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by pm90 2910 days ago
Is it really any better than smoking? I believe nicotine itself is the carcinogen, correct? Not just the ash and other byproducts of burning...
2 comments

Yes it's quite a lot better than smoking.

Vaporization of juice is better on your lungs compared to inhaling smoke and tar. Less to get clogged. Nicotine itself has been shown to be significantly less addictive combared to Tobacco. Theories for this typically involve the fact that there's more than just nicotine in tobacco. There's a chemical in tobacco smoke, the name escapes me at the moment, that acts as an MAOI, reinforcing the effects of nicotine.

This isn't to say that nicotine is harmless. Rather that the consumption of nicotine via vaporization is Less Harmful compared to smoking tobacco.

Honestly saying that nicotine is far less addictive in e-cig rather than cig seems like a BIG BIG lie. At least speaking from experience.
No, nicotine is barely a carcinogen and is essentially on the same level as caffeine in terms of danger.
And when it's mixed with benzoic acid? (the 'salting' process mentionned)

From Bing:

Is benzoic acid a carcinogen?

It is considered safe only at less than a .1% concentration in a finished product (Source) When benzoic acid and vitamin C (ascorbic acid) or citric acid are present, under the right conditions of heat and light, these two ingredients can combine to create the known carcinogen, benzene.

My impression is that nicotine is "essentially" harmless but caffeine is actually harmless, maybe even good for you (kind of like a glass of red wine a week).
Try taking a whole bunch of caffeine pills, definitely not harmless.
The dose makes the poison and tablets are about the only way you could overdose on caffeine. Your stomach will be telling you to stop long before you get to 40 cups, which isn’t enough for a healthy adult to overdose on.
They said the same thing about cigarettes decades ago, proving it with “scientific” studies.