Let's Talk "Nicotine By Itself "....

I have to be honest the more research I do on all things smoking, the happier I am that I use ecigs (electronic cigarettes). I’ll do my best to keep this to the point & as always smoking of any kind is a health risk and should be done by adults 18 years of age & over. If you can quit “cold turkey” by all means quit smoking while you can. but if you’re like me & millions of smokers that need help to quit, be it nicotine gum, patches, lozenges or ecigs…….. Let’s talk nicotine by itself. Nicotine is the common denominator to all things smoking. It’s what addicts a smoker to cigarettes and it’s needed to help most smokers quit successfully. Since nicotine’s discovery in 1828 nearly 200 years ago, nicotine has gotten a bad rap due to its association with tobacco. For years it’s been thought nicotine & tobacco are one and the same, even today anti-smoking activist are still getting it wrong.

Nicotine is 1 of 4,000 ingredients found in cigarettes and despite its highly addictive traits there are far more dangerous chemicals found in cigarettes such as arsenic, lead, formaldehyde, nitrogen oxide, ammonia, hydrogen, cyanide, even urea the major component in urine is added for flavor, carbon monoxide & 43 known carcinogens. When a cigarette is lit, these 4,000 ingredients produce 200 more compound chemicals and most are directly linked to lung damage. The nicotine found in cigarettes is not the natural amount found in tobacco. Depending on which of the 70 species of tobacco plants including cross-bred strains, the amount of nicotine is approximately 0.6-3.0% of tobaccos drop weight. According to nightly news MSNBC and The Washington Post the level of nicotine in U.S. cigarettes has risen 10%  the past 6 years. There is no difference in nicotine content between Full flavor, Medium, Lights or Ultra Lights. No doubt, nicotine is addictive and has proven to be a beneficial drug used by US Tobacco Companies.

Nicotine is a natural alkaloid found in the tobacco plant and in small amounts in tomatoes, green peppers, potatoes and eggplant. Nicotine is highly addictive and most scientist agree it’s addictive trait is comparable, and possibly stronger than heroin or cocaine. Addiction of any kind is considered to be a disease and smokers top the list worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Smoking Statistics for 2002 around 15 billion cigarettes were purchased daily, which breaks down to 10 million cigarettes sold every minute. Since nicotine can only be ingested three ways inhalation, through the skin and swallowed, cigarettes and chewing tobacco are the most common. So common, it’s understandable why it’s so hard to vision nicotine as a standalone drug.

Nicotine by itself is no more dangerous than caffeine and takes 50mg to be lethal to humans. The average cigarette has 1.5mg but only .5mg is actually inhaled. Nicotine addiction is physical as well as psychological. It travels through the bloodstream and reaches the brain within 8 seconds. It acts as both a stimulant and a sedative. Have you ever noticed if you take short quick puffs off a cigarette you feel stimulated, ready to do whatever your mind is set to do? But if you take a long deep drag off a cigarette you feel calm and relaxed? When nicotine reaches the brain it causes the brain to release dopamine and other natural chemicals in the pleasure & feel good regions. Nicotine also increases concentration and memory even though the effects only last 5 minutes to an hour. This is way the average smoker uses 15 – 20 cigarettes in a 24 hour period on average to maintain its effects.

Nicotine alone does not cause cancer and in 2000 Stanford researchers lead by Dr. Scott Harkonen tried to prove that nicotine damages blood vessels and causes heart disease but found exactly the opposite, it prompts the growth of new blood vessels. Nicotine is being researched and used in various treatments. One of its effects is as an appetite suppressant and is being tested to fight obesity, the various treatments include Alzheimer’s & Parkinson’s disease, ADHD, depression and schizophrenia. 82% of schizophrenics smoke in order to self-medicate with the short term effects of nicotine. Most importantly nicotine is used to help smokers fight against withdrawal symptoms when trying to quit smoking with Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) More than 90% of smokers trying to quit “cold turkey” fail and most relapse within the first week. NRT’s help by taking the edge off quitting by slowly decreasing the body’s need for nicotine and easing the symptoms of withdrawal, such as cravings, irritability, increased appetite, problems sleeping and unable to focus or pay attention. These symptoms normally peak the first few days and can last as long as a few months. Nicotine Replacement Therapy is nicotine doses in the form of gum, patches, lozenges or an inhaler. (Including ecigs) For me, it was important to know the effects of nicotine by itself so I’d know which NRT would work best for me.

If you’re a smoker trying to quit, the use of a NRT can prove to be helpful and effective despite a few side effects. Quitting period will cause you to spit up a little phlegm the first week or so, don’t worry it’s just your body clearing the lungs. The most common side effects are upset stomach, nausea, heart burn, hiccups, excessive gas & problems sleeping. Depending on which NRT is used for instance patches may cause a rash or irritation on the skin, gum may cause soreness of the jaw from chewing and inhalers or electronic cigarettes may cause a scratchy throat. No matter which NRT you choose, you will find quitting successfully gratifying and beneficial to you and your health. Within 20 minutes of quitting blood pressure will drop. In 8 hours the level of carbon monoxide in the blood drops to normal, 48 hours the regrowth of nerve endings commences and the senses of smell & taste are enhanced. One to nine months after quitting the body will show a decrease in fatigue, coughing, shortness of breath and sinus congestion. The tiny little hair like cells that filter breathing air called “cilia” will regrow in the lungs. After five years the chances of lung cancer is decreased by 50% and fifteen years the chances of heart or lung disease is no different than a non-smoker.

Bottom line, nicotine by itself is no more harmful than caffeine. For centuries nicotine has been directly linked with tobacco and smoking with all the tar and thousands of life threatening chemicals that go with it. Nicotine’s main fault has been its power of addiction and how that addiction was spread with cigarettes. Now in the 21^st Century nicotine has the ability to stand alone on its own merits and so far it is nowhere near as dangerous as its been portrayed. I’m pretty sure in the near future we’ll find nicotine without the tobacco to be on the front lines fighting against diseases and mental illnesses. I find it ironic that the drug that caused my addiction to cigarettes, is the drug that is freed me. Do the research, choose a NRT and free yourself. It’s only to late if your six feet under. I’m Just Say’in …

Let's Talk Smoke History

Image via Wikipedia

Let’s Talk Smoke History…..

                                                  I’m Just Say’ in…..

          I used to smoke a pack a day, every day for over 27 years. I enjoyed smoking, it was part of my everyday life and I didn’t know SQUAT about tobacco except it’s a plant. For all the time, money and effort I put into smoking all I knew was what brand I smoked, where to buy them and I preferred menthol over regular tobacco flavor. It wasn’t until I started using electronic cigarettes that I began to wonder when, where & how cigarettes came about. I’ve already shared my amazement with my family & friends, so it’s only right I post it online for all to see.

            In the beginning there was Man, Woman and Tobacco. Some will say Brazilians invented paper rolled cigarettes almost 2000 years ago. Most historians will say as early as 1 BC the Native American Indians were smoking tobacco in wooden pipes. The Mayan Indians carved pictures in stone showing tobacco use dating back somewhere between 600 and 900 AD. Throughout history up until the late 1800s people believed tobacco had healing qualities. It was the cure – all for everything from open wounds to cancer. YES! Cancer and if that don’t beat all, let’s include using tobacco as a painkiller, for toothaches and asthma. I couldn’t stop shaking my head when I read this, but it gets better.

            There’s tobacco history for every continent on the planet. Jean Nicot, a French Ambassador took tobacco plants to Portugal boasting about its curing abilities in 1559. Hence his last name is the root for the words nicotine and nicotinic. In the 1600s a few countries outlawed tobacco with some really harsh penalties. Turkey would torture or kill you. In China you would be beheaded and Russia’s second time offenders were put to death without question. Makes me real happy to be a 21^st Century American, where I get to choose whether or not I want to kill myself slowly by smoking tobacco. I became interested in tobacco history in the first place because when I started using electronic cigarettes 2 years ago and recent events, I see the U.S. is trying to ban my new healthier alternative. Keep in mind smoking of any kind is dangerous to your health & since I survived an aortic aneurysm 28 months ago I can testify with all honesty quitting smoking is the absolute best thing a person can do, but converting to e-cigs (electronic cigarettes) is the next best thing if you can’t quit. I thought maybe the history of tobacco in the U.S. could tell me why I have the right to smoke tobacco knowing it can kill me but I don’t have the right to choose how I want to save myself from tobacco. So why is tobacco so damn controversial?

            Tobacco was the first crop grown & harvested for money in North America. Tobacco was a cash crop for the first settlers of the first American colony in 1612 Jamestown, Virginia. Tobacco was literally “As good as gold”. In 1632 it was illegal to publicly smoking in Massachusetts. Pierre Lorillard established the oldest U.S. tobacco company to date in 1760. It started off processing tobacco, cigars & snuff. Today their known as the makers of Newport menthol cigarettes. (My brand 27yrs) Tobacco financed the American Revolutionary War in 1776 serving as collateral for loans the Americans borrowed from the French. 1826 nicotine is discovered as main ingredient in tobacco and ten years later Samuel Green found nicotine to be an insecticide and poison with the ability to kill humans. The first death linked to smoking was documented in 1859. Washington Duke was the first to sell hand rolled cigarettes in 1865 at the end of the Civil War. James Bonsack invented a cigarette making machine in 1881 which helped make cigarettes the #1 tobacco product made and sold everywhere by the 1900s. This machine could make 120,000 cigarettes a day.

            In 1901 over 3.5 billion cigarettes were sold. In 1902 Phillip Morris set headquarters in New York to market the famous Marlboro brand cigarettes. World War 1 (1914-1918) cigarettes were the “Soldiers Smoke”. World War 2 (1939-1945) cigarettes were at an all-time high and included in soldiers C-rations like food. Millions of cigarettes were sent to the soldiers for free so when they came home tobacco companies had a stream of loyal customers. From 1952-1956 Lorillard’s Kent brand had asbestos in the filters. RJ Reynolds made filtered Winstons in 1954 and introduced Salems the first filter tipped menthol in 1956. After what appears to be a few hundred years of knowing the dangerous capabilities of smoking tobacco, the Surgeon General finally put out the “Smoking and Health” report in 1962. This report assisted the government to regulate advertisement and sales of cigarettes. It took two more years 1966 for the health warnings to be put on every pack. Until the 1960s the U.S. was the #1 manufacturer and exporter of tobacco, more than any other country. Television Ads weren’t taken off the air until 1971 but they’re still the second most heavily advertised products to cars. The first Great American Smoke Out was in 1977 the same year the Surgeon General reported the Health Consequences of Smoking for Women. In 1982 the Surgeon General reported second hand smoke may cause lung cancer leading to the restriction of smoking in public areas especially in the workplace. 1985 lung cancer became the #1 killer of women followed by breast cancer. The 1980s was called the “Tar Wars” because tobacco companies made over a hundred low tar & ultra-smokes.

            History tells us that tobacco has been used since the dawn of time and I believe it to be true that history repeats itself. Again cigarettes are “as good as gold”, especially in places like New York and California. But this time around cigarettes also carry governmental and political values far heavier than ever before. For every pack a smoker buys, that’s one pack closer a smoker is to dying and more power to the government that regulates them. I am thankful to Mr. Hon Lik who invented the e-cig in 2003 even though Herbert Gilbert had the concept since 1963. Here it is 2011 and I finally find an alternative to the addiction that binds me and since my government can’t find a way to regulate it, they plan to ban electronic cigarettes altogether. This leaves me and others like me no choice but to continue using tobacco products if we can’t quit.

            The FDA claims there’s not enough research testing on the effects of nicotine alone despite the fact nicotine was discovered and separated from the tobacco plant in 1826. Smoking is an addiction and smokers need as many options available to help them quit or at the very least a healthier alternative without the consequences of second hand smoke. If you’re a smoker or knows someone that does. What harm would it be to look into electronic cigarettes? Research it and choose what works for you.

                                                                                        Just Say’ in

                                                                                                 

            

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