Confessions of an e-cig smoker

[Brian S]

I started the journey into e-gigs hoping to quit smoking. Initally, I bought some cheap crap from e-cig.com. The wife's worked, mine didn't. Postponed quitting. After more research, some on this forum, I bought an Njoy. Good product but the price of the carts is stupid. Bought the wife a Janty. It worked well so I ordered one for myself and sent the Njoy back. During this time, I ordered $65 worth of stuff from e-cig.com but got cheap on the shipping and shipped it by slow boat. Two months later I still haven't received it and at this point, I really don't care. Note, pay for express shipping. Comes in two weeks, worth the extra money.

After receiving my Janty, I managed to quit for almost a week, then back slid. My lungs hurt and wanted a real cigarette. Now I realized I was missing the menthol. After reading posts by Trog and others, I realized that e-cigs were unreliable. In order to ensure quitting, I would have to have spare parts. Bought two atomizers, two batteries, and another switch for my Janty. Still not motivated enough to quit. The taste of the juice was not right. I have been a menthol smoker since 16, now 50. Bought some menthol crystals off ebay. Added them to Jane's juice. Have managed to quit again. 24 hours and counting.

Some people are what I call hobby smokers. They smoke half a pack a day and can quit any time they want to. I wish. I am an addict. Smoke two packs a day and suffer from coughing fits. What I found was, I was making excuses for not quitting. My e-cig might break down, the juice doesn't taste right, etc. The point is, if you really want to quit, you can do it. Here is how.

Get a good e-cig and enough extra parts to make another. That way if you have to ship parts back, you have a backup. Find your strength. I need at least 24mg of nicotine or I go nuts. Lighter smokers may need less. Find your flavor. I have spent over $100 just finding my flavor. What I found is that they don't make it. Most menthol e-juices are mint flavored, not menthol flavored. Once I bought some menthol crystals and started mixing it myself I was able to quit. I wasn't looking for something that tasted just like a Kool. I wanted something that tasted very minty, was refreshing, made my lungs feel good. Ended up about 10 times as strong as a Kool, but I prefer it over a regular cig.

I have a mentally disabled son. My desire to quit is so I can live a long life and take care of him as long as possible. I am writing this to possibly help others, but mostly to document the fact, I QUIT. Just knowing this is out there in writing will help me to persivere. Anyway, I appreciate all the comments and reviews by others. Keep up the good work. My son and I thank all of you.

Brian

 

[justgimmeethefaxma'am]

Well done Brian!
My doc always told me 'there's a way for everyone to quit and one day you'll find the right way for you'
I found the e cig did it for me.

Before that...I too used all the addicts excuses..the time's not right...the patches/inhaler/gum just don't taste right or deliver the nicotine...I'll do it next week/month/day/year...and on and on.

I have now been tobacco free for 5 weeks and was an addict for 40 years.
My only advice is just stick with it & check out this forum often, a lot of support is available here.

You CAN do it, you WILL do it......you have the best reason in the world.
Let us know how you are doing.
Kind regards.

 

[jpc815]

I started the journey into e-gigs hoping to quit smoking. Initally, I bought some cheap crap from e-cig.com. The wife's worked, mine didn't. Postponed quitting. After more research, some on this forum, I bought an Njoy. Good product but the price of the carts is stupid. Bought the wife a Janty. It worked well so I ordered one for myself and sent the Njoy back. During this time, I ordered $65 worth of stuff from e-cig.com but got cheap on the shipping and shipped it by slow boat. Two months later I still haven't received it and at this point, I really don't care. Note, pay for express shipping. Comes in two weeks, worth the extra money.

After receiving my Janty, I managed to quit for almost a week, then back slid. My lungs hurt and wanted a real cigarette. Now I realized I was missing the menthol. After reading posts by Trog and others, I realized that e-cigs were unreliable. In order to ensure quitting, I would have to have spare parts. Bought two atomizers, two batteries, and another switch for my Janty. Still not motivated enough to quit. The taste of the juice was not right. I have been a menthol smoker since 16, now 50. Bought some menthol crystals off ebay. Added them to Jane's juice. Have managed to quit again. 24 hours and counting.

Some people are what I call hobby smokers. They smoke half a pack a day and can quit any time they want to. I wish. I am an addict. Smoke two packs a day and suffer from coughing fits. What I found was, I was making excuses for not quitting. My e-cig might break down, the juice doesn't taste right, etc. The point is, if you really want to quit, you can do it. Here is how.

Get a good e-cig and enough extra parts to make another. That way if you have to ship parts back, you have a backup. Find your strength. I need at least 24mg of nicotine or I go nuts. Lighter smokers may need less. Find your flavor. I have spent over $100 just finding my flavor. What I found is that they don't make it. Most menthol e-juices are mint flavored, not menthol flavored. Once I bought some menthol crystals and started mixing it myself I was able to quit. I wasn't looking for something that tasted just like a Kool. I wanted something that tasted very minty, was refreshing, made my lungs feel good. Ended up about 10 times as strong as a Kool, but I prefer it over a regular cig.

I have a mentally disabled son. My desire to quit is so I can live a long life and take care of him as long as possible. I am writing this to possibly help others, but mostly to document the fact, I QUIT. Just knowing this is out there in writing will help me to persivere. Anyway, I appreciate all the comments and reviews by others. Keep up the good work. My son and I thank all of you.

Brian

Brian,

If you don't mind my asking, how did you get your menthol to a good strong level? I also love a good menthol and so far have found a minty one I like, but is not like a good Salem!

 

[Brian S]

Brian,

If you don't mind my asking, how did you get your menthol to a good strong level? I also love a good menthol and so far have found a minty one I like, but is not like a good Salem!

Just buy some menthol crystals off ebay for a couple of bucks plus shipping. You can get your mint flavor so high you can hardly smoke it. I have had to cut my juice by 50% three times to tone it down a bit. A little goes a long way. Mint crystals melt at 115f or a little higher than body temperature. Put a couple of crystals in with some juice and heat some water. Put the juice in a drip bottle and place it in the hot water for a few minutes. Remove and shake. The crystals will have dissolved and your juice is not diluted much. My mix is much stronger than cigaretts but I like it more. I tried Salem before and the mint crystals have about the same tast. Just remember, a little goes a long way.

Brian

 

[Ruby]

Brian I also made some good menthol mix, but then I got nervous about toxicity issues so I quit using it. I think I will dilute my mix further to err on the safe side and perhaps add mint to try to give it a bit more flavour.
While I'm sure most of us will be fine imo it's worth doing a little research about the side effects of menthol - some are not pleasant. Just incase anyone gets an overdose or has an allergic type reaction to using it, best to be informed upfront.

 

[Brian S]

Brian I also made some good menthol mix, but then I got nervous about toxicity issues so I quit using it. I think I will dilute my mix further to err on the safe side and perhaps add mint to try to give it a bit more flavour.
While I'm sure most of us will be fine imo it's worth doing a little research about the side effects of menthol - some are not pleasant. Just incase anyone gets an overdose or has an allergic type reaction to using it, best to be informed upfront.

You are right of course. What works for one may not work for all. I did some research and wasn't too worried. Did come as a bit of a suprise how concentrated the crystals are though.

Brian

 

[BigBuxNoWhammy]

Congrats, keep it up!! I have been on cigs and on e-cig for about half a year now.

 

[Brian S]

Congrats, keep it up!! I have been on cigs and on e-cig for about half a year now.

Thanks, but I wasn't quite as sucessful as I originally thought I would be. If I could get my wife to quit analog cigs it would help 8(

Brian

 

[sl9]

Brian, have you tried the super high strength 36mg liquid that's out there? It sounds like this could work for you if you haven't already tried it.

I started on the 18mg High stuff, but found that I could go down to 11mg Low without any problem as it tasted almost the same. In fact I even prefer Low now, because it means I can smoke the e-cig a bit more and take in less nicotine at once, and I really enjoy puffing on an e-cig!

Don't give up mate (pun not intended!), I'm sure you'll find an electronic smoking combo soon that works best for you

 

[cass]

Some people are what I call hobby smokers. They smoke half a pack a day and can quit any time they want to. I wish....
I have a mentally disabled son. My desire to quit is so I can live a long life and take care of him as long as possible....
Just knowing this is out there in writing will help me to persivere. Anyway, I appreciate all the comments and reviews by others. Keep up the good work. My son and I thank all of you.

Brian

Brian, I know what you mean about light smokers. On a work day, I smoke three pks a day. Obviously it's more on my days off. When I first considered quitting again, I picked a buddy at work and asked if she wanted to quit. She got so excited and said yes! I asked her how much she smoked and she pointed to her half-pack on the table and said, "I bought these about a week ago."
Now...imagine if Goliath got a hold of a little Chiuhuahua's neck....and continuously bounced it's little head on the cement. I think I mentally envisioned that scene between she and I. "I only smoke a couple of cigs at work," she said. When she came out for her break a few hours later, I think I was still there, having difficulty getting my jaw off the ground. My goal is to get down to a pack a day right now. I think the e-cig will help with that.
I know what you mean about the kids. For me, it's the idea of having to break bad news to my four children...and then have to follow it up with, "I did this to myself."
I wish you tremendous luck, Brian. Hope to join you in the quitting realm soon!

 

[Denni]

The 36mg juices may do it for you. I'm still looking for a real tobacco hit, and the best I've found so far is French Pipe (from Totally Wicked). If you mix that with a hint of menthol it may be the answer

I wish you the best of luck. Even if you manage to just cut down on the analogues, it's gotta be a good thing!

 

[Janet]

Back in May of this year, I decided to quit smoking. I was smoking one pack a day of cigarette-sized peach Swisher Sweets. I smoked them instead of regular cigarettes because they were so much cheaper. I really did like them, but knew they were extra bad for me.

I started smoking when I was 18 as an exchange student in Austria. When I had to come back home, I couldn't smoke anymore at home, but continued to smoke a little when I was at work or away from home. After I got married at 21, I could smoke whenever I wanted, but was a light smoker - maybe 2 packs a week. I continued for maybe about 5 years until I had a health scare. I had a routine physical for a new job and they found spots on my chest Xray. My doctor asked me if I smoked. I ended up having surgery and the spots were enlarged lymph nodes as a result of Sarcoidosis. Not smoking related, but it scared me into quitting.

Then about 10 years ago (I was about 41 at the time), I started the habit again because I was so stressed by my job and smoking helped calm me. I gradually increased the number of cigarettes a day and sometimes smoked 2 packs a day. I leveled off at one pack a day.

I found "Become an Ex" by seeing a commercial on TV and decided to try it. They actually called me at home a couple times to see how I was doing. They sent nicotine patches, but I just couldn't bring myself to stick one of those things on me. I realized that when I wasn't smoking I was eating. They were very supportive and told me to munch on carrot and celery sticks. I wasn't very obedient and noticed I was gaining weight.

I continued my search on the internet for stop smoking programs and came across Njoy. I ordered one and was very successful with it. This was toward the end of June. While I had my Njoy, I was still smoking a few of the Swisher Sweets a day for about a week. Then my Njoy quit working after a couple weeks and I smoked Swisher Sweets for a few days while waiting for a replacement part. So I haven't had a real cigarette since the first part of July. (Didn't write down the date.)

I realized I needed a backup e-cig so I ordered an ePuffer from Canada. It is another good e-cig, but I've always had to wait at least 2 weeks for anything from them. Currently I've been waiting over a month for replacement batteries.

I now have five different e-cigs and rotate them. I learned about using Bickford's flavorings on the forum and menthol crystals and LorAnn's flavorings and pure essential oils. I've been having fun creating different flavors and always have a banquet in my e-cigs.

I e-smoke a lot more than I "regular smoked" because the darn thing just keeps going. I love puffing on it and I know I'm more addicted to the hand-to-mouth action than the nicotine. You don't smoke it up and put it out like a regular cigarette. My jaw got really sore from making smoke rings. I quit doing that so much and it doesn't hurt as bad now. I've actually lost a couple pounds since I started e-smoking!

Now I am addicted to e-smoking and this forum.

 

[Kimmiegrif]

Janet, thanks for sharing your story. I agree e vaping can be more than burning cig use. No end...my new end is when I have to top off my cart. That is like the end of a few cigs for me. I am in awe of your flavor finds. I have yet to do that experimenting.

 

[Ankle Spanker]

how did u mix the menthol with the e-cig?

 

[Brian S.]

Hey thanks for the support guys. I have managed to cut back to a pack a day and have no problems not smoking at work. Guess it is just a matter of getting the willpower together to quit again. It would help if my wife didn't smoke too. Yes, I bought her an e-cig. My biggest problem was getting a good menthol flavor but since I have been using menthol crystals in my e-juice, that problem is solved. The 24mg juice works fine for me. I like the 36mg better but a couple of extra puffs on my 24mg and it is about the same.

Thanks
Brian

 

[Janet]

Ankle Spanker (your name makes me laugh) You can just drop a couple crystals in your bottle of e-liquid and put the bottle in some hot water for a while. The warm liquid should melt the crystals. I made the mistake of putting my plastic 10ml bottle with a couple crystals and e-liquid, then zapped it in the microwave for 20 seconds. The bottle melted! It would probably be OK to do this with a glass bottle, but not plastic. 20 seconds was obviously too long. You just need to warm the liquid. Then shake or stir a bit. I ordered my crystals online and paid too much - $4+ for the jar of crystals and $6 for shipping. I think some people are getting them from eBay. Also, I imagine you could check with a pharmacy that carries LorAnn's flavorings. I bought LorAnn's flavorings at my local Acme grocery store. If they don't have them in stock, I imagine they could order them for you. My crystals are from LorAnn's.