The vaping years.....

The Smoking Years- a movie - was shown a while back on BBC. It's the story of the modern smoking epidemic from the turn of the 20^th Century. It is NOT the story of smoking. Humans have smoked for thousands of years. And probably have since time began for us.

The Smoking Years had inaccuracies. It promoted the existing myths that 40 000 smokers quit smoking in the first six months after smoking was banned in pubs. I have read these twististics before. The 40 000 are those who received nicotine replacement therapies from the NHS in those months – and success was measured after 4 weeks! Thus continues modern science on smokers and smoking!

The second hand smoke "harms" issue - the scientific twististics that are questionable to say the least were hardly discussed. Or taken for granted.

The other myth was that smokers are a breed in the throes of extinction. Yes? Well no, actually. The epidemic might be over, but the influence of big tobacco has merely been replaced by the influence of big pharma making millions on nicotine replacement therapies. 25% of people in the UK smoke. Extinct? No way.

A new threat to society, relieving many smokers from a life of persecution, is the appearance of the electronic cigarette. This is a brilliant invention, odour less, smoke less, tobacco less, toxic lesser that gives the same pleasure as smoking. The vaping community is strongly vital. Those who have found a miraculous release from the old fashioned analogue cigarette as described in The Smoking Years, tell the world how amazing, for them, the e-cig has been. They tell that the old fashioned nicotine replacement therapies described in The Smoking Years had the aura of grimness about them and were not successful in the way that electronic cigarettes have been for them

Where have all the smokers gone? They're there, believe me! Still smoking.

But now there are also many ex-smokers, vaping happily on their personal vapourisers (PV's) too.

Smoking, in any form, has comforted humans for ever – maybe the last decade should be called The Persecution Years? I hope we will be ashamed of them one day and see with clear eyes the role of greed and avarice in both encouraging smokers and "curing" them. And then,again maybe we will enter The Vaping Years where technology can make the impulse to do this delicious smoking-thing safer than ever before?