How I did it...how did you do it?

[Nianda]

When I decided to start vaporing...I hadn't really done any research into how others recommended or how they switched over from analogs. I just got it and started. This is how I did it: When I wanted to smoke, I made myself pick up my pv first. Spent whatever time vaping and if I still felt the need or craving for an analog, only then would I let myself light one up. I never let myself smoke more than half of one and honestly, after a couple drags, I didn't need it. So would put it out. There were certain and still are times that I wanted a cig more often...first thing in the morning, with my coffee, after eating, etc. But pv was what I grabbed first and I found within a couple days, it really wasn't the hard.

After reading what others have written here and there on the forums, I guess I really wasn't to far off base in how to go about switching. I have a couple friends that started their ecigs months ago and they are still smoking. Infact, they smoke their analogs a lot more than they smoke their pv. I think the difference is that they don't make that concious effort to try the pv first. Their still reaching for the cigs first and the pv is an after thought.

I'd like to hear how others switched over and how long it took them. For me it was the morning of the 4th day...had a couple drags of a analog and I knew that was it for me.

 

[Robes]

I did the same as you in making the effort to grab the PV first. I still smoked analogs for about the first week, but only for the major cravings. You know the ones, first thing in the morning, after meals and such. After the first week or so I made the full switch. Then about 3 months into it my girlfriends battery died on her way to work so she picked up a pack to get through the day. I tried one for the hell of it and couldn't get more than three puffs in, it was awful. If they had been that bad when I first started smoking I never would have picked up the habit. She had the same result, and we both agree there's no going back.

 

[mrkipp]

Congratulations!

I think for me the great part about it was just not stressing about it. When I got my pv I still had 5 or 6 packs of cigarettes left in a carton. Like you, I started my day with the pv and just tried to prefer the pv the rest of the day. No stress to quit on any timeframe. Within a week I was almost 100% on the pv. In fact I smoked my last pack of cigs just so I didn't feel wasteful. Finally I was on the pv, but had a cig or two at parties with drinks. About two months in I tried one at a party and it just tasted nasty. Haven't smoked since.

No stress to quit. I think that's the key.

Welcome!

 

[Chief---P-V-Puffer--]

First off I read literally thousands of posts on this forum trying to decide what would be best for me. Finally decided on an ego, got it, charged it, started vaping. 8 months later,I still haven't had a ciggerette ( I did lite one about 2 months in out of curiousity and was disgusted by it),still have the same ego batts and they are working like champs.

 

[rausk]

I just dropped cigs completely when I started my pv, the change wasn't as difficult as I had expected. The most important thing is to not give up even if you do smoke a few analogs along the way.

 

[BardicDruid]

I started with 24mg, that killed any desire for an analog.

 

[Nianda]

I did keep what I had for analogs left infront of me on my desk at all times. I was worried that if they were out of sight they would not be out of mind and all that I would think about to the point that I would have to have one. So, I just kept them within reach and it never happened...not once did I worry that if the pv wasn't working that I wouldn't have analogs to back me up. It made things much easier. Now the analogs are in the bottom of my freezer...just incase but not so easy to get to. I'm short with a short reach!

 

[IceGoal]

Got Volt from Smokeless Image on 7-22-11. Started vaping and really liked it, 24 hours after thought to "try" the analog; I couldn't even finish half of it. Gave the left over pack along with a carton of Marlboro Lights 100's to my friends. Have been analog free since and I feel great. I'm very glad I switched.

 

[TomCatt]

I didn't even think to do any research until I had been using the 21st Century Smoking ecig for a few weeks. Picked the 21st Century up at my local smoke shop. Although I went from a pack a day to ~5 or 6 a day within a week, I just wasn't able to get past those 5 cigs a day easily. When I did find ECF and got my 510 starter kit, I was still smoking at least 5 cigs a day. Then about a month into vaping/smoking I told myself that when I finished the pack I had, that was it. Even with vaping the first 2 days cig-free were a bit rough for me. The most I had gone without smoking in previous attempt to quit was 3 days. But with vaping I pulled through and haven't had a cigarette, or even really wanted one after that 1st week without, since March 7.

 

[IceGoal]

Awesome, TomCatt. +1 encouraging example

 

[St. Nick]

Unlike most of you, I didn't limit/ration myself or try to quit by doing deadlines on when to stop. It was a gradual natural slowing down of WANTING to light up, and the whole process took 2 months, and exactly 1 month ago today, I just quit. I was using a crappy gas station type PV with very average juice, but everything changed after I got a better set-up with 2 batteries (I was always having my single battery die at the worst times!), so I HAD to light up. After I got my kit with the 2 batteries, it took 9 days to totally quit, so who knows, I may have quit sooner....probably yes. And not one ounce of desire to start back up, either.

 

[juxt4p0z]

I also started with a gas station PV...BAD MOVE ...and basically gave that thing away and went back to analogs. I had some friends at work with a Bloog plain 510 model that let me try theirs and the vapor production, TH and experience were so much better I just had to figure it out. I did my research finally and ended up with a couple of ego T batts with cartos/clearos and great juice from many of the vendors here on this site (YAY ECF)...

Once I had my new setup, it took 3 days to quit and I can say that to go back I'd have to force myself...those analogs are some nasty stuff. Funny how while you're smoking they're tha bomb, but just a few days after you can tell how really awful they are.

 

[Gristle]

I warn my smoking friends that show an interest in my PV that it's not really like smoking at all. Seems the most common question is "can I get liquid in my brands flavor". I explain that vaping doesn't really taste anything like a cigarette, the closest thing a good tobacco flavored e-liquid taste like is that first drag off a cig after a heavy meal, except it's like that every single vape. I also warn them that it's harder than smoking. You have cartos/cartomizers to fill, attys to clean, dripping, batteries to charge, etc. I compare this to pipe smoking. I tell them if they are OK with the fiddly part, and want to have nearly unlimited choices in flavors then the e-cig is something they should look into.

Oh and I to started with the 21st Century gas station setup. Actually not a terrible kit. Their menthol flavor is pretty good, and I wasn't a menthol analog smoker. Problem with that kit is the proprietary cartomizers, and limited availability to me. I'm using e-Power 14650's now and contemplating a Vmod bottom feeder, a Boge Revolution, or building my own box mod.

 

[LibertariaNate]

I stopped smoking analogs after I received my T-Rex kit from Liberty Flights and my batteries were fully charged. It was smooth sailing for about two weeks until the depression kicked in. I had never been depressed in my life so it came a bit of a shock and was ultimately more depressing (shocking, I know).

I was determined to stay away from the cigs so I tried to push through it, hoping that one morning I would wake up and everything would be "normal" again, but no such luck. So I started taking St. John's Wort and other supplements to try and achieve balance. After a few weeks it seemed to work, but something still felt "off" and eventually the depression returned even worse than before.

By that point I was becoming desperate. I contemplated smoking again, not because I was craving a cigarette (the thought makes my stomach turn), but because after all my research here I knew they contained something I wasn't getting from vaping alone. So I started to look into snus and decided to give it a try to supplement the vaping. It has only been a few weeks since I started using snus and I don't use it every day, but in that short amount of time it feels like the "fog" has lifted. Ultimately time will tell if the combination of an e-cig and snus will keep me off the analogs for good, but for now I'm happy and I see no reason why that won't continue.

 

[Baldr]

I was a heavy smoker. 3+ packs a day. Had smoked for 30 years or so.

I bought an ego a month ago. I didn't really expect it to help me stop smoking - I didn't think I could quit.

Overnight, as soon as I got it, I dropped to about around 1 or 1.5 packs a day. And after a couple of weeks, I started noticing that a lot of what I was smoking was out of habit - just light a cig without thinking about it. And I started noticing that a lot of times, I'd light a cig out of habit, and as soon as I took the first puff, I'd think "Hey, I should have grabbed the ego, I don't need this". And that's when I started thinking that the PV was really working, and I really could quit this way.

I'm still smoiking, mostly around 5-8 a day. Right after I eat, in particular, is hard. The early morning ones aren't, and usually I don't smoke until after lunch.

I've had the ego a month now, I've cut out a *huge* number of cigs without working hard at it, without major cravings, without getting antsy and jittery and hard to get along with. And I'm convinced that before long, I'll be off the cigs for good.

 

[otrpu]

I couldn't switch using the "Look Alikes". Got my ProVari, gradually shifted from smoking more tobacco cigarettes over to sucking the Pro a greater and greater percentage of the time. Finally, after six months. . .I quite tobacco cigarettes altogether. More than six months now I haven't lit a tobacco cigarette. I smoke the Pro 100% of the time. Virtually every chance I can while at work. And constantly while on my weekends. I smoked tobacco cigarettes more than 52 years, now maybe I'll vape for nuther 52. JMHO

Cheers,
otrpu

 

[Nianda]

Every one of these posts is a success story. Some of us are off the analogs, some still need them here and there. Some return to them, yet find themselves back to the pv. But every one, in some form, is a success story. I wish it was as easy for everyone as it was for me. Though, I'm still leary lol. I feel like it was too easy and that something is lurking in the background waiting to strike. Like depression that LibertariaNate mentioned in a couple posts upwards. I'm sure my body is going to go through some forms of withdrawal (just thought of another post/thread) that I haven't seen yet in just shy of two weeks. There is no possible way after smoking for so many years, that I or anyone else could be so damn lucky!

 

[jj2]

I bought my first just to fill a time slot while I visiting my daughter. Didn't really think it would replace smoking but it was going to be better than nothing.
Over two years later and haven't had an analog!!!

 

[wizard10000]

My story's a lot like the others here - I smoked my last analog about ten minutes before Mr. Mailman dropped off my first kit. I had some additional motivation in that my lungs are pretty well trashed from smoking analogs for 38 years - I was pretty desperate for something to help me get off the sickarettes.

My first kit was an M402 kit from one of those sites that posts all the fake reviews - I couldn't seem to get the cartridges to refill properly and ended up taking a drill to a couple of them and dripped through them but they did keep me off analogs for that first kinda long weekend until the 510 kit I ordered came in.

Not long after that the spousal unit decided to quit smoking and having found ECF and lotsa good advice I ordered an eGO kit for her, which she hated. She swiped my 510 kit and likes it and I took the eGO and like that - so everything worked out just fine

 

[Missinglink]

I didn't do much research, and ordered an overpriced kit. Ended up finding this place while waiting for my kit to arrive, and found out my mistake. Ordered a Riva kit and when the overpriced kit arrived, I dropped the analogs and started using that while waiting for the Riva to arrive. Now the Riva is here, and it's been 1 full week without an analog, and I haven't looked at them once.

I never did like the taste of analogs, but I love smoking. Now that I can "smoke" without all the nastiness analogs hold no interest to me.