Having a rough time with the switch

[Gary Mcroy]

Everyones posts have been a mirrored image of each other. Ima play the devils advocate here and say that you maybe you should feel bad! If feeling bad about it everytime you smoke one makes you less likely to smoke another one then maybe thats your way. Guilt trip yourself into quitting. Yes. Theres some tough love just to be the one different post.

Ps: Dunno if I even really feel that way but one post needed to take the other side

 

[smith0826]

First week for me I could get buy with only having a anolog cig after I ate breakfast, lunch and dinner. After the second week I decided that I just wasn't going to buy them. Physically I feel so much better than I dod a few months ago. I've been trying to convert everyone I know who smokes.

My advice is to just take it one day at a time. Its in our human nature to cave in to temptation. Eventually you can put the analogs down for good and you'll never regret it.

 

[Chas F.]

Don't be so hard on yourself. Everyone is different. The main thing is to be healthier and if you've cut down quite a bit then you are. Fight the good fight and don't think that because you are taking longer than Joe-Schmo to quit analogs that you are a failure.

 

[MacTechVpr]

So I just started vaping seriously about two weeks ago....but I just can't seem to do it. I don't even know why, because they taste terrible now - like sucking on ammonia.

My first post and I'm heartened by how supportive this community is. Lena, I went through very much your experience a few weeks in. Three months since, I still keep a couple of Joye 510's around with Johnson Creek 24 nic just in case that feeling starts to settle in. Like you, I hit the wall hard and nothing worked. The Vivi's i'd fallen in love with stopped performing and all tasted like you said. It wasn't the hardware, it was my inconsistency and the reality that suspended wicks get stale if not cared for. And apathy had set in. Just another habit. Another ritual. I had to make a decision despite the panic not to go back. Am I really going to do this or accept defeat? But it wasn't simply about that, failure. It's about enjoying doing it. Wanting to. I just tried to remember the reasons I found it pleasurable, rewarding and refocused my efforts on finding the sweet elixir, the Holy Grail of flavors, we all seek. For me that rededication came with a visit to a local vape shop and my reluctant discovery of Bobas Bounty. That began to show me how broad my discoveries could be if I continued vaping.

Fix the flavor. Don't think about it. Just resolve to do it.

Then get busy window shopping! There's a big vaping horizon out there to explore.

 

[Ladiekali]

I am new at vaping, maybe a week in, the hard part for me is mornings. I chain smoke in the morning. For 20 yrs its been coffee and cigs from morning till lunch. Chain smoking. Im still averaging a half pack a day. I am vaping menthol ice 12 mg from halo. So far thats the best flavor for me with enough similarities of my newports that ive been smoking for 23 years!

I have decided to place an order of the same flavor in 18 mg. maybe im not getting enough nicotine.
I do not really enjoy the smoking, its stinks tastes like doo doo, i have to brush my teeth directly after. Its starting to make me feel ill. But i also noticed on the few days i only had 3-5 analogs, i woke up hacking like an old man. It was not pleasant and only made me feel more of an urge to smoke.

So my plan is not only to upmy nic level but take it week by week. This week i will allow myself up to 10 analogs a day, next week 9, next 8 and so forth. Dont know if it will work, but thats my plan. Every analog not inhaled os a few minutes added to my life so to speak. I decided to stop beating myself up over it, especially since i have spent sooo much money looking for the right kit. I started with white cloud then south beach, then halos g6 and now halos triton. The triton makes it easier for me because of one it tastes soooo much better than not only the analogs but also the other ecig brands. And it feels closest to a analog when vaping. I actually will vape after smoking to help get rid of that darn nasty taste in my mouth hahaha.

I feel your pain with this. I say take it easy. Its good maybe that uou feel guilty. Why shouldnt yoi feel guilty? Cigarettes are down right gross. But give yourself credit too. Good luck!

 

[Jomoke]

I've been vaping for over a year and a half now. The transition was easy for me - I just decided I was never going to smoke again. The first week was the hardest but I did it. A month ago I finally got my sister to buy a kit. She was a smoker for 46 years, smoking about a pack to a pack and a half a day. She came over my house the day it came in the mail and I spent six hours with her showing her all the "ins and outs" of it. She had nine cigarettes left and asked me what she should do with them - should she leave them at my house? should she take them home and "hide" them somewhere? I told her she either needed to throw them out or smoke them all that night and start vaping exclusively in the morning. She was very nervous about throwing them out and said she didn't know if she could do it. I told her you either need to do one or the other - you can't do both. I told her this because I truly believe if you do both, you'll never quit the cigarettes entirely. She took the cigarettes home with her. I wished her luck and told her to call me in the morning.

She called me the next morning and told me that when she went home she smoked two of the cigarettes and before she went to bed she made up her mind that she was going to throw out the rest and NEVER buy another pack of smokes again. It has now been 4 weeks and SHE DID IT!! She told me she would always would go out on her deck in the morning and have her coffee and smoke cigarettes. She decided to keep this habit of going out on the deck in the morning but now instead of taking her cigarettes, she takes her e-cig.

I had told her how many pros vaping has compared to cigarettes and I couldn't think of one "con" to tell her. I talk to her every day and I'm so proud of her. She has found that she is so much more relaxed vaping. There is so much anxiety related to smoking that you don't realize until you quit how much there really is. She is feeling so much better and focuses on all the positive things about vaping - money saved; easier breathing; no hacking cough in the morning; no disgusting smells; no having to go out in bad weather to have a smoke, etc.

I asked her what she thought about the transition she made. She told me that she realized that smoking would not be the same as vaping - it would just be different. She had made up her mind that she would NEVER BUY ANOTHER PACK OF CIGARETTES. I think a lot of this is your mind set. Nothing will be the same as smoking.

She is feeling so much better now and I'm so proud of her.

I started her off with Tribeca from Halo and Renegade from Nitelite (PV Liquids) in 18 mg. She is very happy and content with both.

Hang in there - you CAN do it!!!

 

[madqatter]

Id catch myself going outside for a smoke even though I didn't have any cigarettes, or digging in my pockets for a lighter, or slapping my pockets to find my pack.

Ha ha, that's me!

When you hear people talking about the issues they have quitting, notice when they say they want one the most... drinking, after eating, relaxing, first thing in the morning, etc. Vaping becomes the habit when you find the 'setup' that satisfies the mental as well as the physical addiction.

Preach!

{a banner} may seem silly to some, but I LOVE seeing mine tick up! It's like a little pat on the back every time I post!

A nonsmoking friend of mine has decided to support me by writing milestones on poker chips for me to keep in my pocket-- her own version of AA's sobriety coins.

I did have a few tricks up my sleeve though. One such trick was a phone app that allowed me to measure teh time between cigs. Every time I had one, I'd press a button and it would reset the counter. It became a game to beat my 'top score'.

This sounds like an excellent option, especially for someone who may feel they're not quite ready for a banner!

 

[Limner]

.... or digging in my pockets for a lighter....

My first two weeks after quitting, I'd leave the apartment each morning with this vague feeling of not having done something important before locking the door behind me, like I'd forgotten to turn off the stove or put on my pants.
Then I'd walk to the bus stop feeling slightly off-balance. I thought something was wrong with my inner ear.

Turns out I was just missing the weight of the Zippo lighter I'd been carrying in my left pants pocket for 40 years.

 

[pwillco]

First, congratulations on quitting smoking (or almost quitting, you are almost there!), so don't give up yet and go back to cigs alone.
Second, look into Swedish snus. Go to generalsnus dot com and use their store locator, to find what stores sell it locally in your area. It's the only real Swedish snus brand sold in the USA. Don't try the American SNUS brands, like camel or skoal, they are not real snus. I have been using General snus for about three weeks, after using the e-cig only for two weeks. I was also getting frustrated with the e-cig, but I have not given up on it completely. The e-cig convinced me in two days I really did not need to smoke, or want to. But I still was not satisfied completely with it, and did not like how much I needed to vape to get the nicotine.The snus delivers nicotine more reliably and with less hassle than the e-cig, and it will help immensely with your cigarette cravings, by getting rid of the cravings altogether. It's also pretty damn cheap! I have not wanted a cigarette in weeks, and when I last tried to smoke two weeks ago, it tasted so bad, I did not want it, thanks to the e-cig and the snus.

 

[istimewa]

Yeah, congrats on what you've been able to accomplish so far!! Stay positive & give yourself credit for sticking with it

Many have already posted some great advice, tips & tricks, & I'm just putting a different spin on some of that in passing along some advice I received years ago when I became a vegetarian: expect to lose some battles on the path to winning the war.

To put that differently, allow a handful (or less) of analogs a day to be okay for now. Accept that where you're at is better than where you were. Put yourself in control by focusing on the positive & by taking it further when it's there for you to do so.

Feeling good about yourself on the path to your goal will go a long way in helping you to reach your goal. Best of luck!

 

[NiNi]

lena372,

I ordered a kit, did a countdown the days before it arrived smoking my heart out, got the kit, and that was it for the stinkies. My deal was mostly heredity. My family has an incredible amount of people living to see 100, without the aid of canes, wheelchairs, cancer, diseases.......full mental capacity, and I was looking at turning 52 this year, just past the halfway mark. I had visions of dragging an oxygen tank around with me at some point, aurgh!

Let's get down to brass tacks:
1. Everyone has their own adventure when they begin to distance themselves from stinkies. Don't make comparisons with others, we're all different. It is what it is so enjoy being yourself.
2. Go high on your nic!
3. Stinkies are a ritual: coffee, waking, watching TV, driving, talking on the phone.....identify your stinky ritual. Now, place your vaping gear next to those things, areas of those rituals and put your stinkies far away........lock them in the trunk of your vehicle, put your matches/lighter far away from your stinkies. Make it a PITA to light up. Make it totally convenient to pick up that e cig or vape mechanism.
4. Drink lots of water.
5. Buy samples of e-juice. If you don't have a B & M or friends who vape, that can let you check out the different tastes out there, go the sample route. It's less expensive and you don't end up with bottles of juice you don't like. (Who knows, you might get the "Mad Scientist" bug later on and decide to DIY with juice, Muwahahaha!) Finding a good flavor makes all the difference!
6. Find the vape delivery device that works for you. B & M's and fellow vapors are great for this, but if you don't have any around, hit ECF! Go to the sub forums, post questions, knowledge is power! The right delivery system makes a huge difference.
7. Part way through your adventure, you will most likely encounter "Vape Tongue". It's on the forum, just put it in the search bar. (I'm too lazy to link it! LOL!)

BTW: I noticed a thread about weight loss while vaping. I thought I was going to deal with the weight gain issue, but I didn't, in fact, I've lost weight, which I don't need to do, but blame it on juices that taste like Chunky Monkey Ice Cream and Cinnabons!

The most positive reinforcement you have going for you is this group. There's no "Do or Die" mentality here, just take it at your own speed, whether you decide to totally quit, cut down, or continue smoking analogs, it's your call. Whether it's random or full time vaping, this is where you can get answers. I've just listed the short version of points, but it's pretty much the basics.

That's my

 

[Roncgizmo]

So I just started vaping seriously about two weeks ago. My intention was to quit smoking entirely when I took up the ecig, but I just can't seem to do it. I don't even know why, because they taste terrible now - like sucking on ammonia. And I don't *need* them, need them, either. I mean, I quit cold turkey once (that lasted a good three months), and in comparison the cravings are absolutely nothing. Just, "Hmm, I'd like a cigarette," instead of "I will kill you all and feast on your flesh if I do not get a smoke RIGHT NOW." And yet I go ahead and smoke one! It makes me feel like such a failure.

I've been lurking here on the forum the entire time, and I know - "count the ones you're not smoking." I'm down to about five a day, so that's twenty analogs not smoked - but I see everybody who's just like, "Oh, I never touched them again once I started vaping!" I like vaping, I really really do - I tried it once years ago with some generic mini, and didn't do well, but now I've got a couple nice egos and a variety of liquids, and I really enjoy every aspect of vaping ... the health benefits, the tastes, even the feel (though it took me a week to get used to inhaling differently and the thick vapor). But I still want cigarettes.

I just want this part to be over, this whole transitional phase. I'm thinking about this stuff all the time and that stresses me out, and of course every time I'm stressed out what do I want to do? Smoke! Gah!

Sorry, I guess I just needed to vent. But yeah, if anybody else is having a rough time with breaking the habit, or has any advice, hit me up. As long as I can't stop thinking about it, might as well talk about it.

If you can't do it in one shot then don't. I started the same way. I just wanted to quit but when I started to vape I was still smoking a 1/2 PAD. I guess it was better then the pack to a pack and a half I was doing.. However, I continued to vape and before I knew it I was down to 5 a day, then 3 then one night on the way home from work I only had one cig left and I didn't stop to buy more (and I wasn't even stressed about it) That was 09/07 of this year and I haven't even thought about buying that pack I passed on that night.When you're ready you will know. Not thinking about a stop date/time or any other kind of deadline helped me a lot.

 

[NiNi]

"I will kill you all and feast on your flesh if I do not get a smoke RIGHT NOW."

Bawahahahaha!!!!! CLASSIC! I don't know how many times over the last 30+ years I found myself without a stinky and felt exactly like that!!!! Now I'm an ejuice hoarder, ROFLMAO!!!!! "Step away from the juice or die a torturous death!!!!"

 

[pwillco]

Just stay committed to leaving cigarettes, and you'll get there eventually, not everyone can leave them right away! Keep at it and don't worry, you are smoking much less, and that is a victory.

 

[K_Tech]

lena372,
7. Part way through your adventure, you will most likely encounter "Vape Tongue". It's on the forum, just put it in the search bar. (I'm too lazy to link it! LOL!)

It started on me yesterday; I started upping my water intake yesterday, it's a little better this morning...

Very frustrating, because Saturday night I put a juice in my Kanger that I REALLY liked, then Sunday I couldn't taste it!

Oh well, it'll get better.

 

[cocacola31173]

Dont worry the day will come when you won't even think of smoking. The other day i lit one up just to see and the simple act of smoking felt so foreign to me! Just didn't feel and def didn't taste right!

I really quit on accident. My plan was to just vape at home and in the car and still smoke at work, But I found myself vaping at work too so I just quit buying any cigs and that was over 9 months ago. Quit trying so hard and it will come I promise!

 

[cocacola31173]

It started on me yesterday; I started upping my water intake yesterday, it's a little better this morning...

Very frustrating, because Saturday night I put a juice in my Kanger that I REALLY liked, then Sunday I couldn't taste it!

Oh well, it'll get better.

What helps me is you know that rigid part on the back of your toothbrush? That is actually kinda like a tongue scrapper. I just gently scrub my tongue a little everytime I brush my teeth works great!

 

[Jeremy S.]

Sorry, I guess I just needed to vent. But yeah, if anybody else is having a rough time with breaking the habit, or has any advice

It takes time. There is no rush to vaping. Let it come natural...
Some things I did to help me switch

#1 Change Tooth Brushes ...left over ash tray is not a good taist.

#2 Washed sheets, curtains, walls, floors, base boards, towels... clean the smoke away and air out. Sprinkle Baking Soda in your car and vacuum it out. Wash your carpets. It took me 2 months to get rid of the ashtray smells...

#3 Keep a higher Nicotine Tobacco flavor around in an emergency...I use 36mg 70%pg/30%vg, keep a lower one for all day vaping. I use 24mg 70% pg 30% vg. When the flavor gets yuk switch. I use a fruit 12mg or 24 mg with higher pg.

#4 Keep your juice in the fridge...and away from the sun and heat. VG is a vegetable oil.

#5 Clean at each flavor change. I wash out my equipment and if using cato, I have it designated for that flavor. Use a sharpy or label maker.

#6 Avoid other smokers until your urge has dwindled....CHAIN VAPE!

#7 If you taste ammonia or some other nasty when vaping something is burning or gone south...time to switch carto or fluid or boil dry and reuse.... Find what works for you. Keep your equipment clean.

#8 Put out of sight all things that have to do with smoking.... I have mine in a coffee can under the bed...I marked 3 weeks to throw them all out. I have 20 left.

And good luck to you ...just my pennies

 

[Jeremy S.]

Sounds like a dirty coil to me. Clean out before bed and let dry over night before refilling

 

[yamahafixer]

Hi there ,
Keep Calm and vape on. You can do it think of all the positive things that come along with not smoking. No more smelly hair, Clothes, Car, u know all that stuff. What level Nic are you on?? Maybe you need to go up a little.
Well I hope this helps and we all know u can do it!!