I met this 18 yo girl who smoked not so long ago. Like really? How does one even get started these days?
this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2023
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It's pretty easy. Smoking never really stopped in Germany. Vending machines are everywhere. They require age verification, which is not hard to bypass.
We got rid of indoor smoking, but we still accept that people smoke.
18 is good. In my previous neighbourhood I lived next to a school. A bunch of 14 year olds with smoke under the supervision of their teachers just outside the gates during recess.
There's no culture of smoking suppression in Germany. You'll see behaviours treated as normal that would trigger an emergency meeting elsewhere.
Personally I wonder if switching from the term 'smoker' to something more accurately describing the experience for people around them, maybe something like 'stinker' and 'horrible stinker' instead of 'heavy smoker' might help reduce the appeal.
The exact opposite has happened, because "smoking" was a bad term, now it is "vaping" and that sounds cool, doesn't it. That's also the way smoking made a comeback with young people, vaping and ~~tabak~~ tabacco with sweet tastes and nice scent and shisha bars.
*tabacco
And at least vapers don't stink. Nicotine on its own isn't even too bad for health. It's just catastrophic when it makes people inhale smoke.
Vapers make the entire area around them stink
It's a harmful activity that's about to go extinct. Almost all smokers started because it's "cool", and now it's no cooler for anyone.
You are detached. Its still cool for many groups of adolescents, at least here in Germany. Can't comprehend it, but it's real.
I mean it's only going extinct because people are vaping instead, which is definitely healthier than smoking cigarettes but the nicotine addicts are still out there.
The judgement on vaping is still out. It's not been around for long enough to know what health effects it'll have in the long-term, but since you're still inhaling things your lungs just aren't made to inhale I expect that it will have a negative impact on health.
It's been around for almost 20 years (first ecig came out in 2006) countless studies have been done that show it is safer then smoking. Your post is deceptive.
Safer than smoking does not mean safe. And the tobacco industry has always published misleading studies.
Show me where I said it was safe?
I never said safe I said safer than smoking smart guy. Which it is.
Is it? Because if you thought I meant "it's better to just smoke" then you've misinterpreted me, I meant "neither is a good idea". If that was ambiguous then I apologise.
I didnt take it as you saying its better to smoke i took it as you saying vaping is just as bad for your health as smoking which it is not.
Vaping is less harmful to your health than smoking. Its not an opinion. If you cant understand that no one can help you. So therefore, if you would use your brain for a minute here, than if you smoke cigarettes, and switch to vaping, that you are doing less harm to your body. Pretty simple idea... its actually a thing already, Its called "harm reduction". Google it.
"Our advice on ecigarettes remains unchanged β vaping isn't completely risk-free but is far less harmful than smoking tobacco. If you've switched to vaping and are finding it helpful to stop you smoking, and are not suffering any adverse effects, then carry on, don't go back to smoking. Oct 25, 2019", The Royal College of Physicians.
Google "royal college of physicians vaping study" for the full study.
Obviously if you dont smoke or vape dont start but if you smoke you should seriously consider switching to vaping if you cant quit entirely.
We're not talking about 40-somethings who can't get off of cigarettes, we're talking about teenagers who are starting to smoke/vape because they think it's cool.
And your attitude really could use some improvement, you're coming across as a colossal, condescending dick. Blocked.
It is dying here because they are $50 a pack..
As a German living in Australia I can ensure you, smoking is still just as prevalent, it's just people here being addicted to vapes instead of traditional cigarettes.
Disposable vapes are also dangerously cheap (2000 puff vapes are equivalent to about 10 packs of cigarettes, while only costing about $20) and despite efforts to ban them, easily available at any TSG/Ezymart without age verification.
Yeah, vaping is growing in the US too.
Vaping is the next to fall, another unhealthy activity that become less cooler year after year.
I dont belive so. Pretty much all the big tobacco companies now also own vaping brands, which are advertised with large budgets - pretty similar to the 80's/90's where smoking companies would spend big money on billboards and magazine ads (look up "popular mechanics" from that time on google books and pay attention to the full page ads), but nowdays it's targeted online ads and influeners.
Vaping is still "new" so its less regulated. Profit margins are high. There is at least one brand that offers a "subscription service" where you get delivered your favorite vaping refills by mail. They will advertise vapes to try to grow their market as long as they can, or as long as regulations don't prevent it. Unfortunately even the goverment suggest to vaping as "healtier" alternative to smoking.
Source: one of my ex-employers for ecommerce solutions with a very flexible moral compass had one of the vaping brands as a customer.
This is very sad. In my area, it's a declining phenomenon. I am convinced anyway that this reality will disappear relatively soon, in less than 20 years.
I don't think it will disappear, because it's intentionally designed to be addictive, making it hard to quit.
I dunno. It's growing pretty quickly globally.
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/e-cigarette-vaping-market
The global e-cigarette and vape market size was valued at USD 22.45 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.6% from 2023 to 2030. The public's growing understanding of e-cigarettes being safer than traditional cigarettes, particularly among younger people, due to numerous studies conducted by medical institutions and associations, is forecasted to fuel market growth. In addition, it is anticipated that the manufacturersβ wide range of customization options, including temperature control and nicotine dosages, will help the product demand. Moreover, growing e-cigarette technologies like pod systems and squonk mods have gained popularity and user adoption in recent years.
Market size value in 2023
USD 28.17 billion
Revenue forecast in 2030
USD 182.84 billion
The anti-smoking movement -- at least in the US -- didn't center around nicotine addiction, but around the negative secondary health effects.
Any similar secondary negative effects for vaping are pretty limited. So it's arguing just against the addiction alone. And I'm not sure that that's an easy case to make.
I don't doubt it's growing, but I think it's the classic temporary trend, a huge growth with an equally huge fall. Vape is harmful, something to be left to itself, there aren't many excuses that hold.
Everything is harmful though, that's the problem of existence. Nicotine is a psychoactive drug that does have both positive and negative effects. Vaping is safer than almost every other delivery method, and it's the safest recreational delivery method available. There's more than enough education on why nicotine is bad, which is the most you can really do.
People still drink, despite the physical addiction risks, the massive health risks of even a single drink a week, and the fact drinking any amount puts you almost comically more at risk of physical injury than not drinking. The education is fully out there. People still do it.
Free will is a hell of a thing, and restricting it has never ended well for those that restrict it, regardless of reason.
No one talked about restrictions, just common sense. A smart person will always realize that smoking or vaping doesn't make sense, that there are no positive aspects, that all the qualities they'd like to associate with are idiocy, to give something toxic a positive aspect. An evolved society must bury these trivia.
Yes thatβs why healthy, long living people donβt drink wine or coffee. Oh wait.
Sure, healthy people drink lots of cups of coffee and bottles of wine every day. Or maybe when they die at 60, nobody cares.
That's true, actually.
Longest lifespan: Italy