this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
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[–] [email protected] 99 points 11 months ago (1 children)

of course they are. it's why I always encourage people not to buy them. they're awful for the environment, they're wasteful and they are lower quality than you'd get with most standard rechargeable e-cigarette kits.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I don't vape, but I can't imagine they're cheaper than re-usable vaping devices in the long run either.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 11 months ago

oh my goodness yes. I couldn't imagine buying a disposable every time I ran out.

that would possibly be just as expensive as smoking regular cigarettes.

I just use a little pod system that has replaceable coil heads. it was maybe 60 total because I bought two batteries. but I've not needed a replacement battery for my personal vape yet. Just have been replacing (or reusing) my coil heads.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I do vape. The long-term reusable vapes are a LOT more expensive than the disposable ones. My current setup cost 100 USD before batteries or coils.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago (4 children)

No, I mean long-term as in costs. Over a year or two, won't you be saving money?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (2 children)

$9 for the device - Vuse is the brand
Approx $7 per "cartridge"

$14 (on average) for a "Breeze Pro" disposable vape.

So it's cheaper, but about the same as regular cigarettes. Even worse, quality control on the cartridges is shoddy at best and I wind up moving the coil from a decent cartridge to one that failed less than 1/4 way through. At this point it's rare to have a coil last as long as it should.

Best way to save money is to quit. Dropped alcohol last year and THC before Thanksgiving.
Nicotine is next on the list, here's hoping for a cheaper new year.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Nicotine is one of the hardest addictions to get over. Nicotine is as addictive as heroin or cocaine. I wish you good luck, but don't blame yourself if you can't quit.

I quit in 2000 and I think the only way I was able to quit was because I worked in a place where everyone smoked, so I got a ton of second-hand smoke. I doubt I would have been able to do it otherwise and it was still one of the harder things I'd have to do.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

Nicotine isn't the only addictive substance in cigarettes. As someone who has quit both cigs and vaping, it was by far easiest to quit vaping. It absolutely sucked - but nothing compared to going off tobacco. I still get massive cravings if I smell someone smoking nearby.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Nicotine is one of the hardest addictions to get over. Nicotine is as addictive as heroin or cocaine. I wish you good luck, but don't blame yourself if you can't quit.

I quit in 2000 and I think the only way I was able to quit was because I worked in a place where everyone smoked, so I got a ton of second-hand smoke. I doubt I would have been able to do it otherwise and it was still one of the harder things I'd have to do.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Lol comparing it to heroin.

It's not the substance itself that is addictive, it's cultural aspects and ease of access. When you can throw a stone in any direction and hit a store that sells tobacco, it's going to be harder to quit. Even if you are far away from a store, if your near any significant group of people you can find someone who will give you a cigarette.

Now if I wanted heroin it would probably take me a week to bounce messages around some of my more downtrodden acquaintances before I found a dealer. And you won't find anyone who is going to share their heroin with you. If you knew the hoops people would jump through and fire they would walk across to obtain heroin, you wouldn't compare that to cigarettes. Hardly anyone would do all that shit just for a smoke.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It's compared to heroin in terms of how addictive it is. And considering people have spent their entire lives trying to quit and failed, that seems right to me.

I bet you think I made that up, don't you? I did not.

https://www.google.com/search?q=nicotine+as+addictive+as+heroin

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

It just isn't as addictive. Period. They are comparing something with ubiquitous access to something extremely difficult to source. If people had source tobacco like they source heroin, no one would smoke.

There are almost no withdrawal symptoms from quitting smoking. I dare you to use H for a month and then quit cold turkey. I will smoke for a month and do the same... we can compare notes about how addictive they are after the experiment.

(My tinfoil hat is these points about addictiveness and nicotine relapse is just pushed by big tobacco to make it seem harder to quit than it actually is)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

It just isn’t as addictive. Period.

Based on what evidence?

There are almost no withdrawal symptoms from quitting smoking.

Weird, because I sure had them. Like several days of shaking and nausea.

I dare you to use H for a month and then quit cold turkey.

I was on various opioids for over a year due to my trigeminal neuralgia. They didn't work, but my neurologist tried one after another. So in a way, I was using thing nearly as strong as heroin with a similar profile for a lot longer. Quitting them had similar side effects, but it wasn't as hard. Something tells me you don't have personal experience with this and are just guessing.

(My tinfoil hat is these points about addictiveness and nicotine relapse is just pushed by big tobacco to make it seem harder to quit than it actually is)

Or maybe it's very, very hard to quit since, again, some people try over and over again their entire lives and fail. I'm sure you're aware of that, so I'm not sure why you're pretending you aren't.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Ask anyone who has tried both. Ask all of the people who tried smoking in their teens and didn't continue.

I had a minor headache for a couple days, and that's about it other than cravings. I have yet to meet anyone whose quit who had significant withdrawal symptoms, and some of them have smoked for decades.

Comparing a clinical doses of opoids is not the same at all as street heroin where no one is controlling the dose. Your doctor will keep your dose standardized, when you do heroin you will eventually get bags that are way stronger, your tolerance will increase to a level that a doctor wouldn't prescribe to someone unless they were on hospice. Once you have that tolerance, quitting is incredibly excruciating, you will be sicker than you ever have been in your life. Maybe after a week you will stop being sick, and if your lucky after 2 weeks the extreme depression might ease a bit.

It's just not a good comparison. Ubiquitous access vs extremely difficult access is the only reason people compare them. The substances themselves are not even in the same ballpark in terms of physical addictiveness.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Your doctor will keep your dose standardized,

Yeah, my doctor switched me to a different dosage and even a different type of opioid on the regular.

It's almost as if you don't know me.

And you have not actually negated the many articles which say the opposite of your evidence-free claim.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Yes, in the long term you are saving money but if you have 20 bucks but not 100, what vape are you buying? That's the point I'm making.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, smoke cigarettes again!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

It's no cheaper, we're talking about someone that can't afford to spend 100$ to save money long term.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Spoken like someone who never got hooked on nicotine.

"Why don't heroin users just stop doing heroin?"

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Was a smoker for over a decade but it wasn't causing me financial issues.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Their point is: Lack of money doesn't keep you from smoking.
You'll eat less instead.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Honestly, even for twenty bucks, you can probably get a cheap rechargeable vape kit.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

You can definitely get a shitty one that will have you back on the disposables within a few weeks until you save enough for a good system. Source: been there done that lol

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Personally, I can't keep a vape in one working piece for two years. Either the battery box fries, I shatter the tank, the USB port gets destroyed, or something else goes wrong. I'm very clumsy.

I have a box of backup parts and pieces at home because of this.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Goodness. I used the same SMPL+goblin tank for like five years straight. It’s still in great working order, I just got lazy and don’t wanna deal with wrapping my own coils anymore.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

The pod style devices are cheaper than the older style cloud chuckers and most of those now are refillable and not the juul style ones. I'm seeing good ones for $30-$50. The non removable battery gives them less longevity although they're still significantly more environmentally friendly than disposables. I used a fog machine to quit smoking and I've kept using them, but I definitely get why new vapers are largely going with the USB sticks now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Not really anymore for the ones with built-in batteries like the disposables. Similar to disposibles they are typical 20W or less. You can get many of them for under $30, including the UWELL Caliburn line which is a quality product line. The G Coil packs are between $10 and $20 depending and last a week or more per coil of which there are 5. If you chain them, you're probably looking at between 2 and 3 days per coil.

The mods that require rechargeables like 18650 and other similar form factors sit between $50 and $70 for reputable brands, though for the ~200W mods it can be around $100 if you include their branded tanks.

I'd bet your mod is at least a 100W+, probably over 150W depending on when you bought them (they are cheaper now than a few years, which were cheaper than a 10 years before that).

The tanks are pretty cheap now too, even those multi-coil rebuildables. If you don't rebuild your tank and use pre-built coils it is going to be a little more expensive. Those tanks for pre-builts tend to be a bit cheaper as well, like ~$30 for non-pods. Pod tanks tend to be around $10 - $15.

I remember 80W mods going for between $100 and $300 back in 2011 depending if it was considered a "clone" or not.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I went from a caliburn to a geekvape aegis and the coils are cheaper and they last me WEEKS instead of days now! So now I’m a shill for that. Also it’s like 35USD.

Quick edit: my SMPL clone was like 25USD and last like five years before I got lazy and stopped wanting to deal with building coils hahaha. It still works great!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Lawl my geekvape aegis was like 35USD and five coils are under 15USD. The coils last 2-3 weeks or more. The battery lasts FOREVER before needing a recharge.

I make my own juice so that’s free.

It was even cheaper using a SMPL mech mod and wrapping my own coils, but I got lazy. Now my 16+ 18650s go to my hobbyist flashlights.

I don’t know what your setup is, but you prolly overpaid

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

They are not. In many cases they’re the same price or slightly less. If you want a long term refillable, rechargeable vape that comes with spare coils, and is a similar profile to a small disposable, it’s about $40. A similar disposable is about $35.