New and trying to Prepare for Vaping

[Ann48]

Hello! I appreciate this board and all the positive posts about your success with vaping!! This gives me hope that one day I can call myself a vaper. Right now I'm smoking a stinky, to even get up the guts to post this...to ask some questions and grab onto some more hope.

I've smoked for 44 years...and now cough all the time...wheeze some...and it's getting my energy messed up. Not getting better and I can't live on antibiotics! Doctor said no cancer or pneumonia on my xray...maybe a little copd...and allergies kicking me into some asthma. Well, then there is reflux that doesn't help too! Getting older is wonderful isn't it!

I'm scared of vaping only because I don't want to make myself worse by doing it wrong! I'm not sure if I'm supposed to hold it in my mouth and blow out...or inhale into my lungs!! And if just in mouth, will it be satisfying enough for me to quit the analogs.

Can I start with the disposables? I have the Blu, V2 and Zoom disposables. My sister sent me a eGo kit..with a note saying to call her and she would walk me through how to use it but she isn't home this weekend. She uses hers in between analogs. I've read a lot here and I think you can use both until you transition over to vaping? Did I read where you have to be careful not to get liquid nicotine on your skin? She sent me two bottles of that.

Was anyone here nervous about changing? Then pleasantly surprised? I'm asking for positive because I want some hope I can do it...and because the negative things (even commercials on TV) make me want to light up!! I just don't want to make myself worse! I'm so tired of coughing!! I see where there are some long time smokers on here - who smoked more than me (I smoke around 1 pack a day) who have been successful with vaping. I love reading those posts.

I know I need to read more..there is so much info on here though and a whole new language...I have a lot to learn!!

Thanks for listening and I will keep reading!

 

[stvan1]

I gave up analogs (cigarettes) about 3 weeks ago after a friend turned me onto a local vape shop. Used a elcheapo EGO-T and some trial vapes with 12% nicotine and the craving you experience using the patch or nicorettes or whatever else is not nearly as bad. So yeah it is easier to quit. Not easy just easier. I have now put several hundred dollars into equipment and liquids.
I think it is adviseable to go to a reputable e-cig chop and here in Grand Rapids Michigan there is nearly one on every corner including at least one very large successful internet dealer (also a sponsor on this forum, Mr E).
If you don't have any good locals then this forum and youtube (search e-cigarettes Indoor Smoker and many others) are your friends. You can get a really good start with about $100.00 in equip and liquid which here is about a carton and a half of cigs.
If you experiment with nicotine percentages you can get to one that serves you well, say 12% to start and go up or down as needed. Good luck.

 

[OMYOCD]

Try everything and have fun. There's no pressure and no absolute right way. it's whatever works for you. and it's not going to kill you if you get a little bit on your fingers or do something wrong. Just enjoy.

 

[stvan1]

Oh yeah I should have mentioned that you will still have the urge to light up at those times your usually do. Talking on the phone, getting in the car, etc. Just have your Ego or whatever handy and take a toke off it as needed. It works for me. Try not to overdo it too much when you start out since you will find it pleasurable but you could end up with Vape tongue and throat or whatever they call it. But on the plus side I stopped coughing within a couple days, don't eat more than normal, am not irratable or any of the other things that happen when you quit. YMMV though.

 

[Tomthern]

I would suggest going to a shop as well. They can show you how to use the equipment safely. They also can let you try several flavors. I use the tobacco flavors which I have read are better when you are starting. I have tried the food type ones and don't like them as well. I have been without analogs for over a month an a half. I like it better and I feel better. Be careful on your wattage when you start because you can get a burn in your throat. Otherwise it is a lot to get to know but keep reading and posting. There are many nice people here.

 

[emily n portland]

Hi Ann,
Welcome to ECF, and the world of vaping!

You definitely can start with the disposable kits, many do.
The benefits of the ego, is all the flavored liquids you can get for it (yum!), and that the nicotine (I believe) come in higher strengths , so it's easier to switch from cigs. And overall, will end up being less expensive.
High concentrations of nicotine can be dangerous, but the liquids your sister set are probably diluted. They should have the nic in mg or a percent on them? While not overly dangerous (don't drink though!!!), it would be prudent to wash your hands if you spilled.
Some people pull into their lungs, some just their mouths. It is believed b/c of the large particles when vaping, more nic is absorbed through mouth/nose than lungs. But overall, it's a preference thing. When I started, I inhaled like it was a cigarette, made the back of my throat sore though. Now more like a cigar, out through the nose though.

Best wishes on your journey!

 

[daviedog]

Listen to your sister, you've known her longer than cigarettes. Welcome to ecf..

 

[Bontasia]

Hi Ann and welcome!

I'm pretty new too and I'll tell you my story in a nutshell.

I started with a Blu and it didn't do anything to make me want to not smoke a real cigarette.

A couple months later I was looking online and saw a kit at vaporzone and said what the hell so I ordered it. After my first puff with it I haven't touched a real cigarette and I've had an almost full pack sitting on my desk the whole time. It's been 9 days.

The people I've told have been so happy and believe it or not I feel almost guilty because it's been so easy. I smoked 1-2 packs a day for TWENTY-NINE years and I never in a million years thought this could happen.

My hints, and keep in mind I'm very, very new to this are first get a high nicotine liquid so you get a strong throat hit and plenty of nicotine - I started with 36 but 24 would prolly be fine too. Also if you have a smart phone there are a ton of free apps for stopping smoking. I have several and they keep track of how long you've not smoked, how much money you've saved and how many cigarettes you HAVEN'T smoked.

I wish you the best of luck. You can do it!

 

[vaperature]

Just so you know what's in store, five months ago I was vaping a cigalike, now I'm vaping this:



This doesn't include all the juice and other things I own. Have fun.

 

[Altitude000]

A pack and a half of Marlboro 100's everyday! Cowboy killers is what some of my Lights smoker friends would call em. 33 years.

I wheezed at night when I laid down to sleep -- I would have to cough hard to shut the wheezing up so I could sleep.

I was going to quit on Jan. 1st ... but, I didnt quit till the 3rd... My plan was to use the patches, like I tried before... and I did -- but, I bought Blus to have, when the patches were not working. ... I have tried the patches before ---pressing hard and holding on the patch to help me.. I figured having the blus might help when the patches were not giving me what I craved? Little did I know, the blu worked better than the patches.... and the patches gave me weird dreams at night.

The Blu couldnt keep up with me -- and I got more and more into vaping, trying diferent juice and equipment.... taking the dollars I would of spent on cigs, and using them to make cool vaping purchases. I researched and researched... bought and bought....

Here I am 2 months an a half later?? The wheezing in bed at night went away! My fingernails are no longer yellow. The callus from my Big lighter is gone. I can walk without getting out of breath. I can take a deep breath of air and not feel any pressure in my chest.

Vaping has made a huge difference in my life... and many others.... You can do it too... sounds to me, like you want to -- and that's a big start! Next is positive thinking... and know that times may be really tough-- but do not give in and start counting your days of being smoke free.

Sometimes? I have whats like a Ghost withdrawal... not really severe... but, if I hold a bic lighter in my hand? its like my subconscious is reaching for the next step which is lighting a cig... not sure if anyone else has experienced that sensation. All I know is that I feel like I am getting somewhere.... I have made a positive change in my life -- I hope that you will go thru the same things that I did and am...

get well soon smoker - start vaping!

 

[havinfun1]

I was a 40+ year smoker myself till 8/31/2013.Bought my first ego cc that day & haven't had a single stinkie since. At the end I was at about 5-6 packs a week so I started vaping at 24mg, down to 8mg now after 7 1/2 mos. I inhale it just like I used to with the cigs although some peeps here say you can just hold it in your mouth a little while then exhale it, whatever works for you it's all good. First few days were sort of the roughest, I mean I did get cravings for a cig but I'd take a few hits on my ego & that took care of that. In my 3rd week my tank broke while at work & I was ready to run to buy some cigs but then thought to myself if I'm gonna buy something might as well buy some Blu ecigs. Ended up roughing it out till I got home that night, was a rough day. The moral of this story is get yourself a BACKUP, I carry 2 with me now just in case a battery goes dead or my tank breaks. Some peeps here have backups for their backups. Anyway,glad you joined us & if you have any questions at all just ask, lots of friendly & helpful people here.

 

[stvan1]

I know exactly what you mean vaperation. The industry is growing by BILLIONS a year because of you and me and so very many more that have discovered the thrill of quitting and the pleasure and enjoyment of vaping. Folks are giving up one habit that is killing them and those around them and starting one that is just enjoyable and taste good to boot.
Ann48, you are doing this the right way by getting on here with others that have experienced what you have and will help you get off the cigs.

 

[AndriaD]

Hello! I appreciate this board and all the positive posts about your success with vaping!! This gives me hope that one day I can call myself a vaper. Right now I'm smoking a stinky, to even get up the guts to post this...to ask some questions and grab onto some more hope.

I've smoked for 44 years...and now cough all the time...wheeze some...and it's getting my energy messed up. Not getting better and I can't live on antibiotics! Doctor said no cancer or pneumonia on my xray...maybe a little copd...and allergies kicking me into some asthma. Well, then there is reflux that doesn't help too! Getting older is wonderful isn't it!

I'm scared of vaping only because I don't want to make myself worse by doing it wrong! I'm not sure if I'm supposed to hold it in my mouth and blow out...or inhale into my lungs!! And if just in mouth, will it be satisfying enough for me to quit the analogs.

Can I start with the disposables? I have the Blu, V2 and Zoom disposables. My sister sent me a eGo kit..with a note saying to call her and she would walk me through how to use it but she isn't home this weekend. She uses hers in between analogs. I've read a lot here and I think you can use both until you transition over to vaping? Did I read where you have to be careful not to get liquid nicotine on your skin? She sent me two bottles of that.

Was anyone here nervous about changing? Then pleasantly surprised? I'm asking for positive because I want some hope I can do it...and because the negative things (even commercials on TV) make me want to light up!! I just don't want to make myself worse! I'm so tired of coughing!! I see where there are some long time smokers on here - who smoked more than me (I smoke around 1 pack a day) who have been successful with vaping. I love reading those posts.

I know I need to read more..there is so much info on here though and a whole new language...I have a lot to learn!!

Thanks for listening and I will keep reading!

Hi Ann, welcome to ECF. Sounds like you're in a place where a lot of us started from; knowing you need to quit, but so afraid, can it work? will it work? The last week I smoked, I only smoked about 12 all week, instead of my customary 10-20 per day, but I knew it was coming, and I was so terrified I wouldn't be able to make it stick, as I never could make it stick the other 4 times I tried to quit. But it turns out that for quitting cigarettes, this is probably the easiest way there is. At least, it was and is for me, and I know that a lot of folks here feel the same. Turns out that it's actually more like switching brands, than quitting; it feels very much like that, to me -- like switching from butter that will clog your arteries to some newfangled spread that actually tastes GOOD, and wont kill you.

Disposables are fine if you can stand them, I couldn't, which was mainly what brought me here. A lot of folks here did start with those, mainly because they're *out there*, you don't need to search and swim in the info highway to find them, but I think that a lot of folks find that they're not very satisfying because the battery life is quite short, and they're not rechargeable. Or like me, didn't like the taste, and unlike most of the devices that most of us end up using, you're stuck with whatever flavor came in it when you bought it. I very specifically wanted to find something that tasted like Virginia Slims; many people here told me I wouldn't be able to find it, but I kept looking, and I did find a flavor that is so similar to the taste of Virginia Slims, it's eerie -- except it actually tastes BETTER, far better, because it's not bitter with the taste of burnt vegetation and paper.

And although quite a few hereabouts apparently do drop the smokes the minute they pick up an e-cig, I'd say that most of us don't, we just gradually lose our taste for the burnt flavor, and come to prefer the taste of vaping e-juice of MANY different flavors. I vaped for about 2-3 wks before it finally just seemed ridiculous to smoke 1 or 2 a day, when I could just as easily NOT smoke them.

And yep, it's absolutely amazing. It really works. That's not to say that vapers TOTALLY escape some of the pangs of quitting cigarettes; I'm currently really depressed, and I think it's from some poison finally leaving my body after 39 years of my body's acclimatization to that poison. I trust it will pass in its time, because after 3 wks smoke-free, I'm NOT going back to cigarettes. Not when laying them down was this easy, no way.

Hang in there... it gets so much better, you won't believe it!

Andria

 

[Buggainok]

Hi Ann,

First, don't be scared of vaping. It is different than smoking, but nothing to be scared of, other than it is something new that you haven't done before.

I smoked for as long as you have, maybe a little longer, lol. I was a heavy smoker, a couple of packs a day. I used to say, the only time I wasn't smoking was when I was asleep.

Like you, I was coughing a lot, especially in the morning when I first got up. That first cigarette usually made me cough more, but by gosh I smoked it anyway. After I was upright, it was better, but I was still pretty congested. Sometimes at night when I lay down, I could hear myself wheeze. That was pretty scary to me.

In all those years of smoking, I had never before tried to quit. I think I secretly thought I couldn't, so why try. I thought about stopping, but didn't even attempt it.

I got an ego starter kit, and a couple of bottles of juice, probably like the one your sis sent you. It is not hard to use. I promise, if I could do this, you can, too. I was absolutely stunned and amazed the day I got mine and started using it. I kept waiting for an irresistible urge to smoke.... and it didn't come. I felt a little anxious and nervous, but nothing overpowering at all. I think I was like you, and probably nervous about doing this new thing.

I will say, that first couple of days I walked around with the ego in my hand or close by all day long. I haven't smoked a cigarette since the day I started vaping, and that is nothing short of miraculous to me. I never believed it would happen, but it has.

Be sure to get a nicotine juice that is strong enough for you. I started with 18 mg. and it worked, but just barely. I went to the vape shop and got some 24 mg. and I was much more comfortable immediately after I started using it.

Good luck to you. If a grandma like me, 72 years young can do it, you can do it, too.

 

[Buggainok]

Sometimes? I have whats like a Ghost withdrawal... not really severe... but, if I hold a bic lighter in my hand? its like my subconscious is reaching for the next step which is lighting a cig... not sure if anyone else has experienced that sensation. All I know is that I feel like I am getting somewhere.... I have made a positive change in my life -- I hope that you will go thru the same things that I did and am...

get well soon smoker - start vaping!

Someone on this board referred to that sensation as the "Ghost Habit" talking, and I've experienced it, too. It really isn't the same as an urge to light a cigarette, but just the remains of all the motions of the habit that had us enslaved for so many years. What happens to me is I can be ready to go out the door, holding my Ego in one hand and my purse in the other, and I'm looking all around the room, thinking to myself "Darn it, where is my cigarette case?"

I laugh, and tell myself, "Oops, you don't smoke anymore. And aren't you glad!"

 

[AndriaD]

Someone on this board referred to that sensation as the "Ghost Habit" talking, and I've experienced it, too. It really isn't the same as an urge to light a cigarette, but just the remains of all the motions of the habit that had us enslaved for so many years. What happens to me is I can be ready to go out the door, holding my Ego in one hand and my purse in the other, and I'm looking all around the room, thinking to myself "Darn it, where is my cigarette case?"

I laugh, and tell myself, "Oops, you don't smoke anymore. And aren't you glad!"

This was one of the major reasons I decided to get an iTaste, after a couple weeks of my cigalike eRoll -- in the truck, where I would always smoke, when I stuck the eRoll in my mouth, I reached for the lighter -- luckily my conscious mind came online bfore I tried to set fire to the end of my eRoll!! The eRoll *was* very useful, and still is if I get one of those "stressed out" cravings, but I really prefer the un-cigarette-ness of my iTaste!

Also I do that same thing as I'm walking out the door -- reach up to the bookshelf to grab my drink before walking out, and on that shelf by the door is the last pk I was smoking out of, with 12 still in it -- now almost a month stale! And I always laugh, freaking about how weird it is to purposely leave them behind, and not even care!

Andria

 

[dogcat]

it doesn't have to be an over night switch either. Buy the appropriate nic level according to your consumption (ask at the vape shop) and start incorporating vaping into your usual routine. Before you know it you are reaching for your e-cig first thing in the morning instead of your analogs, and vaping with your first coffee of the day.

 

[JBrill]

30 years of smoking and in 1 day dropped the regular cigarettes. I smoked Marlboro Smooths for about the last year of it which had a rather high nicotine level. You can easily drop them if you just make sure you keep the nicotine level close to the same and then gradually drop it down. I started out with 24mg liquid and have since dropped to 6-12mg over the past year. You have a start no need to go crazy on buying anything extra, just make sure you keep at least 2 batteries handy because a dead battery is no joke

 

[Vermine]

I promise you if you stick out the confusion and transition period you will thank yourself every day for the rest of your life.

Those little guys will help cut back on real cigs but won't be enough to help you quit entirely. You'll have to move on to the egos at the minimum possibly something a little larger to quit finally. I'm one of those people whose withdrawal symptoms would never let up even after weeks and would turn into depression that only smoking a cigarette would break. I was convinced it would be impossible for me for me to stop. I'm now 6 months free from real cigs and have lowered my nicotine level in my e juice from 48mg down to 6mg with out ever suffering once. Even in the past year vaping has improved so much that it finally completely eclipses cigarettes. In my mind they are now more the real deal than analogs(cigs). Thanks to the new abundance of high quality tanks and drippers I can even resist cigarettes now when I've had several drinks too many. You want to avoid getting the juice on your skin but its not an emergency if it happens. Just make sure you wash your hands within a few minutes and you'll be fine. I forgot to once and got a bit dizzy and a mild headache for like 15 minutes but honestly nothing terrifying. 3 weeks back after having my back pack stolen with my stuff in it I was stuck with real cigs for 2 days waiting on the mail because my towns first vape shop only just opened this week and I felt absolutely terrible. My body was basically doing everything it could to tell me to not go back down that road. It was like it was pleading with me.

The day you take that first big cloudy vape off a dripper or nice tank with a chocolate juice or or whatever it is your fancy you will be walking around with a fat grin on your face because you will feel like you got away with having your cake and eating it too only to be followed months later by even more awesome as your health starts to suddenly skyrocket like a rock its been chained to was suddenly removed. You will feel absolutely amazing.. Its a complicated mess to figure out for beginners but its getting simpler every day, and is still probably one of the single easiest things you could do to make a huge change to your life. Don't let your nerves keep you from enjoying a happier life.

 

[djsvapour]

Anybody can "start" with a disposable, why not?

However, I tell everyone, don't then upgrade to the rechargeable version of that product unless you have checked out the reviews (the real ones, not the bogus ones), and preferably asked on e-cig forums.

Here's my story.

1) Bought a disposable. Puffed non-stop, it ran out quickly and didn't offer much satisfaction.
2) discovered the disposable actually had the same rechargeable battery as the "normal" one, SO I bought the rechargable mini "kit" and started using that.
3) still smoking 90% as much as ever, I bought a 3rd battery and 20 cartomizers (at $6.70 per cartomizer).
4) after 2 months (or more) of spending money at an alarming rate and still needing to smoke, I changed system. I was $250+ down on the deal and started to believe it was just a scam.

Bought a better and cheaper cig-a-like e-cig and cut down to just 3 or 4 cigs a day. Running costs far better ($2.10 per cartomizer). Getting some confidence now....

- - - - -

Bought an eGo kit, with cartomisers and clearomisers and 3 bottles of liquid. END OF SMOKING.

- - -

Please do not believe the hype on these products. They might do 200-400 "puffs" but they won't do 20-40 cigarettes nicotine. Using and buying the system in the belief that I was in the wrong and not the product costs me $400+

These days some products - some by Njoy, Vuse, Vype etc use 48mg liquid. I'm sure they will be better than 16mg or 18mg liquid at controlling nicotine cravings. Doesn't make them good value, but does make them more effective and less of a SCAM.