Vaping, the controversy, news, media, scaremongering debate

[Badayuni]

Hiya guys, long time vaper here from UK.

A little background about me:

Like many here I was a smoker before becoming a vaper. I started working on a market stall when I was 15 (I'm 38 now). It was almost compulsary to smoke back then, and I recall my first cigg being a menthol because I thought minty = safer lol. I smoked menthols for about 2 week then switched to Berkley Red Superkings. I was a heavy smoker and in my early 20's switched to Marlboro Lights which I smoked exclusively till I was around 24, at this stage money took a turn for the worse and I switched to Golden Virginia (roll ups). I smoked till being around 34 then quit for a year cold turkey. Anyone who has smoked knows full well your never truly clear of the habit and sure enough due to stress and such, I bought a small pouch of GV and started again, but hated myself for it, and instantly felt the negative effects come seeping back within a few days (coughing, phlegm etc).

A friend told me to try Vaping. I tried the throwaways from a store, and while it had potential, it tasted vile. I did some research into Vaping, and was amazed how much was on the market, flavours etc. Cutting a long story short, after trying several products, VIP Cartomizers got me completely off of analogues. I used those for about 6 months without a single analogue. Around this time VIP were having some issues with their cartomizers and were being forced to change them, the new ones sucked, and then the whole nicotine law came into effect for E-Ciggs, meaning if you wanted high nic (I was on 18mg) then you needed to mix! With some amazing help and advice on the forums I discovered The Alchemist Cupboard and his RY4 mix, on emailing these guys I was aided in how to mix and where to buy Nic from in 72mg bottles. I have used the same mix exclusively up until last week. TFA RY4 Double, it was a beautiful vape, and whilst I became desensitized to the taste pretty fast, I continued to vape 50/50 PG/VG mix at 18mg on a Coolfire 4+ setup with Aspire Nautilus Mini Tank. Just like many here, the mod became a 2nd limb as I chain vaped. I loved vaping, but recently stopped last week.

I'm not one to be scaremongered and in truth missed all these news stories initially. I know Vaping had a negative effect on me, and many vapers I have spoke to had shown similar symptoms, nothing extremely bad, but short of breath, post nasal drip, coughing up phlegm etc. When you find a replacement for ciggs, you want that replacement to be risk free, and I think the issue with a lot of vapers is they are convincing themselves their E-Cigg is safe because they want it to be. I feel the news is taking things too far, but is there any truth in it? Whilst we want Vaping to be safe, truth is nobody knows for sure what the long term effects are of inhaling un-natural chemicals into your lungs. I've seen people swear blind their mod is safe, when fact is, they don't know.

So why did I stop? if I loved it so much? About 6 months ago I noticed my eye-sight was getting pretty squiffy, had an eye test, no issues. Couple of months later I developed pins and needles in both feet and hands (constantly) after a week or so this spread to my upper arms and face! Went to the doctors for a full MOT and thorough blood tests and ECG. Heart is fine, bloods perfect, doctors baffled. Went back to the Opticians, and while I drink a ton of water, they eventually discovered I had severe Dry-Eye, causing blurred vision. I upped my water in-take and used drops nothing changed. Last week worry got the better of me and I quit vaping. It IS just as hard as quitting Ciggs, I'm using patches and mist spray from Nicorette, but within 3 days the pins and needles have completely vanished. A few more days and my vision is improving massively.

This is just my observations, and is by no means another scaremonger post, I am interested if any fellow Vapers have experienced similar? I have been chain vaping over 3 years and these symptoms only appeared in the 3rd year, whats crazy is quitting vaping has totally cleared everything up (eyes still not 100%). I was convinced I had diabetes as many of those symptoms reflect that issue, but tests came back clean. My ingredients never changed during vaping, same Nic, same PG/VG direct from TAC store online, same flavour. Same mod same tank, I used 1.8ohm coils and they were always genuine as bought direct from Aspire.

I'm interested in hearing if anyone else has experienced any negatives to vaping, and if you feel there's any merit in these news stories. The USA stories seem blown up as users were taking part in dodgy CBD oil vaping, and the lad in the UK had a rare Lung Disorder, but it makes you wonder right? My issues alone have made me question the hobby I love.

I quit smoking 6 months ago and have been vaping since. Like others have said the effects of vaping aren't understand nor is vaping promoted as being without any health risks. It is however promoted as being a means to quit smoking and as a general consensus contains 95 percent less chemicals then smoking

Since quitting smoking and vaping I have noticed some things health wise that have changed for me personally. I certainly cant attribute them exclusively to vaping because I dont have any proof. They may ne because of vaping they may not be

My attitude towards vaping based on my experience is that it is safer then smoking but it has some health effects

I'll continue to vape and enjoy it but with the intention of quitting altogether eventually.

 

[Tazz]

@EvoKazz
I have vaped for a few years now and all is fine. Unless I use mixes that contain concentrates that cause me allerrgy reactions. Shortness of breath and asthma attacks. I would imagine if I persisted in using them it may not end well for me. But there are also food additives that cause this same type of thing for me as well as fragrances in soaps, shampoo, deodorants etc. So I learn to avoid. For me with vaping I make my own so I know whats in it and avoid concentrates with the known irritants for me. Diacetyl, Acetoin and Acetyl Propionyl.

 

[cheltenham cat]

constantly chaining 18mg cant be good for anyone imo. ........Ultimately we're all individuals with unique physiologies and as such so will be our experience vaping mainly good, some bad and a few indifferent........ c'est la vie

 

[Mawsley]

“...but it makes you wonder right?”

No. No it doesn’t.

There are reporting systems in the States and here, and neither show anybody has reported a problem matching your symptoms. Ocular deterioration can have many causes, vaping isn’t one of them.

 

[Haze]

my post has no contradictions, just my own personal facts

I know Vaping had a negative effect on me... truth is nobody knows for sure what the long term effects... I've seen people swear blind their mod is safe, when fact is, they don't know.

I don't know if Vaping caused my issues, it’s simply an observation...

I know... I don’t know? That’s the definition of a contradiction. So which is it?

“I know vaping had a negative effect on me” would also be considered a claim, not simply just an observation. It’s even less of an observation if your observation changed so quickly to “I don’t know if vaping caused my issues”. Again, which is it? And how could you possibly know either way if “nobody knows”. It’s also no longer a “personal fact” either if you then go on to contradict it immediately. Facts don’t change that quickly and easily, especially not personal ones. Yet more contradictions.

The simple facts is, you don’t know, but you decided to add 2+2 together, got 5, and claimed to know 5 was (and possibly wasn’t) the correct answer... Err, whut?

That’s no different than the sarcastic joke people make about causes of death, saying “100% of people who breath go on to die, therefore breathing causes death” when people make other false connections. It’s a logical fallacy. Correlation does not equal causation.

There’s a laundry list of reasons why you may have experienced the mild symptoms you described, many of them being more likely. One such likelihood is all your years of smoking finally caught up with you. Another being age. Why blame the thing you’ve been doing for 3 years with seemingly no issues? It quite possibly may be vaping. Could be an allergy you’ve developed. Wherever you source your DIY could well have changed where they are sourcing their stuff or made minor changes to ingredients. Could be any number of reason. Could be your easing symptoms are nothing more than coincidence. Blaming vaping is scaremongering, especially right now, and not exactly positive despite your claims to the contrary.

My knee started aching the other day while I was vaping. Do you think vaping did it or is it more likely to be the fact that I broke my kneecap and damage cartilage when I was younger, was also on my knees mortising a hinge at the time and the damage is catching up to me?

And this is just the tip of the iceberg but I think I’ve said enough. Others discrepancies in your post have been pointed out elsewhere.

...if you took in what I wrote without barging in with your pitchfork...

Maybe if you took in what you wrote, the pitchfork wouldn’t have to came out. Sorry if you don’t like it but there’s been a fair few questionable posts in the last couple of months, from members here with no previous posts, and I’m getting more and more cynical as I get older.

There’s only so long people can keep using the “we don’t know the long term effects” argument before we start calling bullshit. When people have been vaping for over 10 years and there are over 40 million vapers world wide, with no confirmed issues linked to vaping responsibly made nic based e-liquid, it’s not even debatable that vaping as we know it is much safer than smoking at this point! A few cases of mild symptoms and some dubious connections to vaping is nothing to be alarmed about when thousands of people die every day from smoking related illnesses and diseases.

Nobody in the community has ever claimed it to be 100% safe. We’re not naive enough to expect it to be either. So I have no Idea where you got the notion from that “we” thought otherwise. That’s all you. Nothing in life is inherently safe, absolutely nothing. Drinking too much water will kill you... yet here you are using the same tired old arguments as the vaping naysayers and looking for some confirmation bias to boot... Strange.

And /rant... back on with my day I go, and I’ll be standing by my claim of “nonsense” if you don’t mind.

 

[eyeball kid]

There a high correlation between people switching from long term smoking to vaping and reaching an age when common sense improves (called getting older) and we realize we're pissing our health and wages down the drain.
Unfortunately this period also goes hand in hand with your body starting to get a little rough around the edges (called getting older).

 

[knome]

@EvoKazz
I've googled your username.
I have no advice for you.
Take care, Be well.

 

[al_g]

Jesus there are some over protective people on this forum.

Come on FFS. We all know vaping isn’t safe and there’s the potential for a zillion side effects. Yes, it’s a lot less harmful than smoking but it’s far from harm free. You have to be a complete moron to think otherwise.

Give the OP a break. It’s helpful to others to try and understand rather than disregard.

 

[rew]

Jesus there are some over protective people on this forum.

Come on FFS. We all know vaping isn’t safe and there’s the potential for a zillion side effects. Yes, it’s a lot less harmful than smoking but it’s far from harm free. You have to be a complete moron to think otherwise.

Give the OP a break. It’s helpful to others to try and understand rather than disregard.

Agree. All we can do is give our personal experiences and observations. I didn't take the original post to be any sort of attack on vaping

 

[Haze]

Jesus there are some over protective people on this forum.

We have every right to be do we not? Especially right now the way things are going around the world. Peoples lives depend on it. This bollocks need to be called out. Even more so when it’s coming from our side.