Comment by whalesalad
12 years ago
I can't imagine life without stimulants. I hope to move off into the woods one day and live a completely natural lifestyle for a while. Reset myself. No caffeine, no nicotine, no amphetamines. Just me, a dog, and a nice ranch property in the middle of nowhere.
Meanwhile, nicotine is a staple of my day-to-day. I quit smoking a long time ago, now I stick to Swedish snus and vaping. For a period I was chewing gum too. Definitely lots of ways to get it without smoking.
Ok, so can you, or someone, explain "Swedish snus" to me? I'm curious, because whenever I have put any kind of American "dip" tobacco product in my mouth, my salivary glands go fucking nuclear and I end up drooling or spitting like a redneck.
Does Swedish snus made in some way so that this doesn't happen? If so, I need to try it!
Snus does not require spitting. It is steam cured instead of fire cured and has a good safety profile.
Note: If you want a good experience, import it. Do not try Camel snus. Also, you may want to try packets first instead of loose.
Strong snus, like Ettan and Grov, will probably make your mouth run, especially as a beginner (even in packets). Less strong, a little bit smaller packets (I think General is the most popular in Sweden) are better, and in the last decade or so, even dryer packeted snus has become popular, often sold with a suffix like White or Dry.
Snus is still a mess that involves spitting. I prefer nasal snuff, to the extent I use anything. It can be totally discrete, even to someone right next to you as you take a pinch. You just have to blow and wipe your nose about 20 minutes after a pinch. Alternatively, a small pinch of certain finely ground and dry nasal snuff can be taken in the mouth like snus, but it still doesn't involve spitting. Swish it around your mouth for a couple minutes and then swallow.
Swedish snus in packets doesn't involve any spitting. It is totally discrete, even more than nasal snuff.
Snus is an awesome alternative to smoking. I've tried chew and nicotine lozenges, but snus is a happy medium. I've come up with a way to get off nicotine, which I do from time to time: dissolve about 8 nicotine lozenges in a bottle of water. Take a sip when craving hits. The craving goes away immediately. ymmv.
So, you get off nicotine by going on nicotine?
I believe it's called "tapering off" The cravings go away as the dosage goes down, since a sip isn't enough to increase or maintain tolerance.
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Smoking addiction combines both chemical addiction and a very peculiar habit. It is hard to break both at the same time; so best practice for quitting is to first drop smoking as a habit (while not touching nicotine addiction, replacing it with another nicotine source) and only afterwards working on the actual stuff.
Thunder Extra Strong is a snus with no flavor and a high nicotine count.
Just passing it along since I tried 5-10 brands before settling on Thunder. To each their own.
> Snus is an awesome alternative to smoking.
Doesn't it cause oral cancer?
The package has a warning that it can cause gum disease and tooth loss. It's not as bad as smoking in my opinion.
In an attempt to quit smoking I just discovered the vaporization method and WOW -- I'm so impressed. Its actually enjoyable in the way that smoking is enjoyable, and the stimulant kick is very real.
I also quit smoking by using a vaporizer. So did my brother, my mother, my step-father, and my friends. My cigarette consumption plummeted after I started using it... but it wasn't even a tiny struggle. There are some heavy-weights lobbying against the products, which is unfortunate because my vaporizer was the only thing that actually helped me quit smoking.
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I started vaping this year. I love it. I've got a usb passthrough that just plugs in and I can sit in a co-working space and smoke and work. It gets some funny looks, but also starts some fun conversations.
Agree about the funny looks. I was on the 1 train last weekend, and someone took an e-cigarette out of her purse and started smoking. My first thought was, "OMG this is so illegal, I can't believe someone could think it's OK to light up on the train!" Then I realized it was an e-cigarette.
I imagine e-cigarette smokers must get this stunned reaction quite frequently.
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I overdosed myself severely when I first tried an e-cigarette. There's more nicotine per puff than a cigarette, at least in the brand I tried.
Sometimes I find new "ecig" smokers tend to puff on them (myself included initially) much longer then a regular cigarette. Such as, vaping all day or for hours (even if it is only once every 5-10 minutes over that time period).
Nicotine levels also vary and can be customized.
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vaporized liquid nicotine ? Where do you get it ? in Europe e-cigarettes are under scrutiny because the sold product is not guaranteed to be clean of toxic substances, otherwise it would be pretty great I guess.
I bought the eGO-T (meant for vaporizing plant matter) with a secondary nicotine adapter. In the US you can find both products at nearly every smoke shop.
One thing that really makes a difference is that the vaporized nicotine is actually somewhat hot, like cigarette smoke, when you breathe it in. Standard pre-packaged e-cigarettes didn't cut it for me specifically for this reason.
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They're easy to find, though -- I'm not a smoker or, uh, e-smoker, but I'm in rural central France, and there's an entire shop that seems to be dedicated to e-cigarettes in the closest major town (population 7K or so).
The name "vaping" is something of a shame, though, for something that's a much less harmful alternative for smokers -- it sounds to me like a combination of "vapid" and "gaping".
Which is a really hilarious reason to be scrutinizing them, you have to admit.
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> I can't imagine life without stimulants. I hope to move off into the woods one day and live a completely natural lifestyle for a while.
Funny way to put it, because human beings have been smoking something for as long as they've walked on earth, as evidenced by older cultures, so it's arguable what would be "natural".
Most of the world's population spends their entire waking day stoned on something more powerful than nicotine, whether it is coca leaves, betel nut, khat, or some other indigenous herb. It just seems a given that wherever you find people, you will find drugs.
Coca leaves dont get you "stoned" though, only the refined stuff. Neither do I agree that most populations spend their days "stoned". Indigenous tribes that drink ayahusca for instance only use in rituals. The natives from north america didnt smoked tobacco all day either.
Its obvious they had functional societies, which isnt possible when people spend all day using psycoactives, like Europe on heroin or Asia on opium days.
Ramping off caffeine is actually quite simple. You go to the pharmacy and get 100mg or 50mg caffeine pills, and start taking 10% to 20% less caffeine per day than you were taking beforehand.
Do a little research beforehand, but the average cup of coffee has ~100mg caffeine. So 5x50mg caffeine pills for a week or two, and gradually decrease, and it becomes very easy to quit. I've done this successfully (and also chosen actively to get back on caffeine for performance/training reasons, which once lapsed, I then used the method again successfully).
According to wikipedia, Snus is illegal in the european union with "special excemptions" for sweden and norway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snus