Did you have a "defining moment"?

[Tania-chch]

Just wondering if anyone else has had a defining moment of when they quit smoking? I put mine at Boxing Day 2013, shopping with my 12yo daughter, spending her Xmas money at the sales in the mall. We shopped for about 5 hours and stopped at Starbucks for a caramel Frappuccino. I was dying for a smoke (of course, after about 5 hours shopping!) and had to go outside to have one. Outside smoking, puffing furiously alone, seeing my 12yo through the window, at a table in Starbucks, on her own, wishing I didn't have to be outside doing what I was doing... that was my moment! It stewed around in my brain for 3 weeks before I worked up the courage and determination and finally took the plunge on 15 January 2014. I promised myself it was my last! vaping has helped me keep that promise for just over 2 years. Still going strong and no inclination to smoke again! That was my moment though, I can remember it so clearly! Does anyone else have a "straw that broke the camel's back" story?

 

[ShishkaBerry]

Not really, it was more of a slowly over time accumulation of moments. I changed how I view tobacco, I treat it like a fine wine now. Once in a while is fine, but every day you're going to end up broke in the gutter.

 

[cocacola31173]

Mine was because my family kept constantly complaining of the smell. So I first decided to vape at home and in the car but I was going to still smoke at work. BUT...after a couple of weeks I found myself vaping at work also because I liked it better!

Another thing was after a couple of months of quitting smoking my daughter told me that she didn't know when I got up in the morning anymore. I asked why and she said "Well you always hacked and cough so i knew you was up...now you don't do that anymore! I didn't even realize it but I didn't cough in the morning anymore..So I made my official quit date 10/11/12...easier to remember. That was the date of my last cigarette.

 

[sofarsogood]

All smokers have defining moments, when they feel a firm conviction to quit. Usually that passes without success. Six weeks into being a dual user I get a call that there has been a death in the family. I'll be taking time off work, hanging with family, etc. At that same moment I happened to be out of cigarettes. Instead of buying more I bought some new hardware toys to play with. It was far far easier to avoid cigarettes because I was vaping. What I counsel is, if you vape you will smoke less. If you don't stop vaping sooner or later you will stop smoking. So don't stop smoking, just keep vaping.

 

[beckdg]

0.2 ohm @50mg was my moment. Everything before then was a constant struggle.

Tapatyped

 

[Frenchfry1942]

Was watching others use them. On 15 Dec 13, I went to a local shop and bought a bunch of stuff. I decided that tomorrow morning I will switch to using a vaporizer. I charged the battery that afternoon, filled a couple more generic clearomizer tanks and had a cig before bed.

I woke up and vaped. I vaped when I had an urge. For whatever reason I was home that day from work. Early in the afternoon, I realized that I had gone 6-7 hours without a need for a cig. That was a defining moment for me.

Life is a lot better since that day.

 

[snork]

Mine was instantaneous. In 2011 when I took my first drag on my newly arrived V2cigs 808 and exhaled that anemic little puff of vapor, a bright light came over me and I exclaimed "Oh my God I can do this!" I remember it like it was yesterday.

 

[JohnnyDill]

My defining moment was during the first week of August 2013. My first starter kit, Halo Triton, came with 24 mg liquid. When this gave me the feeling of hot-boxing a cigarette {light headed} and that I had to step down to 18 mg, I KNEW this was going to work. Thanks, Halo!

 

[Jorge22]

No "defining moment" as such or, at least, it was a much longer defining moment. I actually enjoyed smoking. As much as the idea of breathing something that's burning, paper included, now seems impossible to me, I did enjoy the whole feel of it, taste included. Well, I started working my subsconcious mind about all the deadly dangers of what I was doing and went on for a while until, at a given time, I was absolutely ready to quit. Ecigs were an accident. I happened to hear about them at around that same time, tried them (it was a NJoy cigalike!) and thought "hey, this is pretty good!". So, in the early morning of February 16, 2011, I had my very last smoke and from then on O only vaped. If I'd just quit cold turkey, tobacco smoking would still be something nice in some corner of my mind. As I had the opportunity to vape, now I know I'll never even have another drag again. Have I ever been tempted? I guess just a few times, not even recently, but just for one split second.

 

[Hitmetwice]

Feb. 2012. After spending a couple weeks on ECF burning lots of midnight oil my Provari kit arrived.
Loaded up half a dozen cartos each with a different flavour. Started to vape...coughed, coughed again etc.

At that point I knew I could do this as I coughed my way through every smoke I'd smoked for the 3 years prior. Rarely ever cough anymore now. Do not miss the sore stomach from coughing one bit. Cheers.

 

[jdrewry]

Aug. 2011. I had just gotten my first kit (an Ego-T), and it was the day before Hurricane Irene hit NJ. I let myself deliberately run out of smokes; I was thinking that, if I was desperate to go to the store during a hurricane for smokes, then there was no hope of ever quitting. I got to the end of that day, and that was my defining moment. I did it. My first day in years without a cigarette. I knew I'd never go back to them.

 

[rice721]

I did. Was out with 2 buddies of mine at this "special" karaoke joint in Shanghai on 3/19, a saturday. I was still going on and off with analogs during that time, had my snow wolf mini paired with a herakles plus with halo tribeca juice. My buddies all smoked so several drinks in I decided to light up. The cigarette tasted nasty, I took 2-3 short puffs and said f- it I'm done with you. Haven't looked back since.

 

[OlderNDirt]

Not really a defining moment, but may be of interest to somebody taking up vaping:

After 40+ years off smoking, I did my research into e-cigarettes and came up with my plan of attack. I would hit a vape shop for some final advice and a budget equal to two weeks of smoking would have cost me, around $100. I figured I would give it an honest, 2 week try costing no more then smoking, and see how it went.

Since I live in a very rural area, I came up with a list of shops in Omaha.....2 hours away. Figured I needed to check out several, anticipating varying opinions depending on which shop's and employee's opinion. The good news to this is it did make me take it a lot more serious. Things went so well at the first shop that I walked out with what I needed with backups. Two Kanger vv pens, two T3D tanks, extra coils, and a couple bottles of juice I thought I would like. I went a bit over my budget, but again that provided some extra incentive.

So I hit the road happily vaping away on my way home, but with an open pack of cigs handy, just in case. Although the vape was satisfying me, after so many failed attempts at quitting cigs, I figured I would still have a smoke if the need came up......you know, help me make it through the day. So I did have two smokes the rest of "day 1", but after the second one, I realized I really didn't "need" it. Maybe that was my "defining moment", the realization that I actually had a smoke that I knew I didn't "need!" So all was good, I was quitting cigarettes for good, that is until........

I did all my research, got backups and at least a couple flavors I liked. But nobody told me and I was too stupid to see it coming. Two batteries, two tanks, and two flavors....all good, right? Well, when I wanted to change flavors, I would just grab the "other" set-up and vape away, which worked just fine until one battery ran out. No problem! I just grabbed the other set-up and put that one on the charger. Unfortunately, after just a couple tokes on the second one, I realized that battery was drained as well. The frustration of that being so similar to have cigarettes, but no light drove me to another analog! I felt so stupid, but I learned.....it is not that hard to just switch tanks and keep a charged battery at the ready.

But it all ended well, that being my last cig, on that day, June 23, 2014!

 

[crxess]

Mu defining moment came on slowly over years, but hit home hard as I struggled to keep up with men 1/2 my age doing the same non-stop labor intensive job 12 hrs. a day.
The thought of losing that Job, my health insurance and my only means of supporting my family came crashing in when I collapsed on the Work floor.
This was more of a Health than age Wake Up call.

First call - Correct Esophageal Damage(2 surgeries) from Acid Reflux, driven by Stress due to poor performance brought on by Decades of Smoking.
Next Step - Find Something, anything, that would work for a Truly Addicted Smoker that had Failed on every previous(many) attempt.

Months of research and struggle ultimately lead me to my first(crappy) Vape purchase. The first of many and many Advancement upgrades.
From the Very first Draw from that Crappy cig-a-like looking compilation of pieces I ordered and assembled, I never took another Draw from a Cigarette.

With-in Weeks, I was making it through my 12hr shifts with excellent improvement.
With-in a few months I was back in the top 10% in job performance.
My Breathing improved, my appetite improved(without excessive weight gain) Recovery from Extensive exertion was much faster.
LIFE WAS GOOD!!!!

Now Disabled(work injury) and Retired with only Family and Vaping to fill my days.
They are really all I need, to know Life is Good.

Well, and all you ECF'ers

 

[Vaslovik]

Mine was when I realized that while the miserable little flea market ecig lasted I didn't need to smoke. It lasted two hours, then I had to charge it for three hours. That's what launched me into finding a better way. It took me three weeks to wind up with a mech and genny. Still using those 3 years later.

 

[TheMike21]

The second time (yes it took two times) that my wife was in the hospital, her doctor told me that she had two choices, to quit smoking or die. I knew she wouldn't make it without me quitting two. I got a patch that day and struggled the 15 days she was in the hospital. As soon as she was out I got an X6 battery and an Iclear 30s clone (I didn't know any better) and that day I started my research. Two days later I got an Ijust 2 and haven't looked back since.

 

[WillyZee]

3 defining moments for me ... first was when I discovered ProVape ... second was when I coiled my first Kayfun ... third was when I found Vapers Tek.

nothing has changed since

 

[HauntedMyst]

For me, having my kid tell me I needed to quit smoking so I wouldn't die and promising to do so. That drove me to vaping and I never looked back.

 

[phephner]

Four years ago I purchased my first Ego batteries, Vision CE4 clearos and a few bottles of 18-24mg juice. I quit smoking altogether on that same day, coincidentally three weeks before an upcoming trip to Las Vegas.

While I was no longer smoking at all before the trip, I was freaking out that the Vegas atmosphere would be my undoing. I ordered some 36mg chocolate hazelnut juice as stress insurance.

It arrived a few days later. I filled a clearo, grabbed my morning coffee and wandered out to my back yard to try the juice.

The moment I got an unqualified 'first-cigarette-in-the-morning' buzz from that 36mg e-juice I was convinced beyond any and all doubt I'd never 'need' to smoke again.

 

[VHRB2014]

Now that I think about it, I think I did (Lightbulb gif.) For the longest time when I would see someone smoking on TV or in a movie, I would have a guttural if not instinctual reaction of needing a smoke in my hands. The satisfaction, that feeling of relaxation, completeness. Those feelings wound up evaporating somewhere about the 14-15 month mark. Now I see it and its like just something you see from out of the past, like an antique, or outdated technology (not unlike seeing a rotary phone, LOL). There is no longer these deep emotional feelings associated with seeing it whatsoever.

Whew, I am so happy that bridge has been crossed.