Hi, I'm The Cloud Minder, and ...

Status
Not open for further replies.

The Cloud Minder

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Jul 28, 2014
1,061
1,301
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Hi, I'm The Cloud Minder, and I'm an alcoholic. No, wait, this is the wrong forum for that, and anyway, I'm not really an alcoholic. I am however, addicted to nicotine, which is why I eventually winded up here. I am a 46 year old male and was a 26 year (probably 23 when you factor out time I was quit during that span) smoker of ~1-2PAD (3 PAD when I was in the Army and paradoxically running 3 miles a day)


I started using tobacco products in the 7th grade. Snuff. (Yay, way to make your teeth and gums all sexy, and engaged in the sophisticated pass-time of projectile expectoration.) Anyhow, I tried various snuffs, sidechews and plugs. Smoked a few cigars here and there, once in a blue moon. In 11th grade, I took up the pipe. (No, not that kind, a tobacco pipe.) By the time I graduated at age 17, I had a nice collection of pipes, including one I picked up at an estate sale made of ivory. (I know, I know, but I was 17, it was 1984, and I didn't know all that much then)


So now I'm in college smoking this cool collection of pipes thinking I'm the bee's knees in cool. I go on a trip, ... They lose my luggage which include my pipe collection, letters from my then girlfriend, 6 pairs of jeans, and a fifth of 101 proof rotgut whisky. I was livid, i was complaining about the loss of all of these, but the people I was with fixated on my pipes, and offered me a cigarette. Thus began my 26 year and to this day use of analogs.


During this 26 years, Ive quit 3 times. Once I quit for a year (early on, about 1.5 years into this) cold turkey. Picked it back up, not so much from peer pressure, but rather, I couldn't stand to be around my 8 best friends, unless I was smoking too. Quit once by weaning my self to lites then ultralights. That lasted 3 months. And then I used Chantix. Worked like a dream, no side effect, stayed quit for 8 months, even while my wife at the time was still smoking. But there were some deaths in the family and I lapsed, started back up. A couple months later, I decided to quit again using Chantix again. Augh, didn't work out so well this time. I was having a lot of the side effects. Sure I quit smoking, but I was having crazy dreams, and every day, I felt more and more depressed, so I could see the end result was going to be me, wanting to snuffeth myself. I said screw this, stopped taking it and went back to smoking.


8 weeks ago, I discovered vaping when the bar I go, due to a change in ownership, to lost their ability to have people smoke in there, temporarily until they could refile their paperwork. During that time, a buddy of mine and a fellow smoker, bought a Bulldog vaporizer and was using that. Within 3 days he was quit. That inspired me, and 3 weeks ago, I purchased a Mini Pro Tank and slapped that on a Spinner Vision 2, pretty nice, no problems, vaping an18 mg 50/50 tobacco flavored mix. The first day my smoking was cut in half, to around 15 cigs. Over the course of the last 3 weeks I have weaned down to 3/day. The main problem I ran into, was when I was charging my Spinner, I would end up have 3 cigs. So, I set a quit date of 8/2 and to help facilitate that, I went out and bought an Itazte VV and got another tank, Kanger Aero mini, vaping a12mg 100%VG. (Miss the throat hit) This way I could always have one while the other was charging, and the Itazte is a passthru so I can vape it WHILE it charges.


I'm pretty confident, I could quit right now, but due to the way I do things (too long to explain) I am sticking to my Aug 2 quit date.


the only mistake I've made so far was buying a 3 pack of Voodoo disposable tanks so I could have different flavors easily changed to. So much for that idea. They didn't produce squat for vapor and they leaked all over my Spinner and I singed my lip with some 24 mg nic fluid.


Screw that, from now on, I'm sticking to my Kangers. Just ordered some new juices, and looking forward to being done with analogs.


tl:dr version: Hi, I'm the cloud minder, I'm getting into vaping.
 

The Cloud Minder

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Jul 28, 2014
1,061
1,301
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Its always great to here about another person making the switch to vaping. Its a good thing you found ECF at the beginning of your journey. Any questions you have can be answered here. Good luck man

Thanks, I never turn away well wishes, and I'm really hopeful about this.
 

AndriaD

Reviewer / Blogger
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Jan 24, 2014
21,253
50,807
64
LawrencevilleGA
angryvaper.crypticsites.com
Hi, I'm The Cloud Minder, and I'm an alcoholic. No, wait, this is the wrong forum for that, and anyway, I'm not really an alcoholic. I am however, addicted to nicotine, which is why I eventually winded up here. I am a 46 year old male and was a 26 year (probably 23 when you factor out time I was quit during that span) smoker of ~1-2PAD (3 PAD when I was in the Army and paradoxically running 3 miles a day)
.
.
tl:dr version: Hi, I'm the cloud minder, I'm getting into vaping.

Hi Cloud Minder... I *am* an alcoholic, but who'd have thought I could give *that* up.. :D Or cigarettes either! Anyway... welcome to ECF! If you really do want to be done with cigarettes, then vaping is the way! I found this place back in Jan, got lots of help from lots of really nice folks round here, quit 'em for 3 months, got very sick so I couldn't eat or vape or anything for enough days that I briefly went back to cigarettes, and just got back off the stupid things a few days ago, thank goodness! The only hard part was actually making up my mind to do it! After 3 months smoke-free, my lungs and sinuses were totally cleared out, and 1 month of smoking got my sinuses all fouled up again, so I'm really looking forward to getting them cleared out again.

Welcome! Anything you want to know, just ask, and probably lots of folks will be able to tell you whatever you need to know.

Andria
 

Buckeyeoak86

Full Member
Jul 21, 2014
6
5
Ohio
The Cloud Minder:
Welcome from one newbie to another! Your story sounds pretty similar to mine. I started in the 80's when I hit high school. It just went so well with the alcohol back then. Lol I have tried to quit several times. The first time was pretty much forced upon me by my unborn son. I guess he didn't like them so every time I tried to light up a cig, it made me sick. Needless to say, he was a big healthy boy! :) I had quit cold turkey another time. Made it 7 months that time. I started back up after I had a fender bender and was really stressed. My then husband told me that I shouldn't light the cig, so not being liked to be told what to do, I lit it up and the rest is history. I've also tried everything else out there on the market. None of it worked. I got my starter kit in mid April this year and was smoke free by the end of May.
Hang in there and good luck with your quit date!!
 

The Cloud Minder

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Jul 28, 2014
1,061
1,301
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Incidentally, big fan of Star Trek (No, I know it's just a TV show, no I don't dress up like that, and no, I don't live in my parents basement acne covered and obese. ) especially the original series, and I thought I'd pick Something Star Trek, yet all about vaping. So I named myself a singular of the Episode Entitled "The Cloud Minders".
 

AndriaD

Reviewer / Blogger
ECF Veteran
Verified Member
Jan 24, 2014
21,253
50,807
64
LawrencevilleGA
angryvaper.crypticsites.com
Incidentally, big fan of Star Trek (No, I know it's just a TV show, no I don't dress up like that, and no, I don't live in my parents basement acne covered and obese. ) especially the original series, and I thought I'd pick Something Star Trek, yet all about vaping. So I named myself a singular of the Episode Entitled "The Cloud Minders".

Probably better than "Botany Bay"... I'd just hear Shatner hollering KHAN! everytime I saw it... ;)

Andria
 

PhreakingPanda

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2014
71
40
33
Elkton, Kentucky, USA
I've not been vaping very long, but I'll say that sticking with kangers is a fairly good idea. However, I hear really really good things about the Aspire Nautilus and especially the Aspire Nautilus mini with its vertical coil. As for your battery issue, I would suggest getting an Itaste MVP 2. The battery lasts your average vaper approximately 3 days and it has everything you could need to begin building your own coils, which saves you more money. Also, on the note of trying out different flavours, I find that a couple of kanger protank 2 minis work just fine for me. If nothing else, you can always dump the juice back into your bottle. Good luck with your journey man, mine has been great thus far and I feel 1940123940192409124x better than I did with analogs.
 

The Cloud Minder

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Jul 28, 2014
1,061
1,301
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
I've not been vaping very long, but I'll say that sticking with kangers is a fairly good idea. However, I hear really really good things about the Aspire Nautilus and especially the Aspire Nautilus mini with its vertical coil. As for your battery issue, I would suggest getting an Itaste MVP 2. The battery lasts your average vaper approximately 3 days and it has everything you could need to begin building your own coils, which saves you more money. Also, on the note of trying out different flavours, I find that a couple of kanger protank 2 minis work just fine for me. If nothing else, you can always dump the juice back into your bottle. Good luck with your journey man, mine has been great thus far and I feel 1940123940192409124x better than I did with analogs.

Well obviously I havent quit yet, but I don't expect to feel much better. Mainly because I've played the saxophone for years, so anything breathe related was never a problem. I could get pnemonia and smoke just fine. My doctor sent me for a lung test to scare me into quitting by showing me the damage smoking has done me. Mission : backfire. She was shocked when I scored in the 97% percentile, ... OF NON SMOKERS!!!
 
I don't just mean in terms of breathing. I would have coughing fits so bad that I would keep migraines nearly 24/7 and my tastebuds were so dead that I could barely stand to eat foods that I've loved for years. Both of these problems have been remedied. That, combined with my better breathing, less gunk in my lungs and not smelling like a giant ashtray were the things I was alluding to.
 

The Cloud Minder

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Jul 28, 2014
1,061
1,301
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
I don't just mean in terms of breathing. I would have coughing fits so bad that I would keep migraines nearly 24/7 and my tastebuds were so dead that I could barely stand to eat foods that I've loved for years. Both of these problems have been remedied. That, combined with my better breathing, less gunk in my lungs and not smelling like a giant ashtray were the things I was alluding to.

Yeah, that's a lot more serious. Thankfully I've never had any lung issue with my Super-Lungs (patent pending ;) )
 

The Cloud Minder

Ultra Member
ECF Veteran
Jul 28, 2014
1,061
1,301
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Welcome and congrats! Enjoy your stay and I hope you learn lots of cool stuff here ;)

Thanks, new here, but a 6 year veteran of message boards in general. Used to have quite a following over on CBS's sports boards before they shut it down because I'm basically a clown/savant type with a really big, ... Vocabulary. :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread