. NRT is the worst with a whooping 10.0% success rate. Even cold turkey is better with 15.1%, but on top of course: the e-cigarette with 19.9%.

Still it doesn't quite fit with the 80% I have seen around me though. Personally I do believe this is due to the fact that there is a huge amount of different e-cigarettes, and a huge difference in quality, flavor and vaping experience among these. I think I've told you earlier how easy I think it was, but I should add that I had a couple of tries before I succeeded. First with some crap from dealextreme, that tasted awful, then some ok ones I bought in Norway, that had no nicotine. But when I finally found some good quality ones with decent vaping experience (at least it was more that sufficient at that time), an Ego-T set from Totally Wicked, it was in fact very easy. And I think this is a key to success with the e-cigarette as well. You need to be aware of this, and that you might have to try some different models, and some different e-liquids, before you find the one that is right for you. So you need a little bit of patience, and with some help from and experienced vaper who knows the devices and can point you in the right direction, the chance of success will improve a lot.

So why couldn't my mum quit? Well, I think it was a combination of things. She is dead scared of computers so she was not able to order more e-liquid or e-cigarettes when the one I bought her was empty. I might have missed a bit when opting for cartos as these require some patience to fill. And I'm not sure she liked the taste of any of the e-liquids I bought her. Different people, different taste. But most of all, I think that she doesn't really feel they are safe. She often asks me if this is really better than smoking. And that brings me to my final point... all of these reasons why she failed to quit can be addressed by good regulation. Good regulation would make her feel safer and it would enable her to go try and buy so she would be able to find the device that fits her needs and to find an e-liquid she likes. With reasonable regulation the shitty devices would also disappear, and I am sure that we would see a totally different rate of success in the future.