Nicotine, or nicotine-free?

As “e-smokers”, we’re lucky - we have a choice as to whether we smoke our e-cigarettes with nicotine, or without! Cool huh? Well, since this site has been in operation, I have received many questions from people new to e-smoking, who are unsure of whether they should go with cartridges containing nicotine, or not.

Of course, one big deciding factor is the availability of nicotine cartridges. At the moment, and for the foreseeable future, in NZ it’s not legal to sell “inhaled nicotine” products OTC (over the counter). They must be prescribed via a registered smoking cessation clinic, and in the case of e-smoking devices this will only be on the proviso that e-cigarettes are proven to be a smoking cessation device, and that they are used for that purpose. There is debate about that issue as well, but this article isn’t the place for it!

There are a couple of ways we can choose to use our e-smoking devices:

As a complete, 100% replacement for traditional cigarettes, (either short term in order to quit, or as a long term replacement).
As a partial replacement - for those who choose to still smoke a reduced number of cigarettes (remember, this is your choice - just think, that when you’re smoking the e-cigarette, you’re reducing the harm you’re doing to yourself - it’s all good!!).
For the purpose of this article, I’ll assume that cartridges containing nicotine ARE available to NZ e-smokers, for personal use, via internet purchasing (which they are!). What I’m getting at, is that you do have a free choice. The only inhibiting factor is local availability, but for the sake of this discussion, we’ll ignore that 

This leaves us with a choice - nicotine, or nicotine-free?

This is a completely personal choice . . . which, I guess, doesn’t really help you decide! However, it also comes down to other factors such as your level of nicotine addiction - how many cigarettes did you smoke previously? Do you feel that your withdrawal symptoms from nicotine will be too much to handle?

We are lucky, in that with e-smoking, we can choose the level of nicotine! Most suppliers will have some kind of “high”, “medium” and “low” strength nicotine cartridges, and all will have a nicotine-free option as well. In most cases, all flavours are available in all strengths. This is awesome, because it means that you can purchase a “course” of different strengths, to slowly wean yourself off the nicotine - if you want to!

Nicotine is not an ingredient which causes significant harm to the body, in contrast to the rest of the rubbish which is eliminated through e-smoking, however, it is not entirely innocent. You will know that it is the main addictive ingredient, but did you know that it only takes 2 days for the nicotine in your body to be broken down and dissapated? That’s right - after two days without nicotine, there is none left in your body anyway. Why not use this fact, and the nicotine-free catridges to your advantage? Even if you continue to use the e-cigarette with nicotine-free cartridges (after the addiction has left you), you have effectively eliminated 100% of the harm caused by cigarettes, to yourself and everyone around you.

When I first started e-smoking, I was “maximum strength” full-on nicotine the whole way. Then I started using an e-pipe, which increased the amount of vapour I was inhaling something chronic, and I noticed that I was starting to feel the effects of nicotine overdose. This was around the same time that the first NZ supplier started up, and obviously not being allowed to sell nicotine, the only option was nicotine-free. I tried this, and I can assure you that the only difference was in the throat - nowhere near as harsh, but still, just as pleasant to smoke. Since then, I have purchased either 0% or “low” nicotine content liquid for my e-pipe, and nicotine-free cartridges for the e-cigarette. Oh, and I also still smoke a few regular cigarettes per day, which gives me my daily nicotine hit  (nobody’s perfect) . . .neither is the nicotine, itself:

Nicotine and the increased cholinergic activity it causes have been shown to impede apoptosis, which is one of the methods by which the body destroys unwanted cells (programmed cell death). Since apoptosis helps to remove mutated or damaged cells that may eventually become cancerous, the inhibitory actions of nicotine create a more favourable environment for cancer to develop. Thus nicotine plays an indirect role in carcinogenesis. (source: wikipedia)

OK - I know that sounds scary, but bear with me for a minute further . . . “wait a second, you mean nicotine itself can stop the body from destroying unwanted (potentially cancerous) cells???” - yep, that’s exactly what that means, but you should remember one thing before you decide to switch to nicotine-free out of sheer panic - you have already eliminated some 4000-odd chemicals from your daily intake (by taking up e-smoking), which would usually be the cause of those cells developing in the first place. Don’t sweat the small stuff  If you still need the nicotine, just congratulate yourself on eliminating everything else - good things take time . . .

and . . . if you can, why not go the full mile and eliminate the whole deal? Try nicotine-free - you will probably be surprised. Don’t take my inital staunch attitude and insist on high nicotine content! Try it without the nicotine and you will be giving yourself the best chance of living a long, happy and healthy life!