Need advice on getting off "real" cigs.

[gointomexico]

I just wanted to add, I have a green-cig, and it makes allot more vapor than my e-health cigarette. Probably about 2x more vapor on a fresh charge and topped up cart. I also don't get as much juice in my mouth with it. I smoke it when I'm driving, and at night when I'm about to turn in.

Also, when you smoke analogs, do you "french inhale" or just drag? I find I get a more satisfying analog-like draw on an e-cig when I french inhale and blow out the nose.

 

[aschmidy]

I got my first ecig in Jan.09. I didn't quit smoking until April 24. I went down from 2 packs a day to 10-15 cigs a day pretty easily. But I really didn't want to give up those last ones. I read someone on the forum talk about not thinking of it as quitting, think of it as changing brands. I was a die hard one brand smoker and could relate. I kept telling myself-switching brands. I also kept 3-4 loaded 24-36 mg. ecigs on the ready. Sometimes had 2-3 in my hands and as one got hot, I would hit the other to get me past the cravings. It wasn't easy. It got better for me pretty quick, those moments became less and less frequent. At this point I don't feel like a 'slave' to nicotine like I was. And it feels great!

 

[Cielo]

What I've found is as long as the pack is outa sight it's outa mind. I can keep them near me just not in view. Lighters too! Seeing them triggers wanting an analog. This may seem really simple and strange but give it a try. Might just surprise yourself

Dea

I agree with Dea! Just seeing a lighter triggers the urge to smoke again so not being able to see them really helps. I now keep a pack of cigars and my lighters in the glove department of the car and i rarely think about them.

One thing that HAS worked for me was moving my two beautiful antique ashtrays from the patio into my house. I always set my pv in the trays and also keep a few freshly filled carts sitting in the bottom that are ready to go any time. Having the "pvtrays" indoors is very comforting and always reminds me how nice it is to be able to vape inside my house.

 

[SmilingSlasher]

I have found that vaping a juice with a higher nic level helped me stay away from the cigs. They tend to have thicker vapor and better throat hit.

Nice to see someone from just down the highway!!!! I'm in Kernersville, NC!!!!

 

[jghunter1]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dea
I agree with Sherid - smoke an analog when you want one, not just out of habit. Make it a little harder to get a "real" cigarette and always keep your e-cig handy. Put your cigarettes and lighter two rooms away, or in the kitchen in a cabinet on the top shelf and inside a tupperware container. When you really want a cigarette, it will take you less than a minute to get one - but at least it won't be 2 seconds out of habit.

I called this the laziness method . I put my cigs in one room, my lighter in another, and my ashtrays in another, but I kept my PV right with me. I told myself I could have one any time, but I had to get up and go get them. It was always easier to just vape and eventually it never even crossed my mind to get up and get the analogs.

I concur.

For me, personally, quitting was about finding the "right" juice. Originally that was "strong cuban cigar-24mg". (BTW I use a Joye 510). I tried about 15 flavors (I only ordered sample sizes after the first one!) before I found that one. It finally satisfied my cravings at those times I wanted an ANALOG. (other flavors were fine just for pleasure).

Now, after about a month of vaping only (except for one "attempt" to smoke analogs-I thought they tasted terrible) I find I like other flavors (less like analogs) to be more enjoyable now.

I say try a LOT of different flavors/strengths (specially higher nic) One should, eventually "do it" for you.

 

[MickiO]

I'm fairly new to this e-Cig business. I have 2 different e-Cig models with another on the way, a decent supply of 24mg juice from JC and I've been folding my own pyramid bags for about 2 days. I'm a 30+ year smoker who puts down 2 1/2 packs of Salem Silver's (Ultra Lights) a day.

I LOVE my e-cigs, but there seems to be something missing. No matter how much I vape, I always want to reach for a Salem throughout the day. I don't know if it's nicotine strength, the thickness of the "smoke" I'm inhaling, the smell or the fact that there's no real fire, but "something" is missing...

Any ideas on what that "something" might be? I like the taste of the JC Artic Mint, but the vape just doesn't have the thickness of a real cig. Should I maybe try another brand of juice?

Advice please...

You know, part of the addiction are the physical habits of reaching for a lighter or picking up a pack/cig, etc. .If you truly want to quit, and you gotta take the wheel and put the cigs/ashtray, lighters away from reach and out of sight, .



I know for me, it was too easy to light one up, if I saw it laying there, infact when I smoked, alot of times I didn't even WANT a cig till I seem them laying there or seen someone else with one. lol.


I don't know how many times the first month after I quit that I reached in my empty for my lighter, I had the habit of picking it up, I mean if you think about it, think how many thousands of times we've done that? .I smoked 1 to 1 1/2 packs for 31 yrs, and in stressful times, I chain smokes until the crisis passed.


You gotta have a goal, or something that you know gives you incentive, Like for me, it was the mere thought of how an early death would affect my husband & family, if i got deathly sick with cancer from smoking and died from it, how would that affect their lives later on if I wasn't around, The mere thought of how this would make them feel, especially knowing full well what could happen, yet I chose to keep smoking anyways, regardless. I hated the way that idea of "me" made me feel.


I kept that thought at the forefront of my mind everytime I thought about picking up a cig. .I pictured myself getting really sick from it one day and having to explain to them why I picked it up and lit it,


.I chose to make a promise to myself, that I would never do that them, least not knowingly by my carelessly, mindless smoking


Truth is, I got sick & tired, of being sick & tired! .I was tired of trying to quit and failing or always caving into it..


AND, I also made up a goal of something really, REALLY nice that I wanted to buy for myself in return for being true to myself..


It's been 5 1/2 months since I quit, and I keep feeling better& better. .It's like, you get so used to feeling bad or doing a thing, that you don't realize how bad you felt, til after it's gone!.


One thing I know for sure of, is you can do anything, if you put your mind to it and go after it! (Can't have temptations lying around though, "out of sight, out of mind").


I wish the best of life to you....I smoked for 31 yrs myself, and I found out something,... you really can do ,whatever you put your mind to, Never under-estimate yourself, once you make up your mind to do it, you'll do it.....you may have to do it in little steps or increments at a time, so-to-speak, even if you slip, that's ok. Perseverance is the key!!! There's no one right way to do it. Everyone's different.


.that's the way my husband quit, .He had around 3 1/2 cartons in the frig, and he told me, as soon as those are all gone, that's it, I'm quitting and not going back. .I bought him a Chuck as extra incentive/encouragement, and he smoked about 1/2 pack or more each day, until they were all gone, and he kept his word,.


See, there may be many things come & go that might never really seem to matter all that much, .But the one thing that matters above all else, is keeping your word to yourself, because your word, is your bond. .Truth matters......


I was not good to myself and mistreated myself, never really took very good care of "me" all those years. .Experienced a few early deaths of people I knew & loved, who died too soon, The more I thought about that, the more determined i got about never doing that to someone else, and put the ashtrays, lighters, away..