Difficulty quitting analogs / tobacco

[Voltaire57]

Hello,

Yikes, it's been rough lately switching back to vaping. Today I decided to give it yet another try (found two new awesome flavors, upped NIC back to 12mg.) For the past three years I've been struggling quitting smoking. I've been vaping for four (on and off, the best i've done was quit for 7 months) and smoking / chewing tobacco since I was 17, heavily before my 19th birthday. I've gained a substantial amount of weight and people are starting to notice (I think mostly because of the on and off smoking cigarettes.) However the overall good news is that I am not as heavy of a smoker as I used to be in my early 20s (now I'm in my mid 20s), I don't drink as much (but I do a lot on the weekends)

I am curious and asking advice from older ex-smokers/current vapers (older than me) on methods you used to quit. Some people say cold turkey, others say play with your NIC amounts, however LONG term wise, what do you suggest? In my opinion it's getting much easier to quit with all of the new flavors and mods etc. that are out, however the draw back is that I get the same, if not more nicotine while vaping. Even if I vape on my 6mg juice for example 30 times a day (take a few puffs), to get the same nicotine (12mg ) just double the amount of puffs you inhale (at least that is my logic.)

How do you guys steer clear from analogs / other forms of tobacco? Also how long did it take you until you were completely done with tobacco (I thought I was done a few months back..) and do you drink alcohol?

Any advice would be appreciated, cheers.

 

[Darth Omerta]

I still drink coffee and alcohol. Ive been vaping for a 13 months and a non smoker for 12 months and 3 weeks. The key for me was finding the right juice (turned out to be Black Cherry, still one of my faves). After that i started dropping nic content by 2mg every bottle, and collecting mechs and tanks. Now im on 0 nic, building attys, and DIY juices.

I feel like i got really lucky though as out of the 50 or so people in my area that i know that tried this only myseld and one other guy have had success.

Keep trying friend! You obviously have the desire, now you've just got to find the thing that works best for you. It could be a juice, a tank that you just love the hit from, a mod thats so cool looking you just cant put it down...something will work out and it will be great when it does!

 

[puffon]

Aroma WTA juice for the first few months, worked for me.
Try to stay away from smokers.
Whole Tobacco Alkaloid WTA Eliquid Ejuice

 

[Traijan]

Nicotine patches worked for me the first time I quit, I used them for 3 days and said "I'm done". I went 9 months without smoking. Then my partner came home stinking like stale ashtrays and I said to him, you've been hanging around with the smokers in the smoking area during break didn't you, and he confided in me that he'd not actually quit smoking at all and had been just not smoking when at home. I reached into his coat pocket, found the packet of cigs and lit one up, and from then on continued to smoke. But the point being that the patches worked for me and it was my own conscience thought to go back to smoking, not that I was craving it.

This time we went with the e-cigs and it's been about 16 to 18 months for the both of us and this time neither of us has any desire to go back to the tobacco. We felt no withdrawels, no nothing when using the vaporizers, they just delivered enough nic at 18mg to make us still feel comfortable. Sure we had our cravings during the first month, and then would just vape like 10 really big hits and the cravings were gone again. Now after this amount of time we don't get those cravings anymore. I actually chuckle inside when I walk to my car and see people standing outside their cars smoking their cigs so that they don't smoke in their car, I usually get into our truck and take a big hit and blow it out the window, sort of like a "see, if you vaped instead of smoked you could do that in your car".

Anyway, taking those 10 big hits when the cravings appeared kept me from the analogs. Other forms of tobacco? I haven't chewed since high school some 33+ years ago so had no desire to start doing that again.

Yeah, I drink, as I say... I try to keep my weight in check by licking the sandwich I'm making for lunch at breakfast then I eat the sandwich for lunch but I drink my dinner. Now after 16 to 18 months I get cravings when I drink a lot (or a little) but there no longer cravings for tobacco cigarettes but rather vaping. So I just let myself vape as much as I want when drinking and it's all good, not once have I felt the desire to go run to the store to pick up a pack of smokes when drinking.

I think what ever works for you, as mentioned one size does not fit all, so some work cold turkey, others have to taper down as they make the switch and some have to go to extreme Nic levels.

The thing is it's a matter of how badly you want to quit. I've seen plenty of people that come online with things like "It's too difficult to figure out this whole vaping thing, I'm fed up already, I'm just gonna go back to smoking". To me that person was looking to make excuses to go back to smoking and didn't want to do it bad enough. My partner and I had done that a couple times, and we both realized that we really were not ready to quit and didn't want it bad enough. Once we did and set our mind that we WOULD BE quitting, we followed through with it, made no more excuses for relapsing ourselves and followed through.

We now love going home and not having to walk into the house of ashtray stink, and that we can now host parties at our home since our new place hasn't been smoked in so it doesn't stink like our last house of 10 years with 2 heavy smokers indoors all the time.

Good luck

 

[OlderNDirt]

Just my personal opinion from a 40+ years smoker, do you feel you should quit smoking or must quit smoking? Anything short of "must quit" will probably be more difficult. Having said that, any cigarettes avoided is a good thing in itself, but if you've been playing that game fore 4 years, I understand why you would be getting tired of it. So keep working on finding the gear and juice that, given the choice of that vape sitting there and a cigarette beside it, it isn't even a question of which you prefer. And if you can't find that, work on the mindset that having that one cigarette is the beginning of the end.

And remember, what works for one may not work for another. Good luck!

 

[AndriaD]

When I first tried e-cigs, last Feb, I started playing a game with myself; "I'll just vape now, and later if I really want a cigarette, I'll have one"... and the amount I was smoking dropped from a pk a day to 1 a day in about 3 1/2 wks. The "first smoke" of the day was the hardest to eliminate, but once I paid attention to how I inhaled (slowly, hold in mouth/throat, exhale via nose), that morning smoke was history and I became a non-smoker.

That lasted for over 3.5 months; then I had to have my appendix out; was so godawful sick afterward I couldn't eat or vape or even get much liquid down, for 4 days. Once that way over I started trying to vape again, and it tasted HORRIBLE -- everything did, after a 4 day total fast. Cravings were beating me senseless, so I smoked, and kept trying to vape, and vape more, so I could put them down again; it took a solid month and it was much harder, but I managed it. Then 10 days later, the cravings started assaulting me again... so rather than going back to smoking, I tried WTA -- and the cravings completely vanished and have not returned. I started out with WTA as 10% of my vape; I'm now down to 3%, so I should be done with the WTA by the end of September.

Andria

 

[smacuser]

Try 18 mg.

Been doing it since I started, even while drinking.

 

[suprtrkr]

It's a real problem. However, the most important ingredient is desire. No kind of determination to do or not do anything works in the long run without commitment. However-- and this is just my thinking, YMMV-- I believe there's more than one kind of addiction involved. Everybody knows about nicotine, but I think there's also some kind of psychological need for the hand-to-mouth motion. I think you need a combination of juice and equipment that a) provides flavor you prefer to cigarettes; b) gives you the nicotine replacement therapy you need in the amount and the time frame you actually use the gear you have-- which can change over time-- and c) still allows you to hit the mod as often as you need to satisfy the hand to mouth thing. I know of no other way to get there than trial and error. And you have to re-do it with each equipment set you move into as they deliver different amounts and quality of vape.

But the key ingredient is "want to."

 

[Sanctuary Denied]

I smoked for over 20 years. I started vaping well before the technology is where it is today. I used both for quite awhile and as the hardware and juices got better I slowly made the switch.
Don't feel like you have to go cold turkey. Time + decent equipment + good juice worked for me.
My wife still smokes and it doesn't make me want one, in fact, they smell awful now.

 

[Voltaire57]

Thanks for all of the replies!

Unfortunately I am the only smoker in my group of friends and they all (as well as my family) insist I quit smoking. It's really embarrassing going out with people in med school and young professionals who have never smoked regularly and I can only imagine what they are thinking in their heads; vaping I get even more crap for because usually people with their mentality are very main stream and vaping is still (I think at least) kind of a taboo that is progressively becoming more main stream.

So hanging out with smokers isn't really a big issue, because I'm him. 18MG nic starts messing with me lol, if I vape too much it's not a very pleasant feeling. However the impression I get is just keep trying and it will come naturally. My mother said chew sunflower seeds and chew gum (she doesn't know what an ecig is) I guess what I'm gonna do is invest more money in juices and mods again, up to date I have spent a down payment on a Lexus on ecig equipment / juices. I'm going to try and switch it up a lot, go to the ecig shop more, talk about ecigs more, etc. Make it a hobby like it used to be (an expensive one that is) I guess I just needed some positive reinforcement and not judging from people whom don't understand.

Thanks a lot for the advice everyone! I really appreciate the time you put in to trying to help me out!!!!

 

[CrazyIvan]

12mg wouldn't have put a DENT to my addition in my initial days (20 year smoker). Up your nicotine to 18mg or even 24mg. Lower your VG and make sure you're getting a strong TH. Vape more often than you smoked.

 

[AndriaD]

Thanks for all of the replies!

Unfortunately I am the only smoker in my group of friends and they all (as well as my family) insist I quit smoking. It's really embarrassing going out with people in med school and young professionals who have never smoked regularly and I can only imagine what they are thinking in their heads; vaping I get even more crap for because usually people with their mentality are very main stream and vaping is still (I think at least) kind of a taboo that is progressively becoming more main stream.

So hanging out with smokers isn't really a big issue, because I'm him. 18MG nic starts messing with me lol, if I vape too much it's not a very pleasant feeling. However the impression I get is just keep trying and it will come naturally. My mother said chew sunflower seeds and chew gum (she doesn't know what an ecig is) I guess what I'm gonna do is invest more money in juices and mods again, up to date I have spent a down payment on a Lexus on ecig equipment / juices. I'm going to try and switch it up a lot, go to the ecig shop more, talk about ecigs more, etc. Make it a hobby like it used to be (an expensive one that is) I guess I just needed some positive reinforcement and not judging from people whom don't understand.

Thanks a lot for the advice everyone! I really appreciate the time you put in to trying to help me out!!!!

It may be a case like my own; if I vape anything over 10mg, I get nauseous very quickly -- but without the WTA I could not have stayed smoke-free. I don't seem to have a huge need for nicotine, but those other alkaloids... at least as addictive, for me, if not moreso.

Andria

 

[Voltaire57]

It may be a case like my own; if I vape anything over 10mg, I get nauseous very quickly -- but without the WTA I could not have stayed smoke-free. I don't seem to have a huge need for nicotine, but those other alkaloids... at least as addictive, for me, if not moreso.

Andria

For me 18MG+ it makes my heart flutter, I can feel my capillaries getting constricted, raises my blood pressure, typical signs of too much nicotine/caffeine effects.

 

[VNeil]

After a 40 year 2-3 PAD habit I figured out a very simple way to quit. I was vaping of course.

I decided that the only way I would quit was to never again take another puff off of a cig. Not a single puff.

I took my last puff on July 31 2014.

It was that simple. The only trick is that you have to be totally committed to that.

And trust me. I'm probably only one puff from total relapse. But I never plan on finding out. And I have no real desire to smoke again.

I hope you can get to that place without another 33 years and a good case of COPD. Quit while you have all your lungs.

Day 4-5 was hell on earth for me. I don't want to ever have to go through that again. But after that it was steadily downhill.

Eta: try the WTA if you need it. Do whatever it takes. Buy gear. DIY your own juice. Get as invested into it as you have to. Do anything but take another puff

 

[azb8496]

It won't come naturally, but you'll succeed if you never stop trying. Don't push yourself too hard though; recognize when you're not motivated and pay attention to what motivates you. Learn from your failures and build with your victories. What one can do, another can do, but only by using methods learned while fighting personal battles.

There's a lot of good advice in this thread (and many others here). Learn what you can from it. I still am.

 

[JonJ78]

Personally, the variety of juice flavors is what has kept me away from cigarettes, along with being able to breathe.

 

[Panorama911]

I can only say this with a very short answer...I see people my age and younger dying everyday and that knowledge puts the fear of Gawd in me....I quit cold turkey in 2011 and never looked back, vaping just made that easier.

 

[AndriaD]

For me 18MG+ it makes my heart flutter, I can feel my capillaries getting constricted, raises my blood pressure, typical signs of too much nicotine/caffeine effects.

That heart-fluttering thing sounds like when I tried the patch, terrible palpitations every time I tried it. The 2nd time, remembering that, I didn't even use the "1st" stage, the highest-nicotine one, but the 2nd stage.. still got them. So I gave up on the patch, or even the whole idea of quitting. When I started vaping it was just so I didn't have to go outside at night last winter, then discovered what a great substitution it was.

It might be more useful for you, to use 12mg or even 6mg, with some WTA. All of us seem to have gotten something different from cigarettes, and enjoyed/suffered quite a variable continuum of addiction -- too much nicotine makes me really ill, but I was very firmly addicted; my 2nd time around, when it was no longer novel, and also had the digestive issues, it was really the WTA that made it possible to ditch the smokes.

Andria

 

[Panorama911]

double post

 

[Puff2K]

Yeah, you don't want to get COPD. I have it and the amount it detracts from my life is terrible and depressing. It can come on before you even realize it's happening.

I recently relapsed and bought a pack of cigarettes and I really regret it. It was a choice I made in a very stressful moment, but it was still a choice. If I had chosen not to, I would have been fine with my vape. (I'm not a smoker again, because I can't be anymore. But it was a stupid choice for myself in that moment.)

The thing is, you always have that choice, to light a cigarette or to do something better. The cravings will fade and you can vape through them. It's always a choice.