Need serious advice for a serious question

[skullsoup432]

I placed my first order with VG because they had disposables, and I didn't have to lay out alot of money to try something I might not like. The disposables weren't great, but I was intrigued. I called them hoping they might answer a few questions. Man, Kurt went way beyond my hopes. He listened, told me of pros and cons, options, etc. I ordered on Monday evening and got my items Thursday afternoon. I was and am thrilled. As a matter of fact I just talked to Kurt today (he actually returned MY call!) and he was just as patient and helpful.
I have been vaping 10 days now and have gone from 3 packs a day to 1! Don't want to quit, just cut down.
Ah, your mom will be just fine with this technology, it is not difficult. Good luck!

[ejfan1977]

Lynda, Hello and welcome to our forum!

I am a newbie also, just a little over a month into it and I have been very successful. What is really exciting is that my 84 year old stubborn Norwegian father has been smoke free for 32 days now. He too has COPD and I often wondered if he would survive some of the coughing fits he had. I could have sworn he was going to die!

I am fortunate to have him living with me and my husband so I am able to check on his cartridges and make sure his e-cig is functioning, etc.. We both use the Njoy pen style e-cig. It has worked out pretty well for us. He did have his atomizer poop out on him last week because he dry smoked it, but I since I have two pen styles I was able to loan him one of mine. I called Njoy and 2 days later I had a new atomizer in the mail.

It looks like there is s strong recommendation to go with a pen style for your Mom. As far as which vendor to purchase from that is the tricky part. This is a great group of people here and I know they all want to see your Mom be successful at quitting via an e-cigarette. I would recommend Njoy, but that is just me. I have had a positive experience with them.

I wish you the best in finding the right system for your Mom!

[nitewriter]

Lynda, bless you for doing this for your mom. I lost someone who I consider a second mom to me, one year ago (on the Feb. 26th) from COPD. If I had a penny for every time I wished I'd known about these devices for her, I'd be rich.

I also suggest the penstyle as I was a 3 ppd smoker. I'd be a little concerned about starting her out with 36mg liquid. I started with 16 and did fine. She might also like to closely replicate the real cigs with Marlboro or Virginia liquid to top off carts. I love Steve at Puresmoker! He'll take great care of you.

I am hopeful that these devices will save lives and possibly prevent the suffering from this, and other horrible smoke-related diseases in the future.

Good luck

[Lynda]

Thank you, everyone, for your kind and comprehensive advice! It certainly seems to be the consensus that the pen style is likely the best solution for my mom, along with extra batteries, atomizers and cartridges. I think refilling the cartridges might be somewhat overwhelming, at least to begin with. Once she has the hang of the process, she might be ready to learn another new trick. She has always smoked "light" cigarettes, her vain attempt at limiting the damage, so I might start her with a mid-strength nic and move up if she doesn't get the satisfaction that would keep her away from the analogs.

It's my understanding that the pen style from PS, VG & SS are all pretty much the same model, and that they are compatible with the Njoy replacement parts - is this correct? I've heard and read mixed reviews of Njoy, and they're pricey, but I find their ubiquitous availability attractive under the circumstances. If Mom can go to Walgreen's or Target to pick up refills in a pinch, that's a major plus. (Although a recent search on Target.com for Njoy products is coming up nil - I wonder if they've had a change of heart. )

I thank you again - and I'm sure I'll be back more often once I begin my own journey down the vaping trail!

PS to JustJulie: Mom's on the other side of the state, near Liberty/Kansas City.

[JustJulie]

PS to JustJulie: Mom's on the other side of the state, near Liberty/Kansas City.

Bummer. If she hadn't been too far away, I would have offered a free e-smoking lesson and some backup for you.

Can't answer your question about Njoy compatibility, but I will say that a penstyle probably is a good choice. They produce a lot of vapor, but I personally find that the "hit" is stronger with a DSE901. But, as others have noted, the DSE901 requires more frequent cart changes/top-offs. There's always a tradeoff.

Please keep us posted on what you decide to do and how your mom is doing.

[Momof3]

Both times going from solely analogs to e-cigs I've gone with Medium strength and I swear I smoke more until I settle in. I've only tried the penstyles and pilot. I'm going to try the neighbors dse901 when she gets it. My pen has a more satisfying hit IMO and is easier to top off. My understanding is the 901 is just as easy. I say either will be good, but I would add a usb passthrough with a house adapter. Waiting on a battery to charge for 4hrs will almost surely see her off buying a pack. I know it about did it for me a few times. HTH

[katink]

There need to be enough batteries to keep her going indeed (will probably mean at least two chargers also, for a 3ppd smoker) (or, as said, a usb-passthrough - in her case plus a wall-outlet adapter and if possible plus a battery-pack as she doesn't have a computer).
I agree the pen would be a good solution - though when you are in it a bit further I would also recommend getting a bling for her from heavengifts: not costly and quite reliable.

As for going for Njoy: I won't say anything about quality- or service-issues, as news on those differ greatly (maybe per njoy-place, I don't know). But I wouldn't go for Njoy for another reason: namely the cartridges.. Njoy-cartridges will keep you at much too high costs. What are they at the moment? Several dollar each last I heard... While for instance Janty has a wide variety of cartridges, at no more then 4 or 5 dollar for 5 cartridges.. that's a saving of what, 80% or so? And these are the costs that will be coming back every day, so really try to watch those maintenance-costs would be my advice (Janty-cartridges fit on almost all pen-styles btw, so you can buy the penstyle from many places - but if I remember correctly they don't fit snugly on an Njoy pen...).

I really hope it works out well for your mum; but if she is willing to try as she seems to be reading your words, I think you can have really good hope that this will either get her to e-smoking completely, or at least almost completely, within a short time. Good luck to you and her!

[xMarlboroMan]

(My apologies if this has already been sugguest; haven't read the rest of the replys.)

I am in fact thinking about the same thing for my mom; getting her to switch to e-cigs and get her away from the analogs. My mom is a bit older at 74 and probably just as technically inclined as your mom

If I were to sugguest to a friend about an ecig, I would say dse901 or penstyle and get e-liquid to drip. However, for older persons like our mothers, it probably wouldn't be very handy for them to drip. (It can be a pain you know.)

My thought was to get my mom a loongtotem. Those carts are supposed to last about 1 pack of cigs. A loongtotem would be almost fool proof. All she'd have to do is screw on a new cart when the old one ran out. No worring about it fading out when the cart gets 1/2 empty like a lot of the other ecigs.

===Now for the downside

Being new to e-smoking myself, I have only just yesterday received my parted together loongtotem (buyreddragon.com carts and bloogplanet.com battery), so I don't have much personal experience to go on. My first impressions are not that good though. It produces a ton of vapor, but there is absolutely no throat hit. For me, it is like smoking a Marlboro Light. This is unacceptable for me. I don't know how it would compare to someone that has smoked mlb lights before, so it maybe acceptable. There was a mild taste (I used a vanilla cart) and the vapor was much warmer than my dse901, but you did have to use a primer puff to get that warm feeling. I am going to try other brands of carts and see if there is any difference.

Also, I have read that you can refill these by popping off the cap you put in your mouth. I haven't refilled one yet, but I have removed the cap to see how hard it would be. It doesn't look to be so bad. I am sure 36mg of cash menthol would provide myself with the throat hit I would desire . This method of refilling should last a lot longer than contstantly have to drip on a 901/801.

The second downer is cost. Carts can run a couple dollars each. This is much much cheaper than a pack of cigs though, but if you are on a tight budget, this would be quite a bit more than buying the e-juices.

At any rate, I just wanted to give you another alternative to consider.

L8r, x

[Lynda]

Originally Posted by katink

But I wouldn't go for Njoy for another reason: namely the cartridges.. Njoy-cartridges will keep you at much too high costs. What are they at the moment? Several dollar each last I heard...

Oh, I certainly would not rely on Njoy because of the cost, as you said, but compatibility would be a plus in a bind. I'd rather her spend a couple dollars on a cartridge than the same amount of money on a pack of smokes.

Thanks again, everyone. Mom's actually in the hospital at the moment, hasn't had a smoke in 2 days and is not AT ALL happy about it. The nurses are ready to kill her. If only I'd gotten her started sooner, everyone would be a lot happier right now.

[Grandma Cas]

Originally Posted by Lynda

She has always smoked "light" cigarettes, her vain attempt at limiting the damage, so I might start her with a mid-strength nic and move up if she doesn't get the satisfaction that would keep her away from the analogs.

Hi Lynda just to let you know I smoked 2-3 packs of "light" a day so, thought "med" would be fine but, turned out I needed "high". I think us heavy long term (about 45yrs for me) smokers must need a little extra.