3rd Attempt to Quit analogs with my E-cig... :-(

[douknowme12321]

Okay, so I just finished off my last newport of the box again for the 3rd time, and will attempt to continue with just the e-cig starting tomorrow. I dunno what the issue is.. I have had my E-cig for about 2.5 weeks now, and especially after getting Cash's True Menthol from puresmoker.com, I have fell in love with the taste... It taste a million times better than a newport!! EVen when I smoke an analog now it actually does taste terrible compared to Cash's True Menthol.. so why do I keep going back to Analogs after 3 days strong on the e-cig? I don't know if it is because I am around people who are smoking real cigarettes, or if I just feel uncomfortable in certain places with the e-cig. On the weekends especially.. when I go in town to a club or a bar, I find myself leaving the e-cig at home and buying a pack of analogs. Or if I go out to a friends house I will be smoking my e-cig for the majority of the night, and the second someone goes out the door to smoke an analog I follow, to snatch one from their pack. Has anyone had any issues like this? Breaking away from analogs all together and sticking to their e-cig?

P.S.
I'm glad the site is back up! I know I am new, but searching the forum and reading everything everyone does post helps. It is kind of like a support group I enjoy this site soooo much. And everyone here shares the same interest involving the e-cig. Sooo Thank you guys in advance! And Thank you to the people who have created the forum and keeping it up and running!

-Tito

 

[GabbyD]

It's not easy and that first few days is the hardest. I think you're falling back at the peak of when cravings are the worst. I stayed away from people smoking at first. My husband quit going on the smoke breaks with co-workers. He couldn't get through that with an e-cig. So I do think there's something to not being around smokers when they are smoking. Now, however, I can be around them and all I think about is how the smell is so awful.

I really think if you could push through to the one week mark, you'd have knocked it. That doesn't mean you'll be totally free from cravings, but the cravings are less and less and easier to control by puffing on the e-cig.

 

[xpdx]

Yea, I'm almost done with my fourth week with the ecigarettes. I still keep a pack of smokes around for emergencies but a pack lasts me weeks now, I go days without one and don't think about it. That's progress right? I find when I start drinking alcohol I start wanting an analog. Or when I really want a break from my desk at work I go outside and smoke an analog.

I feel like it's entirely possible that with just the smallest amount of willpower I could avoid them altogether. After that I just need to switch to medium nicotine juice.... then low.

Keep at it..

 

[rhyddereh]

I went down from 1.5 packs a day to 1-3 cigs a day when smoking med-high level e-liquid. I ordered 24-36 and now don't even feel the need for one. If you go this route please be careful, I haven't felt anything but less need for analogues but many have had bad experiences.

 

[Mufftrix]

I think it to easy to push yourself, I was determined to give them up but couldn`t get past first one of day and after meals for a while. Then once you gone one day that turn into 3 and hopefully rest is plain sailing! My wife still smokes so have had odd drag just see how bad they taste and they awful ha-ha! That weird thing imo and a lot of others seem to find the same in that the more you e-smoke the worse analogs taste till you get to point you don`t enjoy them! Anyway good luck and keep us informed

 

[Katoo]

Sounds to me like you are not having trouble giving up analogs, you are having trouble giving up the social ritual of the going outside with buddies and doing the tribal smoking thing.

I had trouble with this, too. If I took the e-cig out, I got too many questions and ribbing. I wasn't part of the tribe anymore, chatting and smoking. I became the object of conversation and I didn't like it, even when it was positive conversation. It didn't feel like the ritual smoke break at all, which is what I wanted - not the cigarette.

So, I wrote about it here, and got lots of advice, the biggest being, keep taking the e-cig outside and just push through the questions, teasing, and comments. That took a couple of tough days, but now everybody is used to seeing me with it, and it just stopped and now we are back talking about the weather and stuff. Normal.

 

[RainbowznStarz]

There is some willpower involved if you do want to quit. My worst stages were-

The first 3 days.
The 'morning' cigarette.
The 'after dinner' cigarette.
2 weeks.
And I just went through one helluva fight with it yesterday, at 36 days. I've read though that the 34 day mark is hard (I forget why lol)

I couldn't be around smokers for the first week. Now it doesn't phase me at all, except for the smell is nasty. I haven't gone to any clubs that allow smoking (Virginia) and instead go to the D.C clubs (no smoking). I sit in the no-smoking areas of restaurants now and don't vape. These things I attribute to my success so far.

But it takes some willpower at times. Good luck to you!

 

[gep]

I got my first e-cig at the end of June and it took me until November to give up the analogs completely. It takes time to develop this new habit and give up the old one.
Smoking in my car was the last thing I gave up and I gave it up on a two day drive!

Good luck!

 

[leaford]

It doesn't come so easily to everyone. You aren't alone. Hang in there.

 

[douknowme12321]

Thanks sooo much guys! Glad to hear its a common issue at first. Lets see how it goes...

 

[yoshistr]

The problem lies in cognitive behavioral adaptation, this is when your brain has associated smoking analog cigarettes with the high good nicotine surge that you get with it. Even though the e cigarette has essentially that same great feeling your brain has not spent enough time adapting or learning this subconsciously. Consider it for a second, you have spent years smoking analogs and every time your brain subconsciously has considered it favorable because of how the nicotine felt, however you have not used the e cigarettes long enough to change that association. This means you have to stop smoking analogs as much as you can and smoke the e cigarette as much as you can. Unfortunately this will get you more addicted to nicotine but is eventually favorable because it will get you to stop smoking the analogs. Learning to change habits takes a long time because our brains have a large number of neural sets controlling our behaviors based on prior experience. Changing these associations is progressive and requires your constant diligence to achieve success. Some people have quit smoking analogs more quickly in favor of e cigarettes than you for a number of reasons but mostly due to the fact that their brains associate e cigarettes as more favorable than analogs (possibly due to regaining taste and smell which means quitting smoking analogs for longer than a few days).

Scientists have tested cognitive behavior of mice by administering a dose of nicotine as an experiment. Mice that were given the nicotine were then allowed to press a button to get another dose until they quickly became addicted. The mice also had the option to press a button for either food or nicotine, within a short period of time the mice stopped pressing the button for food altogether and only craved the nicotine. In a similar experiment, mice were first addicted to nicotine, then were given a button that gave them an electrical shock and nicotine. This did not deter the mice that were addicted from constantly pressing the button for more nicotine.

 

[bluewolf]

I still smoke but pretty much just on the weekends.
During the week I'm either working (can't smoke there)
or sleeping. Eventually I'm going to try to quit completely.

 

[mburkhart]

What a great time to read this thread! I've been e-smoking for a little over two weeks now and have been totally smoke free for 11 days. I was shocked to find how easy it was to not have a smoke. The remainder of my last pack is sitting on my dresser and I'm not even tempted to touch it. Even at bars and clubs, I'm totally happy using the e-cig. I admit it is less satisfying, but I'm not dying for a smoke like I thought I'd be. That is, until tonight. I don't have any idea why, but out of nowhere the craving hit and it hit HARD. I was puffing away on the e-cig and switching juices from PureSmoker's sampler like crazy and not finding anything to alleviate the need for a good ol' P-Funk!

Reading this thread (and vaping high-nic French Pipe flavor nonstop for about 2 hours) helped me make it through, though! Thanks ECF!

 

[BiscuitSlayer]

The mice also had the option to press a button for either food or nicotine, within a short period of time the mice stopped pressing the button for food altogether and only craved the nicotine. In a similar experiment, mice were first addicted to nicotine, then were given a button that gave them an electrical shock and nicotine. This did not deter the mice that were addicted from constantly pressing the button for more nicotine.

So the mice stopped eating and had to be force-fed? LOL

Maybe their appatites were suppressed from the nicotine uptake?

Maybe they decided it was time to loose weight?

As far as shocking the mice when they wanted a hit of nicotine, I wonder if they ever considered increasing the voltage. If the test was performed on me, I could withstand quite a few shocks to satisfy my nicotine needs. If the shocks were painful or increasing in voltage, I would imagine there would be a breaking point for me.

I would put up with electrical shocks similar to static discharges all day. I would not, however, put up with touching something like an electric pet fence (did it once and it sucked, bigtime!).

There are a lot of different ways of looking at a study like that. To me, it doesn't prove too much because we can't discuss the topic with the mice.