Please help my war veteran dad

[AliB62]

sorry for the emotional title of my first post on ECF! What a busy and interesting place you have here.

I'm lying listening to my fathers oxygen machine, awake from jet lag having come home from abroad to help- he's had pneumonia and is just out of the hospital. He's 80 and a lifetime of smoking is catching up- no intention to quit!

He's already had a fall struggling outside to smoke, he just got a walker but he really rushes going out. He really hurries and can only have 15 minutes, mom has to set a time or he stays out there having 2-3 and off oxygen too long.

I realize that you can't make someone quit but I was hoping to get him to try a vape in the house for a few days, and he can smoke as well if he wants but might feel less like it.

He had a set of different ones to try but said they didn't taste strong enough. I gather that is a common problem! He smokes Marlborough I think a pack a day.

I need to buy a set up for him, what are some simple ones that are very easy to use? But can deliver a good Throat Hit (I'm trying to use the lingo, did you notice that?) Maybe we should not try to copy smoking and try other flavors?

Thanks in advance
, please share your collective wisdom. I'm going to the local vaporosity shop today or tomorrow.

I don't smoke, I kind of like the idea of vaping but afraid to get addicted to nic!

 

[Sir2fyablyNutz]

I usually recommend the Eleaf iStick 30 watt mod (battery) and the Aspire Nautilus Mini (tank/clearomizer) for newbies. Bother are as about user friendly as they get and give a high quality vape. There are literally hundreds of options. You will also need spare coils (5 pack is around $10 online).

When I quit I started on 12 mg. I was a 2 pack (lights) a day smoker. I am thinking either 6 mg or possibly 12 mg for your dad. Throat hit is induced by two main issues, nicotine content, and PG (from the base of juice). You don't want to try and raise the nicotine content because it can lead to nicotine sickness.

There is a keyword activated search box in the upper right above your name and avatar. Practically any vape related word or phrase will work in it giving sometimes hundreds of results. I use it often. Search Results for Query: nicotine sick | E-Cigarette Forum
I would suggest a juice of 50pg/50vg or higher (60/pg or 70/pg) to start. Another issue that can effect throat hit is the flavoring in the juice. Cinnamon, or spicy flavors/menthol/koolada (freeze or ice). I started with a cinnamon/green apple because I needed something to shock my taste buds as they were muted after many years of smoke.

I do not know of any juice flavor that is a true cigarette flavor. There are some tobacco flavors that a large number of vapers enjoy but they aren't in my wheelhouse so I'll leave that to others or whatever is in stock at your local vape store. There are even a large number of vaper who vape unflavored juice with nicotine. I tried this once and to me it was as close to a cig as you can get, but thats just my opinion.

Finding a flavor he will enjoy is the difficult part. I started on fruits, grew into desserts as my taste buds healed and then on to creams. Occasionally I will venture into a tobacco flavor (which most are not straight tobacco, but mixed with a fruit or a creme).

You should also be aware of this: A list of symptoms when quitting tobacco and changing to an ecigarette | E-Cigarette Forum

I wish your father the best and you good luck in the vape journey.

iStick 30 watt and Nautilus Mini

 

[Sir2fyablyNutz]

@Susan~S ? (saw you were online)

 

[Susan~S]

Thanks for tagging me @Sir2fyablyNutz.

Hello and welcome to the forum @AliB62. Glad to have you here!

Your Dad will not be able to vape when hooked up to oxygen (or even in the same room as the oxygen). It's just to dangerous.

How are your Dad's cognitive functions? Is he able to press a button to switch between voltage and wattage, press a button to dial up the wattage/voltage once he learns what all this means?

If you think your Mom/Dad can find a way to manage this I may be able to help with a couple of different setups that your Dad can try if you live in the US.

I don't smoke, I kind of like the idea of vaping but afraid to get addicted to nic!

You don't have to use nicotine to vape. We see a lot of new members who never smoked taking up vaping for a lot of different reasons. Not that I'm encouraging you, but it may be beneficial (in the short run) in learning all the "ins & outs" of whatever equipment your Dad is using.

 

[AliB62]

Thanks for all the responses!!!

He's all there in the mind department especially the cussedness! But he will try new things and I'm in a good place just now to be listened to as I have only just arrived and helping with cooking furniture moving and handling various problems. He impressed me with his understanding of all his medication, he used to be a hospital lab manager and technologist.

Good point about the oxygen, duh I should have realized of course the vapes are ignition points too! But he is planning to wean off oxygen (not cigs) ASAP and is looking much better plus has a visiting nurse now so that should be possible I think. He can go outside to vape with a battery I guess.

They live in Iowa, in a large town that has a couple of Vape shops (not just a mall kiosk), part of the problem is I am the only child and live in the UK, I have to go back in a couple of weeks to work. Luckily I had a vacation planned, and my kids and OH have gone without me. As I said I sent him a variety pack to try but he said they didn't taste like anything.


Really interesting about the withdrawal-part of the eagerness to get out of hospital was 5 days without cigs! I don't know how he did it.

 

[Sir2fyablyNutz]

You can tell your dad he won't be the oldest person to switch to vape as this forum is full of 30, 40, and 50 year smokers. There is a huge list of people whose life has improved from switching. I would venture to say that 90 percent saw improved breathing. I know for a fact my blood tests showed I improvement in o2 content after I started vape. Better oxygen "can" have a domino effect on any other medical issues. I've read many testimonials about how lives have improved. I see it every day in the forum.

My opinion is that you need good gear, a flavor juice he will enjoy, and the proper nicotine level (I'm not certain if he would be a 6mg from number smoked or a 12mg from strength of cig, or possible even higher at 18mg). The risk as I see it is that you may spend $100 to $150 starting (prices are higher in local shops as opposed to online, but you get what you want now instead of waiting on shipping).

I tried starting at 6mg, and it just wouldn't scratch the itch, though it did cut my cigs by 2/3 or more. Once I moved to 12 mg I had my last cig (and I had a juice I enjoyed). This was the point I found help on ECF, and purchased my first Nautilus Mini tank. Once I got my first mod (iStick/variable voltage and variable wattage battery) and popped the Nautilus on it I just knew I was going to make it.

Quitting is not without it's pit falls. Don't sweat if he has a cig, it took me 12 days to quit, and some people longer. You have to think about the ones you "don't smoke." Each one not smoked is a victory. Once the taste buds heal vape is 1000 times more enjoyable than the cigs. My sense of smell came back so fast I had to wash everything in the house and all my clothes, bed sheets etc. Food will taste better and some gain weight but for me I lost because it cut out my snacking and I'd rather vape my dessert. Vape is more relaxing to me than smoking, probably because it is so much cleaner and less offensive than a cig. If he wants off the 02, vape is the way to go.

When I was trying to quit I used a cheap clearomizer/tank with the next higher nic in it. When the "itch" got to where the regular vape wasn't scratching it I would hit the higher nicotine tank once and go back to the regular nic vape. It usually took from 3 days to a week to get adjusted to the lower nicotine level. I said usually because I used this same technique to reduce my nicotine content in steps from the high level down to the under 3mg I now enjoy.

That Morning Cig.
I kept one flavor of juice just for the mornings. Instead of reaching for the cig in the mornings I knew I had the one flavor juice I enjoyed waiting on me (a blueberry muffin type). After the morning vape I would not use this flavor for the rest of the day. What this did was to give me something to look forward to every morning instead of the cig.

Here are some links to looking for vape gear online if you're interested:
DEALS and STEALS - Deals and Steals | E-Cigarette Forum (go to last couple pages)
FORUM SUPPLIERS - ECF Forum Suppliers | E-Cigarette Forum
COUPONS - Stores - ECF E-Cigarette Coupons

Don't be shy about asking for help, there are many in here to offer advice or guidance.

 

[AndriaD]

Good point about the oxygen, duh I should have realized of course the vapes are ignition points too! But he is planning to wean off oxygen (not cigs) ASAP and is looking much better plus has a visiting nurse now so that should be possible I think. He can go outside to vape with a battery I guess.

He wouldn't need to go outdoors to vape, just go to a different room, away from the oxygen. In fact, in a properly functioning e-cig, there would be little danger, because coils don't glow red hot when they're wet and vaporizing ejuice -- but I would agree that it's a risk not worth taking, and going into a different room shouldn't be a great hardship, if he's ambulatory.

Really interesting about the withdrawal-part of the eagerness to get out of hospital was 5 days without cigs! I don't know how he did it.

Perfectly normal -- I was once hospitalized for an asthma attack that didn't respond to TWO shots of epinephrine -- so I ended up admitted, with an IV of theophylline and some kind of steroid -- I was outta there in 4 days, because I couldn't take even one more moment without a smoke -- in fact, at one point I sneaked down to the smoking area at the other end of the hall (in '85, there were still smoking areas in hospitals!) but just 2 hits got me coughing so bad I had to give it up and go back to my room for my own oxygen.

Last summer, I had an emergency appendectomy -- and I insisted on having the laparoscopic kind so I could leave immediately after it was done, barring any complications, and my reasoning for that was multifold (hate hospital food, have no insurance, etc), but it definitely included the fact that I wanted to be able to vape the minute the surgery was done and I could walk around.

Smokers/vapers are MOTIVATED.

Andria

 

[AliB62]

Well knock me down with a feather, he asked me to go buy him some cigs-a first in my life I hate the things (thanks and genuinely, to him,) but here's a mahoosive surprise- to also research and find him some e cigs to try!! He wants to cut down and not have to go outside.

I didn't tell him I have got one big step ahead of him thanks to y'all! I feel so much better now we have some leads and plans. He is eating a little more, and is like a skeleton, I have rarely seen anything like it and I work in a hospital, so weight gain is just what the doctor ordered.


Off to do my research and to shops tomorrow.

 

[johnkong]

Don't forget, about any flavor you can imagine, you can vape. So don't limit yourself on just tobacco flavors. Some flavors that seem to be 'stronger' were alcoholic flavors as well. Does he have a favorite pie? Just throwing that out there to help y'all dial in on a successful juice, the best of luck!

 

[Marina2]

I don't have any experience with vaping to give you advise but I wanted to wish you the best of luck in getting your Dad to quit smoking. From what I've read it will help him considerably with his respiratory function. One thing I do have experience on is elderly folks and falls. Even seemingly minor falls can have a devastating outcome i.e. broken hip. A large majority of those your Dad's age or older do not live longer than a year post hip fracture. Helping him to get off cigs will not only help his respiratory system but will also greatly decrease his risk of falling from trying to get in and out of the house to smoke. Also, get those throw rugs out of the house! They can be deadly to someone with risk of falling. Your Dad is lucky to have a caring daughter like you. Good luck and God bless.

 

[Racehorse]

Maybe we should not try to copy smoking and try other flavors?

Any desserts he likes? CInnamon buns or something? Or fruits?

Most vapes will not taste like marlboro to him you are right about that.

Hope your dad is feeling better soon!

I would get him a very simple starter kits, like a spinner VV or ego VV and single coil clearomizer to START OUT. There is no sense spending a LOT of money if he won't even like it. And you want this to be easy for him.

Halo has some very good tobacco flavors and a lot of people really like them to start out with, order online.

 

[AliB62]

Thanks for all the well wishes and useful advice.

So it's Pall Mall not Marlboro and he is taking in at least 12 a day, he smokes almost all the white part but may not inhale very deeply-should we try 12 mg or 6 mg or....

 

[AndriaD]

Thanks for all the well wishes and useful advice.

So it's Pall Mall not Marlboro and he is taking in at least 12 a day, he smokes almost all the white part but may not inhale very deeply-should we try 12 mg or 6 mg or....

If he's only smoking 12 a day and not inhaling deeply, 6mg might be a better place to start, so he doesn't get nauseous... but it might actually need to be between them, 9mg -- for a while I had to buy both strengths and combine them, to hit that 9mg (before I started making my own ejuice). But a lot of folks aren't so sensitive to nicotine's ill effects, so to really get thru the withdrawal phase (about a month-ish), he might need 12mg.

Andria

 

[edyle]

when you switch to vaping, the lungs tend to start cleaning out and you can go through several weeks of coughing.

I'd be very carefull about an 80 year old.

I'd try some njoys

 

[Baditude]

Not really anything to add here, except my blog has several videos on how to use electronic cigarettes and how the different choices of gear vary from one another. You might be able to let your father view these videos to assist in your choices.

A Good Setup for a Beginner Vaper

Proper Terminology: A Guide to Juice Delivery Devices

Advancing Up the Vaping Ladder

 

[Yozhik]

Thanks for all the well wishes and useful advice.

So it's Pall Mall not Marlboro and he is taking in at least 12 a day, he smokes almost all the white part but may not inhale very deeply-should we try 12 mg or 6 mg or....

I was similar, but for me it took 18mg to quit. Now I vape 6mg. Smokers often need more nicotine because they don't know how to efficiently vape and probably because their lungs are covered in mucus. Online vendors often offer sampler packs, such as Halo (E-liquid Sample Packs | Halo Cigs ). If you can't take him to a vape shop, that might me the best way to get him a variety of different flavors to find what he likes. Flavor is very subjective, so just because someone smoked doesn't mean that they will enjoy tobacco e-liquid. They may instead prefer other flavors, such as fruits or chocolates. Main thing is to try a variety of stuff, perhaps at different nicotine strengths too, until he finds what works for him.

Also, the nautilus mini is a solid recommendation. It's a great flavor tank with plenty enough vape for beginners.

 

[Saintscruiser]

Ali, I watched my mom die of lung cancer. I figured that would motivate me to quit. Nope...I started smoking more. For the 1st time in my smoking career, of 42 years, I finally reached out to God for help. I didn't expect to quit...I just wanted to slow it down. I had started coughing almost constantly. When I first got my 1st kit, I had also ordered juice equivalent to Salem cigs. Oh yuck! It tasted awful. Never bought that again! When I got my kit, I smoked a cigarette every hour the first day. Next day I smoked every 2 hours. The 3rd day, I smoked 2. I had always said, "Man, if I smoked only 2 a day, I would quit." Well, I did! It hasn't always been easy, but my husband, who quit cold turkey, told me to say out loud, "I choose NOT to smoke!" I have celebrated my 5th year without a cigarette, last month. It can be done. There is no way that I would go back to put that heavy smoke in my lungs. My cough went away, and like someone else said, I cleaned my clothes, house, furniture, curtains and bedding. BTW, I have not smoked over 80,000 or so cigarettes. The number consumed got my attention.....not the money, not smelling like a walking tobacco stick, and not really anything else. I was flabbergasted! So, find out what his favorite taste is and start there. I pray you and your daddy will achieve success!

 

[The Ocelot]

I'm another success story. After 40 years of smoking, I've now been tobacco free for 3 years. I first tried a cgi-a-like, but within a week had an eGo. I never touched another cigarette and it was 6 months before I got a more powerful device. Good luck to your dad and you know we're here if help is needed.

 

[Kaezziel]

So happy to see you trying to help your dad, Ali. I've been cigarette free for somewhere around 6 years now... honestly, I've lost count. I really don't even think about cigarettes any more. I do remember when I first started vaping though, and the only flavor that really worked for me in the beginning was the RY4 flavors. It is a tobacco flavor with a kind of nutty caramel flavor to it. As has been said before, there is no true "cigarette" flavor, but this was close enough for me. I smoked about a pack and a half of Camel filtered cigarettes for many years before I switched to rolling my own smokes. Then it was filterless, dark fired shag tobacco... very flavorful, and impossible to duplicate. But I can say that if he sticks with it, he can kick the habit and choose a healthier alternative. I wish you both the best, and commend you for coming here and seeking advice on how to help your father. He is a lucky man to have someone who cares so much for him!

Also, please pass on my respects to your dad. As a younger veteran, myself, I appreciate all that the earlier generation did to protect our freedom and way of life. My grandfather was the only other person in my family to have served in the military, and that is what inspired me to join, myself. Without the bravery and selflessness of people such as your father, we would not be able to enjoy our lives as we have them now.

 

[AliB62]

Hi well I bought a nice set from the Vaporocity shop in Davenport, and I met the owner, who now has 4 shops in the area- I felt like here was someone who understood my problems! He will do home visits and he goes to nursing homes every Tuesday. He recommended a juice for a start which is sort of caramel with just a little tobacco.

Unfortunately things got really hectic then, and to cut a long story short dad is back in hospital for 24 hours.

He had one draw on it and liked the flavour he could taste but there was no cloud and it wasn't coming out. Then other things interrupted. I finally figured out by trying myself and watching YouTube that you have to press a button when you suck! Duh. Lots of coughing announced my success! I never smoked not even one puff, so that was a first and a last. Lol. I understood all the more complicated stuff the guy showed me but missed that detail.

I plan to bring him home later today and hand him the vape in the car with the oxygen off because he doesn't expect to smoke in the car, it's a short journey. Then he will be desperate for a cigarette.

Sorry I haven't got all the details of what thenequipment is, I will go look later but don't want to disturb my mom by moving around the house, she is worn out and not well herself. She is really fed up with him and everyone in the family feels he is not trying hard enough to get better. I don't know, maybe he really can't do more than he is. Or maybe I'm too soft.