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Comment by systematical | Hacker News Reader

Is their research on people who have ONLY vaped? Most people who vape are former/current smokers. For me, I vape when not drinking and smoke cigarettes when drinking. This means I smoke about 2-3 packs a month, the rest is vape.

It's harm reduction for me and allows me to still perform at a reasonable cardio level in beer leagues. Now my evidence is shotty, but my lungs "feel" better and I have a noticeable improvement in cardio when I haven't touch a cigarette in a few days and have just been vaping. My ability to stay on the ice (I play hockey) is noticeably better. I don't start getting really tired until the third period, whereas with cigarettes I am dead by the second period.

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I've quit smoking and drinking, work out 5 times a week and run once or twice a day. Vape has allowed me to loose 12kg and quit drinking and smoking. If you're gonna say that it might just irritate my lungs a little more than walking about the street at the o'smog hour on hottest summer day then be it.

> Is their research on people who have ONLY vaped?

It might be given the issue is apparently with young people. One of the controversial aspects of vaping is it has been sometimes marketed to teens, potentially creating a new generation of nicotine addicts — maybe a dark side to a tool otherwise seen as being beneficial as a safer alternative for smokers.

This reasoning seems pretty strange to me. Why not quit entirely?

Because it's really difficult to do so. That might not be a valid "why" in some people's eyes, but it's the reason smokers switch to vaping. They've tried to quit entirely, and have failed to do so many times.

Then this new nicotine delivery method comes along, smokers try it, and find it an acceptable substitute.

The "they" above is me. I switched a couple years ago and have had nothing but improvement in my health. My stamina is better, my chronic cough went away, and I don't hear that faint whistle when I breath in.

I'm sure if and when I give up nicotine completely, I'll feel better still. But right now I'm taking this partial win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PCCF1bX-a4

(For those who can't listen to this right now, it's a short Mitchell and Webb radio sketch that humorously illustrates that it's quite difficult to stop an addiction simply because you know it'd be good for you.)

There are often quite a few psychiatric issues that nicotine helps out with. Also, probably a good chunk o population has issues that are just slightly below threshold of what is considered a condition, but niccotine helps them out a lot.

As an ADHD-diagnosed person, to function properly I need some sort of a stimulant. It's really "choose your adventure" kind of a situation - I need either sugar, ritalin or nicotine, and the less I take of one the more I need of another to function properly.

Keep that in mind when you see someone smoking - unless you're 100% sure that they are neurotypical, you don't know if it's addiction or self-medication.

Having quit smoking before for a year and vaping for 9 months. I had to entirely quit drinking to do it. I started drinking again. It's dumb, I know. I need to quit drinking for a few months again, taper down with vape like I did last time, and then just not pick up a smoke again. Instead, just use a vape when I'm drunk if I feel the need.

What's a beer league?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_league

Ha! Stupid me thought it was some sort of a beer-lover's group in which the commenter hoped to improve his performance, a sort of organized pub crawl.

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