Modding E Cigarettes to Help Smokers Quit - SrijibDutta/srijiblog GitHub Wiki

E-Cigarettes E-cigarettes have been handled as a way to help smokers stop their unhealthy habit of smoking by burning tobacco and other contents of a cigarette. Instead, they provide them with an alternate method: heating a solution that contains both nicotine and flavorings similar to regular cigarettes. In order to create the inhalable vapor, we use electronic devices.

Next to the regular market models, there have since been custom modifications to allow smokers to reach their preferred performance. What is the tech behind e-cigarettes, and can we use mods to help people stop consuming nicotine in the long run?

What Exactly Does it Mean to Stop Smoking?

If you have ever researched anything about the health aspect of an e-cigarette, you will probably have found mixed results when it comes to opinions about their effectiveness in regard to your health. The reason for the diverging results is a different definition of the concept “to quit smoking”. The deciding factor is whether or not “quitting” includes consuming nicotine.

• How effective an e-cigarette can be is largely dependent on if you want to use it to stop consuming nicotine altogether, or just consuming nicotine by burning regular cigarettes and inhaling their smoke.

The fact is, e-cigarettes are the most effective nicotine replacement therapy for smokers. By switching from regular cigarettes to e-cigarettes, smokers have an easier time controlling their nicotine intake and remove the harmful substances caused by burning and inhaling smoke and other cigarette contents such as tar.

However, many health organizations are still worried about the nicotine intake and possible harmful factors that have yet to be assessed, since the technology is relatively new and there are no studies on long term effects. Critical voices worry e-cigarettes make it easier to smoke and harder to resist, leading to a higher consumption of nicotine than before the switch.

For many smokers, however, e-cigarettes have been the ideal tool to stop smoking cigarettes and possibly consuming nicotine altogether. How do they manage this effect?

Why can E-Cigarettes Help you Stop Smoking?

If you want to help smokers quit, it is important to know why they are smoking in the first place. The attitude of smokers has been analyzed in many different ways (like this documentary series on BBC, fittingly named Burning Desire). Typically, it comes down to three factors:

  • the intake of nicotine/other chemicals
  • the habits surrounding smoking
  • the social aspect Many smokers do not smoke for the nicotine intake or the flavor of a cigarette alone. That is why it is difficult to quit smoking by using an alternative like nicotine patches. Instead, smoking consists of many little routines and habits, like rolling cigarettes and taking regular breaks, that are hard to turn off from one day to the other. Last, but not least, smoking is often a social “event”, where you take smoking breaks together and chat. Smokers might miss these moments, but standing in a circle of smokers while you are trying to quit is hardly helping with the goal to remain abstinent.

Here's where the genius of e-cigarettes comes in. They are designed to look, work, taste and feel similar to a regular cigarette, making the switch much easier and leading the way to eventually eliminate the nicotine intake completely.

How Does Modding Help?

Whenever there is a technology, there are people who have found a way to modify it and make it suit them better. GitHub is proof of that. Naturally, the same is true for e-cigarettes. What exactly can you change on an e-cigarette?

E-Cigarette Technology

An e-cigarette pen uses a heating unit and liquid to create a vapor, which can be inhaled through a mouthpiece which creates the appropriate drag. For this simple concept, you don’t need much except a battery and a control unit to heat and cool down the coil. Naturally, the actual device is more complex. A microprocessor is responsible for operating the pen’s many features, such as LED-lights to mark the battery charge, flow sensors to control the drag and creation of vapor and so on. Modern e-cigarettes have temperature and voltage control devices and gimmicks like integrated Bluetooth speakers and proprietary mobile apps. The microprocessor and simple build leave the pen open to many modifications.

E-Cigarette Mods

E-Cigarette mods often aim at the battery power and vapor creation. They allow vapers to provide their e-cigarette with longer lasting charges or more impressive vape clouds by heating more liquid at higher temperatures. While these are mostly hardware changes, by using the microprocessor you can also customize the pen’s software. Examples are codes that allow the e-cigarette to preheat or add custom text to the e-cigarette’s display.

How can These Mods Help?

Modders and the e-cigarette manufacturers are already working on modifications that could help prevent e-cigarette addiction and misuse. For example, the company JUUL is experimenting with integrated Geofencing technology for their vapes. They require user authentication and can be programmed to prevent e-cigarettes from being activated within certain areas, for example on school grounds. This way, a software upgrade and modifications could lead to protecting children more effectively.

Conclusion

Like any microprocessor operated device, e-cigarettes can be modified. In the past, these hard- and software changes have often aimed at the pen’s performance. It allowed users to create a longer lasting charge or to make the e-cigarette create more impressive vapor clouds.

However, software changes such as Geofencing tech have shown how the customization can be used to restrict the usage of a vape and protect an e-cigarette from reaching the wrong hands. This kind of technology, and potential implementation of AI controllers, leave us with a variety of options when it comes to help people quit and protect themselves from smoking.