How to switch to e-cigs for long term smokers
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AndriaD, sorry to hear that you're back on the stinkys.. You will definitely be in my prayers. Which e-liquid was your "go to" that you used for over 4 months?
For me, I think the trouble was in not using enough nic. I started very low, with the pen battery setups and tanks, 18mg Nic Liquid. I'm still at 18 mg three months later, but probably could have avoided the cravings in the first month with the right set up. If I had had my Tronix that first month, I think I would have been just fine.
It's all very confusing in the beginning. It needs to get out there for people wanting to quit, to know how to step up or down until they get the right level that's comfortable for them. Everyone has different needs.
The PG-Blend "Virginia" at MyFreedomSmokes.com... into which I added just a smidge of "Oak Barrel Cider" pipe sauce, and an even tinier smidge of Killer-Juice's Cinnamon Redhot. Since I've been trying to get back to full-time vaping, I've tried my old mix, which I have about 60ml of, I've tried it just as it comes, with nothing mixed in, I've tried it mixed with Aroma-Ejuice's WTA Virginia. It's just not the same to me anymore, as it was before the illness interrupted everything. I know my tastebuds changed, when I was smoke-free for 115 days, then was ill and couldn't eat, drink, or vape for 4 days; when that was finally over, EVERYTHING tasted horrible to me, including the vape. I'm finally back to enjoying my Hard Rock Vapor "Blueberry Muffin," but the Virginia... I dunno, maybe I'll learn to like it again if I just keep trying.
Andria
I haven't read the whole thread but got you beat I smoked 47 years and this is probably one of the best things I've ever done. A couple years ago I saw an ad on the internet and said what the hell it probably won't work but I'll give it one more shot ..tried everything else so why not. I can remember getting my first pass-through battery kit that cost 200.00. I was like a kid at Xmas waiting. I rushed in plugged it into the computer screwed a carto on and said OMG this thing actually works. If you don't give it a shot I feel sorry for you. It is a wonderful learning exp with so many people here who can help. Go for it, there will be a bit of frustration with equip but isn't there always.
I'm working on getting my permissions updated so I can post the link. Hopefully this counts for my 4th post. I apologize for the issues.
This may get past the parser and don't overlook the /id/ portion
http colon slash slash www dot instructables dot com slash id slash How-to-switch-to-E-Cigs
This may get past the parser and don't overlook the /id/ portion
http colon slash slash www dot instructables dot com slash id slash How-to-switch-to-E-Cigs
About 8 months. I started with a $20 E-Tonic and tried various juices. Bought a second one after a couple weeks when I realized the recharge cycle was becoming an issue. Settled on the Halo e-juice so I picked up their tank and e-cig starter set which was quite reasonably priced.
Thank you very much, is there any to get this URL pasted into the original post so that folks don't have to scroll to the end?
Well I hope you can find something else to add to your (once was) favorite. Everyone gets tired of a certain juice like that, I think. I know I do.. Ill drop it for a while, forget about it and then start liking it again.
Actually, to try and get past it, I've gone back to my eRoll. The cigalike form factor helps, it seems to satisfy that "need to smoke" better than the bigger mods, and since it does mute flavors a bit, I don't find the taste of my "old reliable" so odd. Also I added just a smidge of that blueberry muffin flavor to it, so it's just the tiniest bit sweeter, and that seems to help too.
But, as I said, even the part-time vaping is helping in the harm-reduction sense; normally in the summer, I would be smoking 25-30 cigs a day, but by vaping a little, I'm keeping it at 10 or less a day. Not ideal, no, but still a lot better than the 25-30. I'm hoping, and planning, for this week to be the week I finally transition back to all-vaping/no-smoking.
Andria
I think the conventional form factor is an essential ingredient for long term success. Remember its not a contest or a pass/fail test, its a process to change certain lifestyle choices that are deeply ingrained in your psyche, habits and interactions. There is no prize for how fast you stop smoking and the benefits will accrue over months during the first year.
Try using the gradual approach I apply in my instructable, in particular using a timer to gradually reduce your reliance on the habit and nicotine delivery of conventional smoking. When we smoke we ingest the entire cigarette worth of nicotine and gradually metabolize that in the period between cigarettes. I know from personal experience you can cut your cigs to 12 a day max using a 1 hour timer and vaping freely in between. Try this for two weeks and see how it goes. If that works okay please read my instructable and scale the time periods.
Try using the gradual approach I apply in my instructable, in particular using a timer to gradually reduce your reliance on the habit and nicotine delivery of conventional smoking. When we smoke we ingest the entire cigarette worth of nicotine and gradually metabolize that in the period between cigarettes. I know from personal experience you can cut your cigs to 12 a day max using a 1 hour timer and vaping freely in between. Try this for two weeks and see how it goes. If that works okay please read my instructable and scale the time periods.
I will review that section, what I meant to say was that with consistent vaping one can maintain the same blood levels of nicotine over a sustained period. In conventional smoking we get a peak dose which is absorbed into the blood and metabolized gradually over the period between cigarettes. When the available nicotine drops below a certain level our desire for more nicotine is triggered and we experience the urge to smoke. By incremental vaping we can maintain the blood levels of nicotine comfortably and generally will not experience the physiological urge to smoke.
This will not suppress the habit of smoking such as my deeply ingrained habit of typing something, pressing the 'enter' key to initiate some process, then leaning back and grabbing a smoke while the compile or test runs. For that I use a conventional form factor e-cig which I keep in an ashtray at my desk...
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I held it to 9, yesterday. But I'm not a person who could use that "timer" method -- to me it's too much like coercion, like an alarm clock (which I hate!!!), like some outside force is "regulating" my intake, and that would just piss me off and make me want to smoke even more -- I always found that when I'm running low on cigarettes, I seem to smoke a great deal more, I'm so busy thinking about my need to not smoke.
For me what seems to work best is the "procrastination" approach; if I feel the urge to smoke, I just put it off, tell myself "I can smoke later, right now I'll vape." Procrastinate long enough and you begin to approach the "one day at a time" of AA -- I can't say I won't drink tomorrow, but I won't today. I may need to apply that one-day-at-a-time philosophy to smoking, once I finally do get smoke-free again, instead of the big dramatic "I'm never going to smoke again!" which for me has obviously proven false.
The good news is that my light vaping is beginning to get my tastebuds reoriented to vaping; my "old reliable" isn't tasting quite so odd to me, since I've been continuing to take a few puffs of it here and there, along with the blueberry muffin I enjoy so much. Also got some of the WTA mixed in with the "old reliable" and that seems to be helping somewhat too.
Andria
I've been off analogs for real close to a year and I think this is a really good article, even for a non-noob. I hope it helps lots and lots of people. I would like to see you add a link to CASAA somewhere in the article. CASAA is a wonderful source of info on all types of non-smoking alternatives. Also has a lot of scientific data proving the harm reduction of ecig that I found very interesting and others may too. Not to mention the great help they are in legislation issues.
Most people who start vaping will find themselves not smoking as much by the end of the first week. Some try to quit cold turkey and fail. Others drop the cigs and never look back.
For those who find themselves still wanting to smoke, I'd suggest vaping heavily when the urge hits. If that doesn't work, let yourself have a few cigs a day while getting used to vaping. At some point, vape alternately with the cig while smoking. Your brain will make you realize that one tastes good and clean and the other one stinks and tastes nasty. From that point on, you have a good reason to quit the stinkies and it's easy to chuck the pack and keep the vape.
For those who find themselves still wanting to smoke, I'd suggest vaping heavily when the urge hits. If that doesn't work, let yourself have a few cigs a day while getting used to vaping. At some point, vape alternately with the cig while smoking. Your brain will make you realize that one tastes good and clean and the other one stinks and tastes nasty. From that point on, you have a good reason to quit the stinkies and it's easy to chuck the pack and keep the vape.
That's EXACTLY it... when I quit the first time, I still had a half-pk, actually 12 cigs, in the pack. So they were there, available, if I chose to smoke, but I chose not to. As long as it's MY CHOICE, I can handle it. Setting limits really doesn't work for me at all, my contrarian nature just insists on rebelling against constraints.
And I really think if there had still been cigarettes available, when those cravings hit so hard, they might not have hit me so hard -- if I could have looked at the cigarettes and said well they're here if I really need them, but maybe I'll wait and see if I can ride this out... I might not have gone back to smoking at all. Believe it, when I finally do manage to get smoke-free again, there will still be cigarettes here, and this time, I won't get rid of them so quickly; I'll put them in the freezer so they'll stay fresh, *just in case*... But, knowing what I know now, about how much harder it is to get free of them *the 2nd time*, I won't be nearly as quick to give in, either. But knowing I have a choice, that it's MY choice... that makes all the difference, for me.
Andria
You are exactly correct. Although I would make one point, I don't talk about quitting. Quitting smoking is a psychological hurdle that a number of people, including myself, just can't get over. I don't talk about quitting smoking or even my last cigarette, just my most recent cigarette. I didn't quit, I just ran out.
So cool to hear about long term smokers switching over to the healthier alternative. I'll definitely send this link to my long term friends. My grandpa switched over (a 44 year POD smoker) after I showed him there are various set ups and flavors. After a week of not really being sure, he was all in. Three months later he just bought a nautilus mini and loves my RDA. Just so cool that people you would have thought they would die smoking, can become healthier and realize vaping or e-cigarettes aren't just a fad.
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