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Nicotine-Free Cigs, Genetically Engineered
jim.b0b writes "Wired has an interesting article about nicotine-free cigarettes, made from genetically engineered tobacco grown by Amish farmers. Vector Tobacco is hoping that their Quest cigarettes will make them a viable competitor to RJR and Phillip Morris. Don't worry, they are nicotine-free, not carcinogen-free."
Grown by Amish farmers? Hmm... Something about this doesn't smell right. ;-)
...genetically engineered tobacco grown by Amish farmers
'nuff said.
slashdot!=valid HTML
I already read all this stuff. The magazine is sitting in my restroom collecting dust. I trust slashdot to get me news that isn't a rehash of the Wired periodical weeks after the issue has come out.
IANAS (I am not a smoker) but isn't the reason most people smoke for the nicotine?
That's like alcohol-free beer. What's the point?
Until then, I waive my paw at them and say "Bah"
Still, with a plan, you only get the best you can imagine. I'd always hoped for something better than that. -CP
Obviously this will be good for smoker's trying to quit needing to keep something in their mouths, but for regular smokers?
I've been known to have the occasional cigarette, and I know it's not for the great taste. I don't see this going very far.
get nemulator
When I used to smoke, I smoked for the nicotine...What good are these things.
"Karma can only be portioned out by the cosmos." -Homer Simpson
Like parachuting from a 4-feet ladder.
love slashdot. populate it. use it. abuse it. hate it. kill it. miss it. stop following links, they only kill servers.
Great news for stoners mind - nicotine encroaching into rolling is a bummer.
See here.
... as the Amish plan to start producing buggies without wheels by the second quarter of 2004.
*nix.org - You say you want a revolution?
Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate. Ex-O'Reilly/MIT employee, now a full-time Google employee.
I don't understand. What is so bad about nicotine? The nicotine just keeps you addicted. It's the thousands of chemicals like TAR and like CHLORINE that will kill you.
I'm still not sure I undrestand why cigerettes even have those other things in them. WOuldn't they be just as good without them?
One main reason smokers smoke one or two or more packs a day is that is the level of nicotine they are addicted to. Take away the nicotine and they'll be puffing away on 4-6 packs a day...
Ishmael: Hey Ezekiel! I have an idea! We can grow genetically engineered tobacco that is non-habit forming!!!
Ezekiel: That's wonderful! What is genetic engineering?
Ishmael: Well, you take this machine, plug it in, and...oh...nevermind.
People have been clamoring for years for a cigarette that still tastes terrible, makes you smell, and kills you but doesn't get you high. I'll bet these will be really popular among the total idiot crowd.
Reminds me of an old Larry Niven quote about smoking. (sorry if I must paraphrase, I cannot remember the exact wording) "I love smoking, I think it's one of the few joys in life. If they ever make a cigarette that doesn't kill you, I'd start smoking again in a flash."
I read the internet for the articles.
Isnt another name for this marijuana?
The world has officially come to an end.
Kill me.
End Of Line
You know my biggest problem with quitting smoking isn't so much the nicotine withdrawals as it is the habit. I smoke all the time in everything I do. For me it's breaking the habit of lighting up after taking a shower, waking up, eating something, etc.. With the stress of ditching the nicotine compounded with not being able to smoke after dinner, it makes it quite difficult. With nicotine free cigs, I might be able to breeze through the initial withdrawals long enuff that later on, the trauma of quitting a constant, daily routine won't be as stressful and perhaps a little bit more manageable.
And in the event that I wanted to light up the "occasional" cig to have with a cup of java, it wouldn't start the nicotine withdrawal process all over.
Perhaps this could be the tool to my salvation? The way things are goinig, cigarettes will be illegal soon enough anyway.
Wait until they find out that without nicotine there is absolutely no reason for someone to use their product. I mean look at the stunning sales of alcohol free beer.
Chris
If your RTFA, this product is made to *quit* smoking. It makes more sense as what is out there now. They have products that delivery Nicotine to stop your addiction to Nicotine. This product give's you the tobacco without the nicotine. They only effective way to kick something is to de-tox the body.
why don't we see any nicotine drinks out there? that would be the ultimate delivery system, but fuck-it none if it makes sense anyways.
now let me go get my caffeine fix
Wouldn't it be more useful to create carcinogen free cigarettes?
Damn you Amish!
The point of these cigarettes are to help people trying to quit smoking, actually succeed by slowly weaning themselves off the chemical dependency of nicotine. After that, they can address the psychological dependency of having something to puff on.
"Asking smokers to quit smoking is like telling people to get out from under the sun, its not going to happen...so you sell them sunscreen."
Hades, PoD: Official Advocate
Lets just face it. You stink. Your car stinks, your house stinks, your breath stinks. You just stink.
The added expense of paying $5 per pack to smoke
You get to outside in the cold rain or snow, or summer heat, and huddle around acting "cool"
Oh yeah, and then there is the small detail that it kills you.
Um. Yeah, sign me up.
As someone who smokes and wants to quit, these might be better then gum, etc.
It would be cheaper as well. It would be interesting to see if it could be used to calm the cravings slightly. Fooling you into think you are getting the nicotine witout really getting it.
As a smoker I'm not sure if I smoke for the nicotine, or if I just smoke to smoke. It would be interesting to see. When I drink I usually smoke a ton more then usuall, once drunk I don't know if I'd recognize the difference.
Although this is probably a good thing (even though you're killing yourself, you're doing it without addiction), I think there may be an overlooked aspect here.
Considering how uninformed the typical consumer is, I fear this could result in a rise in the number of smokers. When Joe Sixpack is browsing through his local 7 Eleven and sees a pack of cigs with "Nicotine Free" on the box, what if he thinks "Hey, I can smoke without harming myself" and takes up smoking. I think this is not an inconceivable situation. I would hope that these things come with additional warnings stating that while they do not contain addictive nicotine, they are still cancer causing.
My other sig is funny!
This is nothing new really. For decades you have been able to get "herbal tobacco" which contains no nicotine. Some dope smokers roll joints with it to avoid getting hooked on nicotine. The actual point of it is the same as the point of these "nicotine free" cigs- to get you unhooked.
I personally prefer using nicotine patches- so it's the other way around- nicotine and no smoking habit.
The reason it's better is that you get rid of the withdrawel symptoms because you are getting nicotine, you aren't breathing smoke so it's better for your lungs- and you can use public transport and walk into shops without having to have a quick cig first- which is an actual bonus to giving up.
I find people who give up by using, say, nicotine gum or lonzenges have an easier time to start with because they get a nicotine buzz, and there's a new ritual to replace the old one, but then a harder time getting from the replacement to nothing at all, as they haven't kicked the "ritual" part of smoking, or the nicotine delivered once per hour (or whatever).
The only benefit of nicotine free cigs compared to the existing "herbal tobacco" if that's the way you want to go, is that the herbal tobacco cigarettes normally smell so bad that they clear out rooms- even of people who quite happily tolerate ordinary cigarette smoke.
graspee
Who in their right mind would buy this? cigarretes are bad enough to beging with and the reason that people can't seem to get off of them is nicotine. It has been proven that nicotine gives you good memory, so now a cigarrete is going to be completely bad. they should make a nicotine bar.
What, did Lycos crank up the subliminal advertising slush fund or something ? If I wanted to be reading Wired, I'd read Wired...instead of having Slashdot link to it article by article.
subject says it all... why don't we worry about weaning the cancer-causing part of the habit first? there are few side effects to a typical dosage of nicotine, but many to typical dosages of cigarette smoke (and attendant formaldahyde, ammonia, dioxine, urine, and whatever else they put into cigarettes).
Just raise the taxes on crack.
Forget cigarettes... smoke a salmon.
There are only 10 kinds of people in this world... those who understand binary and those who don't
You're making a big assumption that most people only drink beer because it has alcohol.
;-)
For me, I'd be delighted to find a good-tasting alcohol-free beer. Or even a very low-alcohol beer. To me, it's the taste of having a good beer that is most important, although I admit that the alcohol is a nice bonus most of the time.
But imagine being able to have a couple of stouts at lunch time, and then still being able to operate heavy machinery without killing someone (or running servers without bringing your corporate web server to its knees)? That would kick ass. Beer tastes so good.
The non-alcohol beers, unfortunately, are not worth getting....
Cheers,
Vic
On Sunday I was a smoker. On monday I went through terrible withdrawl, broke down and bummed a cigarette. I have smoked for 5 years. Monday evening, I bought a homeopathic remedy, called Smoke Control by Bio King. It really did cut down on the cravings very greatly. Today, I bought a pack of Vector's Quest Brand Nicotive Free cigarettes. Here's how it works for me: I smoke these things. They give me the satisfaction of having something to puff on, but no nicotine, helping me break my physhical addiction. After I am done with that I can work on my psychological and social addiction. But right now, I can still smoke, while preparing to be a person who no longer smokes at all. Basically, they are a step on the ladder.
I have to give massive Kudos to Vector for releasing these because they are really helping me quit. I would reccomend them, as well as the homeopathic remedy to anyone who is trying to quit smoking.
The picture at the bottom of the article has the following caption:
An Amish farmer takes a cell phone call as transgenic tobacco dries inside his 250-year-old barn in Holland, Pennsylvania.
Wonder what he uses for a ringer? Maybe a knock and a voice saying "Jedediah, thee has a call".
Come to think of it.. how does he recharge the thing?
These will kill you just as well as normal ciggeretttes, but they just don't have any nicotine, which is the addictive part. There are three steps you can use, to actually kick your chemical addiction. Once that is done you can concentrate on your oral fixation problems.
I think a big place that this will help is people that like to go out to bars and are around second hand smoke and just want a cigg really bad. It'll kill you, but they won't wake up in the morning craving one as bad I bet.
I also like that the guy admits to the fact that he's in it for the money, a little honesty in the tobacco industry is a bit of a relief.
Having once smoked and knowing what nicotene withdraw will do to a person and their urge to have a cigarette I can just imagine a chain smoking whako yelling obsenities at, and wanting to rip appart, anyone that has the gaul to be breathing today. Smokers going on permanent smoke breaks as they try to get their fix but for some reason just can't seem to calm down no matter how many packs they suck down. The rate of deaths caused by road rage will skyrocket. Microsoft and computer manufacturers will get a boost in revenue as millions of super-irritated office workers take baseball bats to the BSOD..."ILL SHOW YOU ILLEGAL OPERATION!!!"
As a major fan of chaos, I really like this idea.
A good advertisement would be "All the affects of withdrawl without the benefits!" - or "Quit nicoteen and still die from lung cancer!"
NR
Did they catch on? I remember the new stories when they came out but I never saw them anywhere.
I'm not at the forefront of the changes in the Amish community or anything, but doesn't the phrase "genetically engineered tobacco grown by Amish farmers" seem a bit odd?
1) Re-engineer tobacco to eliminate nicotine
2) Sell to Amish, Amish grow tobacco
3) Make cigarettes
4) Crappy cigarettes collect dust on shelves
5) ??????
6) PROFIT!!!!
Welcome to a customer-locked world.
As I walk through the valley where I harvest my grain
I take a look at my wife and realize she's very plain
But that's just perfect for an Amish like me
You know, I shun fancy things like electricity
At 4:30 in the morning I'm milkin' cows
Jebediah feeds the chickens and Jacob plows... fool
And I've been milkin' and plowin' so long that
Even Ezekiel thinks that my mind is gone
I'm a man of the land, I'm into discipline
Got a Bible in my hand and a beard on my chin
But if I finish all of my chores and you finish thine
Then tonight we're gonna party like it's 1699
We been spending most our lives
Living in an Amish paradise
I've churned butter once or twice
Living in an Amish paradise
It's hard work and sacrifice
Living in an Amish paradise
We sell quilts at discount price
Living in an Amish paradise
A local boy kicked me in the butt last week
I just smiled at him and turned the other cheek
I really don't care, in fact I wish him well
'Cause I'll be laughing my head off when he's burning in hell
But I ain't never punched a tourist even if he deserved it
An Amish with a 'tude? You know that's unheard of
I never wear buttons but I got a cool hat
And my homies all I agree I look good in black... fool
If you come to visit, you'll be bored to tears
We haven't even paid the phone bill in 300 years
But we ain't really quaint, so please don't point and stare
We're just technologically impaired
There's no phone, no lights, no motorcar
Not a single luxury
Like Robinson Caruso
It's as primitave as can be
We been spending most our lives
Living in an Amish paradise
We're just plain and simple guys
Living in an Amish paradise
There's no time for sin and vice
Living in an Amish paradise
We don't fight, we all play nice
Living in an Amish paradise
Hitchin' up the buggy, churnin' lots of butter
Raised a barn on Monday, soon I'll raise another
Think you're really rightous? Think you're pure in heart?
Well, I know I'm a million times as humble as thou art
I'm the pious guy the little Amlettes wanna be like
On my knees day and night scorin' points for the afterlife
So don't be vain and don't be whiny
Or else, my brother, I might just have to get medieval on your heinie
We been spending most our lives
Living in an Amish paradise
We're all crazy Mennonites
Living in an Amish paradise
There's no cops or traffic lights
Living in an Amish paradise
But you'd probably think it bites
Living in an Amish paradise
Yuck
None of the high, and all of the fuss! Think of it: addicted to a whole new breed of drugs that only have down sides.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those with loaded guns, and those who dig.
HK just released new type of gun that kills people in the exact same way, but make an entirely different sound.
Aren't there any other sources of news out there other than Wired? This is probably the 8th article from the current issue of Wired posted to Slashdot this week. It's a good issue, admittedly, but really now.
> That's when I realized my problem is more mental, less physical.
Yes and no. Your brain's neuroreceptors have been tweaked to *need* nicotine. So while there's the "social habituation" factor, there's a very real physical component to the addiction for many as well. Yourself included probably. Your freak-out was a sign of exactly that, I'll wager.
Good friend of mind, well-versed in the world of recreational chemicals, told me it was harder for him to quit cigs (nicotine) than heroin.
Grand Theft Auto - now that is a mental addiction. Then again...
I've been a smoke for many years, I remember my nicotine addiction starting at 8 when my old man use to let me grab a pinch of beechnut. I remember feeling like crap and being addicted to it for a while, then later on quitting, then becoming addicted to cigerettes at 10 when I went to live with my mom.
So here I am, over 20 years of putting this crap in my body.. The sad thing is when I don't have it.
First sign is nervousness, agitation. Then I go into cold sweats as my body excretes tar and nicotine out from my pours. Third stage i'm rollin up butts from the ashtray.
For those of you that don't understand the nature of addiction, let me tell you, I go through it every night. At least when I sleep, I have nothing to agitate me, but I still go through the physical withdrawel symptoms every night, proof of which is washing the sheets every 3 to 4 days to take out the yellow stain from my tar infused sweat.
I hate cigs, they are a tax on my life and my health, and I feel that the addictive traits of nicotine has been played down to avoid lawsuits. I've even developed shakes at times, no different than any heroin junkie.
I tried quittin new years cold turkey. I just bought a carton of marlboro reds today for 30 bucks. Previously I tried patches, gum, and hypnosis.
I have heard of anesthetic therapy for herion users. Sorry for no link but I remember seeing it on dateline NBC, search there produced too many results. The premise is simple, hook a needle up to the patients arm with a drip bag of sodium penathol and let them sleep through their withdrawels.
As neat as this genetic amish tobacco sounds, it just won't cut it for people who have been smoking as long as I have. Over 2/3's of my life I've had this shit running through my brain. I need rest.
to help you quit... RTFA.
They have 3 brands that each have a lower amount of nicotine kind of like the patch has 3 different levels to systematically lower the amount of nicotine you recieve.
It makes it so you choose whether or not to smoke, not to feed a nicotine addiction. This guy not only plans to make an ass-load of cash, but to give his customer's choice and reform the tobacco industry. Quite frankly, this guy should get the Nobel Peace Prize or something.
BTW, you can get cartons for ~$20 each online. So if anyone wants an easy way to quit, Drive Thru Smoke Shop
Arrogance is Confidence which lacks integrity. -- me
He says the cigs will be sold as a three-part series containing 17%, 54% and then 100% less nicotine. By mixing the nicotine-free tobacco with ordinary, they can make it have *less* while still giving you your fix. So you can work your way off of the nicotine slowly without having to give up the habit. It's like having a patch, and smoking at the same time.
It may not be *quite* as enjoyable as the real thing, but it's a hell of a lot easier to force yourself to buy a pack with 17% less nicotine than to go cold turkey.
Smokers are our nation's greatest citizens. Not only do they generate billions of dollars in state and local taxes with their tobacco purchases, they save the federal government still more billions by "removing" themselves from the Social Security System, on average, a decade or so earlier than other, less civic-minded Americans.
But, now, it appears that irresponsible genetic engineering threatens to eliminate an entire generation of such patriotic puffers.
Shame on science and shame on the Amish!
I thought nicotine was a pesticide (If I'm wrong you can blame "molecule" in Xscreensaver). There is no need to genetically engineer anything, merely avoid the use of pesticides.
Yes this is interesting. But really now, it appears that posting the headlines from the current month's issue of Wired is what passes for front page worthy news these days? Is there really so little going on the the world? That issue has been on the stands for at least two weeks now and that has to be the third or fourth front page item from it over the last week. Does it take that long to read through the issue and find the interesting bits? Perhaps we should just have a periodical posting titled: "Here are the headlines from the current issue of Wired."
I'm willing to bet that blind studies, people will have as difficult a time quitting from these are from regular smokes.
I'm really interested to see the outcome of an addiction study where two groups are given these nicotine free smokes and one group is told that they are smoking regular ones.
This is pure speculation here but I'm betting that the mere thought of them being addictive is enough to make them "addicted".
Similarly, I'd like to see if people who thought they were smoking nicotine free cigarettes have an easier time quitting even if they are smoking regular ones.
depending on how such a study turns out, big tobacco could tell all those bozos to take all their lawsiuts and shove them.
Blaze a trail to the New World
Hypothetically speaking, what would happen if this strand got into the wild?
Not being a smoker, I'd think it hilarious if a large portion of the tobacco crop ended up tainted with the "phony" tobacco. Just on the principle of the matter.
Phillip Morris would have a collective heart attack if their biggest profit maker became non-additive!
=Smidge=
I thought you were talking about Jessica Alba.
now that the farmers will be making some real money, does this mean they will have to pay taxes?
David Letterman said it best about decaf cofee:
;- )
"Its usless warm brown water"
Nicotine-free cigs? Why not just suck on an exhaust pipe?
You can't take the sky from me...
Nicotine free cigarretes have been tried before... and it went really bad. The book BARBARIANS AT THE GATE mentions how RJR Nabisco once tried it an have a marketing test which got a 95% percent response: "IT TAKES LIKE SHIT".
People are not cigarrete addicted. People are nicotine adicted. With no nicotine, every smoker will just about give the same response.
Just sounds better to me.
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
Day 1: Start smoking nicotine free ciggies. Maybe these aren't so bad.
;)
Day 2: Ladedadeda...I'm fine, just don't talk to me.
Day 3: Jesus Christ, why do I work with such idiots?
Day 4: Are all users fucking morons or something? Jesus, what sort of prick can't set up Outlook?
Day 5: Ok, that's it, I've had enough of ALL of you! SOMEONE HAND ME THE AMMUNITION!
Day 6: Profi...oops, got carried away there.
Put another way, you can have my nicotine sticks when you prise them from my cold dead cancer ridden hand
Genentic engineering has been around for hundreds of years. All you have to do is take one plant with traits you want and another plant with traits you want and breed them. Over time you could breed any number of new plants. Personally I'm genetically engineering my kids to have darker skin by marrying an asian chick. No technology there. Well maybe a romantic cd to get her in the mood.
IMO the best browser game ever http://wittyrpg.com
Except back then we called them grape vines.
Tomaco :-)
"If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy
Phillip Morris has changed it's name to Altria Group, Inc.
Slashdot Eds Link Anonymous Posts With Logged Posts
They Are Vermin Feeding On Each Other's Feces.
I Hate \.
The reason this is interesting is because now the chemical and the habit can be seperated into two problems each easier to deal with on its own than in conjunction with the other. Nicotine patches and gum have helped a large number of people give up smoking because they allow a smoker to wean themselves off of the physical habit without having to deal with withdrawal from the chemical. If they are successful at this step, they have come half way and have only to wean themselves off of the patch.
This engineered tobacco allows the same process to work the other way. In fact the two could probably be combined for a very gentle weaning process consisting of first switching smokers to nicotine-free cigarettes and nicotine patches and then slowly lowering the use of one while keeping the other constant and then lowering the second to match.
Also, to all the people saying this is a dumb idea and using comparisons with alcohol-free beer(which they claim is also a dumb idea). Regardless of whether you think it will help people quit smoking or not, I guarantee that enough people will be willing to try to pull in a healthy profit for the company. All those companies aren't making alcohol-free beer because it doesn't sell. So in that sense its definitely not a dumb idea.
lysergically yours
gene splicing and cross breeding are entirely different than genetic engineering. We've been genetic engineering for a few decades at most.
????
Anyone...???
Anyone..????
Beuler...????
This is absurd. They will produce cigarettes with virtually all the cancer-causing potential of regular cigarettes without the nicotine...the drug that people crave and is the major inducement to smoke. In other words, all the cancer and none of the pleasure.
Tobacco companies learned a long time ago that the nicotine was the key to smoking. They know that if you reduce the nicotine content in cigarettes the result is people smoke more cigarettes and keep the smoke in their lungs longer to compensate. This has the effect of 1) selling more cigarettes and 2) causing people to inhale more carcinogens. It seems to me the only ones to benefit from these effects are tobacco sellers and Oncologists.
I read about this company yesterday in the local paper: http://www.startribune.com/stories/670/3615839.htm l. The claim was not that they were just producing cigarettes with zero nicotine, but instead that they were producing cigarettes with varying levels of nicotine:
<CITE>Quest takes a different approach. It allows smokers to choose their nicotine content: Quest 1 has 17 percent less nicotine than an average light cigarette, the company said. Quest 2 has 58 percent less nicotine, and Quest 3 is virtually nicotine-free.</CITE>
This would allow smokers to continue smoking while taking the patch approach to smoking cessation, by reducing nicotine levels gradually over time.
This could be just the thing I need to start smoking. I've always wanted to smoke, but I am easily addicted to chemicals, so I was wary of becoming addicted to the nicotine. But with this new invention, I could smoke without becoming chemically addicted to it. It's the best of both worlds. I only hope they're really cheap so I can afford to buy lots of them.
"Don't worry, they are nicotine-free, not carcinogen-free."
Cool! Now I can still kill myself without worrying about being addicted to any particular vendor.
Ahhh, killing yourself slowly and horribly with none of the satisfaction associated with the real thing. It's like just eating what's in the grease trough of a Foreman grill and throwing the hamburger away.
what we really need is a stink-free and smoke-free cigarette so us non-smokers can go out to a club without having to throw away our clothes the next day.
I'm praying they pass the smoke-free law here in Calgary, Canada.
And again, I say:
:)
None of the high, and all of the fuss.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those with loaded guns, and those who dig.
And that's why it will never happen.
Constitutionally Correct
most smokers who try to quit end up starting to smoke again days, weeks, or even months later- long after the nicotine addiction has passed. this is due to a psychological addiction which is usually much stronger than the physical addiction to nicotine. this product does not really address this issue, and IMHO, might cause people to smoke more, since they won't be experiencing the nicotine which they need to "take the edge off" of a stressful situation.
*cue deep, addicted-cow voice*
T-O-M-A-C-C-O
Caffine-Free Diet Dew.
If all you're looking for is a way to get cancer, you might as well go to your basement and huff radon.
They've changed their name to the the Altria Group. Bad old Enron's gone, Arthur Anderson's gone, Philip Morris, too. Aren't they?
Are they animal dropping-free also? I mean, that's half the taste!
Umm....
Last I heard, the cigarette is considered a drug delivery system.
What's the point of leaving out the drug?
If Marlboro were to sell nic-free cigarettes, and that caused people to lose their addiction, therefore causing probably a good number of them to quit, wouldn't that be a hit to the bottom line?
"We flushed your sin-sticks down the toilet."
"Smokers are jokers, smokers are jokers!"
"I would say that 99 per cent of what my father has written about his own life is false." - L. Ron Hubbard Jr.
Oh yeah, and then there is the small detail that it might kill you.
Um. Yeah, sign me up.
Grown by Amish farmers is certainly an endorsement ... but I'm not smoking these cigs unless they're grown by virgin Amish vegetarian farmers.
-kgj
Doesn't anyone remember that episode of X-Files? They engineered a special nicotine-free tobacco, which resulted in test subjects literally becoming hives for some tobacco-loving bugs. :D
Let's see if this attempt is any better than that one
Did you know that "FTW" ("for the win") is a direct translation of "Sieg Heil"?
Amen to that my man, amen to that.
Welcome to Amish Country.
they could put such fine goodies in there that it kills you in 3 months instead of 40 years. that would probably help people quit sooner. (i know, i know, that wouldn't be as profitable ....)
If you subscribed to Wired, you would have read all this crap already.
And if you think subscribing to WIred is cool, just remember, my dad subscribes, and he's like 50.
Reassuring the vast hordes of medical doctors and other health care professionals on Slashdot, are you? ;>
Catherine
The stuff grows naturally, has like, zero nicotine, tastes better than regular cigarettes, and it even makes you feel good. Support your local amish hydroponic operation today...buy pot!
But the FDA is still doing tests and so they can't claim it yet.
It's called "nicotine chewing gum / patches". Except for the actually smoking it part, of course.
On several occasions when I have managed to give up I have been sitting there and suddenly a thought crosses my mind, and before it is quashed milliseconds later by common sense kicking in, I am thinking:
"Cool! Now that I've given up smoking, I'm not going to die!"
graspee
not quite likely to happen. tobacco industry has billions of dollars. they can always buy some politicians.
ps: I couldn't find any exact figures on tobacco industry income. If you know some figures (or if you're plain better at googling than me) please reply. I'm curious myself
"The majority is always sane, Louis." -- Nessus
http://slashdot.jp
The problem with the poison in unnatural cigarettes is the chemicals that enhance the addictive qualities of nicotine. If you smoke a Cigar or Nat Sherman natural cigarette you are far less likely to become physically dependant. The real problem, of course, is the habitual nature of smoking.
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
Geez ya think? I mean a bunch of insular 'backward' people without electicity following guideines made over a century ago? How could these guys conceive of DNA much less genetic enginnering?
Start smoking a pipe! There are several brands of pipe tobacco that can deliver a mean nicotine hit purely through the membranes of the mouth, and they taste good to boot.
Also, even though pipe-smoking is not entirely risk free, its harmful effects get lost in the noise of modern life. The common joke is that pipe-smoking is as bad as eating red meat. Doing the latter in excess will increase your chances of cardiovascular problems, but in moderation it is not harmful. So also with pipe-smoking.
And finally, the smell of quality tobacco is generally considered nice by non-smokers, unless you smoke really heavy aromatics.
So drop those ciggies, and pick up a pipe!
Mart (happy pipe smoker)"I know I will be modded down for this": where's the option '-1, Asking for it'?
- from modern humorist.com. I think.
Then there are the Amish near where I grew up who refused to use buttons--because they were too "worldly."
There have been Nicotine-Free patches long way ago! And havent seen any slashdot notice for it... There must be some amish undercover behind the Slashdot admins...
__
Sig: Marine Stock Photos
To me it is folly to tie the health effects of tobacco, good or bad, with public policy.
Individuals should be free to smoke, but be held responsible for the natural consequences. This holds for "good tobacco" or "bad tobacco", as well as other drugs.
(Full disclosure: Non-smoker. Ex-smoker, but not against smoking where permitted by property owners.)
This would've helped me a while back. With smoking there's 2 addictions, the physical addiction to nicotine and the habit. I tried a few brands of 'herbal' smokes which contain ingredients like marshmallow and catnip, they tasted disgusting and i'm sure they still had the carcinogens and tar, just in lesser amounts (smoke is smoke is smoke).
Anywho, so if there'd been herbal smokes that tasted like the real thing (like these) i probably would've had better chances.
For now i'm just going to have to go the other way around and use the patch, break the habit then the addiction. =P
DONT PANIC
I expect these will do about as well on the market as amphetamine-free speed, and nudity-free porn.
With nicotine being the main addictive ingredient in cancer sticks, these might possibly be the best way to kick the habbit altogether. Without nicotine to hold you in, you could still get your fix. After a while smoking these babys, the nic fits would subside, making it a little easier to kick the habbit to the curb.
At least, in theory, that might work.
As an 11 year veteran of smoking (started when I was 14), I see this as a possible ray of hope. If I quit now, my lungs might have a chance at surviving into middle age, and some of my vim and vigor might just come back. I think I'm going to take a drive down to Holland (I don't live too far from there, maybe a three hour trip tops) and see what this is all about...
Blog Prophyts - Right On, Man
That would be "thou" not "thee".
"Thee" is accusative/dative, "thou" is nominative.
Actually no - if it were a drug delivery system then it would fall within the scope of the FDA's power to regulate. So far the Tobacco companies have escaped that horror or horrors.
Smokeless cigarettes on the other hand (i.e. cigarettes that are considerably better for the smoker and entirely safe for those around him) were ruled to be drug delivery systems, and were kept out of the market. Life is strange sometimes.
What's the point of leaving out the drug?
I wondered about this myself - this stuff will ruin your health without making you feel good. Kind of like taking a burger and removing the flavor, but leaving the fat. Hmmm...
They won't use modern tractors or wear buttons because they're afraid of technology, but they'll farm genetically engineered poisons. Okay...
It's nice to know that the tobacco will still have all of the poisons though. We wouldn't want to stop the deadliest and most expensive of the easily prevented killers.
Unfortunately, your basic premise here is simply wrong. Controlled studies of preference for different cigarettes composed using the same variety (and batch) of tobacco, but with differing amounts of added nicotine, consistently demonstrate that what smokers usually label "taste" is almost completely an effect of nicotine concentration.
High nicotine cigarettes "taste" better to the smoker, and low nicotine cigarettes "taste" much worse to the smoker. Whether these smokes will buck the trend remains to be seen, but it is very likely that the habituated smoker will perceive them as tasting extremely poor in comparison with their preferred brand.
Unfortunately, vaporized nicotine alone does not show this same taste gradient, so vaporizing pharmacuetical grade nicotine is not likely to satisfy the inveterate smoker, although it would save them their lungs, unlike these cigarettes.
Really, it is, it'll help those who are trying to quit by first removing the nicotine out of the cigarettes. Then get the "patch" or something and wean yourself off that way. As your weaning yourself off the nicotine itself, you can still smoke these nicotine free cigarettes, and you can then start to wean yourself from the habit of smoking them.
...must quit...dammit :)
Normally, when a person wants to quit, they get the patch or something simular and stop buying and smoking cigarettes. You have to give up the act of smoking (which is roughly 50% of the addiction usually) and then simultaniously ween yourself from the nicotine at the _same_ time. With the other process i described above, you can make this a two step approch instead of one leap. It may make it easier for people to quit.
In any case, I smoke. The kind of cigarettes you buy in the store have TONS AND TONS of additive chemicals they use in making them. So to get rid of oh, about 600 chemicals that are NOT needed, I decided not to buy cigarettes from the store. I roll my own with bags of tobacco and filter tubes. I'm willing to wager you could link a major health problem to one of those additive chemicals, if not more.
The additives are their to to make the cigarette burn faster. If they burn faster, you smoke more, you smoke more, you get more addicted, and thus buy more cigarettes. Since i've started rolling my own, I've noticed i smoked far less then I did with store bought cigs.
That and PA got anal with the cigarette taxing, and jacked up the prices of cigs in the state. Needless to say many of people just decided to roll their own like me, it's far cheaper anyway.
Now if they made nicotine-free bagged tobacco for use in rolling your own, i believe this would be the best bet in quitting. Your removing about 600 additive chemicals and the nicotine all in one shot. What's left is just the tobacco itself to wean yourself from gradually. Personally, i'm looking forward to this coming to market.
A Penny for my thoughts? Here's my two cents. I got ripped off!
GENETICLY ENGENERED yada yada yada grown by AMISH farmers?
And Jesus took the genetically enginered crop, and it was a good smoke.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
I would never put in my body something genetically engineered, think of the damage it could cause me.
Heck, it may give me cancer for all I know.
Coming soon, cocaine free crack, produced by dwarves deep below the surface of the earth. Seriously, if you remove the addicting agent from cigarettes, youre just inhaling smoke all day, and nobody wants to do that unless theyre addicted.
Amish plan to start producing buggies without wheels
In that case, they're behind. The Inuit and the Saami have been using buggies without wheels for centuries. They're called "sleds."
In fact, the wheel was patented as a replacement for runners of a sled, for use on surfaces other than snow.
Will I retire or break 10K?
The fertilizers contain radiation. It's been known since 1961.
(context: bad heroin/heroine homophone joke)
Or Milla Jovovich as Leeloo Dallas in The Fifth Element. Mool-tee-pass!
Will I retire or break 10K?
So my teeth can still turn yellow, I can age prematurely, I can maintain my ashtray kiss and my wardrobe can still smell like a bar and I do not have to worry about being addicted? This is a leap forward in the sciences.
Heh. :) Does me not being a native English speaker count as a valid excuse? And I've never misspelt that before! And "sourroundings" was a typo! Honest!
:D
I'm just happy I'm not the one who wrote the Subject of this thread... Now that is irony.
Well, that, and that someone took my post seriously and modded it as a troll, when it was in reply to an "insightful" AC calling everyone who smokes a moron". My olfactory sense may have its deficiencies, but I smell fanatical anti-smoking moderators.
Help savingAmigaOS and a free PowerPC market
But they'd better not start producing THC-free pot.
:wq
Sorry mate, but my experience was different. Giving up was hard because I was dying for a cigarette. That awful 'feeling in your brain' which is your body craving that nicotine rush. Patches help take the edge off that but they don't get rid of it.
All you will do with these nicotine-free fags is rationalise your inability to quit in a new way: "since I am getting nicotine from the patches but aren't even getting the health benefits from smoking these nicotine-free cigarettes, I might as well smoke properly and get both in one."
You won't quit until you lose the taste of tobacco. When you can again smell how horrible cigarettes are, that's when you know you've quit.
if you use "your" in place of "you're." Moron.
Other than that, I agree. Smokers are idiots. Not all of them are bad people, but they are all idiots.
What's a hit to their bottom line is being forced to air advertisements discouraging use of their own product! You don't see that every day :) I've always found this very amusing.
On topic, I use to smoke a lot, for maybe 5 years. I still smoke occasionaly when I go out to bars or whatever but am fine not smoking for long periods of time. Nicotine is only a small part of the addiction, for me anyways. As a parent post pointed out (I think), the addiction is just as much about the act of smoking. That's why things like gum and patches, while certainly helpful, don't have the success rate for quiting that one might expect. Cigarettes become such a part of your life after a while, after a big meal, while drinking, first thing in the morning, after sex, driving in the car, talking on the phone, using your computer, blah blah blah... They become associated with everything that you do and when you take that all away... it's very hard to deal with.
One other thing that makes it very hard is by smoking, you meet other smokers. Said smokers become your friends. When you try to quit, all your friends all around you are still smoking. IF you dont have to see it, its not too bad, but being around chain smokers while trying not to smoke really sucks ass. I wasnt able to quit until I graduated college and moved away from most of my friends. Finally I was free of being around cigaretes all the time, and that's what made the biggest difference for me.
Joseph?
High nicotine cigarettes "taste" better to the smoker, and low nicotine cigarettes "taste" much worse to the smoker. Whether these smokes will buck the trend remains to be seen, but it is very likely that the habituated smoker will perceive them as tasting extremely poor in comparison with their preferred brand.
Then explain why ultra lights are becoming a huge market? Also, explain why, in say, Japan, the most common cigarettes are so light you wont be able to buy them in the US. They have 0.1mg - 0.5mg commonly, but finding a 1mg is rather difficult.
Marlboro Ultra Lights start at what, 0.5mg?
Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
Researchers at Bob Jones University today unveiled a revolutionary new condom that completely suppresses orgasm without interfering with the free transmission of venereal disease.
Whether or not you start smoking is a test. If you start, everyone knows you are a loser who can't take the peer pressure. The physical barrier to smoking is quite high (extreme physical discomfort, which often includes nausea). There is only one reason to overcome this discomfort: looking cool. And that, my friend, makes you a loser.
My parents didn't raise me to be a quitter.
Every tenth article here is a Wired article.
If you want to see a film that attempts to make sense of some of this see Devil's Playground. It's about the period in an Amish youth's life called Rumspringa. It's when 16 year old Amish kids walk on the wild side.
The Amish believe that a person should be baptised only after choosing the Amish church. They also believe that this decision should only be made freely by an informed adult. Rumspringa results in a crazy part of Amish life which is fascinating. These seemingly naive, bonnet wearin', buggy drivin' kids party like rock stars. The outcome is equally as fascinating. Each year these kids battle with harsher and more adicting drugs and more tempting technology but the return rate has never been higher.
I got to see the director's Q&A session at Sundance last year and it was incredible to see this young, intelegent, well educated, beautiful woman talk about her feelings towards the Amish. On one hand she saw them as opressive yet on the other hand she saw a life of loving and belonging that she never saw anyplace else.
Pot helped me quit cigarettes. It gives you the ritual, the drag, and the relaxing buzz, without the chemical dependancy. In fact, CAFFEINE is more physically addicting than pot. And if you filter it through water (ie a bong) you reduce most of the tar, too.
It's still not "good" for you, and of course illegal, but I think it's better than cigarettes.
New Smokable Nicotine Sticks: Can They Help Smokers Quit?
Now I just wonder how long it will be until they can genetically engineer the chemical THC (the thing in marijuana that gets you "stoned") to other plants...... :).
not to sound like a big pot head or anything
I've heard that the physical addiction to nicotine is gone after 3 days (sorry, no sources available). After three days the addiction is purely psychological. It's known that the psychological addiction is a lot harder to break than the physical. Having a lit cigarette in hand, whether or not it contains nicotine, is not going to do much to ween off the psychological addiction.
Look, people are less likely to get addicted to cigars because it is difficult to smoke 30 cigars a day.
As to natural cigarettes, phooey. Wise up. Like any other stimulant, nicotine needs no assistance to produce the changes in your body that you can eventually become used to.
Here are some simple tips that make a big difference:
-Temporarily avoid activities that formerly involved smoking (drinking, clubhopping, etc).
-Temporarily avoid smokers
-Substitute sugarless gum when you get a craving -Brush your teeth after eating to avoid the post-meal craving. It works!
-Eat bran and exercise in the morning to overcome the effects of nicotine withdrawal on your digestion (constipation) -Take up a fun aerobic sport and measure your progress. Mountainbiking is a good one. Fencing, basketball, and surfing are my favorites.
This is the big one: -Don't get discouraged with lapses. Just throw the pack away when you come to your senses and keep going. In the long run you are reducing your dependency and are that much closer to freedom.
Good luck!
I quit smoking, so can anybody. From a pack a day to zero. No big deal, you just stay away for smokes.
What bothers me is the whole set up. If the federal government really wanted to kill tobaco, they could just STOP PAYING PEOPLE TO GROW IT. Of course, the states would lose their lucrative tax base and the economy would lose the export money. Does it bother anyone else that the federal government tells you tobaco will kill you, that you should not use it, but then encourages it's production?
You have to wonder if this will get the same kind of subsidies. If not, we will know that the federal government considers tobaco a nicotine delivery system and encourges it.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I prefer LSD to Nicotine. Now if the Amish were selling LSD I would be a customer. And if the Amish were selling Marijuana I would be a customer. But for nicotine free tobacco, I say no. I rather support the American Indian Moffia and get my nicotine with my coffee.
So, it is OK to kill the smokers, you just can't let them get high; the Bush administraion will be behind this like a hound behind a bitch.
Amish, christians, moslems, terrorist... They are all fenatics of one sort or another.
If you're going to smoke, you might as well get a hit of nicotine out of it ;)
smash(no I'm not a smoker ;)
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
This is the news I have been waiting for. I have been having a very tough time quitting cigarettes, and I know it is the nicotine, which is said to be more addictive than heroin. Take the nicotine out, even gradually, and I think more people have a chance.
I am looking into buying some when they come to my area. As a matter of fact, I am going to talk to a local tobacco shop tomorrow, and ask them to carry these cigarettes. If anything, I think this is approach is better than gum, patches, or lozenges.
Parting shot: The fact that these cigarettes contain carcinogens is irrelevant. What is relevant, however, is the following... Millions of smokers cannot quit because of the power of nicotine. No nicotine, no smokers. Period.
DISCLAIMER:
I don't believe what I write, and neither should you.
This is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I used to smoke, and the only thing I ever smoked for was to get the annoying Jesus-I-want-to-smoke feeling out of my head, which we'll assume was caused by nicotine. So what now, I'm smoking a cigarette and I still want a cigarette? I'm not stupid, I'll realize after the first one that it ain't doing anything for me and I'll either run out to a drug store and get a real pack, or I'll suffer from withdrawl. Either way, I could acheive it by nothing buying this product, and I would get one less cigarette in my system. What we need is the exact opposite of this: a nicotine-packed cigarette without any of the tar, etc.
Put that it in your pipe and smoke it, Amish! Well...I guess that was sort of the point, wasn't it?
I know you've been smoking much longer than me, but it's worth a shot if you haven't tried it. Maybe you could work it into one of your stop smoking efforts to cut down on your compulsion to smoke.
Good Luck!
I just don't understand. I think it may be part of the War on Drugs hysteria. Why not work on getting rid of the cancerous agents in the cigarette and keeping the nicotine? I seem to remember that a while back there was some sort of "tobacco-free" cigarette available (used glass beads, or something?). That's the path we should be on - not getting Nicotine out, but getting the cancer-causing agents out. Nicotine, to my knowledge, does NOT cause cancer. It's the tobacco + 200 other chemicals that cause cancer and other smoking-related ailments.
So, let people become addicted to Nicotine - what harm does it do by itself? Just makes people a little less nervous and a bit more focused.
Charmed, I'm sure.
What I'd like to see is the ability buy a BIG box of these babies. Like a shoe-box full. All exactly alike in taste, look, feel, smell, etc. Except 25% of them have 100% tobacco, 25% are at 58%, 25% are at 17%, and 25% are at 0.
That would work well for me.
Maybe they could even sell shoeboxes full with different proportions.
Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?
Every tenth article here is a Wired article.
Yeah, and every third article has already been covered once by Slashdot..
slashdot!=valid HTML
Okay then, is "thou have" or "thou hath"?
It's like takeing off the wheels of a car so that it stops running -- instead of shutting down the engine.
He saw some dirty arabs and fired. Too bad it was just some friendly kurds, BBC reporters and his fellow cowboys.
It's a known fact that the type of fertilizer commonly used on tobacco contains (natural) radioactivity, PLUS tobacco absorbs heavy elements (including the radioactivity) from the soil. The fertilizer which is not absorbed gathers in the soil, to be absorbed by the plant. It's the fertilizer which causes cancer. THATS WHAT WILL MAKE A SAFER CIGARETTE.
"Using palladium to treat tobacco, they produced a cigarette that caused 70 percent fewer tumors in mice."
:)
Guess that's final then, Palladium is a Good Thing after all
... and then there were none
the shit will still kill your ass.
I'm surprise no one comes out with a tobacco with cannabis gene for that extra THC flavor.
well, the parent might be scored -1, but it is still true... the technology of recombinant DNA, and the production of transgenic plants is quite new, but breeding has been going on since the beginning of agriculture, and it has had profound effects on the genetic make-up of crop plants. It is possible that a lower nicotine-producing tobacco could be acheived through "traditional" breading practices. There are also many newer techniques, but either way, you have a tobacco that does not have a functional nicotine production system. The interesting thing that I did not see in the article, is what pleiotropic effects knocking out nicotine had. Then again, those things excite me. :)
Some caffeine-free Mountain Dew I had up north. Further proof that it is possible to market and sell products with no purpose.
The best thing about a boolean is even if you are wrong, you are only off by a bit.
Speaking of tobacco-less cigs, I don't understand the point of decaf coffee. I always thought that coffee drinkers drink it because of the caffeine. Why drink the decaf stuff? Can't you think of something better to drink that tastes a lot better, like just about any kind of soda on the market? The only reason to drink decaf coffee is for the taste, which makes no sense because of the 8 gazillion other beverages out there that have a better taste.
rm -rf sig
So I read the story and went to GIANT and bought a
pack. I'm smoking one right now. It's kinda hard to
describe what it's like, but I just ordered a carton
of them. I bought the Quest3, or "Nicotene Free"
variety. It's about as light as a marlboro
ultralight, but the flavor is, IMHO, better. There
is something missing. Cigarettes usually have a
"bite" to them. Like a sharp edge that's part of
the flavor. It's completely gone. It actually
(IMHO again) makes them taste better. The problem
is that collective bite is what keeps me from
picking up another smoke in 10 minutes. I can see
smoking a lot more of these than the ultralights
I normally smoke. But if after a few weeks I'm
over the nicotene addiction, it will be worth it.
I'm very impressed with this product.
The most important thing any republican needs to know.
As far as most are concerned... who cares about nicotine free cigs... that is what gets people hooked. I would imagine that nicotine free cigs are much of a replacement for regular smokes.. just an observation though.
So I read the story and went to GIANT and bought a
pack. I'm smoking one right now. It's kinda hard to
describe what it's like, but I just ordered a carton
of them. I bought the Quest3, or "Nicotene Free"
variety. It's about as light as a marlboro
ultralight, but the flavor is, IMHO, better. There
is something missing. Cigarettes usually have a
"bite" to them. Like a sharp edge that's part of
the flavor. It's completely gone. It actually
(IMHO again) makes them taste better. The problem
is that collective bite is what keeps me from
picking up another smoke in 10 minutes. I can see
smoking a lot more of these than the ultralights
I normally smoke. But if after a few weeks I'm
over the nicotene addiction, it will be worth it.
I'm very impressed with this product.
On a side note, Anheuser-Busch is having a
beer promotion right now for beer
distributors. They are going to be the exclusive
importers for a line of beers from an italian
company called "libero". If you fill in the blanks
at the page below, you can "pretend" to be an
interested distributor and score 5 cases of this
stuff. I hope it doesn't suck. The page is in
italian, but it's not hard to understand. YMMV.
http://digilander.libero.it/caricacell/
The most important thing any republican needs to know.
Having quit three weeks ago after roughly 25 years of smoking, I can say these are a great idea. Nicotine is like little men with power tools that live inside you. The nicotine makes them go to sleep. Without it, they fire up their various tools and annoy the shit out of you. I've been told I will live with these little assholes for up to two years, and even then they will likely visit occasionally.
So, how do nicotine-free smokes help. They mean I don't have to quit drinking too. I think you know what I mean. After all, how many non-smokers have you seen light up after a tipping a few.
There are many, many other harmful substances in cigarettes. Tar is just one I can think of offhand.
On another note, I really can't stand people who doubt that smoking causes health problems. Come one, inhaling hot smoke from a burning plant remains? How could that possibly be innocuous?
I don't know why everyone is dumping on this idea so much. I have been using these cigarettes in conjunction with The Patch, and I haven't wanted a real cigarette in weeks.
Doesn't it seem like the Amish would be against genetically engineering their crops? or for that matter growing tobacco?
no comment
How about p***-less women, p***-less men?
All of the death without any of the pleasant side effects! Just what i wanted!
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
Mmmm! Smokable nicotine sticks! All the cancer, none of the flavour!
Karma: pi (Mostly due to circular reasoning in posts).
If you check out the fine print on the packaging, you'll find that the "Nicotine Free" cigarettes contain "less than 0.05 mg" of nicotine. While I'll readily admit that five-hundredths of a milligram is pretty small, that doesn't strike me as "nicotine free".
Everyone knows the way to quit smoking is with smokable nicotine sticks. Accept no substitutions.
So, they have no nicotine but you still get cancer ?
*Cough*
Brilliant idea by those clever Amish dudes !
This is a joke article, right ?
A slashdotting - you get the stick first and then the carrot !
Didn't anyone do their research and watch the X-files? This will lead to genetically modified bugs, whose eggs will be carried into everyones lungs by the cigarette smoke, which will then claw their way out when they hatch!
Teenagers everywhere, "But Mom, I can stop whenever I want to now!" All those excuses for babies now applies to lung cancer: "Well, I THOUGHT I could pull out in time..." Applying my new found adulthood has just gotten less risky: I can now try it without the chance of first-time addiction! Before, all one could hope for was that it wasn't in their genes. Well, you can THANK those genes now. (Presently going to tell my smoker buddies how lucky they are!)
Great!
I just finished a smoke.. i should be good for @ LEAST another 45 min. or so..
but no, after reading 2 pages of smoke talk i can feel it bad! erg!!!
i see a 'between two evils' dilemma here, because i am opposed to genetically modified organisms, while i am opposed to the tobacco industry giants that lie to consumers. while i feel that this product will be a serious thorn in the side of the tobacco industry, giving smokers more ways to quit, it also uses a technology i loath. in the end, i cannot support this company, the dangers of genetically modified organisms is just too great.
As a rope fibre, hemp was recognized as lousy all the way back to Melville's Moby Dick. Among other things, it rots from the inside out, so it looks great until it breaks under load.
If you're really into new uses for fibres, figure out something to do with sugar cane. There's a glut of the stuff after the sugar is extracted, and it's usually burnt in the fields. Particleboard-like materials have been made from sugar cane, but it's never really caught on.
Isn't this just counter-productive? The only reason people are so addicted to tobacco is because of the nicotine. If tobacco didn't have nicotine, wouldn't it be easier to just use a patch or something?
... sure, this product is a winner.
By removing nicotine from tobacco, you are doing nothing. What needs to be done is the removal of harmful carcinogenic chemicals in the tobacco that cause cancer, and put it into a form that does not fill your lungs with TAR. If you are smoking just to kill yourself, but you want to stop at any time -- sure, this product is for you.
Yeah
- - - - - - -
Orppf urp mf y.ppcxn. yflcbi otcnnov C am yflcbi yr n.apb Ekrpatv (Dvorak -> Qwerty)
Using palladium to treat tobacco, they produced a cigarette that caused 70 percent fewer tumors in mice. Trumpeting the research, LeBow launched a $25 million advertising campaign in 2001 and released what was dubbed the Omni.
Soon you won't be able to get any tobacco without this Palladium crap in it! What if I want to roll my own cigarettes?
Ultra lights have been an increasingly popular cigarette because of the low amount of nicotine, I suspect this will definitely increase Vectors market share.
"The more diet products you eat, the faster you slim." Clearly, it doesn't work for the consumer, but it works well for the producer. If the pizza is only half size eat two to get stuffed. In the result you will just spend more money to get what you need. With cigarets it also means, you consume more toxines to get the same amount of nicotine.
If you don't smoke for the nicotine but want to have something to play with, use a straw!
This sig is a true statement, but I cannot prove it.
The Amish use tech only when it's beneficial, if I understand correctly. Cancer and lung problems, etc. don't seem to fit that.
Perhaps they're trying to kill off us heathens, eh?
GL
You mean like methadone, which I believe is actually more addictive than heroin with a tenth of the buzz.
I live and farm in a heavily Amish community here. One of the biggest reasons that the Vector tobacco was so readily accepted was that they guarantee a high price at harvest. For the last 30 or so years tobacco has been a high return cash crop. Many Amish families have used the added income to pay the excessively high taxes resulting from the intense development pressure. A couple of years ago, tobacco prices collapsed due to the general anti-tobacco sentiment, and a shift of the big firms to non-US sources. Local farmers have been hard=pressed to find an equally profitable (legal) alternative, and many young people were considering leaving the farms due to the lack of any profitable path forward (milk and grain prices are at 30 year lows). Two years ago, Vector stepped in and offered free plants and a guaranteed price that was 3-5X higher than the remaining buyers. It didn't take long for acceptance. Tobacco is a very labor-intensive crop. The Amish are probably the last group left in the US that can raise it and process it in the traditional manner (i.e, no chemicals and no machine processing). However, it is hot brutal work (I helped cut a field of Vector last July when it was 102 in the shade). They do it because of the economics, not the ethics. You might keep their situation in mind as you buy your food at the supermarket...
And cancer & deseases free ? :o)
-SDF
As some of you know, Pavlov's experiments showed us the learned conditioning to stimuli is a reality. Now, in this case, cigarettes being the external stimuli, this product is revolutionary and I can't wait for it (myself being a smoker). Back to Pavlov: Our body gets addicted to nicotine and the action of smoking is the external stimuli that our body has learned, will deliver the nicotine. Now, relearning the effects of the external stimuli is very possible and smoking cigarettes without nicotine will eventually get your body out of the addiction for the smoking action itself. The nicotine addiction will remain, but without a relating stimulus, your body will eventually grow out of the addiction.
"Make me some if you're making some"
Other fun boyscout pasttimes:
Eat at Joe's.
I don't care if they are nicotine-free. When evaluating a woman at first glance, smoking gets a "-10" right off the bat. It stinks up the air, their breath stinks, their clothes and hair stink..
Trolling is a art,
Unfortunately, vaporized nicotine alone does not show this same taste gradient, so vaporizing pharmacuetical grade nicotine is not likely to satisfy the inveterate smoker, although it would save them their lungs, unlike these cigarettes.
I used to have quite a bad smoking habit... 40, 60, even (very) occasionally 100 cigs a day. I switched to cigars about a year ago, but for the last month have been using this pharmacuetical nicotine instead of tobacco...
It works surprisingly well, although you obviously must want to quit.
Information wants to be beer.
you will live the same 50 or so years, the difference is that as a smoker most probably you will live in pain the last 10 or 15 of them.
As for organs, how wonderful, to deny them to people that need them due to malformations or accidents so you can "socialize" (I socialize fine, never touched a cigarrette in my life).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Oh no, silly me, all that smoke is good for your lungs.
Damn, somebody smack me please.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
("you" is one of those words that wouldn't be such a problem, with "y'all" etc. if we hadn't gotten rid of common usage of "thee" and "thou").
In this case, it should read:
"Jebediah, thou hath a call"
thou is used as the subject, thee is only used as an object.
yours,
kbs
Wouldn't it be more usefull to have nicotine in a carcinogen or tobacco free cigarette rather than a nicotine free cigarette that still gives you cancer? I thought the point of smoking was to get the "zing" from the nicotine.
id rather see those guys that blow smoke in your face to die slowly( but inevitibly faster than us non-smokers ), pointlessly rather to get a hit off it.
personally i think is better they die at the end of my 9mm
All of the stink and cancer of regular cigarettes, with none of the fun! Woohoo!
Any discussion about smoking needs to include at least one Bill Hicks quote:
"The worst kind of non-smokers are the ones who walk up to you while you're smoking.. "ahem ahem... ahem ahem ahem..... ahem ahem ahem ahem... AHEM AHEM AHEM..." I always say "Shit, you're lucky you don't smoke! That's a hell of a cough you got there - I smoke all day and don't cough like that..."
"Understand you're having a little Jimmy Page trouble."
The whole POINT of cigarettes is nicotine. It's a legal, socially acceptable way to ingest a powerful narcotic, like with Big Macs and MSG.
What they SHOULD do is genetically engineer it for nicotine with no carcinogens.
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
Slightly off-topic...
A few months back I was talking with a woman who was smoking the most interesting cigarette i've ever seen. Evidently she was taking part in a study promoted by non-other then Phillip Morris. What she was smoking looked like a normal cigarette being smoked inside of a small device with a mouthpiece. The device lights the special cigarettes NOT from the top but from the sides and somehow releases the nicotene without the smoke. It was true, there was absolutly no smoke coming from it whatsoever. I asked her if they still hit you like normal cigarettes and she claimed they did. The device also contained a small chip that calculated the amount of nicotene the person released and at what intervals in order to monitor their smoking habits.
The market niche for these devices is to promote "healthy smokers". She claimed after using it she smoked less and less until she hardly had the need for a cigarette at all. It makes me question why Phillip Morris would be involved however.
I wonder when/if they'll start selling these on the market? I think it's a better idea then nicotene free cigarettes. Smoke is what causes the cancer, the bad breath, and the stinky hair and clothes, not nicotene.
When I was in first grade I was told that drugs were bad, this continued until my graduation 12 years later. When I watched TV I was told that drugs were bad. Cub Scout meetings, parents, school, Mr. Rogers, NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, all told me the same thing.
Now that I'm a little older, I get to see my money going to people who need rehab. They got the same messages as I did. I do not smoke, I drink about twice a year, and that's not to excess, I have never taken an illicit drug.
I listened.
They didn't.
It's called Darwinism.
Sucks to be them. Hopefully they won't pass those dumbass genes on.
Maybe one of these days we'll start treating drug use and abuse realistically, but not yet.
I think that I have a very realistic view on drug addiction. My view on it is the one I got working at an ISP a few blocks from the projects(ya know... the realistic low income housing that helps everybody out for $8 a month) watching prostitutes turn tricks to get their next fix, then looking at the column on my paycheck labeled 'withholdings,' WTF was she doing with my money? Putting nice little designs that looked like railroad tracks on her arms.
If you make drug addiction comfortable, with alternatives that don't hurt, free food, $8 housing, clean needles, and methadone, WHY WOULD ANYONE EVER QUIT? And moreover... why would their children not do it? They may very well have a genetic disposition to it, and they see how easy it is for mommy to sell their (MY) food stamps for $.30 on the dollar.
Fsck helping those that don't want help.
Fsck the 'white mans burden.'
Fsck social security.
Let me keep my money, I fought for it, my parents fought so I could have it, as did their parents.
END OF LINE.
doesnt the tobacoo in ultra light cigarettes have the same amount of nicotine as a regular cigarette? ultra lights just have more holes in the filter so there is more air mixing with the smoke when you take a drag...
What part do you not understand.
The atkins diet isn't about calories. It is strictly about carbohydrates. The theory is that if you don't eat carbs then you loose weight. It works for alot of people.
Alchohol, more specifically ethanol is in no way a carbohydrate. Perhaps you missed out on this in your chemistry class. There are many different types of alchohols, like ethanol and methanol etc... There are also different types of carbohydrates such as glucose, fructose, galactose. Michelob ultra strives to decrease the amount of CARBOHYDRATES such as glucose fructose and galactose to cater to the people that believe that eating less carbs will help you loose weight. Ethanol is perfectly ok on this diet. Most beer contains plenty of carbohydrates in addition to ethanol because it is made from grain.
If this doesn't make sense to you then go back to highschool, it is rather basic chemistry.
At the very least stop spouting sensless drible pretending to know something when in fact you are proving yourself quite ignorant.
It has been statistically shown that helmets increase the risk of head injury.
If just one piece of mail gets lost, well, they'll just think they forgot ...
to send it. But if *two* pieces of mail get lost, hell, they'll just think
the other guy hasn't gotten around to answering his mail. And if *fifty*
pieces of mail get lost, can you imagine it, if *fifty* pieces of mail get
lost, why they'll think someone *else* is broken! And if 1Gb of mail gets
lost, they'll just *know* that Arpa [ucbarpa.berkeley.edu] is down and
think it's a conspiracy to keep them from their God given right to receive
Net Mail
-- Casey Leedom
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