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posted by takyon on Friday May 15 2015, @11:55PM   Printer-friendly
from the smoking=smoking-1 dept.

The Center for American Progress reports:

Researchers are still trying to figure out what could convince the estimated 40 million smokers in the U.S. to kick the habit for good.

[...] That was the subject of an innovative study that tracked a group of [employees of the CVS drug store chain] who were recruited to participate in an incentive-based cessation program. According to the researchers, who published their results in the New England Journal of Medicine this week, offering smokers varying financial rewards and penalties in exchange for cutting out cigarettes worked better than they expected.

Participants were recruited through CVS and randomly assigned to several different groups. They could choose whether or not they wanted to join their assigned group or drop out of the study.

The control group offered standard counseling with free smoking cessation tools, like nicorette gum. The other groups were divided between "deposit" and "reward" strategies. In the "deposit program", smokers were required to fork over $150. If they successfully quit, they got their deposit back as well as a $650 bonus; if they didn't quit, they lost their $150 for good. In the "reward program", meanwhile, smokers weren't required to make an initial deposit and simply received a $800 reward for quitting.

Smokers were significantly less likely to consent to participate in the deposit program; about 14 percent of people agreed to join it, compared to 90 percent of people who agreed to try for the $800 reward. However, the people who did agree to pay out the $150 deposit upfront were much more successful at quitting.

[...] More than 80 percent of smokers in the largest rewards-based group had not given up cigarettes by the end of the study.

 
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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Saturday May 16 2015, @02:38AM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Saturday May 16 2015, @02:38AM (#183637) Journal

    Big Tobacco’s War on Vaping [nationalreview.com]

    When Reynolds and Altria decided belatedly to enter the e-cigarette market last year, the two companies chose to develop and manufacture only e-cigs that are known as “cigalikes.” Cigalike e-cigs are designed to look, feel, and taste like traditional cigarettes. These products have cartridges that are pre-filled and sealed and must be thrown away or recycled after several hours of use. Cigalikes work for some smokers, but they generally suffer from poor battery life, inadequate nicotine delivery, a lack of flavor options, and high prices that make switching to vaping with these products nearly as expensive as smoking cigarettes or even more so.

    Premium vapor products (PVs) evolved out of consumer frustration with the limitations imposed by cigalikes. PVs are larger than cigalike e-cigs and tend to look more like sonic screwdrivers than traditional cigarettes. Small bottles of nicotine-containing or nicotine-free e-liquid are used to refill PVs with any flavor and nicotine level the consumer desires. Studies are unsurprisingly finding that users of these fill-it-yourself vapor products are significantly more likely to quit smoking than those who use cigalike e-cigs. Many ex-smokers credit the ability to switch between a variety of flavors as being a prime reason for their being able to quit.

    At the moment, the largest player in the cigalike market is Reynolds, which still makes by far most of its money selling cigarettes. Its cigalike product, Vuse, was launched nationwide last summer in tens of thousands of convenience stores and gas stations. Unfortunately for Reynolds, sales of PVs and e-liquid surpassed cigalike e-cigs in 2014. Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog estimates that the PV and e-liquid market in the U.S. is about $1.5 billion and rapidly growing, compared with a stagnant $1 billion market for cigalikes.

    Even before this news broke, Reynolds had devised a vapor-product regulatory strategy to protect its cigarettes and cigalike e-cig products from thousands of smaller PV and e-liquid competitors in several states. To raise costs on and limit the number of competitors in the market, they lobbied for all vapor products to be taxed in South Carolina, Michigan, Oklahoma, and other states and for the same regulatory and licensing regimes that apply to cigarettes to be imposed on vapor products.

    Reynolds also has urged the FDA to ban all PV and e-liquid products as well as most flavored vapor products. That’s right. A company that made $4.6 billion in profits in 2013, selling products that cause cancer, illness, and disease, asked the FDA to ban the products that are both preferred by consumers and proven to help people quit smoking.

    OpenSecrets: Electronic Cigarettes [opensecrets.org]

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  • (Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday May 16 2015, @07:55AM

    by sjames (2882) on Saturday May 16 2015, @07:55AM (#183685) Journal

    Excellent links, thank you!

    Interestingly, a lot of vapers are already preparing for regulatory issues either specifically, or as a side effect of DIY. My current PV includes a rebuildable atomizer. That is, the heating element is user replacable part and is nothing more than a coil of heating wire (kanthal or nichrome). Those are becoming more common. To make the coild, wind a length of heating wire from a spool onto a mandral (I use a small screwdriver), and give it a quick blast with a propane torch to anneal it into the coil shape.

    I use it to vape liquid that I mix myself from 10% nicotine in propylene glycol, glycerin, water, and food flavor additives. If necessary, I could mix it starting with pure nicotine but that would require safety gear I don't currently have and it would be a hassle.

    So if the regulators come in, you'll see a lot of people making home-brewed 'modular flashlight systems' with optional air warmer attachments and somehow getting their home made all natural insect control products in the heating coils. Imagine that!

    A few are experimenting with home extraction from various relatives of the tobacco plant that are in themselves much too strong to smoke directly.

    And for the obligitory think of the children, making vaping taboo is a PERFECT way to make sure teens take it up in droves.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 16 2015, @09:10AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 16 2015, @09:10AM (#183699)

      If you mix yourself, just be careful you don't run out of flavor with the pure nicotine left over. I much preferred vaping until I discovered that and the strength got out of control.