I tried, I really did

[Mudder]

I went to my nephews graduation this past weekend. Grandma smokes, BIL smokes, and I almost woofed my cookies every time they came near me. OMG!! The smell was awful, not just the smoke itself, but the smell on their cloths afterward, was even worse.

But I preached a good sermon. I offered them up ecigs to try, as I took along everything just for that purpose. Which they both tried. BIL was just plain not interested, but did offer good comments on them, and congratulated me for quitting smoking. Grandma tried the ecig, but, again was not interested in taking up vaping. It's too expensive, I can't afford it, it's too time consuming, blah blah blah. You are being given everything you need to start up vaping with, and it's too expensive? WTH!! I heard every excuse in the book. I was so disappointed in both of them. They both cough their heads off every morning, wheeze something fierce, are stuffed up all the time, and say they want to quit. But, I guess they really don't.

I did hand out cards from different vendors, along with the link to this site, in case they changed their minds and wanted to check it out. I hope they do, I really do.

 

[inkedcanadian]

Yep.. I've had the same excuses.. really silly when ya think about it.

At least you show them the alternative, not much else you can do after that.

 

[rachelcoffe]

Aww...Mudder, you did your best hon.

The old saying is true: you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink it. They have to want it.

Sad truth is that some people are just not ready, for whatever reason. My dad's fiancee was exactly the same way during last x-mas. She didn't even want to hold one of my e-cigs for even one second...not even to see what it felt like. She listened politely, but showed zip-squat in the way of interest. So while she froze her behind off in the blizzarding snow to puff away...I was warm & toasty inside, vaping cranberry e-juice next to grandma - who thought it was odd, but had no objection once we explained how it wasn't smoke. Which was great!

What I learned in the end was that you just have to let go...& let people make their own choices. If you dwell on the idiocy, it'll drive you up the wall. Some folks just don't really want to quit smoking - it hasn't really hit home with them yet that hey, they'd better quit. And some people are just stupid, or lazy. Whatever their 'reasons' are...we can't force them to see the light. Hopefully in their own time, they'll come around.

I know how galling & irritating it feels to selflessly spend good money on a gift like that...on something they should be thanking you profusely for, & excited to have...only to get a disinterested "no thanks."

But for some, having to buy their own e-cigs...having to do some reading, etc...having to invest themselves in the process on their own initiative...makes all the difference. You've done your bit, by raising the awareness. Maybe that was all you really needed to do right now. Your relatives know they can turn to you for advice. Now it's up to them.

Happy vaping...thanks for sharing, & sorry things didn't go better with your folks. It wasn't your fault hon.

 

[Pipeous]

Don't give up too easy. My brother was dead set against them and wouldn't even try the first time he was out. started talking on the phone again after that. Last visit he was puffing on a pv saying hey that's actually not too bad. I am just going to take a kit to him and his daughter and a bottle of juice and say here... just need to get her to try.

 

[Mudder]

BIL I think I could have convinced to give it a whirl, had I had more time to work on it. I may just have to put a kit together and send it out, and see what happens.

 

[jlarsen]

Yeah, a friend of mine said switching to ecigs was on his to do list, but there were other things that were a priority because of cost, said he was going to take out a title loan on his car to pay for the other stuff, and rattled off a few things that were going to cost about $700 in total. Then he won $800 gambling - and went out and spent all $800 on a new grill and patio furniture, two things that weren't even on his list.

Before money, his excuse was that he didn't like the flavors (he's tried mine and my brother's ecigs). Then when my wife came up with a vanilla and clove combination that he tried, and liked, that's when he said he was going to switch, eventually, since that was a flavor that would "do it" for him.

My brother is going to try and tempt him with a good menthol flavor too.

Compared to 15+ packs of cools a month @ $6.00 a pack, he'd break even after the first month. And despite not having all the money he needs to do the mostly unnecessary things on his to do list, I know he isn't so broke that he can't come up with $75.

 

[bjannr]

I put off ordering my first supplies for almost a year. A guy at work started vaping and knew I smoked so he tried to convert me. The night he let me try the Chocolate chip mint was what sold me. I have never looked back.
For some people it may take a while just don't give up. If you continue planting seeds, some may just take hold.

 

[kingcobra]

I think that people can get defensive if they perceive this as another quit smoking device, and especially if they are required to make some sort of committment here beyond just trying the thing out. So if you reassure them that this is just a better way to smoke, a better way all around really, you don't have to quit just try it, etc, then you may have more luck.

It's all in the trying I think, I remember before I tried it I had some misconceptions like a lot of people probably have. Electronic cigarettes well isn't that inhaling antifreeze vapor, I don't want vapor I want smoke. Not another busybody wanting me to quit, they can all go f__k themselves! So once I tried it and I understood what it was, well I was pretty impressed. I still don't have any interest in quitting smoking by the way but I get most of my nicotine from vaping now and am pretty happy as well as have cut down on a whole pack a day which definitely is a good thing.

I do think though that one of the obstacles we may face with this is bringing on flashbacks of past attempts to quit. If someone is still smoking well they haven't had much of a good history of that. They may also be thinking that this is a temporary quitting aid like everything else out there. So it's important to tell them, no this isn't quitting, it's switching to something better, and you don't even have to switch completely, just cutting out a few cigarettes will save you money and make you feel better at the same time, here give it a try!

In the end though while it's nice that we are trying to help people by spreading the good word, while we on here know how good vaping is, we're not going to be able to convince everyone, and we never should take it personally when we don't.

 

[hairball]

They are just "set in their ways" and don't think that anything could help them quit or they just flat don't want to quit.

 

[Kams Cats]

My brother tried it, liked it and quit for awhile. But then decided he would rather smoke. Then again my brother has some serious issues he refuses to address. So want do you do?

My S/O quit cold turkey but supported me fully with my e-cig. Last week he had a rough go and I fond out he was smoking again. I told him it was ok. That everyone has their own timeline and way of doing it. No way was I going to give him a hard time after all my failed attempts in the past. I offered him one of my e-cigs and he finally tried it. He loved it and threw out the smokes.

It took me a long time after learning about them before I finally tried them. Everyone is different.

 

[muleygirl]

It is funny, some people that you think will not try it do and the people you think will won't. I made a couple of 510 kits up for people to try. I offered one to our neighbour and in the back of my mind was thinking he is totally going to hate it. He is not big on change hates fiddling around ect. He came back a week later and ordered his first kit. Lent one to my sister in-law thought she would take to it like a duck to water...Nope. I'm still happy she tried and at least it put the idea in her head. That is all I can do.

 

[UnoAllaVolta]

I recall being put off by the propylene glycol. Antifreeze for God's sake. That can't be good.
A little research set me up to try, after all the money I toss at cigarettes, a little more on the chance of success seemed worth the gamble; it would pay for itself in a couple of weeks.
A little more research on the effects of nicotine showed me why I like the stuff and why I don't want to give up that particular aspect of smoking.
Now, if only nicotine wasn't so hard to find.
It certainly doesn't help when people see that Health Canada is causing so much grief.

 

[kingcobra]

Well nicotine isn't that hard to find really, in fact it's easy to find, here's hoping it stays that way. We can always order from the U.S. if we need to, yeah they might seize it but given how much cheaper vaping is, and given that people are saying you will score 3 out of 4 times, that's not too bad at all really. So HC isn't really causing anyone any grief right now anyway but if they do it's not that big of a deal.

 

[cactusgirl]

The best you can do is try. Although you weren't able to convince them this weekend, rest assured that you've at least given them something to think about. It just may be a matter of the timing being off and they're just not quite ready. I've had success with a 'diehard' smoker! My bf, who lives across the country from me, wasn't really interested when I began vaping but was supportive (a bit like your bil). I had suggested that he check them out and his response was "no thanks -- I'm good" and so, I didn't push. A couple of months later, I casually mentioned how long it had been since I'd had a 'smoke' and I think his interest perked up a little but he didn't really let on. Finally, earlier this month, as a birthday gift, I sent him a tank starter kit (1300 mah) and some boge cartos (which I'd labelled and prefilled with various flavours and nic strengths) and some extra e-liquid along with a 3-page instructional letter (lol). I knew that I needed to make it as easy as possible -- 'plug and go' without any muss and fuss -- in order to get him to try it. I asked him to humour me and just try it. Well, he did....and was blown away (or at the very least, pleasantly surprised, lol). And now...his mom wants one of her own too (he's been letting her use the second battery until I get her set up)! I don't think that he has completely quit smoking just yet and is using his pv as a supplment (or it could be the other way around, lol), but at least he is using it!

 

[Chinner]

My advice is practice your sales pitch! I've been off real cigs now for 16 days, and have to explain what I'm doing at almost every turn with my little 808 PV. Some people like my GF just wanted one right away, others want to know how healthy it is. You can usually always interest them with the potential money that is saved, for example a pack a day smoker in Ontario is looking at saving between 200-300 dollars a month if they make the switch. It's hard to convince yourself you love smoking cigarettes more then lets say a car payment or a new camera once a month. My first week I rewarded myself by buying a 12 sirloin steak every day after work, so as to reward and encourage myself.

Finally my last and most effective method of helping people make the switch, is by not smoking myself. I still haven't told my family about vaping, because I want to wait till I have a least a month under my belt before I buy my Mom a kit. I am a heavier smoker then her, and if I can say I haven't smoked since I bought the thing, and that it has been 6 weeks since I smoked, she will hard time not taking it seriously. For some reason, the older folks see it as some kind of a toy or gadget, and that it's too complicated or not something they could see themselves using. For this, I say PV choice is everything. I started with a KR808 setup, and never looked back.

Simple is better! Grandma doesn't want to drip! Look at pre-filled carto's or something to start. I have a lot of friends that have bought the wrong devices, and they started before me with vaping. just this long weekend I watched my buddy with a 510 drip tip, repeatedly go back to smoking because after a few beers he didnt want to top these things off and bring it to the bar. I on the other hand had three filled cartos in a little pill box, and my maxx fusion mini PCC, and I didn't even crave a smoke once.

Thanks for reading, and good luck!

 

[maxandrick]

I think too, that it is all in the delivery of the message. I have been vaping only since the beginning of May this year and I think it is great. When I ordered my starter kit, an Ego-t, I did not think of it as quitting smoking but as a way of imitating smoking. If you told me it was a way to quit I probably would not have been very interested because I had tried everything else and had failed and was not interested in quitting anymore. I only ordered a small amount of liquid, just to give this thing a try. Well, I loved it and thought this is it, I don't have to smoke cigarettes ever again, this is exactly what the doctor ordered.

Since I only order a small amount of liquid to start I thought I had better order more before I run out. While waiting for my order to come I did run out and had to smoke real cigarettes, and you know what "I did not like it at all, the taste was bad, the smell was bad and it gave me a headache". Fortunately the next day my order arrived and I could start vaping again, headache went away, and I have not had another cigarette since, that was about 3 weeks ago.

So to sum up, I think if people think of it as a different way of smoking they may be a little more interested to give it a try.

Just sayin!

 

[Mudder]

I didn't pressure them to quit and try vaping instead. I just gave them the basics to try it with, gave a lot of info on ecigs and the different juices ( I went prepared), and left them decide for themselves. I know I can't make them quit, they have to really want to do it.

I told them how I went about quitting and vaping instead. How others had done it, doing both in the beginning, and how it lead to them doing the switch to just vaping, and how they could, if they so chose to. I also said that they could get in contact with me if they change their minds and want to give it a try. They both are not ready I guess, and after watching me all weekend (dripper here), they said it looked like too much bother. Perhaps when they are ready they'll give me a call. I was just hoping one would take me up on my offer, even if they changed their minds in the end. I'll get over my disappointment. I'm more happy that I could give them an option to think about.

 

[Pipeous]

it's relevant too. my mom is 83 and knits, bigtime. making stuff for stores and such. blows me away to watch her wail through a pattern while watching tb and able to hold a conversation. turns out her hobby isn't much different than me playing guitar really. finding that common ground for comparison might be the angle you need next time.

and everyone's preferences are different. I have many different types of pv's and each has it's +/-. preference of delivery system is almost as varied as preference of juice, and even we change our preferences around... it's not like buying the same brand and smoking for years. and the older you get, the more reluctant to change you become it seems sadly

 

[wood]

ever hand your e-cig to a senior and get a lil scared after they hack up a lung and almost pass out from coughing , thats happen to me twice my grandma tried one puff and couldnt handle it and she smoke 2 packs a day
and then a older friend of the family took a major toke on it and i thought he was going to die
they were both over 70 though

 

[Mudder]

LOL @ Wood. Ya, grandma isn't that old...yet....but she did cough a bit the first couple puffs. She did catch right on tho, and even liked the taste of the juice. So who knows, grandma might be the one that surprises me the most.