I started smoking in High School in the early sixties. Back then, it was the thing to do and the badge of courage was the bulging pack of smokes that you proudly displayed in your shirt pocket. Started with Kent but eventually graduated to Camels and Lucky Strike to be like all the other members of the in crowd. Smoking was great and cheap-all you had to do was put 25 cents into a vending machine and you got a pack of smokes with two pennies under the cellophane! After graduating High School went on to College where it became quickly evident that cigarettes were a "must have" at any beer party that you attended. By this time I was a 1.5 PAD smoker which is pretty much where I stayed during my smoking years. After College I went to work, got married and got drafted in that order. Cigarettes were readily available in the Army at only $2.50 per carton. Great!!
After getting d discharged from the Army went back to work and continued to smoke without any thought of giving it up until the early 80's. At that point, I thought I would give this nicotine gum thing a chance so I went out and bought a decent supply to try. Well unlike many of the other people in the office who were chomping on this stuff and reducing their cigarette consumption, the more gum I chewed the stronger my desire for a cigarette became and I wound up chewing and smoking at the same time. I know you are not supposed to do that but thats what happened to me. I was actually smoking more than normal when using the gum, so I gave it up.
Moved from NY to Florida in 1996 (job transfer) and decided now was the time to quit this nasty habit. Everyone in my family was a nonsmoker and I was getting plenty of pressure and could not smoke in the car or house. So I decided now was the time to try the patch which worked pretty well and reduced my cigarette consumption to about .5 PAD. Then the 2004 hurricane season arrived and this was the perfect excuse to rip off the patch and get back to smoking full time. Besides high cholesterol (which is controlled by medication) I did not have any other major medical issues but in 2008 my doctor recommended that I try the drug Chantix to help me quit. I filled the prescription, went home and checked it out on the internet. When I saw the possible effects of tis drug, I knew this was not for me. I am nutty enough without a pill that could make me nuttier.
In 2009 I discovered vaping on the internet and tried NJOY, Blu, and many others. They were OK but finally bought a Provari which I thought was great. I continued to both vape and smoke and did cut cigarette consumption somewhat. I retired in 2011 and planned a seven day trip to Europe. I took five packs of cigs and my vape gear with me. Well, as you would expect, I completely relapsed and did not vape at all on vacation and had to buy the awful European cigarettes to make it through the trip. As soon as I returned from the trip I made up my mind to either smoke cigarettes exclusively or vape. I chose vaping. To help make sure I did not start to smoke, I left my ashtray filled with stinky butts on the table on the lanai (Florida porch) so that I got the urge I would go out and smell this pile of crap. Well this approach worked and I have not smoked a cigarette since!
I know this has been a long post, but I wanted to emphasize that even people who have been log time smokers (47 years for me) can give up the smoking habit using vaping even if other methods failed. After two weeks exclusively vaping I knew I would never smoke another cigarette again.
After getting d discharged from the Army went back to work and continued to smoke without any thought of giving it up until the early 80's. At that point, I thought I would give this nicotine gum thing a chance so I went out and bought a decent supply to try. Well unlike many of the other people in the office who were chomping on this stuff and reducing their cigarette consumption, the more gum I chewed the stronger my desire for a cigarette became and I wound up chewing and smoking at the same time. I know you are not supposed to do that but thats what happened to me. I was actually smoking more than normal when using the gum, so I gave it up.
Moved from NY to Florida in 1996 (job transfer) and decided now was the time to quit this nasty habit. Everyone in my family was a nonsmoker and I was getting plenty of pressure and could not smoke in the car or house. So I decided now was the time to try the patch which worked pretty well and reduced my cigarette consumption to about .5 PAD. Then the 2004 hurricane season arrived and this was the perfect excuse to rip off the patch and get back to smoking full time. Besides high cholesterol (which is controlled by medication) I did not have any other major medical issues but in 2008 my doctor recommended that I try the drug Chantix to help me quit. I filled the prescription, went home and checked it out on the internet. When I saw the possible effects of tis drug, I knew this was not for me. I am nutty enough without a pill that could make me nuttier.
In 2009 I discovered vaping on the internet and tried NJOY, Blu, and many others. They were OK but finally bought a Provari which I thought was great. I continued to both vape and smoke and did cut cigarette consumption somewhat. I retired in 2011 and planned a seven day trip to Europe. I took five packs of cigs and my vape gear with me. Well, as you would expect, I completely relapsed and did not vape at all on vacation and had to buy the awful European cigarettes to make it through the trip. As soon as I returned from the trip I made up my mind to either smoke cigarettes exclusively or vape. I chose vaping. To help make sure I did not start to smoke, I left my ashtray filled with stinky butts on the table on the lanai (Florida porch) so that I got the urge I would go out and smell this pile of crap. Well this approach worked and I have not smoked a cigarette since!
I know this has been a long post, but I wanted to emphasize that even people who have been log time smokers (47 years for me) can give up the smoking habit using vaping even if other methods failed. After two weeks exclusively vaping I knew I would never smoke another cigarette again.
