Getting off cigarettes, brainstorming...

[meph1]

Hey guys.

So, some of you might choose vape to get off smoking, and i would like to start a discussion/tricks n tips thread.

Do you guys dual use?

Im kinda good with only vape, yet in work i cant rely only on it, and cant take coffee without an analog (should just drop coffee then anyways... )
If im at home office, im al good though, maybe its the social background of it idk.

How many puffs do you think equal to a cig for you?

I dont count it, since its not free fun then, but since found great flavors i only put it down at home when i start to feel dizzy. moved from 12mg to 9mg, im a heavy smoker though (2packs a day) and found out i can get a refreshing portion of nic in like 10mins (thats somewhere 50 puffs, i like to wander off, okay? )

How did you guys managed to demonize analogues?

I started with tobbaco flavors, but when i moved to exotic flavors, it changed my mind. i only use analogues so i can chew some and taste that sh**ty ash flavor in my mouth and wonder how could i go on with it for 6 years.... I dont feel like analogues are a need for me anymore, but i couldnt even think about instant switching...

Did you managed to put it off completely? Analogues or the whole nic thing?

I think im on the verge of a “breakthrough” here. And it feels so damn good to accomplish this. I want to go 0mg in a year, but its a rough estimate, think i can make it sooner though. Ill continue vaping after that for the sake of enjoyment of flavors, but hope ill manage to get off nic 100%.


Any thoughts, opinions, experiences? Lets have a talk.

 

[Coastal Cowboy]

I didn't stop smoking until I found the magic of sub-Ohm vaping with VW mods that were capable of delivering 40 Watts or so.

I had dual used for about four years, mostly mouth-to-lung tootling at less than 15 Watts and it wasn't working.

I bought a Pico 75, a couple of Subtank Minis and a couple of Baby Beasts and it was game on. From there it was more Picos, more sub-Ohm tanks and a variety of non-tobacco flavors (finally). I accepted that I would never find a vape experience that tasted and felt like a burning tube of tobacco.

Last of all, I told myself that it would be easier to quit completely if I stopped buying cigarettes. So I stopped buying them, and stopped smoking them.

August 9, 2017.

 

[meph1]

I didn't stop smoking until I found the magic of sub-Ohm vaping with VW mods that were capable of delivering 40 Watts or so.

I had dual used for about four years, mostly mouth-to-lung tootling at less than 15 Watts and it wasn't working.

I bought a Pico 75, a couple of Subtank Minis and a couple of Baby Beasts and it was game on. From there it was more Picos, more sub-Ohm tanks and a variety of non-tobacco flavors (finally). I accepted that I would never find a vape experience that tasted and felt like a burning tube of tobacco.

Last of all, I told myself that it would be easier to quit completely if I stopped buying cigarettes. So I stopped buying them, and stopped smoking them.

August 9, 2017.

Cheers mate. Im using a pico 75w with 0.5 too, never tried 1ohm, but might try it.

Happy to hear you already succeeded

 

[Ryedan]

I never did demonize cigarettes meph1. I really wanted to quit smoking and vaping ended up working for me. After six years I still appreciate the smell of burning tobacco, but I don't need to smoke it anymore . I'm good with that.

Whatever works for us is great

It took me a couple of weeks to switch completely to vaping. Some people take a few years and that's still much better than smoking only.

I really did want to quit smoking which I think probably significantly helped me. I was feeling the negative effects from smoking around a pack a day for decades and that gave me a lot of motivation to make the switch. I am at really low levels of nic in my juices now, when I use it at all.

Best of luck with it @meph1 !

 

[DeloresRose]

I did not start vaping with a quit smoking plan, I wanted to reduce how much though, and not have to go without ( like, visiting the hospital, I could vape outside but not smoke) or freeze in winter going outside for a smoke ( my house is no smoking).

I dual used for a very short time - a week? Something like that. Started at 24 mugs, never like tobacco flavors because I was very picky about my smokes, I’d never smoke other than MY brand and there’s no way to replicate that closely enough.

I was never on a quest to get to zero nic. I have gradually dropped to 6 and 3 mg, depending on tank, but I diy so I can easily have whatever strength I need.

How many puffs equals a cigarette? No idea. I guess I tend to take 4-5 in a row, but more frequently than smoking. Sometimes I just chain vape.

Biggest difference for me is, if I have to go without for a few hours, my skin isn’t crawling. And I never panic at 11:00pm because I only have one Camel left lol.

This was the advice I was given that helped me quit-

Whatever device works is a good device. If one doesn’t work, there are loads of others to try.

Start high on the nic, you’ll know when it’s too much and you can drop.

When you have a really bad crave, vape hard. Give yourself 10-20 minutes and see if it passes. If not, don’t beat yourself up. Every cigarette you don’t smoke is a win.


And I’d say, if you get to zero, and that’s your goal, good for you!

 

[Rossum]

People are different.

Background: I smoked for 36 years, 2 packs a day for at least the last 12-15.

Do you guys dual use?

Only for about 5 days. And this despite the fact that didn't start vaping with the intent of quitting smoking; I only wanted to see if I could use vaping to cut back some. Well, cut back I did, right to zero in less than a week.

How many puffs do you think equal to a cig for you?

I have no idea. Vaping is different than smoking. You can have one or more puffs whenever you want without being committed to finishing a cigarette. I find that liberating. I'll grab one or two puffs far more often during the day than the 40 or so times I used to light a smoke.

How did you guys managed to demonize analogues?

I did not "demonize" analogs. In fact, I've never actually prohibited myself from having one if I really want one badly enough. I just don't want one badly enough to suffer the consequences; the irritated windpipe, the cough, etc.

Did you managed to put it off completely? Analogues or the whole nic thing?

Yes, analog-free since December of 2013. No, not nicotine free. I still go through about 65 mg of nic per day, down from about 90 four years ago. I don't see much problem with using nicotine.

 

[QcVaper]

If it wasen't for flavor, i would've never stopped smoking as i've never been a fan of any tobacco flavors.
Dual used for about a week (because that first morning analog+coffee is too good) but then i managed to get off completely cigs with good fruity flavors.
I've got no plans of going 0 nic as of now since nicotine is not dangerous at all , also almost a year since i stopped now (june 2017) went from a simple nautilus tank to now using squonkers and rebuildables.

 

[K-Space]

What worked for me was a Regimen of the Nicotine patches @21mg, 14mg, and 7mg, while vaping 0 mg.
tobacco flavored juice I think the patch regimen last 10 to 12 weeks.

 

[the wind]

high nic was the trick for me.now a days you can even sub ohm with nic salt.just look for signs of getting too much.

 

[r77r7r]

The morning coffee and after meals were the last to go for me. Impressive that vaping can replace those. Heard that it's hard for the folks that drink alcohol tho.

 

[HauntedMyst]

Like Rossum, I was off cigs in less than a week. Discovering I could inhale watermelon, cherry, atomic fireball and mints rather than cigarettes was what flipped me over. Add that to having a kid who would look at you disappointingly if you broke your promise to quit and it was a magic combo. When I started vaping we were in a hardware revolution which made vaping a reality vs. egos and clearos (which worked just were disappointing in life span and flavor production). I'm still using the same basic setups from 3 or 4 years ago.

 

[Beamslider]

Everyone is different. There is going to be a period of time when you crave cigarettes as there are other addictive substances in them.

I did not dual use as I would never have been able to quit smoking if I did. I went with high nic 50 mg low volume device and hit it frequently for the first couple of weeks. It worked but still had cig withdrawal for a few weeks. Have since migrated to higher volume lower nicotine and remain happy with it.

It takes time and not always easy to switch. Desire to do so is probably most important part of the process

 

[Baditude]

I dual used only during the first week of my transition period. I knew that I'd have strong cravings for a cigarette, so I allowed myself what I reasoned was an acceptable number of cigs a day.

I vaped as much as I wanted throughout the day. If I got a craving, I vaped more. If that didn't help I allowed myself to smoke HALF of a cigarette, and put it out. The next craving, I smoked the rest of that cigarette. It tasted pretty nasty, but that helped me to not want the next one as much. I probably smoked only 4 whole cigarettes a day during that week.

I noticed that I was really liking the vape, and not needing the cigarette as the week progressed. At the end of the week when that last pack was gone, I just didn't feel the need to buy another pack.
______

It's difficult to compare the number of puffs needed to compare with a cigarette. Vaping is a less efficient method of nicotine delivery than smoking, so its pretty common for a new vaper to think they are vaping more than when they smoked cigarettes. I wouldn't be overly concerned about that. Your body will tell you if you're getting too much nic.
______

The advice tips you were given are spot on. There is no one vaping setup that is ideal for everyone. If there was, you wouldn't see so many different possible setups on the market. We all have different expectations in vaping hardware or flavors; many of us have tried several setups and flavors before we found our ideal one. I view my vaping experiences as a journey. I didn't like everything I tried, but at least I had a better idea of what I did or didn't like. Even with all the money I spent trying different gear or flavors, it was still a lot cheaper than when I was smoking.

Advancing Up the Vaping Ladder
Good Starter Setups for a Beginner Vaper

 

[stols001]

Oooch. I was a 3 ppd smoker when I turned up here, really wanting to vape only, thanks to incipient COPD. It was a big motivator, I have always said the Only thing that might get me to stop smoking was COPD, and I was developing it at the age of 43.

I cut out my first cigarette of the day first. It was the hardest, but I knew if I smoked it, I would be smoking all day long. I just kept pushing that cigarette out further, and when I had my first smoke free day, I was shocked!

For me, I had to be willing to accept a measure of suffering. I am not one of those magical unicorn vapers who took their first puff of a vape and never looked back. Detox was HORRID and not something I ever want to do again.

I did decide to do all I could to become "a vaper." I read on here, learned a lot (kept my brain occupied) and vaped, right before (sometimes during) and right after a cigarette, paying attention to how much satisfaction it really "brought me" (not much, usually) and to reinforce being a vaper. I chain vaped, I used WTA (whole tobacco alkaloid jucies, containing some of the things that are naturally occurring in tobacco, and offer SOME relief during the detox process. Good WTA makers include Aroma and Umbavapes, although I think Aroma is superior (and pricy). I will note WTA doesn't help everyone but it did help me during my TAR detox (believe it or not, tar itself ALSO contains compounds that lead to relaxation and stave away depression) and it helped enough that I could get to the point of doing without it, although I do keep a tank around for stressful situations, etc.

I fell off the wagon catastrophically a few times. I made sure I smoked (if I smoked that way) enough that cigarettes became unappealing, and I suffered for my catastrophic failures the next couple days, which was enough motivation to get back on the wagon.

Determination and the willingness to suffer made a huge difference for me-- I really had to accept that I was going to suffer along the way, and that I should keep plugging along.

Dual use is pretty common so don't beat yourself up over it, but develop a plan. It could be rewards for not smoking, zoning your smoking, attacking your EASIEST or your HARDEST cigarette of the day, there are probably as many methods as there are days in the year, if not more.

Befriend your suffering. Observe your cigarette use dispassionately, so that you can develop strategies to deal with those cigarettes, instead of being upset by them. Most of all, do not stop vaping. The more I vaped, the less I wanted to smoke, and the converse was also true. Give yourself a quit date, and stick to it (maybe take a few days off during that time). However, one British study indicated that vapers who were successful were those who kept vaping no matter what, and continued to do so, regardless of how fast they got to vaping only.

Best of luck, you can accomplish this if you want to, enough. You only need a 51% motivation to stop smoking. Do what you can to get to the 51% motivation, and vape on.

You can do it, even if you aren't sure you can. You will do it once you DECIDE to do it, and the ways to approach that are endless. They also don't have to be immediate.

I wish you all the luck in the world! I will say every single minute of suffering paid dividends compared to how I feel now, versus when I was a smoker. My health has improved so much. I suffered a great deal during detox, and it was worth it.

My husband started vaping in January, and he is still dual using. I'd kind of say I'm glad I got my suffering up front and more concentrated, as that specter of dual use can keep the smoking motivations going for a long time. I don't know if my husband will ever stop dual use, and likely may not receive the LONG TERM benefits health wise compared to just putting any and all cigarettes out of your life.

Anna

 

[Canadian_Vaper]

so many devices, so many nic levels, so many different coils honestly I just vape until I'm in my happy place, amount of puffs don't really matter.

I actually Never Dual used, I got my device, set it up, made sure I knew how everything worked and made sure I could use it reliably then the next day I just stopped smoking completely, it wasn't "Easy" but I bared through it..

 

[IgnorantCig]

I don't think that it's too hard to demonize cigarettes. It wasn't hard for me at least.

I knew that cigs were garbage even when I was smoking a few packs of them each day, so I don't think that I'm being hypocritical now just because I don't smoke them anymore.

Cigs are nasty, they will make you smell like an ash tray, they will give you terrible breath, they will make your skin look worse, they will ruin your teeth, they will affect your health, possibly causing irreversible damage to various internal organs and you just might end up getting some sort of nasty cancer and then it's game over and you die.

Cigs sound like a wonderful thing.

 

[Myk]

If you need to demonize cigarettes a way that worked for me when I quit for high school graduation was to tear up a cigarette when I wanted one (an expensive way now). At first I would light it and take one puff to get that part of the action out of my system plus get a little bit of a fix.

With vaping I didn't have much problem giving up smoking (other than it was helping IBD which was flaring this last time so I needed a half a cigarette in the morning for about a week). For me vaping was just better even in 2009 with really crappy options (ended up going back to smoking then because of a PG problem plus paranoia about all the BS the govt was spreading playing on an already existing anxiety issue heightened by the PG problems).

I didn't stop smoking until I found the magic of sub-Ohm vaping with VW mods that were capable of delivering 40 Watts or so.

YES! It wasn't that for me but that is the closest I've got to getting my roommate to vape. It wasn't the low power high Ω set ups everyone recommends for people starting out. He just wouldn't puff long enough like I learned to with an eGo-C. He wanted a very short MTL like with a cigarette. The only way to get enough heat to give him anything that fast was sub-Ω but with the air closed down.

 

[Rossum]

I cut out my first cigarette of the day first. It was the hardest, but I knew if I smoked it, I would be smoking all day long. I just kept pushing that cigarette out further, and when I had my first smoke free day, I was shocked!

I don't remember who it was, but someone pushed that as a stop-smoking method long before vaping existed. I tried it for a while. I don't think I ever made it past 10 AM. And interestingly enough, the last few days I was dual-using, the only cig I had was in the middle of the morning.

 

[DPLongo22]

I stopped the day I began Round 2 of my vape journey, 13-Nov-2011. I was running through about 6ml of juice per day, vaping 9-11 watts of 18mg juice at 65-75% PG.

Pretty much exactly the same as I do today, actually. Many or most vapers have progressed way past my specs these days and they'd just best keep the flip off my lawn. ;-)

Good luck and have faith. If you want it, they've probably built it (with all due respect to Field of Dreams).

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[Storm52]

3x pak a day (kools) 45 years. January 7, 2014 purchased a kanger evod, 2 packs of 1.8 coils and 60ml 24mg nic 70/30 pg/vg juice. Didn't smoke another cigarette after leaving the B&M vape shop and I had almost a full pack on January 7th. I was sick and tired of being sick (lungs hurt taking deep breaths) and tired (coughed nightly). I am a friend of Bill W, coming up on 22 years in July. I know one day at a time and even one hour at a time. For me, it was clean break and I vaped through any cravings...which I can't really remember having.
I can't provide information as to puffs vs smoke. Since I didn't smoke inside my home or anywhere it was prohibited, I think I vape more than I smoked, since I do it inside. Cigarettes aren't demonized, as I still purchase them for my wife.
I don't plan on not vaping or going to zero nic. I mix currently mix 18mg, with some at 12mg. My last annual checkup indicated my bp was 120/65. It bothered my doctor, since my history was 170/80, with declining numbers for the last 4 years. I'm exercising regularly. Chest xray indicated level of COPD has diminished slightly, but the good news is that it hasn't increased. Blood O2 level was 99%. Doc said, "keep doing what you are doing" and "see me in a year".