Anyone else primarily use another tobacco product than cigarettes before vaping?

[frizzy_tyger]

This has been tickling my brain a lot lately for some reason. I understand why most of the survey's and stuff focus on cigarette smokers because they are the biggest market for vaping, but with the FDA regulations I find myself not feeling represented. So if you like me came to vaping from something else I'd like to hear your story. Mine is bellow and a bit long, I get more wordy than I mean to.

I came to vaping as an alternative to hookah. During that period i also did "stress smoke" cigarettes, but a pack would last me a month or sometimes two. I'd go weeks with out a cigarette and then smoke the whole pack within a week. Though the majority of the smoking I did was hookah, I would smoke for an hour or so several times a week at home, plus a few trips to a hookah bar a few times a month where I would smoke for 3 or 4 hours at a time. I did have a short stent, less than a year where I regularly smoked cigarettes but had quit by the point I started hookah.

I switched entirely to vaping a little over a year ago. Since the day I bought the first setup I have only smoked once!

 

[Rule62]

I smoked cigarettes when I was younger; but for many, many years, I was primarily a pipe and cigar smoker.

 

[Two_Bears]

This has been tickling my brain a lot lately for some reason. I understand why most of the survey's and stuff focus on cigarette smokers because they are the biggest market for vaping, but with the FDA regulations I find myself not feeling represented. So if you like me came to vaping from something else I'd like to hear your story. Mine is bellow and a bit long, I get more wordy than I mean to.

I came to vaping as an alternative to hookah. During that period i also did "stress smoke" cigarettes, but a pack would last me a month or sometimes two. I'd go weeks with out a cigarette and then smoke the whole pack within a week. Though the majority of the smoking I did was hookah, I would smoke for an hour or so several times a week at home, plus a few trips to a hookah bar a few times a month where I would smoke for 3 or 4 hours at a time. I did have a short stent, less than a year where I regularly smoked cigarettes but had quit by the point I started hookah.

I switched entirely to vaping a little over a year ago. Since the day I bought the first setup I have only smoked once!

I primarily smoked Saratoga cigarettes, and used hawken or Skoal smokless tobacco when i was places i couldn't smoke.

 

[MyMagicMist]

I was primarily a smoker but did use snuff, chewing tobacco at times. Had a grandfather what taught his grandkids how to snort snuff. We thought it kind of funny in a way. By the time he got to teaching that we had already known of rubbing snuff between your lip and gum.

Another grandfather always seemed to have a quid of his favorite brand chewing tobacco in his jaw. He swapped brands once when I had started sneaking a little of his. Once I was found it it was not a big issue. He simply suggested I wait until becoming an adult, if I wouldn't do that at least ask and not sneak it.

I now vape and do not have any great desire for tobacco products aside from the nicotine in the ejuice. Which kind of causes me a little confusion. Nicotine can indeed be extracted from other plants. It may even be synthesized. Not quite sure how it is still seen as a tobacco product. Yes, I understand it can be extracted from tobacco. Merely because it can be does not infer it is, ergo that does not infer it is a tobacco product to me.

Suppose definitions can be altered. Oh well, have more vaping to do.

 

[Cacique]

I started out smoking hand rolled artisan cigarillos when I lived in Puerto Rico. Started out once a week and then moved on to about 3 times a week. A few months down the line I started smoking slim menthol cigarettes. Few months after that I moved to Ft Lauderdale, no access to my beloved cigarillos (they were so good!), so I started smoking the cigarettes more, but my main smokes were black & milds and similar small cigars. I also had bought a hookah, so used that every week, once or twice at least.

About a year after I started smoking or so I had stopped smoking anything other than clove cigarettes, about a pack every 2 or 3 days, eventually started smoking Newports and about a half a pack a day. I met my girlfriend, who had recently quit smoking with her mother when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The more time I spent with her, the less I smoked. We eventually moved in together, and by them I was down to a cigarette or 2 a week. Last cigarette I had while hanging out with my friends was disgusting and hard to finish. I didn't have physical withdrawals, but I have had a hand-to-mouth obsession since I can remember (used to bite my nails worse than Frodo in Lord of the Rings). I was able to keep myself from destroying my fingers, but every time I went out for a drive I wished I had a smoke. As the e-cig technology progressed, I figured I'd give it a shot.

I haven't craved any cigarettes since then, they've been completely out of my mind. I didn't use nicotine for months after I started vaping, but slowly started introducing it after reading the thread on the benefits of nicotine. I've noticed I feel more alert and focused than before I vaped and after I quit smoking, and I'm not too sure but I think my allergy/sinus issues might be a bit better than before. Another thing to add is that I have depressive/anxiety/stress disorders, on top of being raised in an extremely stressful and panic inducing childhood. My grandmother, who I grew up with and raised me along with my single mother, passed away at the end of last year, and I'm glad to say that I didn't even think about cigarettes.

 

[gofishtx]

Not me, but my brother was a dipper. Pre-cancerous lesions being cut out his gums and mouth for the 3rd time, I finally have him vaping, but I have had to increase his nic to 10mg as he is still craving Skoal. I'll be mixing him a batch of Wintergreen Ice tomorrow and make it at 8mg and see if he can tolerate that.

 

[mauricem00]

This has been tickling my brain a lot lately for some reason. I understand why most of the survey's and stuff focus on cigarette smokers because they are the biggest market for vaping, but with the FDA regulations I find myself not feeling represented. So if you like me came to vaping from something else I'd like to hear your story. Mine is bellow and a bit long, I get more wordy than I mean to.

I came to vaping as an alternative to hookah. During that period i also did "stress smoke" cigarettes, but a pack would last me a month or sometimes two. I'd go weeks with out a cigarette and then smoke the whole pack within a week. Though the majority of the smoking I did was hookah, I would smoke for an hour or so several times a week at home, plus a few trips to a hookah bar a few times a month where I would smoke for 3 or 4 hours at a time. I did have a short stent, less than a year where I regularly smoked cigarettes but had quit by the point I started hookah.

I switched entirely to vaping a little over a year ago. Since the day I bought the first setup I have only smoked once!

I smoked for over 40 years. I started with cigarettes but for the last 20 years I smoked a pipe and an occasional cigar. I was one of those hard core addicts that inhaled pipes and cigars but when I started vaping with a little ego battery and gs-h2 tank I stopped smoking the same day I started vaping and have not used any tobacco products since.like many others here I tried gums,pills and patches in the past but none of them worked.vaping was the only thing that freed me from am addiction to tobacco

 

[Two_Bears]

I was primarily a smoker but did use snuff, chewing tobacco at times. Had a grandfather what taught his grandkids how to snort snuff. We thought it kind of funny in a way. By the time he got to teaching that we had already known of rubbing snuff between your lip and gum.

Another grandfather always seemed to have a quid of his favorite brand chewing tobacco in his jaw. He swapped brands once when I had started sneaking a little of his. Once I was found it it was not a big issue. He simply suggested I wait until becoming an adult, if I wouldn't do that at least ask and not sneak it.

I now vape and do not have any great desire for tobacco products aside from the nicotine in the ejuice. Which kind of causes me a little confusion. Nicotine can indeed be extracted from other plants. It may even be synthesized. Not quite sure how it is still seen as a tobacco product. Yes, I understand it can be extracted from tobacco. Merely because it can be does not infer it is, ergo that does not infer it is a tobacco product to me.

Suppose definitions can be altered. Oh well, have more vaping to do.

You can get nicotine from eggplant just to name one other source.

 

[Flt Simulation]

I was a 1.5 pack per day smoker for over 40 years ... I completely stopped smoking cigarettes more than 2 years ago when I started vaping instead ...

However, I still enjoy smoking maybe 1 premium cigar per week and I am not giving that up.

Cigarettes ... I don't care if I ever see another one. I have completely lost the addiction to them.

 

[crxess]

Never wanted to be a Habitual Smoker.
Never found a way to stop.
Until Vapor Products came along.
Never smoked again.

 

[rgerber]

Pipes and cigars for nearly 60 years. Vaping and clean now for 2 years. And yes...I inhaled every puff!

 

[MyMagicMist]

You can get nicotine from eggplant just to name one other source.

Tomatoes, potatoes, celery, cauliflower, papaya, Atropa belladonna (Deadly Nightshade), milkweed, jimsonweed, field horsetail, bell peppers ... to name a few others. I would not be surprised if nicotine could be extracted from common lawn grass. Nicotine itself is a chemical substance which can be attained from various sources. That to me does not make it specifically a tobacco product. * shrug * Suppose our oh grand leaders know better.

 

[VHRB2014]

I smoked cigs for 20 years, then switched to cigars when the cigs no longer had any discernible taste. Smoked cigars for another 15 years and loved them, but the cost of the addiction continued to grow and grow, usually being about 200 per month or so. It got to a point I could no longer afford that and so I tried vaping for the 3rd time, and this time I was determined to make it work for me. Not only for me, but for my wife also who had suffered with pleurisy for 20 years due to her smoking. Well, I learned and learned, moved up to mechs, low ohm coils, and then on to DIY juice, and now WE are just 6 days away from OUR 2 year vaperversary, :?).

Im not too worried about the federal dumb ... dept. This admin has assaulted my sense of reason and good taste at every turn for the last 8 years and so It`s not worth getting in a huff about. I`m going to use the time I have left before the regs come in to continue to stock up on nic and then they can KMA!

I`m just a happy vapor flying below the radar. :?)

 

[Rule62]

Pipes and cigars for nearly 60 years. Vaping and clean now for 2 years. And yes...I inhaled every puff!

Pipe smokers are something you don't hear much about anymore. I remember when many malls would have a pipe and tobacco shop. I had a decent collection of nice briars, years ago.

 

[frizzy_tyger]

Thank you all for your stories, I really appreciate them.

I have a few replies I want to specifically make but I'm a bit short on time at the moment, so I'll get back after work or tomorrow.

 

[rgerber]

Pipe smokers are something you don't hear much about anymore. I remember when many malls would have a pipe and tobacco shop. I had a decent collection of nice briars, years ago.

Yup. In the day, fine cigars, pipes and blended pipe tobacco cost me a lot of money. Hmmm....kinda like fine mods today.....