Smoking 2.0

Miss Medicina casually mentions in her latest (as of, when I started composing this) Blog post to quit taking smoke breaks and start Vaping. She seems to have beat me to the punch because I’ve been brewing up an article about Electronic Cigarettes for a while and how they have changed my break habits in wow.

Vaping, PV (Personal Vaporizers), E-cigs, Electronic Cigarettes, are the name for the phenomenon of a new way to smoke. The principle is you suspend nicotine into a propylene glycol solution in a cartridge. You use an atomizer and battery to heat the solution until it is vaporized and then you inhale the vapor as you would smoke from a cigarette.

The brilliant part is it feels very similar to smoking and you also get all the same nicotine, however there is no combustion, tar, smell, 2nd hand harmful smoke and from what I can tell supremely reduced health risks. I’m not a doctor nor do I claim to know for sure. All I can present is my limited understanding that the big danger is the chemicals in tobacco to preserve it and the combustion of burning leaves/paper, neither of which is a factor in Electronic Cigarettes.

The nice thing to me when I first started Vaping was the flexibility. You can Vape in many places you wouldn’t normally smoke in. Restaurants, the movies, the office, even inside the home are now perfectly acceptable places to grab a hit of nicotine. The smell free and nearly instantaneously dissipating clouds of vapor are not a concern to your non-smoking  fellow patrons, coworkers, or housemates. You can even “Stealth Vape” and hold the vapor in for a few seconds and no visible vapor is released (recommended for risky situations).

Despite limitless practicality in “the real world”, Vaping has effected my time in Azeroth as well. Vaping at my computer has removed the need to take untimely smoke breaks. I’m no longer a useless player the last 20 minutes before a scheduled break is coming as I count down the seconds, or sneaking afk during trash. 

The other enjoyable part of Vaping is the freedom. Of course you aren’t completely free from Nicotine addiction but you are more free in your day. Choking down a fast smoke or two before you go into a situation where you wont be able to smoke for several hours was always a pain. Sometimes you may have just had one 20 minutes ago but you are now going to have to go 2 hours so you have another. Maybe you only wanted a couple hits but since it is lit you finish the whole thing.  With Vaping you can have that one hit whenever you want wherever you are. If you aren’t comfortable about doing it in front of people who may think you are smoking then just go to the bathroom or take a stealth hit.

I’ve turned perhaps twenty or so smokers to Vaping and everyone can’t believe how enjoyable the swap is. You regain a lot of smell and taste (for good or bad), you can feel your lung capacity strengthen, you no longer smell bad (and when you quit smoking you realize just how bad you really smelled). Walking past the smokers corner or being near someone who had a smoke 20 minutes ago is a LOT more apparent than I thought it actually was.

So to get started vaping I suggest heading over to E-cigarrete-forum.com. This is a great place to learn all about personal vaporizers. There are links to vendor sites, reviews on materials and liquid, tips and tricks for use and maintenance, and even some nice stories.

I’m not trying to get everyone to quit smoking. I’m just saying that even if I did continue to smoke, I would be using e-cigs in addition. They are a great tool to augment your smoking experience. Just don’t be surprised if you find you enjoy them so much that you naturally quit smoking as a byproduct.

GL and happy vaping!