So I've been lurking for a little while, and finally got around to making an account.
I suppose my first post should be an attempt at being useful, so I guess I'll share my story and try to help those that come after me.
TL;DR: hang out with the smokers. The life you save just might be mine.
So like many people, I've been a 1PAD smoker for over a decade. Last year, me and my wife had a beautiful baby girl. I promised myself and my wife that once our child arrived, I would quit smoking. We'll, that didn't turn out too well. I quit for about a week and the first time I hit the bar with my buddies, I had a cigarette... Then another... Then a pack... Then I was a smoker again. I felt terrible. I couldn't even quit for my new born daughter. I felt powerless and weak, but eventually, I just accepted it. I was a slave to the cigarettes and it wasn't gonna change.
Fast forward a year. Me and my boss have most meetings outside over a cigarette. More than that, we would go through 5-6 cigarettes while we discussed personnel issues, strategic issues, future and past issues. We'll one day we go downstairs for our meeting and he isn't smoking. Instead he's got (what I now know is an ego twist and t3s) some weird pen looking thing. He tells me about his new vapor pen and how he hasn't even wanted a cigarette since. I just sorta laugh it off. I've tried the Blu e cigs and other gas station cigalikes. They don't work. "He will be back smoking in a week" I think to myself. We keep having our meetings downstairs. He never preaches or shoves it in my face or lectures me. He just keeps vaping. Every once in a while, he lets me vape a bit when I ask, and answers any questions I have.
Fast forward two weeks. I finally swallow my pride.
"Dude. You used to smoke more than me. Is that thing really working for you?"
"yeah. It is" he says, "it's pretty cool. There's a shop by my house and a bunch of guys hang out there and just share different flavor and hang out. It's like a bar, with less drunk .......s"
"I gotta get me one of those" I just sort of mention offhandedly, obviously not meaning it.
the next day, he showed up to work with a starter kit (ego twist and kanger t3s, plus some juice). He gives it to me and just says, "this really helped me. Picked you up one. If it helps you quit, you can pay me back. If not, don't worry about it."
So I stash the kit away and don't really pay attention to it. I went home and had some scotch and finished off my pack of smokes. Eventually the pack ran out and I went to sleep. I woke up the next morning and didn't have any cigarettes, so picked up the vape. It was, to my surprise, satisfying. I ended up not buying a pack of smokes on the way to work that morning.
At lunch, I felt so good, that I went to the ATM and pulled out $60 to give to my boss.
"Already?" He said with a knowing grin
"Yup!" I exclaimed happily, ecstatic to lose this particular bet he posed to me.
Since then, I've ran into some pitfalls. My T3S was leaking pretty bad one night while I was at happy hour and I smoked half a cigarette. I've tried a couple different cartos and clearos and almost got fed up enough with flooding and juice in my mouth to go back to analogs, but eventually found the Vivi Nova and ZMax Mini combo which is perfect for me (judge away, I love it). Now, analogs are completely behind me, I'm 3 months free (The discovery of my perfect combo was mostly due to reading threads and reviews on this forum, so thanks to you all very much)
since converting, I've gotten 6 more people off analogs and on to vaping (along with my boss getting some people converted) My office of 150+ people is now entirely smoke-free, and our CEO and HR dept happily allow us to vape at our desks. I've also started rebuilding wick/coilss for the whole office and we are all buying juice in bulk and sharing it.
Long story, short... Hang out with the smokers... Just being around them might get one of them interested enough to try vape... And we all know that once that happens, analogs go away. You don't have to be preachy, just being around seems to be plenty. (Plus, we are all now vaping for cheaper by buying in bulk)
My boss cared enough to share what worked for him with no strings attached. I never would have tried otherwise. I've made the same deal to others and always got my money back, along with heartfelt thanks.
I suppose my first post should be an attempt at being useful, so I guess I'll share my story and try to help those that come after me.
TL;DR: hang out with the smokers. The life you save just might be mine.
So like many people, I've been a 1PAD smoker for over a decade. Last year, me and my wife had a beautiful baby girl. I promised myself and my wife that once our child arrived, I would quit smoking. We'll, that didn't turn out too well. I quit for about a week and the first time I hit the bar with my buddies, I had a cigarette... Then another... Then a pack... Then I was a smoker again. I felt terrible. I couldn't even quit for my new born daughter. I felt powerless and weak, but eventually, I just accepted it. I was a slave to the cigarettes and it wasn't gonna change.
Fast forward a year. Me and my boss have most meetings outside over a cigarette. More than that, we would go through 5-6 cigarettes while we discussed personnel issues, strategic issues, future and past issues. We'll one day we go downstairs for our meeting and he isn't smoking. Instead he's got (what I now know is an ego twist and t3s) some weird pen looking thing. He tells me about his new vapor pen and how he hasn't even wanted a cigarette since. I just sorta laugh it off. I've tried the Blu e cigs and other gas station cigalikes. They don't work. "He will be back smoking in a week" I think to myself. We keep having our meetings downstairs. He never preaches or shoves it in my face or lectures me. He just keeps vaping. Every once in a while, he lets me vape a bit when I ask, and answers any questions I have.
Fast forward two weeks. I finally swallow my pride.
"Dude. You used to smoke more than me. Is that thing really working for you?"
"yeah. It is" he says, "it's pretty cool. There's a shop by my house and a bunch of guys hang out there and just share different flavor and hang out. It's like a bar, with less drunk .......s"
"I gotta get me one of those" I just sort of mention offhandedly, obviously not meaning it.
the next day, he showed up to work with a starter kit (ego twist and kanger t3s, plus some juice). He gives it to me and just says, "this really helped me. Picked you up one. If it helps you quit, you can pay me back. If not, don't worry about it."
So I stash the kit away and don't really pay attention to it. I went home and had some scotch and finished off my pack of smokes. Eventually the pack ran out and I went to sleep. I woke up the next morning and didn't have any cigarettes, so picked up the vape. It was, to my surprise, satisfying. I ended up not buying a pack of smokes on the way to work that morning.
At lunch, I felt so good, that I went to the ATM and pulled out $60 to give to my boss.
"Already?" He said with a knowing grin
"Yup!" I exclaimed happily, ecstatic to lose this particular bet he posed to me.
Since then, I've ran into some pitfalls. My T3S was leaking pretty bad one night while I was at happy hour and I smoked half a cigarette. I've tried a couple different cartos and clearos and almost got fed up enough with flooding and juice in my mouth to go back to analogs, but eventually found the Vivi Nova and ZMax Mini combo which is perfect for me (judge away, I love it). Now, analogs are completely behind me, I'm 3 months free (The discovery of my perfect combo was mostly due to reading threads and reviews on this forum, so thanks to you all very much)
since converting, I've gotten 6 more people off analogs and on to vaping (along with my boss getting some people converted) My office of 150+ people is now entirely smoke-free, and our CEO and HR dept happily allow us to vape at our desks. I've also started rebuilding wick/coilss for the whole office and we are all buying juice in bulk and sharing it.
Long story, short... Hang out with the smokers... Just being around them might get one of them interested enough to try vape... And we all know that once that happens, analogs go away. You don't have to be preachy, just being around seems to be plenty. (Plus, we are all now vaping for cheaper by buying in bulk)
My boss cared enough to share what worked for him with no strings attached. I never would have tried otherwise. I've made the same deal to others and always got my money back, along with heartfelt thanks.
If I had a boss like that, I would've been done with smelly cigarettes a long time ago. Congratulations!
