A little frustrated

[Heidi S]

Hello again!

So I frequent the reddit vaping forums and firstly let me just say I find this group a lot more informative and friendly.

I’ve noticed lately that a lot of noobs are coming onto the Reddit’s asking about vaping and set-ups but have never smoked cigs before, so vaping is not their way out to stop the stinkies. Some talk about mech mods, coil building etc yet have no clue about ohms law and battery care etc, but are vaping because they think it’s something cool to do or an alternative to smoking (yet they don’t smoke). If they don’t have any nicotine in their liquid then it’s ok and they want to try cbd oil but have no illnesses to help ease there symptoms but want to see if they can get high! The list is endless....

I read this today:

“So I started my journey vaping occasionally, stopped for a while to give myself a break (sub ohm 12 nic), then I switched to juul for the nicotine and did 1-2 pods a day for about a year. Then i decided .... it what are cigarettes like (guess the ads were true lol). I found cigarettes easier and better than vaping and I enjoyed the heat and flavor of American spirit blacks and marb reds. I smoked them for 3 months about a pack a day. Then I decided that the smell on my hands and clothes was too much and quit cold Turkey. I figured I'd have crazy withdrawals like I'd read about all the time, but I had none. Craving lasted one day and then I didn't even think about smoking anymore. Now I'm nicotine and cigarette free for more than 2 months and dont even think about picking it up again. Is this fairly common? Could I try .... or something crazy and not get addicted, or do I just not fully understand how addiction works? Thanks for the help if anyone responds”

Link: Are my results common? : Vaping

This is one of the reasons why so many people are anti vaping because of idiots like this. I find it frustrating because for me, vaping has helped me get off the cigarettes and all the horrible chemicals damaging my body and well being. I find it a very useful tool with my battle of addiction with cigarettes and I just feel that idiots like the above are just making vaping look like a fad or craze when it actually isn’t for those of us who are using it for a reason.

Had to get that off my chest folks ‍

 

[Jebbn]

I dont know. Can you post a link. Seems a bit like concern troll activity. Ive seen similar from flyby posters saying vaping got them addicted to cigs. The whole "gateway" premise supposedly confirmed.

 

[Heidi S]

I know what you mean - sometimes I read stuff and I think troll but sometimes I just think people are actually serious!

Link:


Are my results common? : Vaping

 

[bombastinator]

Hello again!

So I frequent the reddit vaping forums and firstly let me just say I find this group a lot more informative and friendly.

You’re not the first person I’ve heard say that

I’ve noticed lately that a lot of noobs are coming onto the Reddit’s asking about vaping and set-ups but have never smoked cigs before, so vaping is not their way out to stop the stinkies. Some talk about mech mods, coil building etc yet have no clue about ohms law and battery care etc, but are vaping because they think it’s something cool to do or an alternative to smoking (yet they don’t smoke). If they don’t have any nicotine in their liquid then it’s ok and they want to try ... oil but have no illnesses to help ease there symptoms but want to see if they can get high! The list is endless....

I read this today:

“So I started my journey vaping occasionally, stopped for a while to give myself a break (sub ohm 12 nic), then I switched to juul for the nicotine and did 1-2 pods a day for about a year. Then i decided .... it what are cigarettes like (guess the ads were true lol). I found cigarettes easier and better than vaping and I enjoyed the heat and flavor of American spirit blacks and marb reds. I smoked them for 3 months about a pack a day. Then I decided that the smell on my hands and clothes was too much and quit cold Turkey. I figured I'd have crazy withdrawals like I'd read about all the time, but I had none. Craving lasted one day and then I didn't even think about smoking anymore. Now I'm nicotine and cigarette free for more than 2 months and dont even think about picking it up again. Is this fairly common? Could I try .... or something crazy and not get addicted, or do I just not fully understand how addiction works? Thanks for the help if anyone responds”

S/he did indeed “not fully understand how addiction works”. The first time I smoked it was a lot like that. I actually thought a bit like he did. The second time not so much.

This is one of the reasons why so many people are anti vaping because of idiots like this. I find it frustrating because for me, vaping has helped me get off the cigarettes and all the horrible chemicals damaging my body and well being. I find it a very useful tool with my battle of addiction with cigarettes and I just feel that idiots like the above are just making vaping look like a fad or craze when it actually isn’t for those of us who are using it for a reason.

Had to get that off my chest folks ‍

Most welcome. Addiction seems to be kind of random. It’s perhaps a bit like cancer that way. Every time you roll the dice and there’s a chance you lose everything. Some lose the game on their first roll. Some have to roll several times. If they keep rolling they will eventually lose though. To quote a movie of my childhood “The only way to win the game is not to play”.

 

[bombastinator]

I know what you mean - sometimes I read stuff and I think troll but sometimes I just think people are actually serious!

Link:


Are my results common? : Vaping

Got ”URL has been removed” error.

 

[Old Greybeard]

To quote a movie of my childhood “The only way to win the game is not to play”.

Can't remember where I came across it, but someone once said the most addicted gamblers are the ones who win first time. Addiction is a bit like a roulette wheel, you might occasionally benefit, but in the end the house always wins.

I remember when I first started smoking, I was so messed up as a teenager I didn't appreciate the long term consequences. Addiction and health issues were the last thing on my mind, it was more a cry for help and a vain attempt at sticking two fingers up at a world that in my eyes I saw as even more damaged than myself.

When you are younger, you think you are invincible. Life has other ideas .

 

[Jebbn]

I know what you mean - sometimes I read stuff and I think troll but sometimes I just think people are actually serious!

Link:


Are my results common? : Vaping

Who ever it is they've been on Reddit for awhile.
Maybe he was just asking a hypothetical but based on what he admitted was a limited understanding.
Guess I will never know.

 

[Heidi S]

Who ever it is they've been on Reddit for awhile.
Maybe he was just asking a hypothetical but based on what he admitted was a limited understanding.
Guess I will never know.

Yeah I was looking at his profile and he knows his stuff and works in a vape shop!

 

[Opinionated]

Hello again!

So I frequent the reddit vaping forums and firstly let me just say I find this group a lot more informative and friendly.

I’ve noticed lately that a lot of noobs are coming onto the Reddit’s asking about vaping and set-ups but have never smoked cigs before, so vaping is not their way out to stop the stinkies. Some talk about mech mods, coil building etc yet have no clue about ohms law and battery care etc, but are vaping because they think it’s something cool to do or an alternative to smoking (yet they don’t smoke). If they don’t have any nicotine in their liquid then it’s ok and they want to try ... oil but have no illnesses to help ease there symptoms but want to see if they can get high! The list is endless....

I read this today:

“So I started my journey vaping occasionally, stopped for a while to give myself a break (sub ohm 12 nic), then I switched to juul for the nicotine and did 1-2 pods a day for about a year. Then i decided .... it what are cigarettes like (guess the ads were true lol). I found cigarettes easier and better than vaping and I enjoyed the heat and flavor of American spirit blacks and marb reds. I smoked them for 3 months about a pack a day. Then I decided that the smell on my hands and clothes was too much and quit cold Turkey. I figured I'd have crazy withdrawals like I'd read about all the time, but I had none. Craving lasted one day and then I didn't even think about smoking anymore. Now I'm nicotine and cigarette free for more than 2 months and dont even think about picking it up again. Is this fairly common? Could I try .... or something crazy and not get addicted, or do I just not fully understand how addiction works? Thanks for the help if anyone responds”

This is one of the reasons why so many people are anti vaping because of idiots like this. I find it frustrating because for me, vaping has helped me get off the cigarettes and all the horrible chemicals damaging my body and well being. I find it a very useful tool with my battle of addiction with cigarettes and I just feel that idiots like the above are just making vaping look like a fad or craze when it actually isn’t for those of us who are using it for a reason.

Had to get that off my chest folks ‍

A couple things.

First, welcome to ECF!

Second - talking about the other stuff here is against forum rules. As you saw when you proofread your post after posting, even the acronym gets blanked out..

We are a vaping forum and to us that does not include drugs - just nicotine. (except for some of us, I don't use nicotine anymore, for instance).

As for the poster in question, I started smoking when I was 13. Each time (two times in all) I got pregnant I quit smoking for the pregnancy itself and for breastfeeding. Then I picked smoking back up when I was finished.

But one fine day when at the age of 27 I decided I didn't want to smoke anymore - I grew up by then and was over it - but suddenly found I was unable to quit - I was firmly addicted.

I used everything under the sun from that point to quit to no avail until vaping came around. In all I was a smoker for 32 years...

You never know at what point you will be unable to quit, so it's possible to smoke for a while and be able to stop like it was nothing. I did it twice, it was the third time which got me.

But on the internet you just expect people to be trolls, especially places like reddit.

 

[Heidi S]

Can't remember where I came across it, but someone once said the most addicted gamblers are the ones who win first time. Addiction is a bit like a roulette wheel, you might occasionally benefit, but in the end the house always wins.

I remember when I first started smoking, I was so messed up as a teenager I didn't appreciate the long term consequences. Addiction and health issues were the last thing on my mind, it was more a cry for help and a vain attempt at sticking two fingers up at a world that in my eyes I saw as even more damaged than myself.

When you are younger, you think you are invincible. Life has other ideas .

Very true, but you would think with the vast amounts of information readily available and daily news items in this day and age that somebody would do their research on addiction to a certain thing and realise nah that’s not the way to go lol

 

[bombastinator]

When you are younger, you think you are invincible. Life has other ideas .

I was so sure that was another quote I went hunting on google.
Couldn’t find it.
Did run across an interesting link though
The adolescent perception of invincibility and its influence on teen acceptance of health promotion strategies. - PubMed - NCBI
There were also a lot of song lyrics

 

[Heidi S]

You’re not the first person I’ve heard say that

S/he did indeed “not fully understand how addiction works”. The first time I smoked it was a lot like that. I actually thought a bit like he did. The second time not so much.

Most welcome. Addiction seems to be kind of random. It’s perhaps a bit like cancer that way. Every time you roll the dice and there’s a chance you lose everything. Some lose the game on their first roll. Some have to roll several times. If they keep rolling they will eventually lose though. To quote a movie of my childhood “The only way to win the game is not to play”.

Yes I understand what you’re saying, my concern was that for somebody who never smoked but started vaping with nicotine, then went to cigarettes, then quit back to vaping is now wanting to know whether he should try hard core stuff because he seems to be inclined to think that he won’t be addicted

 

[bombastinator]

Yes I understand what you’re saying, my concern was that for somebody who never smoked but started vaping with nicotine, then went to cigarettes, then quit back to vaping is now wanting to know whether he should try hard core stuff because he seems to be inclined to think that he won’t be addicted

Mine too. It sounded like he quit everything. I did that once and got away with it. I was dumb though. It was like I’d managed to dodge a bus by dumb luck and thought it was because I was good.

 

[Opinionated]

Yes I understand what you’re saying, my concern was that for somebody who never smoked but started vaping with nicotine, then went to cigarettes, then quit back to vaping is now wanting to know whether he should try hard core stuff because he seems to be inclined to think that he won’t be addicted

He sounds like an anti-vaping troll.. seriously.

 

[Heidi S]

He sounds like an anti-vaping troll.. seriously.

Agreed!

 

[bombastinator]

He sounds like an anti-vaping troll.. seriously.

True. There are people who think that way though.

We’re mostly old farts here. Adolescence was a long time ago.

I went to a book club this evening made up entirely of much younger people. I went outside to vape a couple times and I felt like a prostrate drug addict.
Didn’t help that it was basically true.

I kind of don’t want to go back. I know what happens to me when I quit this stuff though.

 

[Baditude]

I've generally believed the only people who should vape should be smokers or people trying to quit smoking via vaping. Vaping is "harm reduction", a safer way to feed a nicotine addiction you already have. A "If you never smoked, you shouldn't vape" mentality.

However, my 23 year old daughter, never a smoker, vapes occassionally as a social/recreational vaper. She enjoys the flavors and making vapor as she says it relaxes her and helps her fit in with her smoker and vaping friends. It also keeps any thoughts of becoming a future smoker at bay.

Is vaping a gateway to smoking? I don't believe it. Is it a gateway to using drugs. I don't believe that either.

I'm also not a fan of a nanny state that tries to determine what I can and can not do. If you are an adult, you should be able to judge for yourself the consequences of doing any adult activity as long as it is within the law and not harmful to others.

 

[djsvapour]

When my grandparents started smoking it was considered healthy.
When my parents started, the dangers were coming out.
When I started, I knew it was bad but guessed I'd quit soon enough.

It's a free (ish) world in regard to smoking. The gateway theory is unproven. If someone takes up smoking and sees vaping as their introduction, there's not much we can do about that. Soda to beer to hard liquor... Sure, there's a chain maybe. The anti-vaping lobby would love it to be true but for every one person who goes from vaping to smoking there will be thousands or even millions heading the other way down the highway. This anecdotal 'evidence' is similar to a worm trying to stop a tank to claim martyrdom.
Pay no need. Lose no sleep. Vape on.

 

[bombastinator]

When my grandparents started smoking it was considered healthy.
When my parents started, the dangers were coming out.
When I started, I knew it was bad but guessed I'd quit soon enough.

It's a free (ish) world in regard to smoking. The gateway theory is unproven. If someone takes up smoking and sees vaping as their introduction, there's not much we can do about that. Soda to beer to hard liquor... Sure, there's a chain maybe. The anti-vaping lobby would love it to be true but for every one person who goes from vaping to smoking there will be thousands or even millions heading the other way down the highway. This anecdotal 'evidence' is similar to a worm trying to stop a tank to claim martyrdom.
Pay no need. Lose no sleep. Vape on.

I agree factually, but as you point out facts aren’t what necessarily wins in these situations. Also there is the argument that the life of a single teen is vastly more valuable than the lives of even a bunch of us old farts. Not sure they’re wrong even. Part of it is I’m not sure I can even access the mindset of being young and dumb anymore. Old and dumb is of course depressingly easy.
I wind up reading articles like this:
Why Are Teen Brains Designed for Risk-taking?

 

[Old Greybeard]

I went to a book club this evening made up entirely of much younger people. I went outside to vape a couple times and I felt like a prostrate drug addict.

This type of attitude really rattles my cage. You'd think that literature would broaden the mind, would help people understand other individuals frailties, and accept the wisdom of the phrase "There but the grace of God, go I".

I guess it probably wasn't deliberate, but that said the whole smoking/vaping pariah conditioning thing I find immensely troubling and hypocritical. Society was quite happy to accept the massive taxation raised by countless smokers over their lifetimes, never mind the financial implications of lives being cut short and there no longer being the need to meet continued pension funding, or care in old age etc. The social costs of other habits and lifestyles are often much greater, yet we are the selfish ones.

It is always interesting to observe what happens when trends turn against what was previously socially acceptable.