Coming out of the shadows

[ArchDame]

I'm not full into vaping yet - still waiting on my gear in the mail. But, I found that yesterday after vaping for about 4 hours (till my trial cig-a-likes ran out) that going back to my analog, it tasted different - kind of like way back when I first tried cigarettes. It was kind of weird.

If you're committed to quitting, you might consider the alternatives. I never tried the patch because for me it wasn't just about the nicotine - I needed a replacement for the cig in my mouth. I did successfully quit 12 years ago for 5 years using the gum, but 4 of those years I continued to chew the gum. I eventually ended up back smoking again, mainly because you can't eat or drink anything while you're chewing it, so it wasn't a good replacement for that cig and cup of joe or marlboro and beer.

That's why I'm really excited about vaping. I can get my nicotine hit with the beverages I've always enjoyed while smoking. I wish you luck. I know how very hard it is to quit and hope this is successful for you.

 

[RedNBlack]

Hey 2011,
Welcome to the light....

Cigarettes are created to be just that.......addictive....Big T spent millions to make it so.

When you get on the vape ride, and stay on the ride,.......thats cool.
When you get on the vape ride, and have to get off, for a while, thats cool also.
Just get back on.

No harm, no foul.

Pretty soon, you will be on the ride, encouraging others to jump on.

Hang in there, it does get easier....to get on and stay on.

Go at your own pace, on your own time schedule.

 

[elfy]

*throws vape police hat on the ground in disgust* .....ppl always are taking my fun away

 

[CafeDigitalDiva]

I feel ya, a little over a month since I quit. I had to stop buying packs so I didn't have them on hand to tempt me. It was pretty tough the first few days, there are other additives in cigs that are addicting besides the nicotine and I think that was part of it. After that, it has started get easier as I have been accustomed to vaping. Now that I've been off for awhile I don't crave cigs, I crave different flavors, that part of my brain that craves cigs associates the cravings with vapor now. I have also begin to associate cigs with suffocation and drowning lol, a little extreme but helped. The habitual and subconscious parts of smoking does take awhile to get past, until about last week I would have dreams where people would offer me cigs, this week I haven't had any and have had a few with vaping. I even had one dream where in it, it wasn't normal to smoke cigs, and everyone vaped lol, was pretty cool.

Great post! Love your member name. VERY CLEVER!

 

[CafeDigitalDiva]

OF COURSE im right! ...wait, about what? The otters? *looks around nervously*

No one saw me...no one saw anything~

HAHAHA! Love your posts elfy, and your sig is hilarious! (Say, you wouldn't happen to know a guy named 'wheezal' in the Halo sub-forum would ya?) lololol. You two could make happy bedlam together, or beds that are lame...or something. I need some sleep! lol

 

[CafeDigitalDiva]

Hi guys, thank for all the tip and encouragement, it helps a lot.



Yes, this gradual process is what I've been working on. There are times when I feel I could just skip the analog after vaping, but then there are other times when it gets frustratingly important. I look forward to the day when vaping will be enough, but I suspect I probably will have to get rid of the analogs by force at some point.



Yeah, having packs around makes it even more difficult. I work in an office and cannot go out and vape my head off, I have to wait for break times. This forced abstinence makes the analog seem more important than it should. On weekends and evenings, I do much better. Of course the psychology part is big, I've had 29 years of conditioning to smoke analogs when my nic gets low, so it'll take some time for that association to point toward vaping. I have some WTA juice on order, so I'm hoping that will help me get this in gear.

Hi and welcome navigator2011. My husband is having the same problem as you are. Good to see you are going to use the WTA. That has helped him alot. Good luck

 

[baseballmom]

Yep-a lot of us can relate very well to your post. Psychological stuff is probably why the patch and gum failed me in the past-missed that hand to mouth thing, and inhale. A lot still do both at first-the more pressure you put on yourself mentally to give up cigs completely, the more you might be resistant, your brain might not want to give it up because it causes you some stress, and you tend to rely on old coping techniques which is cigs. We are all different and some find it easy to lay off the cigs right away, and some struggle more. Hope you find a mg liquid that works well for you and can help taper off your cravings...and yeah, cravings are normal-especially since nic from a cig is a more instant hit thing-good suggestions here about vaping through them when you are ready-you will likely have to flex some will power if you want to completely drop the cigs all together-but don't beat yourself up for a relapse either-just keep the focus on success. Good luck to you!

 

[truckerman]

Welcome new member.

 

[navigator2011]

Yep-a lot of us can relate very well to your post. Psychological stuff is probably why the patch and gum failed me in the past-missed that hand to mouth thing, and inhale. A lot still do both at first-the more pressure you put on yourself mentally to give up cigs completely, the more you might be resistant, your brain might not want to give it up because it causes you some stress, and you tend to rely on old coping techniques which is cigs. We are all different and some find it easy to lay off the cigs right away, and some struggle more. Hope you find a mg liquid that works well for you and can help taper off your cravings...and yeah, cravings are normal-especially since nic from a cig is a more instant hit thing-good suggestions here about vaping through them when you are ready-you will likely have to flex some will power if you want to completely drop the cigs all together-but don't beat yourself up for a relapse either-just keep the focus on success. Good luck to you!

In a way, it's the whole experience, otherwise a plastic straw would work. I once quit smoking regular analogs by switching over to nicotine-free herbals. So everything was there except the nicotine and the usual taste. That was a difficult, brute-force approach, but I suppose the herbals were so close to regular smoking, it made it possible for me to get free of the nicotine, took about a month for me to get over the nicotine. Of course, it only took one regular analog six months later to restart the whole addiction machine. With this in mind, I can understand why the cold-turkey crowd adopts this Never One Puff Ever (NOPE) approach.

 

[DaveOno]

Navigator2011, regardless of the method, there is going to be a tough 2 to 4 days to get through.

When my 8 year old granddaughter looked at me with big wet brown eyes and said, "Pop-pop, I don't want you smoking anymore. wWill you please stop?

For me?"




So that Monday, I smoked my last cig, and jumped into vaping, untried. Got a Blu disposable, then the next day a Logic 24mg. Much better. Got the replacement cartos and the charger, and I was off.

Those first few days were amazing. Still had to battle the mind games, but I wasn't in a "nic fit". Could not believe that for the first time in 40 years, that I did not crave a cigarette. And I had made a choice. This vaping thing was going to work, it HAD to work.

And it did. But I did crave something else; a better vape. Hello Halo Triton.

Take the leap, navigator. You are stronger than a cig's hold on you. You and your vape can succeed!!

Vape on!