Nicotine-Free Cigs, Genetically Engineered 547
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."
Just get yourselves a Wired subscription already. (Score:0, Informative)
Re:Wait.. (Score:5, Informative)
The idea is that people will be able to wean themselves from nicotine while continuing to smoke. Smokers are attached to the ritual, LeBow explains. Forcing them to fight both the addiction to nicotine and the habit of smoking makes it less likely that they'll succeed in quitting. With the Quest, nicotine dependency can for the first time be separated from the ritual. Once the addiction is addressed, smokers will have an easier time breaking the habit.
The point of the article... can be found in the article. Whoa.
Re:Next: THC-Free Marijuana (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Better than the patch (Score:2, Informative)
The article states it's a three step solution:
Quest 1 = 17% less nicotine
Quest 2 = 58% less
Quest 3 = nicotine free
Except, it looks as though they haven't quite gotten there yet. From the Vector Tobacco website:
Virtual Elimination of Nicotine
Scientists have determined that nicotine is the addictive element in cigarettes. Nicotine is an alkaloid that naturally occurs in tobacco. Alkaloids are complex, nitrogen containing compounds that naturally occur in plants, and have pharmacological effects in humans.
Vector Tobacco has the rights to a proprietary process that virtually eliminates nicotine from tobacco. Vector Tobacco's virtually nicotine-free process represents the first successful attempt to significantly lower nicotine in the tobacco leaf by growing tobacco plants bred to block nicotine production. While tobacco from an initial crop registered a trace level of nicotine, the company's goal is to grow tobacco with undetectable levels of nicotine.
Many scientists in the field believe virtual elimination of nicotine content is an important and much-needed step in the market for tobacco products.
So, it appears there will still be nicotine. You may just end up smoking more in the long run.
You still have to have mental discipline to quit.
The Point is... (Score:4, Informative)
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 [drivethrusmokeshop.com]
Re:Hahahaha (Score:5, Informative)
More info: Amish Telephones [amishnews.com] The Amish: Technology [loyola.edu] The Amish Get Wired. The Amish? [wired.com] Amish FAQ [shipshewana.com]
Useful to quit smoking? Read the article. (Score:1, Informative)
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.
Re:Wait.. (Score:2, Informative)
From the article:
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.
It was a huge failure. The brand has managed less than $6 million in sales to date - that's about what Marlboro does in four hours - and, though it's still available, the Omni is not being advertised.
Your prayers have been answered!
Re:Wait.. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Alcohol-free beer (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Unforseen Consequences? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Wait.. - taste == nicotine content (Score:1, Informative)
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.
This is a GOOD thing. (Score:5, Informative)
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. [customblends.com] 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.
Re:Wait.. (Score:5, Informative)
If I hadn't been successful quitting with patches this would have been a great option for me, and honestly I would even be tempted now if offered one of these things, socially at least (at the pub). The nicotine addiction is terrible, especially for those (ex)smokers like me who were addicted to it more than the actual habbit. For me loosing the habbit was nothing, overcoming the chemical withdrawals was a nightmare!
Re:Just smoke Pot (Score:5, Informative)
You know why pot is really illegal? It's because HEMP threatens the profits of the industrialists. You can make any grade of paper with it. It's the toughest natural fibre aside from spider silk. You can run a car on hemp oil. People could be growing gas in their backyards. Can't have that! Dubya's family has been heavily into oil for decades. Step up the War on Drugs! No conflict of interest here, move along.
In 1937, when marijuana was banned, the American Medical Association OPPOSED it. They had been prescribing it safely for over a hundred years.
Every [xs4all.nl] scientific [medmjscience.org] study [maps.org] of marijuana [druglibrary.org] has concluded that it is substantially less harmful than cigarettes or alcohol. Very recently, a senate committee here in Canada which studied it in depth, recommended [narconews.com] unanimously to the government that pot is far less dangerous than smoking and drinking, and should be regulated accordingly.
Perhaps, gram for gram, there are more carcinogens in marijuana than tobacco. So what? People smoke far less pot than cigarettes, because pot is not chemically addictive. I've been smoking pot regularly for about 8 years. You know how much I smoke now? A small pipe bowl when I get home from work, and maybe a shared joint when my roommate gets home. Now compare that to a smoker who measures their habit in packs per day, and is only getting worse.
"There is why pot is illegial [...] I can tell by your wording that you are a pothead"
I can tell by your wording that you make the average pothead look pretty bright.
Actual product review (Score:4, Informative)
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.