I am considering trying E-cigarettes as a substitute for cigarettes. I have been smoking for 15 years and actually like smoking. I don't want to quit, but I am at the point where the health risks are going to become more and more likely to occur. E Cigarettes seem like a "happy medium" for either reducing the number of cigarettes I smoke or give them up all together. Does anyone have any recommendations for an E Cig that feels closest to the real thing?
I think that what works for someone depends on what part of smoking is really their biggest addiction. I smoked for 25 years so sure, the nicotine was a factor but the biggest thing for me was the physical habit, having that little thing in my hand to fidget with. My totally un-scientific opinion of why gums and patches and Chantix often don't work or aren't even considered by people wanting to quit is because those options don't do anything to address the physical habit.
I switched from cigarettes to e-"cigalikes" three years and three months ago. It was a clean break, no transition time of "cutting back" or "weaning off" the real thing. My husband is still a heavy smoker as are most of our friends but even so I have never looked back, never even been tempted to take a hit, because the e-cig so totally mimics the act of smoking as far as the physical part. Less then one month into my switch I took a 1,000 mile each way road trip with two smokers and even so, was never tempted to light up with them. We all know how the boredom of being on the highway for hours leads to chain smoking. Hands on the wheel, that little cig between your fingers, puffing here and there as you ponder your next exit .. it's a hard habit to break. With the e-cig you don't have to fight against that part of the habit.
Because they do approximate the size and shape of a real cig, they are convenient and unobtrusive. I usually keep mine in my back pocket, or if I am sitting or wearing pants without pockets I'll tuck it into my sock. It's also small enough to fit in my phone case which is handy since I don't carry a purse. If I am somewhere were I want to be really subtle about what I am doing I know how to hold it in my hand in such a way that all of it is in my sleeve, or with no sleeves just hold it "lit" side down and pointing towards my wrist so it's hidden by my hand. I can take a hit and none is the wiser, it just looks like my hand is on my chin, the way people often do when they are thinking about something. I am not a "deep drawer" so don't produce clouds of vapor so even exhaling generally goes unnoticed and if I want to be extra cautious I can simply look down and exhale into my collar.
"Cigalikes" have worked for me because they let me quit smoking without having to break the physical habits associated with it. They also worked for my mom and two of my friends I got on them. I have two friends who have what I call "asthma inhaler" style personal vapor devices - big square tanks that don't resemble a cigarette at all - and neither have been successful in getting off cigarettes. I've tried their "inhalers" and while they definitely deliver a good hit and make nice clouds of vapor on exhale, they don't mimic the act of smoking a real cig and IMO, that's why they didn't work for them.
The other side are those for whom the "throat hit" and the draw and the vapor cloud on exhale and the nicotine hit etc, are the most important thing. Like my husband for example. If we are in a situation where there is zero chance of him going off to smoke, like being in the airport, he will take a hit off my "cigalike" but it doesn't satisfy him. He needs more than to just
feel like he's smoking.
So my opinion is, when you say "
Does anyone have any recommendations for an E Cig that feels closest to the real thing?" it depends on what you mean. If you want/need something that feels like you are holding and using a real cigarette than you have a very good chance of success with"cigalikes". If on the other hand the "hit" is the bigger addiction for you, the harder habit to break, then I agree with everyone else in that a more advanced "personal vaping system" will give you better results.
