all rambling, not sure of the contents
I got about half my normal amount of sleep, so I'm even more unfocused than usual. Here's an odd question for smokers or ex-smokers on my flist:
I like to test out energy drinks. All of them; any new ones, except those that have sucralose, which is 100% blech. This has become a bit of a challenge, as there are many out there now. But still, fun. I've learned that I really like guarana, but various blends of mild-buzz makers still make for interesting variations on long-drive brainstorming time.
So... There used to be a little Indian / Middle Eastern grocery store near our house in Scarborough, ON. Anyone who lives in Scarborough knows that this is like saying there used to be a gas station near our house -- you can probably get more Indian / middle eastern food here than anywhere else in North America. But this one was right next to the generic c-store, just two blocks away. So I checked it out. The only thing I found useful was a new energy drink. I think it was called Bullet or something like that. Tiny cans, like Red Bull, but not from a large company. It looked like it may have been imported, but not definitely. Sadly I can't remember the name. I bought some from that store multiple times. One time they were out. I asked the manager, and he said they'd probably have more later. Then they went out of business. *sigh*
But about that drink: It wasn't particularly super-stimulanty, but it did have a characteristic I haven't found in any other energy drinks: it made me feel OK. Seriously OK. Like "Hey, I could go work on something I've been neglecting, if I wanted to" which is harder than it sounds for me quite a lot of the time -- I'm way too distractable. This is OK as in "headcheck -- yep, no headache, no jetlag, no bad head state of any kind." There was a bit of vroomage in the can too, but that wasn't the dominant effect. Combine vroomage + head-OK and you get some mood lifting. So I could totally see making a habit of this one.
I checked out the ingredients list, which I recall being a bit harder than usual to translate. That may have been because it used EU conventions, or a different language. I don't really remember. I do recall it had one ingredient that had the same root as nicotinamide, and it may well have been nicotinamide, but I couldn't remember at the time whether nicotinamide was what I now know it is -- vitamin B3. Lot of energy drinks have B-vitamin assortments in them (and caffeine, and guarana, green or black tea, yerba mate, ginseng, etc.). I recall some chemical with the 'nicotin' root word in it being essential to heart function (from an anatomy class I took a few years ago), so I didn't jump to the conclusion that this was some derivative of nicotine as in what's in tobacco. But it did get me wondering if there might be something unique in this can.
It would not surprise me if they could sneak something in through the vast import network that is Scarborough that might not pass local inspection. I recall a story where the German government jumped on Red Bull for trace amounts of cocaine in their drink. [You could convince me that it can be tasted in the US drink, as the taste+buzz is just a tiny bit unique, but then so are the others, so whatever.]
Lastly it might be that this mystery drink made my head feel all right with the world because the drink was sweetened with sugar, and not corn syrup (as most US drinks are), as corn syrup gives me a very mild head-not-right feeling.
But this brings me to my question for the ex/smokers: Does the benefit of smoking come from an imparted head-feels-all-OK effect, or from a caffeine-like energy buzz, or both, or something else?
I like to test out energy drinks. All of them; any new ones, except those that have sucralose, which is 100% blech. This has become a bit of a challenge, as there are many out there now. But still, fun. I've learned that I really like guarana, but various blends of mild-buzz makers still make for interesting variations on long-drive brainstorming time.
So... There used to be a little Indian / Middle Eastern grocery store near our house in Scarborough, ON. Anyone who lives in Scarborough knows that this is like saying there used to be a gas station near our house -- you can probably get more Indian / middle eastern food here than anywhere else in North America. But this one was right next to the generic c-store, just two blocks away. So I checked it out. The only thing I found useful was a new energy drink. I think it was called Bullet or something like that. Tiny cans, like Red Bull, but not from a large company. It looked like it may have been imported, but not definitely. Sadly I can't remember the name. I bought some from that store multiple times. One time they were out. I asked the manager, and he said they'd probably have more later. Then they went out of business. *sigh*
But about that drink: It wasn't particularly super-stimulanty, but it did have a characteristic I haven't found in any other energy drinks: it made me feel OK. Seriously OK. Like "Hey, I could go work on something I've been neglecting, if I wanted to" which is harder than it sounds for me quite a lot of the time -- I'm way too distractable. This is OK as in "headcheck -- yep, no headache, no jetlag, no bad head state of any kind." There was a bit of vroomage in the can too, but that wasn't the dominant effect. Combine vroomage + head-OK and you get some mood lifting. So I could totally see making a habit of this one.
I checked out the ingredients list, which I recall being a bit harder than usual to translate. That may have been because it used EU conventions, or a different language. I don't really remember. I do recall it had one ingredient that had the same root as nicotinamide, and it may well have been nicotinamide, but I couldn't remember at the time whether nicotinamide was what I now know it is -- vitamin B3. Lot of energy drinks have B-vitamin assortments in them (and caffeine, and guarana, green or black tea, yerba mate, ginseng, etc.). I recall some chemical with the 'nicotin' root word in it being essential to heart function (from an anatomy class I took a few years ago), so I didn't jump to the conclusion that this was some derivative of nicotine as in what's in tobacco. But it did get me wondering if there might be something unique in this can.
It would not surprise me if they could sneak something in through the vast import network that is Scarborough that might not pass local inspection. I recall a story where the German government jumped on Red Bull for trace amounts of cocaine in their drink. [You could convince me that it can be tasted in the US drink, as the taste+buzz is just a tiny bit unique, but then so are the others, so whatever.]
Lastly it might be that this mystery drink made my head feel all right with the world because the drink was sweetened with sugar, and not corn syrup (as most US drinks are), as corn syrup gives me a very mild head-not-right feeling.
But this brings me to my question for the ex/smokers: Does the benefit of smoking come from an imparted head-feels-all-OK effect, or from a caffeine-like energy buzz, or both, or something else?