Stinky stories

[Oriana871]

I'm afraid to say how long I smoked for cause people will think I'm like 60 or something (started very young), and maybe that's why, coming up to the 3 month vaping mark, I can still barely smell cigs. I get a whiff the odd time in the smoking circle, but sometimes someone is smoking next to me and I can't smell anything, no different really from when I used to smoke. Since I ride the subway everyday, that could be a good thing .

I think it's going to take me longer to experience the benefits of not smoking. I never had a cough, believe or not, so no change there. I don't feel any different at all - it's gonna take me a bloody year at this rate but so be it.

[Dusty_D]

I'm afraid to say how long I smoked for cause people will think I'm like 60 or something (started very young), and maybe that's why, coming up to the 3 month vaping mark, I can still barely smell cigs. I get a whiff the odd time in the smoking circle, but sometimes someone is smoking next to me and I can't smell anything, no different really from when I used to smoke. Since I ride the subway everyday, that could be a good thing .

I think it's going to take me longer to experience the benefits of not smoking. I never had a cough, believe or not, so no change there. I don't feel any different at all - it's gonna take me a bloody year at this rate but so be it.

Hang in there Oriana. It sometimes can take as long as 6 months to a year for it to come back and then one day BAM! what's that I smell?! If you're lucky it'll be something good. It took me a while to get it back but I was also on prescription allergy meds when I quit because of my dog. Don't have the dog anymore and the meds are gone. I'm almost 100% back to normal now, and can generally go through a whole day with my sense of smell. I swear it still cuts out every now and again.

[Mindfield]

Yeah, it can take some time for the senses to really return in force. I still get these bursts where my tastebuds are all, "Whoa, dude! This Tabasco is spicy!" where just the other day it wasn't so much. My sense of smell though pretty much returned in to as good as it'll ever get probably within a few months. But as with all else, everyone is different.

[MisterMike]

So... Tabasco is spicy, you say? Next you'll be telling me that a garlic press is not generally used for at-the-table seasoning. I love the way three cloves of garlic add a subtle bouquet to what I'm eating.

Seriously though, I'm a month and a half in, and I still don't know how much of my senses of taste and smell have yet to return. Heck, I thought I had a pretty refined palate back when I was sucking on a pack a day. Nowadays, I realize just how much damage I did to those senses. Now I know why a lot of ex-smokers gain weight. It's not because of the hand-to-mouth urge/habit/whatever. It's because everything is so much tastier.

Then again, there are off-days or weeks. Right now food might as well be styrofoam for all I taste it. Well, not quite, but I can't taste much, and what I do taste is pretty wonky. I suppose everyone reacts differently to getting off the smokes. F'rinstance, I haven't gotten quit zits or hacked up much of anything, and those are apparently two pretty common symptoms for one at my stage of quitting.

Perhaps your sense of taste is just taking a long time to return. Waiting for the perfect moment for its grand entrance, so to speak.

Edit: Upon more careful reading of Dusty's and Mindfield's posts, I realize I haven't said anything new. Go me.

[aggo]

I've been analog-free for almost a year and a half and I never noticed any dramatic improvement in smell and taste. I dunno...maybe they were great to begin with or they're damaged permanently.

[Oriana871]

Ah yes another thread off on another tangent. Thanks Dusty, and everyone else . So this is the way I've approached the situation: I figure that my lungs are pretty encased in tar (pretty picture I know) and everything else is damaged. Of course we're talking years, so expectations need to be realistic. I joke with my one friend who has embraced vaping with me, saying I know it could take years to see any results. In the scheme of things tho, it doesn't matter. I would rather be vaping, regardless of any instant benefits showing up on my doorstep. Not smoking is the goal. End of story. I don't need the rewards necessarily. That's a pretty big statement, I realize. The thing is, I like vaping so much that I don't focus on instant gratification to justify what I'm doing. It just boils down to how easy it is to quit smoking. I have cravings sometimes, for sure, but not a big struggle by any means. So I vape, and if one day I feel better or notice a physical improvement, like smelling the stinkies, then great.

Right?

[zer0ith]

The only thing I have notice (taste wise) in my 1.25 years free from cigarettes is that spicy foods that use to be "not so spicy" are freaking spicy as !!!

[Mindfield]

Edit: Upon more careful reading of Dusty's and Mindfield's posts, I realize I haven't said anything new. Go me.

Heh, no worries. There is nothing about vaping or vaping-related topics that doesn't bear repeating.

Ah yes another thread off on another tangent. Thanks Dusty, and everyone else . So this is the way I've approached the situation: I figure that my lungs are pretty encased in tar (pretty picture I know) and everything else is damaged. Of course we're talking years, so expectations need to be realistic. I joke with my one friend who has embraced vaping with me, saying I know it could take years to see any results. In the scheme of things tho, it doesn't matter. I would rather be vaping, regardless of any instant benefits showing up on my doorstep. Not smoking is the goal. End of story. I don't need the rewards necessarily. That's a pretty big statement, I realize. The thing is, I like vaping so much that I don't focus on instant gratification to justify what I'm doing. It just boils down to how easy it is to quit smoking. I have cravings sometimes, for sure, but not a big struggle by any means. So I vape, and if one day I feel better or notice a physical improvement, like smelling the stinkies, then great.

Right?

That definitely is the most important part. But you do really need to give it time. For me, the return of taste came in waves, and those waves were months apart. On the other hand the majority of the return of my sense of smell -- which wasn't a massive improvement apart from the fact that I suddenly became super aware of the smell of cigarette smoke from a hundred feet away -- came back inside a couple of weeks.

The only thing I have notice (taste wise) in my 1.25 years free from cigarettes is that spicy foods that use to be "not so spicy" are freaking spicy as !!!

True dat. Green Tabasco -- the meekest of the Tabascos -- was suddenly like eating fire for me. Worse was that the end product of eating spicy food -- the bit done in the bathroom -- was still freaking burning. As I said in another thread, it was like eating the sun, and the next day, the sun came out again.

One of the more subtle changes for me though was that I found I've been using much less salt on my foods, too.

[shades]

As I said in another thread, it was like eating the sun, and the next day, the sun came out again.

You need to keep an emergency roll of Toilet Paper in the freezer!.... Just saying

Come to think of it.. if that sort of thing is going to happen to me soon.. I better as well! I like my stuff crazy hot!

[Flinx]

Love this thread, makes me feel SOOO much better.

Just past the three week point of vaping and man things are smelling odd and tasting even weirder.
Example, made myself a roast beef sandwich with a touch of whorchester sauce with a couple slices of banana pepper, lots of mustard and mayo of course, and almost gagged. I couldn't believe it, the peppers where too hot! I was eating them out of the jar just a month ago.
I can even smell things again, like when my wife comes inside from having a smoke. Or even worse when I open my car door on a hot day ewww I really really need to detail the interior soon before my sense of smell fully returns.

So is this going to be a gradual thing or a BAM wow what the heck is that? type thing ??