Straying to analogs

[JenJen]

Like others have said, I wouldn't feel bad or put undue pressure on yourself. I have a feeling that once you get stocked up with supplies, and find out which juices satisfy you, you will be able to ditch the cigs for good. In the meantime, you have cut down and you can feel good about that! Hang in there!

[thewomenfolk]

It could well be that you're young enough to still consider smoking a pleasant experience. As I got older, the cigarettes disgusted me more and more and I got sicker from it day by day and year by year. Of course I was too hooked to quit, and it didn't seem fair that I needed them so much but they weren't providing the pleasure I was used to getting any more, but actually made me suffer, and just became generally disgusting to me.

So it may be that we who are at the stage where cigarettes disgust us have an easier time switching to the e-cigs, because we get the same pleasures we used to get from the 'habit' but get to avoid all the nastiness that smoking turned into for us. I hope this makes some sense. Good luck to you and I hope you find just the perfect e-cig for you.

[wrecktangle]

I've smoked for 35 years, and up until recently, was at a pack a day. I picked up my first e-cig the first of August this year. I supplemented the analogs with the e-cig. Got myself down to about 6 analogs a day. I decided that Sept 1 would be my quit day. So far so good.

I think a lot about picking up an analog (which wouldn't be difficult since I still have 3 full cartons at home), but grab my e-cig instead, take a few long drags off it, walk around a bit, and I'm good to go.

Keep an e-cig filled with some high octane nic juice, maybe something in the 36mg range, for those times when you really need the nic hit, but regularly use something lower, maybe in the 18mg range or so.

And, like others here have said, don't beat yourself up over it if you do an occasional analog. Think about all the analogs you're NOT smoking.

[Wakadoo]

I've smoked about a pack a day for a little over 30 or so years and I find myself having troubles leaving the analogs alone, ESPECIALLY in the morning with my coffee . I'm not giving up though... I was worried about the NIC content but that cherry liquid I got is pretty dang good. I'm going to experiment with diff juices between higher mg's liquid for those straying moments and lower liquid for the occasional use. I'm really hoping to stay off the "yuckies" as my daughter calls them.

[xirgot]

For me, it is not a "should" thing (and I urge that it not be for you). As you are seeing, many of us smoked for decades (4 decades in my case). Having one more is not going to kill you. [No, I'm not minimizing the dangers of smoking. If the worst happens, it won't be those last few that did you in, but the tens of thousands before that.

I suppose you should clarify what you mean by "did you in." When it comes to cardiovascular disease, perhaps not, but it's also not clear that nicotine alone doesn't contribute to this. If you're referring to lung cancer, this is quite misleading.

Tobacco smoke has mutagenic properties. While any given mutation is unlikely to lead to cancerous tissue, each cigarette (no matter how few or many you've had before) leads to an increased probability of lung cancer. A lifetime of smoking does not necessarily cause lung cancer, it simply increases the chances of it eventually developing; every chance taken with each cigarette adds up to one big chance. For this reason, your statement that it "won't be those last few that did you in" hardly reflects medical knowledge about smoking and cancer. Those last few stand just as great of a chance of causing lung cancer as any of the tens of thousands before did.