Been on these fake pouches but off the good stuff for around 3 years now. Northerner.com sells them cheaper than the gas stations. I buy 25 pack at a time.

I started dipping in high school. Then at A&M did a can + of Copenhagen a day. Lived with a group of guys and we'd buy a whole log of Copenhagen cans at a time and stick it in the freezer. I eventually got a growth on my lower lip that had to be removed. Doc told me I had to quit, but quitting that insane amount of nicotine cold turkey is impossible.

Smoked cigs for a while but hated it the whole time. Met my first wife and she didn't do tobacco, so that motivated me to wean further and finally quit. Then I only smoked cigars once in a blue moon.

FFW 20 years, divorced and current GF (permanent really - 6 years now) smoked cigs when I met her. I got her to "quit" but she uses the nicotine gum and vapes some. I tried the gum and now I'm hooked. I don't vape because I don't think that's healthy, but I'll chew about 6 pieces of nicotine gum during the day when I want a pick-me-up.

I may be wrong, but I don't think nicotine alone done with the gum or the pouch is all that harmful. I actually have an On pouch in right now at work, but that's because I ran out of gum.

Quote:

---

The only SAHE from NRT exposure we identified was an increase in respiratory congenital abnormalities reported in one study. Limited evidence indicated a lack of effect between NRT exposure and SAHEs for CVD and various reproduction/developmental endpoints. For cancer, stroke and other SAHEs, the evidence was inadequate to demonstrate any association with NRT use. Our conclusions agree with recent statements from authoritative bodies.

---

SAHE is serious adverse health effects

NRT is nicotine replacement therapy

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5364244/

Here is a study that says NRT is linked to insulin resistance.

Quote:

---

Background Insulin sensitivity and cardiovascular risk profile were examined in 20 healthy, nonobese, middle-aged men who were long-term users of nicotine-containing chewing gum and in 20 matched control subjects who did not use nicotine.

Methods and Results Long-term use of nicotine-containing chewing gum was associated with insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia. The degree of insulin sensitivity correlated negatively to the extent of nicotine use measured as plasma cotinine levels.

Conclusions These findings suggest that nicotine is the major constituent in cigarette smoke that leads to insulin resistance, metabolic abnormalities associated with the insulin resistance syndrome, and increased cardiovascular morbidity. Thus, the use of nicotine replacement therapy during smoking cessation should be transient and limited.

---

https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/01.cir.94.5.878

If you have never seen anyone in person, within about 3 feet, that is battling a severe case of mouth cancer, it will end your weakness for this crap. Think Harvey Dent from the Dark Knight movies.

The amount of "I need to have some kind of Vice and this stuff doesn't seem like it could be bad" excuses on this thread is just an addict making excuses to still be addicted to something.

Get a yearly physical. Be upfront with your doctor, you know, like you should do at a yearly physical. Ask the doctor which of these alternatives are acceptable. See what they have to say about it.

As for vaping, it's not safe. Sorry your girl doesn't get that. A family member works in the medical center in Houston. One of her closest work colleagues is a lung researcher. When someone dies and their body is donated to research, or when someone loses their lungs to a transplant, he gets the old lungs.

The number of people in their 30's and younger that he has seen their lungs and dissected those lungs is amazing. All of them vaped or used hookah because it's "safer" than cigarettes.

Your lungs are designed to bring in air and oxygenate your blood. And exhale CO2. That's it. It's not complicated.

Putting anything else in them is just going against the intended use. People wouldn't do that to lots of other sensitive equipment. I don't know why they think it's ok for their own organs.

The chemical "nicotine" is not, by itself, associated with cancer. As shown below, it can make cancer worse. I agree vaping is bad and some of the other ingredients in vape smoke may be carcinogens. I have urged my GF to quit. She quit cigs, so vaping is better than inhaling tobacco smoke. Tobacco has known carcinogens as we all know and have seen.
.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4553893/#B18

Quote:

---

At present, it is not possible to draw a conclusion whether nicotine itself may act as a complete carcinogen. In mice studies with NNK as an initiator, nicotine acts as a promoter after injection or dermal absorption, but not after oral administration. In drinking water experiments, there is considerable first-pass metabolism of nicotine before nicotine enters the systemic circulation. As a result, serum concentration is much lower after ingestion than after i.p. administration. Nicotine enhanced tumor growth and progression after injection of malignant cells in mice. Enhancements were found both after exposure of nicotine by i.p. injection, oral, and skin administration. Moreover, cotinine did also enhance tumor growth.

---

I'm not injecting nicotine into my bloodstream. There may be some dermal ingestion via gum, but most of it is swallowed. This research suggests that gum may be safer than a nicotine pouch which is mostly dermal absorption.

"Ask your doctor" is great, but they'll also tell you to drink only water, never eat red meat and probably put you on a statin. A different one will tell you the exact opposite.

Life is a terminal diagnosis. I want to minimize risk but also enjoy life. I am 28 days alcohol free and i've used the gum to help with that. Down the road, I hopefully will quit this too, but for now it helps.

Vaping is not better than cigarettes. It's worse.

The lung researcher isn't dissecting lungs of 28 year-olds that smoked. He's dissecting the lungs of 28 year-olds that vaped for two or three years and were fortunate to get a transplant.

And within ten years will need another transplant. Except for maybe livers, transplanted organs don't last forever. They are a longer-term band-aid. But band-aids don't stick around forever.

Good luck to you and congrats for the changes you have made.

Smoking a cigarrete has shown that it increases testosterone levels, and one of the theories as to why there are so many men out there with abnormally low testosterone is due to the societal change in smoking.

Just goes to show....everything has some effect, positive, negative or often both.

Life is short, and you can guarantee that pretty much anything and everything we do can be proven to be bad for you at some point. Remember when eggs were going to kill us all and fat was demonize, margarine was hailed as healthy and red meat meant certain death?

Enjoy life, do things in moderation, don't let some study somehwere make you think if you do XYZ on occasion that you are a bad person or will die at 40. Drink the whiskey, enjoy the smoke, eat the red meat. Just not all day every day. Pretty simple.

Yeah, I gotta get her to quit the vaping. There is no way that is good for her in any way, shape or form. I also suspect she uses it way more than she lets on. As a NP, she knows better. She goes through a lot of those vape pens or whatever.

Abstinence is the best rule of conduct to follow, but only if taken in moderation.

- EVAN ESAR

BurnetAggie99 said:

---

There's like 20 pouches in a can. I usually do 2 at a time. Each pouch is 6mg of nicotine.

---

Depending on the brand they come in 1.5, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 mg per pouch.
Even seen online some extreme ones that at 50mg!

Quit in 2007.

Toothpicks, gum, coffee.

Food sure tastes better.

It's a lot easier than you think. Don't let your brain tell you otherwise.

*** Wrong thumb.

I quit having one in 24 hours a day a year ago. I will still enjoy them on a rare weekend out hunting or the like.

The biggest thing to me is replacing the oral fixation with something else. As long as I have gum on me 24/7, I never get the urge to go back.

nealan said:

---

Black Buffalo is a decent alternative. They have with and without nicotine. One downside is that you have to order it online

---

They are in stores now. They have a product locator on their website. You can buy it at pretty much all Allsups, and several other convenience stores.

I still buy it online since there isn't a store near me.

Interesting, I didn't know that. Thanks !