Helps to know your smoking background

[atom48]

I've been reading this, and wanting to quote from every post. Yes, yes, and yes. Obsessed with smoking, to the point that I've mapped out every airport, every hotel, every shopping venue to see how easy it is to escape. Walked out frequently during nice dinners with nonsmoking friends, even though I knew it was rude. Yes, yes, yes.

I can certainly relate!! I have been smoking for 45 years. It has varied from 1 to 3 PAD.

I actually heard about e-cigs a couple years ago, and discovered this forum at that time. (Hence, my "join date" makes me look like a veteran! Ha!! Not so.) I started with an njoy NPro, discovered this forum, then jumped to a VaporKing -- when V4L didn't even have a website yet. So, being a gadget-holic, as well, I have a number of those old kits, and a bunch of old ejuice, too.

None of it worked for me at that time, though. I was working then and would have 10 minute breaks periodically. I didn't have time to do the primer-puffs, suck like a fish-face, fool around with the battery or cart/carto trying to line-up air-holes, etc., all for an occasional decent hit. I needed fast and sure nicotine delivery that analogs pretty much guaranteed. So, my e-cigs were banished to the top shelf in the closet. (Note: This is not to knock any of those earlier vendors, because everything seemed new, and everyone was in continuous modification flux.) All of this...until this past weekend, when I revisited this forum.

OMG, things have CHANGED!! I got my new eGo from Cignot on Wednesday night, and have had only 5 analogs since then!! Lemme tell ya...what a difference a MANUAL, FAT battery makes!!! (All of my former ecigs were automatics.) It is so much closer to the analog "experience" now as opposed to then. Now I really feel like this might work, and I may eventually be successful in quitting analogs altogether. Still have to find a suitable nic level and an e-juice that I like, but that will happen in time.

I, too, hope this helps someone. If you're on the fence, get off, get yourself a manual 510 or eGo, and forget about what you might look like with a fat bat. Wear PURPLE!! You deserve it!!

P.S. Enjoyed your video, MistressNomad. Good at any age.

So, that's my story, in a nutshell. (And for the poster who talked about the guy on oxygen...my sister is an oxygen company rep, so I was set for that.)

 

[Steen]

Hi Stevet2,
My first post here...I have been off analogs for 5 weeks today. I am 59 years old and have smoked for (choke) 40+ years. I smoked a pad for the first 20 years (more when I was out) and less and less for the last 20 until the last 10, I tried to keep it to 3-6 analogs a day. I know everyone here understands this. I was just not able to completely put them down. Even at that few a day, I could tell the effects, which I am sure are cumulative. My niece quit with ecigs and so I thought, why not? Maybe I can get to the point that I only smoke analogs on the weekend. HA! I fooled me! I ordered one and I have not smoked an analog since! I never, ever, ever thought I would quit! I realize how that sounds because I did not smoke a lot a day, but I was addicted; that is for sure.
Today, I started coughing and coughing and coughing. OMG! I know this is normal and good, but wow, I thought it was not going to happen to me since it did not for the first 5 weeks.
Good luck to you. I think this is the best thing since, well, I don't know, since anything that I can remember.

 

[WomanOfHeart]

This has been a really interesting thread, so I'll add my story to the mix.

I started smoking at 12 by sneaking a couple of cigarettes from my mom's packs. By the time I was 16, I was smoking 3/4 to a pack per day. FF to just 3 months ago and 33 years later...survived a major, potentially life threatening disease, still fighting with another progressive illness and still smoking a pack to a pack and a half per day with no end in sight. I had tried everything over the years to quit...patches, gum, Zyban, cold turkey and nothing worked for more than a few months at best. I gave up on the idea of quitting altogether until I saw a coworker vaping outside on day. I asked him about it and I even tried it. It was intriguing and appealed to the geeky, tech girl in me. I talked to my fiance about it and he was open to giving it a try. We figured we could save some money and have a way to get around the "no indoor smoking" clause of our lease. Neither one of us were even thinking about completely quitting at the time. We started off with crappy, overpriced kits and then I stumbled on ECF.

I spent hours reading the forums and taking in all the information I could. A few days later, we ordered our first Riva kits and some juice. The moment I got that kit in my hot little hands was the last time I've picked up an analog. That was over 2 months ago. I didn't intend to quit. I really thought that I would only cut down how much I smoked at the most. Quitting just sort of happened. I didn't want to smoke anymore and the longer I vaped, the less appealing smoking became. Now it's hard for me to be around smokers because the smell is just awful to me.

My PV's have been nothing short of a miracle for me. My doctors are ecstatic that I've quit smoking and encourage my continued vaping. I know that I made a good choice and I thank everyone here at ECF for the wonderful information and support. I can honestly say that vaping has saved my life.

 

[smitti1]

Smoked about 47 yrs, gradually worked my way up to 2-1/2 pks a day. Loved to smoke, didn't want to quit, but actually didn't think I ever could quit. Had already made all the typical attempts with patches, chantix, etc all ending in failure. Had given up. After hearing about ecigs, I started googling, found ECF, got my Joye eGo, and it's been complete success since then, instantly. Haven't even tried an analog even though I have them on my desk, night stand, glove compartment. I wanted to try one to see if I had the same repulsive reaction as so many of you have had (just for fun), but I just haven't done it & don't really feel a need to. I love to be able to just look at them and know they mean nothing to me anymore... other than victory! Drs are happy about it too. : )

 

[mlinky]

Throwing my story in to this very interesting thread. I started smoking when I was 14. Smoked a pack a day of Kool Kings for 40 years! I quit once for 2 years, never got over the urge, and swore I'd never quit again. It has gotten so darned inconvenient (I understand the hotel room, etc. planning) I was looking for something to take the edge off when I couldn't smoke a cigarette. So, one week ago, after reading through this forum, I ordered an eGo kit. It came in the day before Thanksgiving, and my life has changed. I was not intending to quit, but I had 6 cigarettes Thanksgiving day, and it's down to two today. I can't believe it. My best recommendation is to get a setup that is as easy to use and as reliable as possible so that it is just as convenient to vape as to smoke. The eGo fits the bill for me.

 

[Lydia]

Hi Steve,
Welcome here also. You asked for our history on smoking. This is my history: I also smoked for many, many years. Beginning 2010, after a getting a cold, it became difficult to breathe for me. So I needed urgent medical help and discovered that I had COPD. This was for me enough reason to stop smoking. I switched to vaping. My health and condition is improved a lot since then, but COPD isn't something that can be cured. The getting worse can be stopped or slowed down, mainly by quitting smoking. I am lucky that my COPD is not (yet?) in such a way that it hinders me a lot in my daily life. For that reason vaping and monitoring my condition goes hand in hand. If vaping should worsen my condition, I have to stop. I like vaping, yet like it even more as smoking, and hope I can continue with it! It was a long way from my first simple e-cig that performed a bit and could not really satisfy my 'smoking-needs', to where I am at this moment. Untill now everything goes very well, but I have invested a lot of time on reading about the possible dangers of vaping, the e-liqiuid, the flavours and DIY, the PV's, etc., etc. I have to know every risk, to try to ban it. Most of my knowledge I got from this forum, because you can not find any forum/place in the world with such a lot of information on vaping and the backgrounds as this forum/place. After spending such a lot of time here as 'guest', I decided today to become a member and this is my first post. Steve, I hope I have convinced you a bit that switching to vaping was the right choice for your health. There is a lot to read, learn and discover,... I can tell you, and this is the right place for help.

 

[zerowley]

Been about a pack a day smoker for 5 years. I generally prefer harsher cigarettes. Vaping is the only alternative I've found that really "does it" for me. Nothing else felt anything like actually smoking, and while vaping is definitely different, I can actually see myself preferring it.

 

[xg4bx]

I know what you mean about "cigarettes ruling your life". I have been smoking for 45 years at 2-3 packs a day. I have been seriously vaping for about a month. I use cigarettes as a timer...you know the story...one more cigarette and I'll take a shower, one more cigarette and I'll finish getting ready and leave for work. I vape all the way to work until I am one cigarette away, break time...how does an ecig that never runs out make up for the timer to know when break time is over and of course after eating, when I first get up and morning coffee. I can make a pack of cigarettes last 2 days now and that is a big plus for me at this time. I would love to cut down to zero and I have a couple of ecig kits and a lot of juice. I try to be confident that I will hit the right combination and give them up completely...but I don't punish myself because what I have done is an improvement and I don't have to have a cigarette right before I go to bed anymore.

i used to do the exact same "use it as a timer" thing. i always knew that i could smoke 3 cigarettes in a 15 minute break at work. and of course once you build up a tolerance you need more, i'd chainsmoke like a fiend on the way to work so i'd get enough nicotine to "hold me over" until my break. it got truly pitiful and disgusting. i'd end up going through almost an entire pack in 1 day at/going to&from work alone.

as for me i was up to almost 2 packs a day and smoked for 16 years until i finally got a pv. in 3 months i've smoked 1 pack and that was only because i was drinking at a party and didn't feel like dealing with refilling and whatnot.