I'm hoping that someone new to vaping / considering vaping to kick their tobacco habit might stumble across this post and gain some inspiration, motivation, and hope from it. (Especially people who like alcohol and think that drinking will cause them to fail in efforts to quit! This story is definitely for you!).
Like so many other people here and around the world, I was addicted to tobacco cigarettes for a very long time. I'm 47 years old and I smoked a pack a day for over 30 years.
I started smoking as a young teen because of some really stupid things:
I never thought of quitting & it didn't bother me until I got into my mid 20's. It was mainly the smell on my clothes and breath that bothered me at first. I made a few feeble attempts to quit between around age 24 up into my 30's, but I didn't try very hard because the reasons were mainly the smell and for other people around me who wanted me to quit.
But then as I got into mid to late 30's I started really wanting to quit for more reasons. By age 40 I was starting to feel the adverse effects of smoking, and then tried more "serious" attempts to quit.
Between age 40 - 44 I tried everything from nicotine gum, to prescription stuff, patches, lollipops, cold-turkey, etc... but the longest I ever made it was 30 days. How did I make it 30 days? Because I didn't drink during those 30 days, but then I popped open a cold beer on day 31 and that was it. By the time I finished my second beer I was asking someone for a cigarette and I didn't care.
I had basically relented and succumbed to the "fact" that I would never be able to quit smoking because I could not imagine drinking without a smoke, and I certainly was not about to give up my beer.
Morning chest pains, coughing, getting winded on simple camping trip hikes. All of it was affecting me, and yet I couldn't seem to quit (and wouldn't at times).
In 2012 I tried my first "e-cigarette". It was one of those deals where you could get a "free trial" in the mail and if you liked it you could get the whole starter kit and supplies for $75. It looked just like a cigarette but was really just painted metal. After just one day of trying the "electronic cigarette" I knew it wasn't for me. It just didn't work for me. I got almost no vapor production from it, it didn't taste good. There was no satisfaction from it, nothing to really entirely address any part of the rituals of smoking.
That was it. I figured I was doomed to a life of cancer-causing stink-sticks.
But then in early 2014, almost as if it were fate, I acquired a client who was into vaping while at the same time my nephew (Jon) started working in a vape shop, and they were both strongly encouraging me to check out vaping.
They both sent me links to vape sites where there was this "e-juice" stuff I wasn't familiar with and all of these "weird looking devices". I told my nephew that they looked like sex toys and light sabers lol (there were a lot of mech mods). It also all looked VERY COMPLICATED to me. I was totally intimidated by it all... "coils" and "Variable Wattage/Voltage" and "pg/vg" etc... it all made me feel very stupid!
But I got over myself and asked Jon to help me. I needed the guidance of someone with experience. He sent me an Innokkin VV3 pen with a couple Evod tanks / 2.2ohm coils, and some good quality juice. He started naming off all these flavors and I was convinced that none of them would be anything I'd like. I was convinced that the only thing that would work would be tobacco flavor. I couldn't have been more wrong...
First week of March 2014 all the stuff arrived. The mod, tank, coils, and several flavors in 18mg & 16mg nic. After watching a bunch of YouTube "how to" videos and talking to Jon over the phone, finally on March 8th 2014 it was time to dive in.
With the help of the videos and Jon's guidance I was able to get it right the first time (in regard to filling the tank, piece the coil base / tank / mod together) and at about 7 watts I got my first successful "vape". WOW! What a difference it was from those "e-cigarette" things I'd tried before. I could see immediate results - there was the hand-to-mouth ritual, there was a plume of "smoke-looking" vapor, and a delightful taste!
That was super encouraging, but I kept my tobacco cigs on standby just in case.
Taking it day by day, I started with 3 different flavors - a tobacco flavor, a caramel butterscotch flavor, and a vanilla flavor.
Within a couple days, much to my surprise, I found that not only did I like the sweet flavors much more than the tobacco flavor; but also that it was REALLY WORKING. I didn't feel the need to smoke!
Right away I switched from the 18mg down to the 16mg. The 18mg was a bit much and the 16mg tasted better.
But I still hung on to those cigarettes and said to myself "if I make it 30 days just vaping, then I'll throw the cigarettes away".
30 days came and went. Trashed the cigs. Ordered more variety of flavors.
Within 60 days I dropped down to 14mg, and then within 6 months I dropped down to 12mg and started using things like Kanger Protanks.
I couldn't believe how well it was working - no real cravings to smoke, no stinky odors, no stinky breath, and I could sit right in the same room with my wife (non-smoker) and she actually enjoyed the pleasant aroma of the vapor.
AND I could sit with her watching a movie, and when the "bar scenes" or the usual scene of a couple men in an office with a snifter of bourbon and smoking came on, I didn't have to pause the movie to go smoke. I could have myself a jack & coke along with nice vape to compliment it while watching the drink/smoke scenes in the movie without feeling like I needed a cigarette.
Time blew by & before I knew it I was down to 6mg and had graduated to small box mods and better tanks (Eleaf iStick , Aspire Nautilus Mini) , and soon after I started sub-ohming.
It was an amazing / exciting adventure and a LIFE CHANGING experience. The list of positives is immense and to this day - as I celebrate my 2.5 year anniversary with not so much as even a single puff of tobacco - it's still exciting to me and has become a very enjoyable hobby.
Down to 3mg nicotine juice now for the past approx 6 months thanks to better mods / tanks / sub-ohm coils, BTW.
I sit here now with my collection of various mods / tanks / juices, very happily vaping away and thinking about the THOUSANDS of $$$ I have saved over the past 30 months. Sure, I've splurged on some fancy tanks & mods here & there, but for the most part vaping has saved me literally over $7,000.00 easily in the past 2.5 years.
More importantly - most recent visits to the doctors say clean lungs, good heart, good blood pressure. I had a chest x-ray not long ago because of some bone issues I have (unrelated to smoking or vaping) and full workup of blood labs. Doctor says that all of my vitals are good and my lung capacity / lung sounds & images are excellent.
I consider vaping a "gift" that came into my life and saved me from so many bad things, it's surreal. And during this whole experience I've passed that gift on to others. I've helped several family members and friends start vaping and quit smoking throughout this journey as well and I gotta say - there's nothing quite like knowing you may have added years onto your own sister's life! (One of my sister's is 59 and smoked for almost 40 years, and since I got her into vaping she is celebrating her 2 year anniversary without tobacco).
And lastly, during the past 8 months I've become very active in vaping advocacy to do everything I can to help fight for our right to vape and keep this industry alive. I feel it's important that we all (vapers AND nons) need to keep after the government and our legislators on this. We know it all comes down to money, and that anti-vaping propaganda is just a smokescreen to help cover up the greed for cigarette tax dollars, and it's also another right that should never be hindered / never impeded.
So that's my story and it's a happy one in so many ways. Better health, better quality of life, money better spent, and people close to me happy to be around me now.
Now if you happened to have made it this far reading my short novel of a post here, and if you are "new" to the concept of vaping... if you're sitting there thinking of quitting smoking, and if you're someone who likes to drink sitting there thinking "yeah it all sounds good, but will I really succeed at avoiding a cigarette when I have my drink?" , then my answer to you is - YES, absolutely you will succeed if you want to. There are SO many great liquids and flavors out there that will actually compliment your adult beverage, and they all taste so much better than a cigarette, that all you need is the desire to make the switch and a good setup along with some guidance (not just for what to buy, but also how to vape safely). Give it a real shot! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I truly believe that if you start with the right setup and you don't try to keep smoking cigarettes while you vape, then you will succeed and you'll be like one of us who never thought this could be achieved!
Find people in the community, an experienced friend, whatever... and just start asking questions and get guidance. Set a goal, set a date, jump right in and join us!
Like so many other people here and around the world, I was addicted to tobacco cigarettes for a very long time. I'm 47 years old and I smoked a pack a day for over 30 years.
I started smoking as a young teen because of some really stupid things:
- Growing up in a family of smokers in the 70's, there was an ashtray on every table in the house, with lighters and packs of cigs everywhere. My parents, sisters, and brother all smoked. So did much of my extended family. To a kid - that made it seem as though smoking was just part of every day life, like brushing your teeth or having dinner.
- Had kind of a tough early life, and so fell in with the "wrong crowd".
- When I was about 13 or 14 years old, an older kid / friend of mine was a smoker and was always trying to get me to have a cigarette with him. After refusing him many times, one day he bet me $5 that I couldn't finish a whole pack of Kools in one day.
I never thought of quitting & it didn't bother me until I got into my mid 20's. It was mainly the smell on my clothes and breath that bothered me at first. I made a few feeble attempts to quit between around age 24 up into my 30's, but I didn't try very hard because the reasons were mainly the smell and for other people around me who wanted me to quit.
But then as I got into mid to late 30's I started really wanting to quit for more reasons. By age 40 I was starting to feel the adverse effects of smoking, and then tried more "serious" attempts to quit.
Between age 40 - 44 I tried everything from nicotine gum, to prescription stuff, patches, lollipops, cold-turkey, etc... but the longest I ever made it was 30 days. How did I make it 30 days? Because I didn't drink during those 30 days, but then I popped open a cold beer on day 31 and that was it. By the time I finished my second beer I was asking someone for a cigarette and I didn't care.
I had basically relented and succumbed to the "fact" that I would never be able to quit smoking because I could not imagine drinking without a smoke, and I certainly was not about to give up my beer.
Morning chest pains, coughing, getting winded on simple camping trip hikes. All of it was affecting me, and yet I couldn't seem to quit (and wouldn't at times).
In 2012 I tried my first "e-cigarette". It was one of those deals where you could get a "free trial" in the mail and if you liked it you could get the whole starter kit and supplies for $75. It looked just like a cigarette but was really just painted metal. After just one day of trying the "electronic cigarette" I knew it wasn't for me. It just didn't work for me. I got almost no vapor production from it, it didn't taste good. There was no satisfaction from it, nothing to really entirely address any part of the rituals of smoking.
That was it. I figured I was doomed to a life of cancer-causing stink-sticks.
But then in early 2014, almost as if it were fate, I acquired a client who was into vaping while at the same time my nephew (Jon) started working in a vape shop, and they were both strongly encouraging me to check out vaping.
They both sent me links to vape sites where there was this "e-juice" stuff I wasn't familiar with and all of these "weird looking devices". I told my nephew that they looked like sex toys and light sabers lol (there were a lot of mech mods). It also all looked VERY COMPLICATED to me. I was totally intimidated by it all... "coils" and "Variable Wattage/Voltage" and "pg/vg" etc... it all made me feel very stupid!
But I got over myself and asked Jon to help me. I needed the guidance of someone with experience. He sent me an Innokkin VV3 pen with a couple Evod tanks / 2.2ohm coils, and some good quality juice. He started naming off all these flavors and I was convinced that none of them would be anything I'd like. I was convinced that the only thing that would work would be tobacco flavor. I couldn't have been more wrong...
First week of March 2014 all the stuff arrived. The mod, tank, coils, and several flavors in 18mg & 16mg nic. After watching a bunch of YouTube "how to" videos and talking to Jon over the phone, finally on March 8th 2014 it was time to dive in.
With the help of the videos and Jon's guidance I was able to get it right the first time (in regard to filling the tank, piece the coil base / tank / mod together) and at about 7 watts I got my first successful "vape". WOW! What a difference it was from those "e-cigarette" things I'd tried before. I could see immediate results - there was the hand-to-mouth ritual, there was a plume of "smoke-looking" vapor, and a delightful taste!
That was super encouraging, but I kept my tobacco cigs on standby just in case.
Taking it day by day, I started with 3 different flavors - a tobacco flavor, a caramel butterscotch flavor, and a vanilla flavor.
Within a couple days, much to my surprise, I found that not only did I like the sweet flavors much more than the tobacco flavor; but also that it was REALLY WORKING. I didn't feel the need to smoke!
Right away I switched from the 18mg down to the 16mg. The 18mg was a bit much and the 16mg tasted better.
But I still hung on to those cigarettes and said to myself "if I make it 30 days just vaping, then I'll throw the cigarettes away".
30 days came and went. Trashed the cigs. Ordered more variety of flavors.
Within 60 days I dropped down to 14mg, and then within 6 months I dropped down to 12mg and started using things like Kanger Protanks.
I couldn't believe how well it was working - no real cravings to smoke, no stinky odors, no stinky breath, and I could sit right in the same room with my wife (non-smoker) and she actually enjoyed the pleasant aroma of the vapor.
AND I could sit with her watching a movie, and when the "bar scenes" or the usual scene of a couple men in an office with a snifter of bourbon and smoking came on, I didn't have to pause the movie to go smoke. I could have myself a jack & coke along with nice vape to compliment it while watching the drink/smoke scenes in the movie without feeling like I needed a cigarette.
Time blew by & before I knew it I was down to 6mg and had graduated to small box mods and better tanks (Eleaf iStick , Aspire Nautilus Mini) , and soon after I started sub-ohming.
It was an amazing / exciting adventure and a LIFE CHANGING experience. The list of positives is immense and to this day - as I celebrate my 2.5 year anniversary with not so much as even a single puff of tobacco - it's still exciting to me and has become a very enjoyable hobby.
Down to 3mg nicotine juice now for the past approx 6 months thanks to better mods / tanks / sub-ohm coils, BTW.
I sit here now with my collection of various mods / tanks / juices, very happily vaping away and thinking about the THOUSANDS of $$$ I have saved over the past 30 months. Sure, I've splurged on some fancy tanks & mods here & there, but for the most part vaping has saved me literally over $7,000.00 easily in the past 2.5 years.
More importantly - most recent visits to the doctors say clean lungs, good heart, good blood pressure. I had a chest x-ray not long ago because of some bone issues I have (unrelated to smoking or vaping) and full workup of blood labs. Doctor says that all of my vitals are good and my lung capacity / lung sounds & images are excellent.
I consider vaping a "gift" that came into my life and saved me from so many bad things, it's surreal. And during this whole experience I've passed that gift on to others. I've helped several family members and friends start vaping and quit smoking throughout this journey as well and I gotta say - there's nothing quite like knowing you may have added years onto your own sister's life! (One of my sister's is 59 and smoked for almost 40 years, and since I got her into vaping she is celebrating her 2 year anniversary without tobacco).
And lastly, during the past 8 months I've become very active in vaping advocacy to do everything I can to help fight for our right to vape and keep this industry alive. I feel it's important that we all (vapers AND nons) need to keep after the government and our legislators on this. We know it all comes down to money, and that anti-vaping propaganda is just a smokescreen to help cover up the greed for cigarette tax dollars, and it's also another right that should never be hindered / never impeded.
So that's my story and it's a happy one in so many ways. Better health, better quality of life, money better spent, and people close to me happy to be around me now.
Now if you happened to have made it this far reading my short novel of a post here, and if you are "new" to the concept of vaping... if you're sitting there thinking of quitting smoking, and if you're someone who likes to drink sitting there thinking "yeah it all sounds good, but will I really succeed at avoiding a cigarette when I have my drink?" , then my answer to you is - YES, absolutely you will succeed if you want to. There are SO many great liquids and flavors out there that will actually compliment your adult beverage, and they all taste so much better than a cigarette, that all you need is the desire to make the switch and a good setup along with some guidance (not just for what to buy, but also how to vape safely). Give it a real shot! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I truly believe that if you start with the right setup and you don't try to keep smoking cigarettes while you vape, then you will succeed and you'll be like one of us who never thought this could be achieved!
Find people in the community, an experienced friend, whatever... and just start asking questions and get guidance. Set a goal, set a date, jump right in and join us!
