A Little Support Needed

[englishmick]

I'm coming on 2 years now. Every few months something stressful happens in my life and I feel that familiar desire for a cig. But it only lasts a few minutes and it isn't hard to deal with, I know I won't give in to it. More like a faint memory. A year ago it happened more often and it was a stronger urge. So don't worry too much. It will fade away in time. On the off chance that you do slip and smoke a cigarette it's still not the end of the world. Lots of people here have had a cig and not turned back into smokers. Just have faith.

Actually I enjoy hanging out with the smokers now and getting the taste. Walking into a room where people have been smoking makes me gag, and like someone else said I feel guilty about having inflicted that on the people around me for so long. But a fresh whiff out of doors is kind of nice.

 

[Down-Time]

This September will be 1 year of vaping and no smokes for me. I enjoy the smell of cigarette smoke now (I have NO idea why). It tempts me but remembering how my clothes and hair stunk deters me. I can also walk up hills farther without feeling like I'm going to die!

I've fought too hard to get to this point and won't let the enticing smell of the past entertain my future.

 

[Lannie]

Actually I enjoy hanging out with the smokers now and getting the taste. Walking into a room where people have been smoking makes me gag, and like someone else said I feel guilty about having inflicted that on the people around me for so long. But a fresh whiff out of doors is kind of nice.

That's a very good point. I don't think the smell of someone actively smoking would bother me at all. But the "residue" smell and the dirty ashtray smell are bad to me now. When I was 17 and living with my grandmother for a while, I smoked and she had quit several years prior. I always felt bad about lighting up when she was there, but she kept telling me she LIKED the smell. It was the ashtray that gagged her, so her only requirement was I kept baking soda in the ashtrays and put them out in that, which apparently killed the smell sufficiently for her. When I was driving us somewhere (she was a BAD driver! LOL!), she performed the co-pilot duties of lighting my cigs for me. A couple of times she'd inhale and end up coughing for several minutes, but she missed smoking and really liked the smell. I wish vaping had been around back then for her. She woulda been one cloud-chuckin' grannie!

 

[JimZet]

I noticed that often happens to people who vape at least from time to time tobacco flavored juices.
Well i was smoking 13 years, 2 packs a day. When i switched to vaping i decided i should go for sweet flavors and not even try tobacco flavors, this way i could get rid of the smell ( i decided to quit smoking because of the smell in first place, i just realized how stinky my house and my clothes are from all that smoking ).

So i basically vaped all kind of dessert flavors and after 2-3 weeks i started to be disgusted from cigarette smell, it would make me sick even when smoker passes by me right after smoking.
Anyway i have many friends that smoke, that doesn't bother me anymore, i think its because i vape all kind of flavors except tobacco ones.

You should quit vaping tobacco flavors in case you do.

 

[Eskie]

I actually enjoy the "tobacco" flavors, but they really don't taste, or certainly smell, like cigarettes at all. I like a few other flavors, usually vanilla based, which goes well with tobacco anyway (like a Ry4), but don't enjoy the dessert or bakery flavors, or even the coffee flavors, and I'm a big coffee drinker. I guess it's a matter of finding what you like, and as long as it keeps you from smoking, it's all good.

 

[ScandaLeX]

@Dan40 CONGRATS to you for making the switch!!!

I think we all go thru a willpower stage- the willpower to resist the urge to smoke!
In the beginning it's hard & even harder when surrounded by smokers.
All you can do is power thru it.

After a while it'll no longer require willpower per se....you just wont be phased by it.
It could come in the form of the smell of cigarettes being repulsive to you just no longer having cravings.

 

[Rossum]

Hi All,

I have been totally cig free for over 2 and a half months now. This is after smoking for 40 years (2 and a half packs a day the last years). I vap about 5ml of 18 mg nic a day.

Last night I was with a group of friends and some were smoking. A very accepting group and no one spoke of vaping or smoking.

The problem is that the smell of the cigs were really giving me an urge to smoke. I thought the urges would get less. I am mostly fine when no one is smoking around me except after eating. I tried not to breath it. It seemed like I wasn´t happy being a vaper at that moment (which I really am !).

I would like to hear other people´s experiences.

Thanks

For some reason, around three months in can be a tough time. At that point, I tended to get strong cravings right after lunch. A few drops of 36 mg WTA in a small (MTL) dripper fixed me right up though.

Then there was also a time that a friend came over who I hadn't seen in years. He was still smoking at the time. We were sitting in my home office chatting for quite a while. I was vaping away. He looked at me and asked, "So I guess I can't smoke in your house anymore?"

"Well, I'd prefer you didn't."

"OK, then I'm going outside for a cigarette".

"Tell you what, I haven't had one in about three months, so I'll have one too."

I have to admit, I enjoyed the first half of it, but then I started to feel the return of the irritation in my windpipe that I was so happy to be rid of, and by the time I was somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4 through it, I put it out.

I knew then that I was well and truly done with the things.

 

[MMW]

Congrats on your 2.5months brother.
Most folks have cravings or moments of weakness at some point, but the saving grace is that they become fewer and farther in between.

I am an addict. The most natural thing in my world is to continue doing the same thing I have been doing for years. Smoking. It's unnatural for me to not smoke. So everyday I don't smoke, becomes a more natural new behavior.

In my world of addictions, there are a few, the above is how they get quelled. They are never truly gone for me.
@Dan40, I am glad you spoke up and shared because it reminds me where I was. Have a great day brother.

 

[sketchness]

Congrats on becoming smoke free. I still love the smell of cigarettes being smoked. The stench on a person, not so much. The thing for me is they don't taste as good as they smell anymore. I haven't had a smoke in almost 2 years and still miss the simplicity of smoking. But love my vape much more.

This may seem silly but one of the things about smokes now is "vapor production", just looks silly with the wimpy amount of smoke they exhale. I love my tasty clouds of DIY custard so much more.

I keep some plain 18mg around when I am having a tough day.

 

[Txaggiesaunt]

I am one of those weird ones. I don't want one but the smell doesn't bother me if it is a fresh smelling one. Now ashtray smell and the smell on people and in people's homes bother me. But as you can see by my banner it's been over 3 yrs since I've had one. But I don't mind being around people who smoke. Go figure. When I started vaping I stilled smoked for about a month but in that month I noticed everyday it was less and less and poof one day I just never picked up another one. You got this. Good luck and VAPE ON

 

[Vandal]

Know that as an addict, your mind will play with you. It will make you want to return to old ways, since that's how our brains have become wired with decades of the same activity. You have to figure out ways to trick it back, as you are rewiring it for a different behavior.

I didn't enjoy smoking the last years that I smoked. It just felt hot, harsh, and didn't taste or smell good to me. I hated that I couldn't stop. When I'm entertaining the idea of a smoke, I just remind myself how much I hated it all in those final years and how it felt to me. And how I would smell to others (stick your nose in an ashtray to remind yourself). I was the only one I knew who still smoked when I quit, so I was lucky and didn't have to deal with being around it.

My sister quit smoking decades ago. I switched from smoking to vaping going on 7 years ago- I smoked 2 1/2 PAD for 42 years. We both agree we love the smell of someone passing by smoking a cigarette, but I think both of us would be sickened at the smell of stale smoke, or an ashtray, etc., or if we were stuck in a smoke-filled room. Really, I find it hard to stand near someone for entire time it takes them to smoke a cig. But the whiff of it passing by, that's different somehow.

If you haven't tried it, maybe keep some tobacco flavored juice around for the occasions you're missing it and see if it helps (I add a few drops of Halo Torque56 to about 10mL of unflavored- tastes like the real deal). Since I stopped, I have not smoked once, though I have had dreams of it, lol. The dreams have been a bit disconcerting, but I went through the same thing after I quit drinking. I assume it's natural as your mind is working it all out.

Don't kick yourself if you give in and have a smoke. That is just counter-productive. Focus on the good you have done and know that you can get right back to it.

 

[sonicbomb]

This may seem silly but one of the things about smokes now is "vapor production", just looks silly with the wimpy amount of smoke they exhale

Right on man, I think the same thing myself. Pah, light-weight vapor production...

 

[Dan40]

Thank you everyone for your support.

When I started vaping my friend and vaping teacher advised me not to go with a tobacco flavor as it would be good to get away from that taste. I think it was good advice.

I started with Northern Lights from Halcyen Haze. Then I went to mixing unflavored juice to same money (and changing laws) I just added a small bottle of Northern Lights to a big bottle. This works well as I like a very subtle flavor.

Again, I appreciate the support

 

[dmska]

It's natural and should get easier over time. Don't beat yourself up too much. Just keep doing what you're doing.

 

[Dan40]

It's natural and should get easier over time. Don't beat yourself up too much. Just keep doing what you're doing.

Thanks

I am not beating myself up as I didn´t give in and go have a cig. I just had some bad thinking at that moment. It must be getting better some. I remember the first week when bus fumes and car exhaust smell great!

 

[ScandaLeX]

When I started vaping my friend and vaping teacher advised me not to go with a tobacco flavor as it would be good to get away from that taste. I think it was good advice.

Your friend was trying to help you avoid the temptations of going back to cigarettes.
Many new vapers go in thinking they can vape what they've smoked.....Newport, Marlboro <insert any brand here/>.....trying to recreate the taste is often a lot of trial & error, expensive & can send one to the nearest cigarette.

 

[cats5365]

Thanks

I am not beating myself up as I didn´t give in and go have a cig. I just had some bad thinking at that moment. It must be getting better some. I remember the first week when bus fumes and car exhaust smell great!

If you were liking diesel, I might have to question your sanity. But regular gas (not the no-lead) exhaust was one of the best smells ever. Bliss would be racing gas, brake dust, and hot transmission oil at a dirt track. Gotta have me some lead, asbestos, petroleum distillates, and carbon monoxide.

Back to topic after a short little turn in the weeds...

Keep working at this vaping thing. You are doing great, and it does get better.

 

[DC2]

On the off chance that you do slip and smoke a cigarette it's still not the end of the world. Lots of people here have had a cig and not turned back into smokers.

This topic has always fascinated me, as evidenced by this old poll of mine...
Should you try a cigarette now that you don't smoke?

I've often toyed with the idea of recommending people try a smoke.
But I just don't want the responsibility if it goes south on them.

 

[dobroeutro]

Even after 10+ months & no tobacco cigarettes, I still get the itch from time to time. 1st thing in the morning, after meals & having some drinks can be tough. I always have a tank of 6mg unflavored around for those times. Works for me... I'm never smoking tobacco cigarettes again.

 

[Falconeer]

Hi - I think it's a state of mind thing - there comes/ or comes not a time for everyone when they realise the simply aren't going to smoke again, they are not going to undo the good that has been done and are simply not going down that Ole Bad Road anymore..not now not ever never...because they themselves simply don't want to.

I think that stage comes to everyone who makes it, in his or her own time...

Jest an' Old 50 year + ex smoker talkin' - so you don't have to pay no perticular mind!