Crown7 Nicotine Delivery Systems
I've smoked cigarettes for about a decade. There is much to recommend the habit—the instant air of rakishness a cigarette provides; the burst of nauseating head rush; the oily, smelly residue that covers my hair, clothes, teeth, and eyes—but I think it's about time to give it up. (My plan is to have a plan by the time I'm thirty, which is five months away.)
The patch has worked okay in the past. It's not breaking the addiction that's difficult for me, but the loss of a treasured habit, especially when I'm drinking, has eroded my long-term willpower in the past.
I haven't considered any of the electronic nicotine delivery systems in the past, because the ones I've seen before tend to look goofy and exhaling a puff of nicotine-laced water vapor isn't the same as letting that sweet cancer cloud waft from my nostrils. But perhaps I should give them a shot. At the least, it would give me something to keep my hands occupied during the transition period.
Crown7 manufacturers three products, all of which appear to share similar internals, but are contained within sleek plastic cases that reflect your nicotine vector of choice: cigarette, pipe, or cigar. Each unit comes with rechargeable lithium batteries, a case and pocket holder, and two replacement filter cartridges. Each cartridge can deliver the equivalent of about two packs of cigarettes and are quite reasonable at $2 apiece.
Of course buying into the system in the first place is the issue—the cigarette model costs $100. That's a good chunk, but considering the price of smokes in New York, it's less than the price of a couple of cartons. (Although these days I tend to roll my own.)
Has anyone had any luck with these? I'm sure they work fine—it's not terribly hard to heat up water vapor—but I'm curious if the action of "smoking" one is at all satisfying.
Cigarette Starter Kit Page [Crown7 via Gizmag]
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I'm glad you did this story, I read about this around a month ago and almost purchased it, but first I checked the reviews. There are NO reviews for this product. I'm "dying" to know if it works before I spend $100+
It would be a waste of money. Allen Carr (http://www.allencarr.com/) had the only good way to do it - I quit cold turkey with absolutely no problems a year ago and am still thrilled about it - you realize that this sort of thing and the patch is really just prolonging your agony and reinforcing the idea that you're giving up something wonderful. You could read that book and pick it apart, but who's the real winner at the end of the day: the person who read it too critically and is still smoking, or the person who took it at face value and is now a happy non-smoker? Good luck - and remember it's a lot easier to quit than the cigarette companies want you to think..it's all in your head.
The slightly old Nova documentary "Search for a Safe Cigarette"...
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/cigarette/
...contains considerable interesting information about alternative nicotine delivery systems. They've always been a hideous market failure, but there have been a few generations of them, and the current models - even in 2001, when the documentary was made - are apparently quite good.
The tobacco companies just still haven't found a way to persuade people to buy them.
(The whole documentary is Torrentable from your favourite hive of scum and villainy.)
9 years ago i too decided that i should stop smoking at 30.
if i may be so bold as to share the secrets of my success...
it's all about cold turkey, but it's also about breaking some associations too.
1) switch to a brand that you do not like. i used to roll my own as well, but for the 2 weeks before my quit date i switched to winstons.
i was getting my nicotine, but i was no longer feeling "cool", and was breaking the ritual aspect.
try to taper down as best you can during this time.
2) quit on your quit day
3) ok, it's not that easy. the first few days will *suck*. you will be an asshole and everyone will hate you.
that's good, because here comes..
4) stop going to bars, especially with your smoking friends, at least until you trust yourself again. but for the 1st month or two, no.
5) "bank" the cost of your smoking habit in a jar. seriously. each smoke free day, "pay" yourself $5.00 or whatever your current smoking costs you. save towards a goal. new laptop, camera, trip, artwork, furniture.... it's the reward you'll be earning. at $5 a day that's almost 2k in one year, nice!
6) try to get a little exercise. get off the subway a few stops early and walk, take stairs instead of an elevator etc. it'll help you feel rewarded in the cardio dept, and if you do end up snacking a bit or otherwise facing slight weight concerns be somewhat counteractive.
7) speaking of weight issues... go ahead and snack when the jones is bad, but try chomping on carrots, apples etc. after a few weeks your taste buds might wake back up a bit and healthy food might just hit the spot a little harder than usual.
8) stick to it! 9 years later i'm still occasionally tempted, but i'm too invested in thinking of myself as someone who beat this to ever feel that "weak" again.
best of luck man!
The product works well and the great thing is that you can get cartages with high medium low and no nicotine, you can also potential use it for liquid thc if thats your thing, they where about 200.00 a couple a months ago and for a vaporizer 100 isn't bad at all.
http://www.gizmag.com/go/8078/ this is a good review of the product.
I wish I could tell you if it works or not, but like you, I have just been thinking about trying it, and haven't gotten one yet. Please, if you try it let us know. Personally, I have tried to quit several times, with patches, lozenges, gum, and cold turkey, and every single time have managed to get well past the point where nicotine addiction was the issue (usually around a month or so with no nicotine), only to find that not smoking so upset my daily routine, that I would end up smoking again.
For me, it is the habit, not the addiction that keeps me smoking. I would be perfectly happy to replace the habit with a healthier delivery system if they actually work. Good luck!
I really like crown seven I've had the cigar version for about 5 months now, the cigarette is new and looks pretty sleek. I couldn't stand waking up feeling gross after a long night of chain smoking, but I love the social aspect of it, crown seven allows me to enjoy the act of smoking without all the crap, thats basically what its about, so if your looking to quit, or enjoy the act of smoking this is perfect for you.
Oh yeah and a cartage last about two weeks so its much cheaper than buying cigarettes.
Some commentary from Lester Grinspoon on crown7 and the future of vaporization products
The concept even has the support of Harvard Medical School Associate Professor Lester Grinspoon who believes that the “applications are vast. This is the future of smoking. It may well be the future of all drug delivery.” Medicinal vaporization has the potential to eliminate hypodermic needles and oral medications which can be degenerated by digestive enzymes.
For helping you figure out what will work for you in quitting, I highly recommend Changing for Good, which is about personal change processes in general.
Based on fairly extensive research, the authors cover 6 generic stages of change, which can apply to any change one would like to make. You can figure out where you are in your change process, and get strategies to help you progress based on that stage.
Reading it, I thought not only of my own work on losing weight -- 30 pounds so far! -- but of other issues on which I have made much less progress.
And good luck. My father died at the age of 45, when I was 8 years old, of a heart attack -- almost certainly caused in part by his smoking habit. I wish he could have found a way to quit. :(
I'm the commenter from #1, thanks for all your feedback. Somehow I think justmyluck is an advertisement for the company? Perhaps? Perhaps not? I liked the idea of switching brands before quitting too.. makes sense.
Some people have had good results using wellbutrin (zyban, bupropion) to quit smoking. It takes about 3 months. There's also a more effective (& expensive) drug Chantix available. I'm finding that the wellbutrin reduces my craving substantially, but it has some uncomfortable side effects, at least initially -- weird dreams & altered sleep patterns, jitteryness, irritability, etc. Anyway, it does seem to work for a lot of people, so if you can't manage cold turkey or other cessation methods, you might give the medication a try.
Ha if we were talking about a new pair of Nike, or Halo 3, and I made a positive comment on how I enjoyed either product most people would say thanks for the input thats real good to here, say something nice about something that is new or not as established and all of a sudden your the media director for the company.
Chantix is horrible. Sad story that happened last week.
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2007/09/20/pfizer-antismoking-pill-is-on-fire/?mod=yahoo_hs?mod=fpa_blogs
Seriously, guys, it's not the "alternative" delivery system that's the answer, is the cigarette companies, they need to find a cure for all the health problems cigarettes cause, this is what they should do.
Maybe then, I'll be able to smoke again...
My wife and I used Chantix to quit. Both of us stopped taking it before the recommended course was complete because it made us feel a little funky and it no longer seemed necessary. It's been 4 months now of non-smoking so far.
It's hideously expensive.... but so are cigs :)
I think maybe the massive expense actually helps it succeed. You don't want to screw up a multi hundred dollar investment.
Today is my 1st month of non smoking (I smoked for 13 years). I tried to quit innumerable times and felt horrible anytime I broke my promise of quiting.
In my opinion, any object that acts as smoking placebo will still make you feel under the impression that you're still a smoker.
I started by not having smoke breaks during work hours. Then I extended it by not smoking in my house.
After 8 months of doing this, I realized that I didn't think about smoke breaks or at home. I kept going like this, no smoking while drinking coffee, after having dinner, etc.
I only smoked when I drank with my friends. So I chose to quit and still go for beers with them, telling myself that I was finally regaining my health.
So, 1 month and I feel great and confident that I won't touch another cigarette again. :)
I recommend to read books on how to stop smoking (my favorite was Allen Carr's book).
I am sharing the method I used that is still working for me.
Good luck to all
I purchased one of these last week (cigarette style) despite not being able to find a suitable review. My plan is to post a fairly detailed one with more photos since there's nothing that really indicates scale or anything like that.
Sadly, the only thing I can say about the product so far is that it's been seven days and I still haven't receiving it. I plan on contacting Crown7 soon to see what's going on with my order but haven't gotten around to it yet.
Personally, I have no intentions to quit smoking. I'm just hoping this device will allow me to replace the majority of my habit with a less filthy and offensive alternative.
njoy.com has a much more professional feel to their site and information. Unfortunately, their device doesn't come in the sexxy style provided by Crown7.
yeah I checked njoy.com out they seem to be having problems branding they have another site that I attached, It looks real professional but those people and studies could not be more fake and generic. Plus crown7.com has the cigarette which is much slicker. I'm sure you'll get your product soon I remeber seeing that there was a four week wait because the cigs were in such high demand.
http://smokefreepleasure.com/
I think most of the commenters here are lost... this product isn't for smoking cessation, but err, grats on your success? I'm 26, and I have no desire whatsoever to stop consuming nicotine. I'm one of those smokers with ulcerative colitis-- I strongly suspect something related to my autoimmune disease will get me before lung cancer does. I DO want to reduce my risk of cancer and premature aging while still enjoying the benefits of nicotine on my graduate work and work-work so this seems perfect, and pretty cheap.
I've seen a lot of comments on the expense... have you seen what nice niche perfumes or designer shoes cost these days? How about chemo?
Njoy has menthol though....
I have no problem quitting smoking because the nicotine doesn't do much for me in the first place. But I really like the act, so if this item can give the same feel without depositing anything harmful in my system, I'm all over this right away.
... or you could save the hassle and put off smoking until your 40th birthday.
I have been looking at Njoy, which is also the name of some adult toys, and searching for it was terrible! :) What bothers me is that the website says point blank that nicotine is note dangerous, that it is the smoke, and other chemicals that hurt you. This is a lie. I am only 39 and have 5 stints in my heart in the last three years because of my smoking. From the advertising in the 80's. I thought I would be OK, because I smoked Carltons. I am also diabetic. Cancer is NOT the only damage that smoking can cause to your body. My cardiologist told me, that smoking is like rubbing sand paper on the inside of your arteries, which makes the cholesterol stick to them, causing clogged arteries, which is what I have. I was looking at Njoy because even though I will DIE, SOON, if I don't quit, I don't want to. I LOVE SMOKING. Isn't that horrible? Doesn't that tell us something about the power of nicotine, and the other chemicals in cigarettes? My Mother died as a direct cause of smoking, and I can't quit. It's rediculus, and as with most addictions, denial of reality is part of the whole justification process.
SMIKING KILLS! And it's not just the death, but the miserableness of life with the diseases that it causes. I am so lethargic all the time, because of my blood circulation, etc. But the more I think about quitting the more I smoke. Sound famillar?
That's my 2 cents, or dollars worth. I hope that helps someone.
Leah