I have not, and would not disagree with this. It would probably reduce use. How much? I have no idea. And neither do you. My initial response to your post supporting an "outright ban on cigarettes." was simply making the point that cigarettes will not go away simply because packs of filters are eliminated. As I said in that post, as long as shag cuts or plugs exist, or any form of tobacco, really, so will cigarettes. You replied to that post, saying that this was "Wrong." And now here we are.
You may be able to limit the proliferation of cigarettes in society with a ban on filters (maybe, we'll likely never know), but they are not going to disappear simply because filters are banned. Regardless of how it came to be, far more people (at least in the united states) use cigarettes than any other form of tobacco. Limiting them to RYO may reduce that number, but it certainly would not eliminate them. And as long as those people keep smoking some form of cigarette, younger generations will probably continue do the same.
To be clear, I would also love to see cigarettes go away, I am not arguing against that, I am just making the point that if such a thing were to happen (it likely won't) we should have realistic expectations for the result. I think pre-1900s levels is probably an unrealistic expectation, since they are already so prolific, but we can agree to disagree on that point, neither one of us will be able to empirically support what amounts to pure speculation on that note, the data simply doesn't exist.
Yes, that was my only point in my initial response to your ban on cigarettes post. Fully agree.
I hate to open another can of worms, but do you have a citation for anything supporting the statement that tobacco is enjoyed responsibly by the overwhelming majority? I'd love to read it....
Cigarettes are already obsolete, this is the last generation that will smoke coffin nails.
That’s why I’ve got such a sense of urgency here, the clock is ticking and the window of opportunity may not be long before no-one even cares enough about Cigarettes to voice any concern over a total ban of all things Tobacco, or even if there is no ban society in general might just practically reject Tobacco entirely in favour of other mechanisms, which could actually be worse for everyone.
Moderate Pipesmoking avoids addiction, the proliferation of safer Nicotine delivery devices only makes chemical addiction even more readily available. I suppose the fact that people won’t be dying en-masse from the effects makes it relatively acceptable in comparison, but people are still slaving their minds to a substance regardless of your method of delivery.
The total ban of Tobacco would be less healthy for society than the promotion of moderate Tobacco consumption as a leisure activity.
Tobacco Pipes are one of the only use cases for Tobacco where Nicotine is not the main focus, it is a side effect, but not necessarily an effect that everyone even likes to have.
The perception of Tobacco in society is rapidly changing, the question is how many people are aware of Moderate Pipesmoking as a reasonable leisure activity?
Most people whether they’re radical anti-smoking or actively smoke Cigarettes view all Tobacco as the same thing.
If Tobacco were Alcohol, society right now would be full of people who have only ever used Alcohol to get drunk and have never even thought of the possibility of Alcohol being used in any way other than getting totally wasted.
Pipesmoking “can be” a drug delivery system, the same as people can get drunk on wine, but most people would say you’re doing it wrong in that case.
We need to create that cultural trend for Tobacco.
In the absence of the global Cigarette crisis a moderate perception could be cultivated naturally over a long period of time (and that probably is the culture that prevailed pre-1900’s), but right now there’s a lot of people looking to make drastic changes while having no consideration for use cases outside the problem area.
The public mind needs some sort of official flag to separate appropriate and inappropriate use of Tobacco.
If all at once the Cigarette smokers reject Tobacco because of better alternatives for getting Nicotine and all the anti-smokers just claim that as a victory of their lifelong goal of the elimination of Smoking, it could send Tobacco into state of such cultural rejection that there’s no telling how long it would take to bring Pipesmoking back into relative acceptance.
Or, people could take a specific stand against Cigarettes, and allow Tobacco to continue on as one of many potential ways for adults to enrich their lives.
