new here...struggles day one

[sallydee101]

I purchased my Cool Five yesterday. 12mg/ tobacco flavor. Years of 1 to 2 pack a day smoker. Anyone else were you nervous when you started like here we go again....another attempted. So far I like the taste, smell, the feel of it in my hand. Out with friends last night and smoke about 4 by bed time....this morning out of habit up made coffee walked to deck smoked before i knew it. Its three hours later sitting here tapping my feet and vaping and want a cig is this normal? Please Ideas on how to make this work. ?

 

[daleron]

Welcome to ECF Sally, make yourself right at home
Do you like the liquid? Maybe a higher nic for the mornings?
Some of us take longer to transition, patience grasshopper

 

[Sir2fyablyNutz]

Sounds very normal to me, as I started with the same nic.
I used a cheap clearo/tank. $5. Then I kept the next highest nicotine in it. When the "itch" needed scratching and the regular vape just didn't feel like it was cutting it I would take a hit from the higher nic vape and then go back to the regular vape. It usually took 3 days to a week to get adjusted to the lower or regular nic. I say usually because I used this same technique to lower my nicotine down to the under 3 I now enjoy.

For being on day 1 you're doing great, it took me 12 days before I found my balance. Congrats on your journey, you CAN do it.

 

[Rsunderl]

Hi @sallydee101 and welcome to the forum!

Yep - sounds perfectly normal. Many folks here are dual users, just not smoking as much as they used to. Don't sweat 3-4 cigs/day - You used to smoke 20-40/day - what a victory! Every one you don't smoke is a victory. Took me 10 months to get completely off of cigarettes. You'll get there as long as the desire to do so is there.

In the meantime, Happy Vaping!

 

[LittleBird]

Welcome, Sally! Wow! What an accomplishment! It took me a week, and finding a flavor I loved, to quit altogether. Just do be sure to have your gear nearby at all times, and use it whenever you feel even a little urge. Oh - and keep congratulating yourself for your great work

 

[DingerCPA]

Welcome Sally!

When I went for my THIRD attempt with ecigs, it still took about a month before I finally decided I'd spent enough money on vape gear that I wasn't going to spend any more on cigarettes.

If you're of the mindset that you're going to quit smoking cigarettes, you will. Count your victories. It will all come around for you.

 

[Lannie]

Also, you might try a lighter flavor, maybe a fruit or dessert flavor. When I first started, I thought I'd want tobacco flavor, too, because I was a hard-core 2 pack a day smoker, but I didn't LIKE the tobacco flavor because it WASN'T. It's different but close enough to the real thing to make me WANT the real thing, if you get what I mean. I switched over to fruits (raspberry, strawberry, sometimes with a touch of menthol) and never looked back.

Like everyone else has said, it's the ones you DON'T smoke that count. But vaping isn't smoking, and as much as I wanted it to be, it isn't, and once I realized that, and made it "candy" instead, it's been fun and painless. I'm almost two months without cigs now, and don't miss them one little bit.

~Lannie

 

[VNeil]

Please Ideas on how to make this work. ?

1. Higher nic concentration
2. Vape more often. You need to vape much more than you needed to smoke
3. Vape until you get sick (I'm only sort of kidding, IOW, make sure you are maintaining an adequate nic level)
4. Investigate WTA (Whole Tobacco Alkaloids). That is the magic ingredient, aside from nic, that is in tobacco and makes you want to smoke (or at least a few more of the many possible ingredients you may be dependent on now). There is some good info on WTA pinned to the DIY subforum of the eLiquids forum.

You would be smart to order online, today, a bottle of WTA. It will be $30 well spent. It's the one thing you can't buy in your local vape shop or gas station. You might never decide to use it. I have an unopened bottle in the freezer. Glad I bought it, even happier I never needed it but I only learned about it after I had fairly well quit.

Vaping is 98-100% safer than smoking. In fact, there is no known significant harm from vaping (as much as you want)

There is about a 65% or better chance the average person will fail when attempting to quit, even vaping, which has probably the highest success rate

Don't do anything to increase the chance of failing. Like setting arbitrary limits on the nic strength you vape, or the frequency you vape. Don't be afraid to vape.

And lastly, you really have to want to quit. Enough to endure some pain the first week or so. I only succeeded when I convinced myself that the only way I could quit (and not relapse back to my 2-3 PAD habit) was never, ever take another puff of a cig. My last puff was July 31, 2014.

I also believe that the first time you try to quit via vaping is the easiest, relatively. If you relapse and fail and try again, it will be harder to accomplish the same. It was true for me (I quit on the 2nd attempt, 7 weeks after my first vape), and true for some others here.

These are opinions based on personal experience. YMMV. Or maybe not.

You can do this. If you are here, you want to do this.

 

[Pushbutton]

Welcome Sally!
I believe you are off to a great start already! Do keep in mind that so many aspects of vaping can be changed/adjusted to suit your tastes and needs.
The flavor, the amount of vapor a device puts out, the temperature of the vapor(cool/warm/hot), how smooth or harsh it feels when inhaling (via the juice mix) and lastly also the nicotine content.

With a bit time and experimentation, i am sure you will be able to find "your" setup that won't make you look back to cigarettes at all.

 

[VNeil]

An important read, explaining why you may need a higher level of nic than you think (especially being a 1-2 PAD smoker):
Nicotine absorption from electronic cigarette use: comparison between first and new-generation devices : Scientific Reports : Nature Publishing Group

An important read for guilt-free vaping
Nicotine is not your enemy. It is no more "hazardous" than caffeine:

Nicotine Propaganda

 

[Gahh]

I purchased my Cool Five yesterday. 12mg/ tobacco flavor. Years of 1 to 2 pack a day smoker. Anyone else were you nervous when you started like here we go again....another attempted. So far I like the taste, smell, the feel of it in my hand. Out with friends last night and smoke about 4 by bed time....this morning out of habit up made coffee walked to deck smoked before i knew it. Its three hours later sitting here tapping my feet and vaping and want a cig is this normal? Please Ideas on how to make this work. ?

Hello and welcome Sally
We all had the nasty habit of smoking here.
Some just pick up vapeing and it works right off the bat.
I started at 24mg. as I was smoking over 2 packs a day. ( You might want to try the higher nic. mg. )
If you like sweets, you might want to try a sweet pastry flavored e-juice. This is what works for me as the tobacco flavors just don't cut it. ( Hitting my Kt. Subox is like having desert,,,witout the calories. )
If you like the sensation of vaping, search for the right vape that will keep you satisfied.
( Tight draw like a cig. (or) airy like a b ong. )
( Throat hit (Pg.) that's more like smoking (or) Smooth and soft (Vg.) and any combo of the two. )
( Small cig. like vapor (or) HUGE clouds. )
Once you find that perfect vape it'll be easier for you.

 

[VNeil]

Hello and welcome Sally
We all had the nasty habit of smoking here.
Some just pick up vapeing and it works right off the bat.
I started at 24mg. as I was smoking over 2 packs a day. ( You might want to try the higher nic. mg. )
If you like sweets, you might want to try a sweet pastry flavored e-juice. This is what works for me as the tobacco flavors just don't cut it. ( Hitting my Kt. Subox is like having desert,,,witout the calories. )
If you like the sensation of vaping, search for the right vape that will keep you satisfied.
( Tight draw like a cig. (or) airy like a b ong. )
( Throat hit (Pg.) that's more like smoking (or) Smooth and soft (Vg.) and any combo of the two. )
( Small cig. like vapor (or) HUGE clouds. )
Once you find that perfect vape it'll be easier for you.

^^^^^ some really good advice here. And the search for the perfect vape will get your mind off the alkaloids you are missing, and get you so invested in vaping you won't want to give it up. (there is some truth to that!)

 

[IronWolf]

I too just started. Kangertech Kbox Mini 0.50Ω OCC coil @ 20W. I vape a menthol 12mg nicotine no tobacco juice and so far I have dropped from 2 packs a day to less than a pack and going for NO analog cigarettes at all. I too still really crave that cigarette with coffee in the morning. Hang in there.
I stopped drinking 25yrs ago and that was easier than kicking cigarettes.

 

[rdwg]

Not everybody can completely quit smoking when they start vaping.
It actually took me a few months to 100% quit, though I did cut back right away.
My biggest problem was trusting that the vapor would actually work, like I didn't want to only vape on my break and then kick myself an hour later because I didn't smoke when I could have and now I need one. I gradually built up to courage to only smoke 3 a day on my breaks, then 1 or 2, then finally none. Once i knew and trusted that I could get by just vaping, I was home free.
If you can't quit right away, just remember, it's not about how many you smoke. It's how many you don't smoke.

 

[Elkster]

I went into this vaping thing thinking that it might not work, but why not give it a try. Took all of the pressure off of "having to quit". I smoked a few cigarettes the first couple of days, went Monday through Friday of the next week without smoking, and smoked a half a pack the next weekend (mostly because I let my batteries run dead). Haven't smoked a cigarette since (five weeks now). Whatever cigarettes that you don't smoke are a good thing, right? The taste of the smokes started to taste bad to me.

 

[suprtrkr]

Hi and welcome. Perfectly normal. It gets better though. Fight the battle one stick at a time, and count the ones you don't smoke, not the ones you do. We'll be right here when you need us

 

[AllElseFailed]

I smoked one cigarette a day for my first week of smoking as well, just took a couple drags at a time and that 1 cig could last me all day. For me, I just needed the right flavor. I smoked a pack a day or more while smoking and I started at 18mg, so I agree that maybe a stronger nic level would help. I'm already down to 12mg (and some flavors that are lower than that) in a little over a month. But as soon as I found the right flavor, I didn't want or crave a cig any longer. For me, it was a coffee flavor, because I am a coffee lover and I was lucky enough to try a pretty good one. I smoked menthol, but I don't like menthol eliquids at all.

 

[PennyLynn]

It's true that everyone is different. I'll just say that I smoked for over forty years, pack-and-a-half a day, and I did it. My vape goes everywhere with me, but I did it! You can, too. Stay strong.

 

[sallydee101]

Thanks all...picked when I am off work but with a bum knee from a work fall so sitting here bored to death great timing to try this..LOL as a nurse supervisor i work like 50 hours a week normally.. but I can so this!
1. don't think i was vaping enough was a smoker that ran to door smoked fast( in New England a habit to stay warm) and repeat often...so need to vape often.
2. YOU are right about a pack NOT smoked today that's amazing
3.I Sat in my chair with foot up gave orders to kids as they cleaned smoking spot up that alone is encouraging....
4. Thanks all any more ideas are welcomed keep re reading these.

 

[josh w]

They pretty much summed it up. It's not uncommon to still smoke when first starting vaping. Great job on the accomplishment and welcome.