Thought I'd the lurkers out there, perhaps thinking of making the switch from smoking to vaping, of my story so far and give a little advice based on my experience. The experienced vapers out there are welcome to correct anything that may be erroneous or offer their more experienced knowledge.
After 20+ years of smoking, I decided in October 2011 to have a go with electronic cigarettes. I'm from theUK and for the past ten years, I've been working in Europe and the Balkans, had colleagues working in Europe and thus the cost has never been an issue for me. After making a bit of career change and my frequent European travelling colleague moved to Paris, I'd finally run out of a cheap supply of smokes. To be faced with the cost of £7 plus for a pack of 20, I decided I needed to stop wasting so much money. I'd been at the airport in May 2011 and was having a chat to a lady in the smoking area. She's packed her electronic cigarette in her suitcase before her flight and had been smoke free for six weeks. A little nervous of flying, she felt the need for a cigarette. One puff was enough for her and she said it tasted disgusting. I will admit to being dismissive and not taking the time to find out what the electronic cigarette was.
So in October 11, having realised the cost of smoking, I cast my mind back to the lady at the airport. A little web investigation and landing on the wonderful ECF page, I learnt more than I could even take in but the main thing was e-cigs contained nicotine which lead me to read on and on. The more I read, the more I thought that I was willing to try it. I mentioned it to the wife who seemed dismissive and told me to go to the doctors and get free prescription (free in Wales you see). Having then explained to her that I'd never tried to quit smoking in my life and couldn't see me having any success on patches, chatting about the information I'd seen on ECF, she offered to pay for me to get my e-cig starter kit. I mentioned what I was doing to a friend who decided to join me, having once briefly tried one at a market stall and remarking that it was okay and was pretty near to smoking from the few puffs he had. So beginning of November, it was game on.
My kit arrived early November; three batteries, a PCC, ten cartos and a bottle of 20mg tobacco liquid. I took the mind set that I hadn't given up nicotine but HAD given up smoking tobacco. If the need for a cigarette was ever niggling me, I was going to resist the urge and use e-cigs. First three days, I felt like I was missing something, but just told myself that all I was missing was the nasty stuff but was still getting my nicotine. I felt hungry for the first week, but just ignored it and reached for the e-cig. After the feeling of 'something missing', all the little rituals I had I felt were missing. You know the ones? Finished a meal - I'd go outside for a smoke. Been shopping - put it away and then smoke. I still get these feelings now, but just reach for the e-cig; no problem. I've been out on 18 hour drinking sessions, ensured I've got my PCC on me, loaded cartos, been a drunk as a lord, but been perfectly happy vaping. I don't feel any desire to smoke.
I've been converting people at work, and for past two and a half months, been battling with the powers that be to find us a vaping area and not push us in to the smoking area. That's an ongoing battle that I can't even get them to engage on but I shall persist. I've had a few instances of people thinking I'm smoking in pubs (having first gained owners permission), but generally, managed to get people to understand and interested. All is going splendidly well, though I do feel like I've somehow 'cheated' to give up smoking. I'm saving about £140 a month.
So what advice would I give? Not everyone will agree as we're all different but here goes;
- Have a good look round for your choice of vapparatus. There's lots of info to be found on here and many helpful folk. I use JAC Vapour and they've been excellent
- Don't get too hung up worrying if you've made the right choice of equipment. The important thing is you're giving the general vaping experience a try and you can modify later
- Don't worry about what colour your battery and LED is. By this, I mean don't necessarily go for a white one with orange LED. The novelty of it having to look like a cigarette wears off VERY quickly and a silver battery with a blue LED is far easier to explain that you're not smoking to the people who will inevitably hassle you
- Try and be positive about the switch. Remember you're still feeding your nicotine addiction if you have a nicotine based liquid. Have that frame of mind that whenever you want to smoke, you have your e-cig and it's the only thing you're going to use to feed your nicotine addiction
- If you do slip up, treat it as a minor blip and reward yourself with the knowledge that you've already dramatically made a radical life changing decision to at least try to give up tobacco
- Don't go overboard on one flavour. And I would implore people to try and get something other than tobacco flavour as soon as possible. I quickly found that there is far better tasting stuff out there (vanilla pre-filled cartos, topped over with coffee liquid is just the ticket for me). Honestly, tobacco flavour is far from the best. It won't make things any easier by just sticking with tobacco
- Be courteous, polite and seek permission to vape in public enclosed spaces. Or stealth vape if necessary. Basically, don't be confrontational and try and educate. Don't be surprised if you get idiots who just don't get it. I had one that it nearly ended up with me clocking him. As the landlord had granted me permission, he threw the idiot out who wouldn't have it that I wasn't smoking
- Try and get smoking friends to start with you. Saves on postage costs and always good back up if you ever run shprt of anything
- Visit ECF and talk to as many people as you can. The support here is more than anyone could ask for
- Be safe, treat one another with respect and as you would expect to be treated yourself
- Enjoy your tobacco free life, returned sense of taste, non-yellow fingers and recovering lungs
After 20+ years of smoking, I decided in October 2011 to have a go with electronic cigarettes. I'm from theUK and for the past ten years, I've been working in Europe and the Balkans, had colleagues working in Europe and thus the cost has never been an issue for me. After making a bit of career change and my frequent European travelling colleague moved to Paris, I'd finally run out of a cheap supply of smokes. To be faced with the cost of £7 plus for a pack of 20, I decided I needed to stop wasting so much money. I'd been at the airport in May 2011 and was having a chat to a lady in the smoking area. She's packed her electronic cigarette in her suitcase before her flight and had been smoke free for six weeks. A little nervous of flying, she felt the need for a cigarette. One puff was enough for her and she said it tasted disgusting. I will admit to being dismissive and not taking the time to find out what the electronic cigarette was.
So in October 11, having realised the cost of smoking, I cast my mind back to the lady at the airport. A little web investigation and landing on the wonderful ECF page, I learnt more than I could even take in but the main thing was e-cigs contained nicotine which lead me to read on and on. The more I read, the more I thought that I was willing to try it. I mentioned it to the wife who seemed dismissive and told me to go to the doctors and get free prescription (free in Wales you see). Having then explained to her that I'd never tried to quit smoking in my life and couldn't see me having any success on patches, chatting about the information I'd seen on ECF, she offered to pay for me to get my e-cig starter kit. I mentioned what I was doing to a friend who decided to join me, having once briefly tried one at a market stall and remarking that it was okay and was pretty near to smoking from the few puffs he had. So beginning of November, it was game on.
My kit arrived early November; three batteries, a PCC, ten cartos and a bottle of 20mg tobacco liquid. I took the mind set that I hadn't given up nicotine but HAD given up smoking tobacco. If the need for a cigarette was ever niggling me, I was going to resist the urge and use e-cigs. First three days, I felt like I was missing something, but just told myself that all I was missing was the nasty stuff but was still getting my nicotine. I felt hungry for the first week, but just ignored it and reached for the e-cig. After the feeling of 'something missing', all the little rituals I had I felt were missing. You know the ones? Finished a meal - I'd go outside for a smoke. Been shopping - put it away and then smoke. I still get these feelings now, but just reach for the e-cig; no problem. I've been out on 18 hour drinking sessions, ensured I've got my PCC on me, loaded cartos, been a drunk as a lord, but been perfectly happy vaping. I don't feel any desire to smoke.
I've been converting people at work, and for past two and a half months, been battling with the powers that be to find us a vaping area and not push us in to the smoking area. That's an ongoing battle that I can't even get them to engage on but I shall persist. I've had a few instances of people thinking I'm smoking in pubs (having first gained owners permission), but generally, managed to get people to understand and interested. All is going splendidly well, though I do feel like I've somehow 'cheated' to give up smoking. I'm saving about £140 a month.
So what advice would I give? Not everyone will agree as we're all different but here goes;
- Have a good look round for your choice of vapparatus. There's lots of info to be found on here and many helpful folk. I use JAC Vapour and they've been excellent
- Don't get too hung up worrying if you've made the right choice of equipment. The important thing is you're giving the general vaping experience a try and you can modify later
- Don't worry about what colour your battery and LED is. By this, I mean don't necessarily go for a white one with orange LED. The novelty of it having to look like a cigarette wears off VERY quickly and a silver battery with a blue LED is far easier to explain that you're not smoking to the people who will inevitably hassle you
- Try and be positive about the switch. Remember you're still feeding your nicotine addiction if you have a nicotine based liquid. Have that frame of mind that whenever you want to smoke, you have your e-cig and it's the only thing you're going to use to feed your nicotine addiction
- If you do slip up, treat it as a minor blip and reward yourself with the knowledge that you've already dramatically made a radical life changing decision to at least try to give up tobacco
- Don't go overboard on one flavour. And I would implore people to try and get something other than tobacco flavour as soon as possible. I quickly found that there is far better tasting stuff out there (vanilla pre-filled cartos, topped over with coffee liquid is just the ticket for me). Honestly, tobacco flavour is far from the best. It won't make things any easier by just sticking with tobacco
- Be courteous, polite and seek permission to vape in public enclosed spaces. Or stealth vape if necessary. Basically, don't be confrontational and try and educate. Don't be surprised if you get idiots who just don't get it. I had one that it nearly ended up with me clocking him. As the landlord had granted me permission, he threw the idiot out who wouldn't have it that I wasn't smoking
- Try and get smoking friends to start with you. Saves on postage costs and always good back up if you ever run shprt of anything
- Visit ECF and talk to as many people as you can. The support here is more than anyone could ask for
- Be safe, treat one another with respect and as you would expect to be treated yourself
- Enjoy your tobacco free life, returned sense of taste, non-yellow fingers and recovering lungs
