FTA: Menthol has local anesthetic and counterirritant qualities, and it is widely used to relieve minor throat irritation.
This makes it easier to get new smokers going without the coughing / throat irritation.
It started with crazy canker sores all over my tongue and a few pimples. The timelines I read were fairly accurate (e.g. tastebuds coming back, etc), but the biggest struggle was breaking the pattern.
Vaping just wasn't the same from the ritual side, but I'm glad I quit tobacco itself. Unlike many, I have no plans to quit nicotine. For me it takes the edge off -- and I think a lot of people with depression and anxiety are in the same boat.
People who haven't quit smoking will never understand what its like to quit smoking -- but the same goes for any addiction.
As with most things, saying is significantly easier than doing.
I had so many friends who smoked, and our independent desires to quit were definitely not in sync. I don't doubt that this was one of the major factors in me drawing out my quitting process.
As they and everyone knows, quiting smoking is a difficult task and suddenly prohibiting many peoples go-to fix would be cruel and possibly cause more harm than good.
>FDA officials—who want to curb use among youth while still encouraging adult cigarette smokers to switch to less harmful products like e-cigarettes—decided not to restrict sales of mint and menthol e-cigarettes because they didn’t want to create a situation in which cigarettes were more attractive to smokers who prefer menthol, senior agency officials said. [1]
[1]: https://www.wsj.com/articles/fda-to-propose-ban-of-menthol-c...