Is vaping all you need?

[TWISTED VICTOR]

Very good poll, Alex. As Stubby says, "I think it should be pointed out for those that haven't expanded there horizons, or done any research beyond e-cigs, that using another/other tobacco products is not a negative in any way. The more reduced harm options you give yourself the better chance you have of staying off cigarettes."
I quit all tobacco products with a PV and I stayed a happy camper for about a month, then anxiety and depression crept in. And I started to crave something I couldn't shake, no matter the nic intake. I started using Swedish snus as a last resort to avoid going back to analogs and that is what put me back together. The depressive cloud and the craving went away within a day and was replaced by a relaxed calm and focused mind that I used to get from a smoke. Now I use snus throughout my day and vape when I want a little boost or to settle in some nice relaxation time. vaping has never been this enjoyable before. It's good to let people know vaping isn't the only safe alternative to smoking. Too many struggle to stay off cigarettes with vaping and fail because the common belief is something like Swedish snus is bad. I hope through your poll, some will be enlightened and encouraged.

 

[Hellen A. Handbasket]

While I have given up analogs completely since last June, I find I am lacking something. I struggle with a little depression and anxiety. Am seriously considering snus.

Sounds like the boat I was rowing just a week ago Kat. Snus made a huge difference for me in just a few days (I've been using it for 5 days). Worth trying out since it is inexpensive and you can get a can for free General ® Snus | The Original Swedish Snus ™ by Swedish Match © (after you jump through the age check info. hoops, the link is above on the right). They also have a "Where to Buy" link, so you can see if there is a retailer near you.

I also received some free product from www.getsnus.com with my order (I ordered lots of the samples to try out).

 

[AlexTM]

While I have given up analogs completely since last June, I find I am lacking something. I struggle with a little depression and anxiety. Am seriously considering snus.

Katmar, we already know the safety rating of snus pretty well - barely any bad side effects, and those studies have been done on people who use snus alone, and rather more of it. So pretty much the worst that can happen is that you are short of a few dollars for something you don't like after all.

Mind you, great if vaping only works out for people. Seems, though, that for a significant minority, it does not. Good thing then that there is a solution that is fairly simple and not particularly dangerous, especially compared to analogs.

 

[olderthandirt]

While I have given up analogs completely since last June, I find I am lacking something. I struggle with a little depression and anxiety. Am seriously considering snus.

To lend an echo to TV and Helen, spend some time checking out the Smokeless Tobacco forum if you think you need something to augment the vape Katmar.

I'm lovin' the snus.
I enjoy vaping.

Now that I've added the snus to my daily routine, really inexpensive addition at that, my 6 month stockpile of vaping supplies is probably going to last well over a year now.

This quitting smoking just keeps getting better!

 

[bestthingever]

I didn't participate in the poll, because I've only been vaping for a little over a week now. Had I voted, the first choice would have been my answer.
I'm one of those who is so addicted to nicotine, that I really can't believe that I don't even think about analogs now. I'm talking about more than a pack a day for more than 30 years. I love my 510, and what it's already done for me.
What troubles me is reading about others who experienced anxiety and a vague dissatisfaction after weeks of being analog-free. I had several years off and on in my 20's - 30's where I was treated for generalized anxiety disorder, so I know what that feels like. I've also educated myself here regarding the MAOI effect that comes from smoking tobacco. So now I find myself wondering when it's gonna get me...and trying not to let this become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Does anyone know why exactly this effect seems to come around after happily vaping for several weeks ? Shouldn't our bodies have adjusted to the lack of whatever by then ?

 

[AlexTM]

Not every drug is particuarly fast acting. Just speculating here, but if it's something particularly slow (be it the MAOIs or something else) then probably you would accumulate quite a bit of it, which will last you for a while, even when you stop getting more of it. Once that store is used up, though, you feel you miss something. That may even not be tied to analogs very closely in your mind, because it is so indirect. (Unlike nicotine, which after all does affect the brain in only seconds.)
However, that does not quite go with the fact that when you do snus (or snuff, or even smoke, or whatever you take) you feel much better very quickly. May have to do with the depleted store.

That would explain both why the missing something seems to hit people after approximately a month, and why it is sufficient to snus very little and, it seems, often only once or twice a day, or even less. Presumably, though, you don't get enough to build a big store, so no more one month of nicotine only.

I'd not get too worried, though - for the vast majority, vaping only seems to work fine. And if not - well, snus is already proven to be not particularly dangerous, while the jury on vaping, to be honest, is still out. (Not very likely, though, that the results are going to differ that much.)

 

[Guineahill]

I don't even think about cigarettes anymore. I do still have a pack in a ziplock bag in the freezer... just in case. But I haven't looked at it in over a month at this point.

For the first couple of weeks I did think about them and even pick them up, but I didn't smoke one. Once I got my nic level figure out my thoughts and cravings went down immensely. I still had thoughts for the next week or two but eventually that left as well.

I have noticed that I'm more in tune with my nicotine cravings now. And I keep a selection of strengths with me most of the time. If I start to feel a craving creeping in and bump up the nic level for a while.

 

[AlexTM]

Rethinking my last comment, it seems more likely that it is not so much a question of slow acting, but that it is something that stores very well, also very unlike nicotine, most of which is out of the body within an hour or so.

I also consider the possibility, from plain personal experience, that snus contains more of it than cigarettes. Because while I am grateful for that, it is odd that my cravings, when they appeared, pointed not towards analogs, which I had smoked for almost 30 years, and some of which are still around, but towards snus, which I had tried for a very short time (one or two weeks!) and did not even like, and that was a few years ago. So either there is more of it in snus, or my subconscious is working overtime keeping me from analogs

As for this poll: I think we are still getting next to no votes from the fairly large share of people who just never quite managed to stay away from analogs. This one shows 17.55% who still use analogs, and somehow, I have a feeling they are not represented here very well. Here are only about 3% using their "old one" still. Or is that me, getting something wrong?

 

[olderthandirt]

...As for this poll: I think we are still getting next to no votes from the fairly large share of people who just never quite managed to stay away from analogs. This one shows 17.55% who still use analogs, and somehow, I have a feeling they are not represented here very well. Here are only about 3% using their "old one" still. Or is that me, getting something wrong?

I just took a quick scan through the thread associated with the E-Cig Success Rate poll Alex.
Note the date the poll was started, mid February of this year. Again I just did a scan, and rough at that, but the join dates of those who posted comments compared to the start date of the poll along with the contents of comments overall makes me wonder how many of the respondents had "quit" smoking for much more than 2 months at the time they participated.

Valid responses to questions in the vein of how well do e-cigs work are going to be tainted by:

Time used: 4 to 8 weeks after stopping smoking is beginning to firm up as a make-or-break mark for the efficacy of vaping alone. Efficacy polls might be more telling if the only respondents are those who have been vaping for at least 3 months or more with the INTENT of stopping smoking.

Fanaticism: It's new, it's "techy", my PV is higher voltage, shinier etc., of course it works!!

Embarrassment: I've spent X amount of money, I'm not telling I still smoke!

A biggie to the type of responses these polls will get is going to be exposure. The longer a person has used PV's the less time they tend to spend on the forum. Nature of the beast. Give this poll plenty of time, at least 3 weeks if not more. The numbers can change dramatically over time.

 

[The Wiz]

Stopped smoking on Jan 1 2009
Started Vaping on Feb 1 2009
Started using Snus in September 2009
Started using Snuff in October 2009
Have not smoked since Jan 1 2009

Vaping has been the main reason I have not smoked.I use snuff on a daily basis for Nicotine,and snus occasionally.I Once used 36mg e-liquid exclusivly and now I range from 36mg(Stessfull days)to 0mg.Snuff seems to be my choice for nicotine and e-cigs my Cigarette placebo.

Thats my story....and I'm sticking to it!The Wiz!

 

[AlexTM]

Well, polls in a forum will always have the problem that a) you cannot control at all who votes, and b) you only have one question, basically.
I did ask that people should not vote unless they vaped for a month at least, but of course, as I said, can't really control that. It should take away a bit of "new and shiny", and that wall seems to stand around a month away from starting to vape only.

I may be too impatient, too, but I am a bit worried that saying "tobacco products" makes people who use cigarettes feel they might not have been asked. No way around that, though - to add "including cigarettes" into every question would have made them too long.

I don't think "intent to stop smoking" matters much, though - too many, including myself, just thought they never could, anyway, and were surprised that they could, and often quite easily. (At least at first.)

And yes, its odd how terribly embarassed people are for still having analogs. Of course it is nice to be without them, but where if not here do people understand quite so well that it's not exactly easy to stop using those? I myself never even tried to stop them altoghether, although I did make a few attempts to reduce.

Ah well, I'll just try some patience for a change

 

[The Wiz]

Alex...The ties that bind us make us stronger! Not everyone can pick up an e-cig and expect to quit smoking on the spot.I have been very fortunate myself to have been one of the members here who managed to do that.I know of several members who took six months or longer before they were able to give up smoking.....patience is the key,thats for sure!The Wiz!

 

[AlexTM]

Oh, analogs I gave up complelely very quickly - first day with my 510, 15 analogs (from 40). Was satisfied with that. On the evening of the second day, I noticed that all I had smoked that day were two in the morning. Then I thought "maybe I can do this until after training" and then "maybe until morning" and then "maybe a complete day" and that was it.

Even after I hit that wall recently, it's not analogs I ever craved.

Nevertheless, it does not work that way for many, and that's not a problem, either. Because analogs may be unhealthy - but, say, 15 instead of 40 would not have been exactly bad, either. Heck, with anything else, I was glad if I saved like 5 a day. And many get by with a lot less than 15, too.

It would be neat, though, if there was a replacement for those analogs, too. One that does work out for at least the majority of those who just cannot vape alone. Which, in fact, may exist already

 

[inicapem]

Before I started vaping I was also using nic gum at 2mg. Now i have quit cigs but still use the nic gum. I don't want or think about analogues at all anymore. I have been vaping for about 2 months. Started with greencig, but strangely it made be crave cigs even more. Changed to M601/2 and went instantly from ablout 5/6 cigs a day to 2 then 1 then 0 - YAY!!! Still chew the nic gum but have lowered that a bit too - was about 4/5 pieces a day with cigs, now about 2/3 with ecig.

The gum works VERY strong for me - have never had a desire for cig or ecig after having a piece for at the very least an hour.

i need 24mg juice to feel as if it's working, but i vape so much more than i used to smoke. Trying to work on that - just vaping when i have an urge, not vaping just cause it tastes so good .

I'm surprised this is working for me thus far because i really thought i was addicted to all the other chemicals in cigs more than nic, but i've also only been tobacco free for a little over 3 weeks so time will tell. I am going to stick with this routine for now although i'm tempted to try snuss to replace gum (big pharma) but if I have weaned myself off the other chems in tobacco, i don't want to get hooked again by the snuss.

 

[The Wiz]

It would be neat, though, if there was a replacement for those analogs, too. One that does work out for at least the majority of those who just cannot vape alone. Which, in fact, may exist alreads

There are replacements Alex.....Some of us call them Snus and Snuff.The Wiz!

 

[PatriciafromCO]

Wow That is so way so cool, to see how high it is for how many people have quit and dont think about tabacco any more..

This is what happened over time for me and just great that so many others have the same experience... Sometimes it doesn't seem real because it just happened and I don't feel I had to sturggle for it lol...

 

[kase]

Two days after my first e cig, my pack and a half smoking habit was a thing of the past.

 

[420GypsyGirl]

Stopped using them back in July and never looked back. Vaping is all I need.

 

[AlexTM]

There are replacements Alex.....Some of us call them Snus and Snuff.The Wiz!

That's what I meant!

 

[DC2]

As a true poll aficionado, I have to say, very nice job!


I am happy to have been able to choose the first option.
And I know without question that I will never go back to death sticks again.

They suck.