Nicotine Free Cigarette’s (FReeper input please)

Jhoffa_X

[Jhoffa_]

My name is Jhoffa_ and I am a cigarette junkie.

I have been smoking for years, tried to quit but it's very difficult for me.

I have tried patches, gum, zyban and cold turkey, but I am too big a degenerate smoker to give up that easily.

Now, the other day I overheard a conversation (I wish I would have just been rude and interrupted them to learn more) about Nicotine Free Cigarettes. Two people were discussing their merits.

This appeals to be because I think allot of it is the motions you become accustomed to while smoking and such so I went looking for these things.

I checked the local retailers, the local tobacco specialty shops and drug stores but no one had any clue as to if these things exist, what brand names they are available under or where to get them locally.

So, if you ever heard of these things, know which retailers handle them (I don't want to mail order or anything) or if you have any experience with them personally, please help me out here.

[Jhoffa_]

I have to go now, but I appreciate your assistance.

Thanks in advance.

[Xenalyte]

There's a cool little device (I'd have to look up the name) that's a little bigger than a pack of smokes. You put the pack inside it and close your hand around it, and these little needles in the bottom punch a hole in the filter of each cigarette.

The first week, you punch one hole. The second week you punch two, and so on. It's an eight-week course, more or less.

My friend who quit smoking with this device said it worked because by Week 8, she was dragging sooooo hard on the cigarette - and getting so little smoke and so much air - that she said the hell with it and chucked the last pack.

[Nataku X]

http://www.nicotinefreecigarettes.com/

[alisasny]

Bump me if you get any good advice...I am in a similar situation as you and just wish I could stop.

[Lurker]

Nicotine free cigarretes are like alcohol free beer, fat free cheese, and soft core porn.

I mean you can make them, but where's the payoff?

L

[jae471]

(Correct me if I'm wrong, but) I thought the "tar" was the carcinogen, not the nicotine. The nicotine is just what makes you keep lighting up.

[diefree]

My sister-in-law has been doing that to her cigarettes for about 10 years. Hasn't worked yet!

[Rodney King]

You try chewing tobacco? Sure it's not good for you either, but it is a lot better than cigarettes. Of course, it is not as good for you as going cold turkey, but the difference is that you will be successful in the conversion.

[Xenalyte]

Is it that little device Jackie Mason mentioned once upon a time? My friend who used it was a three-pack-a-day smoker, and she was clean during Week 8.

It'd be pretty labor-intensive to do it yourself with a sewing needle!

[diefree]

Cocoa bean cigarettes? Ewwwww.

[diefree]

It's a box, I think. It puts a lot of holes in the cigarettes, so many that when you puff on one all you get is air.

A lot of smoking is just habit, get a cup of coffee, light a cig., read the paper, get a cig. I smoke a lot so I know. Nicotine cigs would probably work as a person could still go through the motions of lighting up but lose the desire for nicotine.

[VRWC_minion]

http://www.nicotinefreecigarettes.com/

[VRWC_minion]

The Alliance of Boulder County
on Tobacco and Health

Genetically Modified Tobacco Plants yield Nicotine-free Cigarettes

July 30, 2001

Beginning this fall, Vector Tobacco plans to market Omni, a reduced carcinogen cigarette. Vector spokesman, Paul Caminiti, says early next year, the company Vector plans to introduce the first genetically modified tobacco that the company says produces no nicotine.

The genetically modified tobacco plant was developed by Vector with the help of Dr. Mark Conkling, former North Carolina State molecular biologist and researcher, who now works for Vector.

Beginning in the mid-1990s, Dr. Conkling identified the gene that produces nicotine in the tobacco plant's roots. He succeeded in shutting down the nicotine gene and blocking formation of the nicotine, the company says, without effecting the viability of the plant or the taste of the cigarette.

However, the premier tobacco growing state, North Carolina, has so far shunned genetically modified tobacco. "A lot of companies like Philip Morris are rejecting buying genetically modified tobacco, afraid if it gets into the chain with other tobacco, not genetically modified, it could ruin the tobacco industry, what's left of it now," says Charlie Zink of the Farm Service Agency office in Madison County, North Carolina.

A plant in Roxboro, North Carolina, is being refurbished to produce the "Omni Nicotine Free" brand. Vector chose separate production facilities to segregate the no-nic tobacco from the traditional variety.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has set guidelines for growing genetically modified tobacco that require a buffer zone of more than 1,000 feet between the genetically modified variety and traditional tobacco. Flowers must be removed from the GM tobacco to avoid cross-pollination in the field with non-GM tobacco.

Vector is finding it easier to grow tobacco than to develop a cure for tobacco addiction. The company intends to eventually submit to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval, the Omni Nicotine Free brand as what the company is calling a "market cessation device."

"A new cigarette doesn't need to go through the FDA, but a nicotine patch does," says Caminiti.

From: Environmental News Network

[bluefish]

Rodney - your intention may have been good, but the advice was not regarding chewing tobacco (I am a chewer). Chew contains significantly more nicotine and is considerably more carcinogenic. It is supposed to be about 4 times more addictive. You've heard about teenage chewers with mouth cancer I am sure, but I've yet to see a teen smoker with lung cancer. I actually switched to smoking from chew and then from smoking to nicotine gum. Then to the patch. Then to nothing. Was nicotine free for two years. Stressful event and I was back to chewing. Switching from cigs to chew would be turning up the juice so to speak. Plus, if you learn to swallow, you don't have to deal with the social implications as much - no smoke smell on your clothes.

[Orblivion]

Here is the secret to quitting smoking. You have to want to. You have to really want to. And that's it. Whatever method you choose will work if you really want to quit. However, having said that, I would say the all around best thing to do is just quit cold turkey. After maybe a week the nicotine will be out of your system and the cravings will subside completely for all intents and purposes. Remember, it's not the smoke you crave, it's the nicotine. So the sooner you can be free of the nicotine, the sooner you can be free from smoking.

[Warren]

I tried cold turkey too. They're a bitch to keep lit.

[discostu]

The problem I see with those it's you've got all of the physical damage and none of the high. It might help you kick the nicotine habit, but good ol' nic is out of your system pretty fast. The harder habit to kill the the routine, you'll still have that.

I quit during the holiday season. Since I hate the holidays anyway nobody even noticed my bad mood. I'd say if you really can't quit don't. When you're actually ready quitting will be easy.

[blackdog]

Don't feel bad. My wife wears a patch, chews the nicorette gum, swills quarts of coffee, takes Cloneziapam, Prozac,Alderall, and thank god....birth control pills. All the while she chain smokes.

Try mint snuff, I hear it works well.

[XBob]

welbutrin, a perscription tranquilizer allowed me to quit easily, finally after 30 years. No more craving of nicotine.