Are you a non-smoker?

[basylica]

I smoked for almost 16yrs. I started ecig 6+ weeks ago and went down to 1-2 a day (I bought a few packs prior to my first ecig arriving in post) and monday morning I smoked my last (for now....I can't say for sure I suppose!)

I think even vaping, I still think of myself as a "smoker" because I still have those habits. you know?
I commented to a coworker that our company has a 50/mth insurance premium for "tobacco users" and technically after 90 days I can get off that wagon.
However I am betting dollars to donuts the people that used to bum from me when drinking but would "NEVER EVER smoke" consider themselves nonsmokers, but if I vaped for 6 months and then smoked a cig just curious if I missed it....would I still be a "smoker"?

I don't know. I guess we'll find out. But I have a feeling even as a vaper....I'm still thinking of myself as a "smoker"

 

[Mr.Mann]

My doctor considers me a non-smoker. I had a check-up years ago and my then doctor listened to my chest and said, "how long have you been smoking?"

My most recnet check-up from vaping for a few years and my current doctor said, "well, you're in good health and since you're not a smoker..." I went on to tell him about vaping and he just said, "wow, that is very interesting." He saw no signs from vaping the way my previous doctor did from smoking. Sure I could not pass a Cotinine test--I just bought one and took it for the heck of it and to see if second-hand vapor in close proximity to my wife would yield positive exposure the way smoking would. I tested positive for cotinine (exposure at 2 ng/mL or .0002 mg/mL and my wife tested negative). A Nicorette user would test positive for nicotine, but still not a smoker. I consider myself a nioctine user in the way of vaping.

I am no longer a smoker!

 

[wandawag]

you are a non smoker now. you are a vaper, not a smoker.

 

[basylica]

well, its more a state of mind question IMHO...

I said I was a non-smoker for years after I started. I'd smoke for a few months, quit for a few, smoke for a few...etc.
I'd rationalize it by saying I was a nonsmoker longer than a smoker.
Then I just felt guilty and figured I could still get away with checking the nonsmoker box at the docs office...

about the time my kids had just turned 1 and 4 I was working 18-22hr days ON AVERAGE, and my ex took off with my kids and hid them and left me with a ransacked house, no money (he drained acct day after I got paid and I was breadwinner), and no electric or water.
needless to say the next few years were rough working those hours, travelling, dealing with a vindictive ex (cost ME 30K in legal for my half to get rid of him) I said screw it...i'm a smoker and I don't care....hahahaa...

I got some snide comments, esp from family, when dealing with money woes, or coworkers who would say "I really should quit" *puff*

I was just like...screw it...I'm a smoker. I don't want to quit!
and I didn't...even now. I switched because of kids and smell and all that. I hadn't planned on giving it up 100%....but I'm loving vaping and don't miss them

 

[Mr.Mann]

However I am betting dollars to donuts the people that used to bum from me when drinking but would "NEVER EVER smoke" consider themselves nonsmokers, but if I vaped for 6 months and then smoked a cig just curious if I missed it....would I still be a "smoker"?

If you have a drink once, and only once, every 6 months would you be a "drinker?" Now, for the sake of being an alcoholic, the way they look at it is, as Ani Difranco said,

"They say that alcoholics are always alcoholics
Even when they're dry as my lips for years
Even when they're stranded on a small desert island
With no place in two thousand miles to buy beer
And I wonder is he different
Is he different
Has he changed"

Man, I want to post more, but you get the point. It's a personal way of looking at one's self, but personally, this ex-smoker considers it (smoking) as an ex.

I may be an nicotine addict, but not a smoker.

 

[chefdude2000]

After 33 years of analogs I am now a vaper not a smoker.

 

[Quiet]

I consider myself a non smoker.

 

[Mr.Mann]

...I'm loving vaping and don't miss them

That's what matters! Congratulations. It is such a good feeling. I almost feel like a vampire who has a steady supply of TruBlood and doesn't have to feed on humans anymore. Maybe? Maybe not quite?! LOL. The point is I am away from cigarettes and I got my nioctine in a much more fun way than chewing some damn gum or wearing a big band-aid. hahaha

 

[darkstorm]

My doctor considers me a non smoker. After almost two years of not lighting a stinky I consider myself a non smoker. You have to be careful with life insurance companies because you are technically still a tobacco user. Let your health insurance premiums reflect that you are a non smoker but never claim on life insurance forms that you are not a tobacco user. Get hit by a bus tomorrow the life insurance company will try to find a way not to honor their commitment. It would be a shame to have your claim invalidated for vaping. Health insurance, non smoker. Life insurance, tobacco user.

 

[wv2win]

My doctor considers me a non-smoker. I had a check-up years ago and my then doctor listened to my chest and said, "how long have you been smoking?"............................

..................I am no longer a smoker!

Same with my doctor. Anyone who vapes and does not smoke is a NON-SMOKER, PERIOD. Do not play into the hands of those trying to have vaping banned. Act like and state that you are a non-smoker.

A majority of us (from what I have read on various vaping sites) won't vape in smoking areas as we do not want to provide the perception that vaping and smoking is the same thing. I vape almost everywhere except smoking areas but do so respectfully.

 

[eratikmind]

I consider myself a non smoker, until I light up the next cigarette, which will not happen.

- Andy

 

[KraKsX]

If you actively smoke cigarettes you are a smoker.
If you need cigarette every week, your a smoker
(A PAD, a weekender, ect...)

If you stop smoking, your a non-smoker
If you start vaping, your a vaper

Now if your vaping, but 'messed up' and had a cigarette... Your still a vaper who just had a lapse.

(Just my takes on it)

 

[Oktyabr]

Someone on here has something similar to this as the tag line in their signature:

Calling personal vaporizers an e-cig is like calling nicorette "chewable cigarettes".

For me adopting a "non-smoker" frame of mind was the golden key that helped me *finally* replace the stinkies with vape. It's also one of the three rules I give all my smoker friends that are trying to quit with vaping...

1) you have to want to *quit* smoking (forget about vaping vs smoking comparisons)
2) you have to have good (and enough backup) equipment and enough nicotine in your juice
3) finding a flavor of juice that you like better than the taste of inhaled burning leaves and paper will raise your chance of success

 

[basylica]

I'm not really talking from a doc's or ins point of view...

I guess because I still have to take my periodic jaunts downstairs to smoking area, still have to carry my PV around like I did with analogs...the mindset hasn't really changed all that much.
Course, I am single and I am a mother...but I have a REALLY hard time saying "single mom" because that makes me think of a mom with kids 100% of the time, no dad in the picture. my ex takes the kids every other weekend .... ergo i'm single and i am a mother....but not a "single mom"

I no longer use tobacco products but I still ACT like a smoker, if that makes sense?

 

[UncleChimney]

Now a nonner!

 

[Mr.Mann]

I'm not really talking from a doc's or ins point of view...

I guess because I still have to take my periodic jaunts downstairs to smoking area, still have to carry my PV around like I did with analogs...the mindset hasn't really changed all that much.
Course, I am single and I am a mother...but I have a REALLY hard time saying "single mom" because that makes me think of a mom with kids 100% of the time, no dad in the picture. my ex takes the kids every other weekend .... ergo i'm single and i am a mother....but not a "single mom"

I no longer use tobacco products but I still ACT like a smoker, if that makes sense?

I totally get what you are wrapping your brain around. "Single mom" is a little more grey in the semantics arena than "smoker" vs. "non-smoker." Either you do or you don't smoke. Yes there are degrees to things, but a smoker who only sometimes smokes is still a smoker; a vaper who never smokes is a non-smoker, or just a vaper.

 

[Oktyabr]

I consider myself a non smoker, until I light up the next cigarette, which will not happen.

- Andy

Well said! Cigarettes are for smokers, not vapers

A mostly fictional story I've posted elsewhere on the forum before:

A friend tried to give me a cigarette the other day, just to see what I would do.
I looked all over the dang thing but couldn't find the fire button, much less any sort of VV controls!
I handed it back to him with a look of disgust! "NOOB! Get a real vaporizer!"

 

[Mr.Mann]

Well said! Cigarettes are for smokers, not vapers

A mostly fictional story I've posted elsewhere on the forum before:

A friend tried to give me a cigarette the other day, just to see what I would do.
I looked all over the dang thing but couldn't find the fire button, much less any sort of VV controls!
I handed it back to him with a look of disgust! "NOOB! Get a real vaporizer!"

That "story" is worthy of being in a documentary on vapers. Classic vaper outlook. Nice!

 

[basylica]

LOL...I love that!!

"couldn't find the fire button"

maybe its a matter of time. I totally just changed my profile to say "non-smoker" somewhere. altho I feel like i'm fibbing a bit. oh well.
now...to convert my mother who has smoked for nearly 50 years.
*evil genius laughter*

 

[unquiet]

If you have a drink once, and only once, every 6 months would you be a "drinker?" Now, for the sake of being an alcoholic, the way they look at it is, as Ani Difranco said,

"They say that alcoholics are always alcoholics
Even when they're dry as my lips for years
Even when they're stranded on a small desert island
With no place in two thousand miles to buy beer
And I wonder is he different
Is he different
Has he changed"

Man, I want to post more, but you get the point. It's a personal way of looking at one's self, but personally, this ex-smoker considers it (smoking) as an ex.

I may be an nicotine addict, but not a smoker.

I officially have a forum crush. So call me shameless.

well, its more a state of mind question IMHO...

I said I was a non-smoker for years after I started. I'd smoke for a few months, quit for a few, smoke for a few...etc.
I'd rationalize it by saying I was a nonsmoker longer than a smoker.
Then I just felt guilty and figured I could still get away with checking the nonsmoker box at the docs office...

about the time my kids had just turned 1 and 4 I was working 18-22hr days ON AVERAGE, and my ex took off with my kids and hid them and left me with a ransacked house, no money (he drained acct day after I got paid and I was breadwinner), and no electric or water.
needless to say the next few years were rough working those hours, travelling, dealing with a vindictive ex (cost ME 30K in legal for my half to get rid of him) I said screw it...i'm a smoker and I don't care....hahahaa...

I got some snide comments, esp from family, when dealing with money woes, or coworkers who would say "I really should quit" *puff*

I was just like...screw it...I'm a smoker. I don't want to quit!
and I didn't...even now. I switched because of kids and smell and all that. I hadn't planned on giving it up 100%....but I'm loving vaping and don't miss them

Yeah, I get it. I didn't want to quit either. It just sorta...happened. And I continue to be awed that I really don't miss the cigs much either. I'm a vaper for sure. I've had the opportunity recently to check NO, I don't smoke on a doctor's form and it made me kinda giddy.
Making the semantic jump internally to "Non-Smoker" though...eh, not there yet. Not sure I care. Ex-smoker is good enough for me.

And other than in practice, I don't necessarily want to distance myself from those who still smoke. I know how it feels for people to look at you like you're a criminal just for lighting up, as if they are a superior species. But those asshats are NO MORE BETTER THAN SMOKERS THAN WE ARE. And it hasn't stopped pissing me off that governments are balancing their budgets on the backs of smokers, placing a ridiculous tax burden on a selective population that esp. can't afford it, and may not even benefit from the programs they specifically are funding. </rant>