New in Indiana

[dstncllns]

I vaped a few years back but slipped back into smoking as I didn't feel like I was getting a hit. This time around I've been vaping for about a week using a Vaporshark and a drip tip from Altsmoke in my area. Much stronger hit and loving it. What tools to success did you find helpful when you were just starting out?

 

[AndriaD]

I vaped a few years back but slipped back into smoking as I didn't feel like I was getting a hit. This time around I've been vaping for about a week using a Vaporshark and a drip tip from Altsmoke in my area. Much stronger hit and loving it. What tools to success did you find helpful when you were just starting out?

Hi dstncllns, welcome to ECF! You didn't say if you're still smoking, but if so, one thing that helped me a lot was keeping a tally -- you know, 4 verticals and a diagonal slash -- so I could actually see how much I was smoking, and how it declined, the more I vaped. That was so exciting to me, and became my own personal challenge, to see how few I could tally up the next day.

Finding the "right" ejuice -- the one that makes you holler "eureka!" -- was very important for me; till I found the PG-blend Virginia at myfreedomsmokes.com, I was starting to wonder if I'd ever find a juice flavor that really worked for me, as a replacement. That was back in February, and it's still my main all-day-vape (ADV), even though I've also become very fond of Blueberry Muffin from Hard Rock Vapor.

Really narrow-tipped driptips also helped me a lot; the Pyrex Piccolo kind, and the narrow glass ones at desertvapes.com, feel almost identical to the size of a cigarette against your lips, without having to sacrifice performance with a cigalike.

Welcome!!!
Andria

 

[dstncllns]

I have had 0 cigarettes in that time frame so I take that as a success everyday. How long did it take you to get down to 0?

 

[keonee]

Welcome dstncllns to ECF. I too smoked up until I found the right setup....went thru quite a few. Read the forum and see what members recommend...do your homework before buying....this will save you some $. Once you found that setup that makes you go "wow" you'll know you can quit smoking.

Good Luck to You...Happy Vaping!!!

 

[caveat]

Welcome fellow Hoosier. Congratulations on giving up the butts.

 

[Susan~S]

Hello and welcome to the forum. Glad to have you here!

8 years ago when I first started vaping, there were no tools. PATIENCE and the internet was it.

 

[AndriaD]

I have had 0 cigarettes in that time frame so I take that as a success everyday. How long did it take you to get down to 0?

Almost a month, the first time -- I got my first starter kit the very last day of January; I smoked my last one on Feb 27. Lasted about 3 1/2 months, then I got very sick and couldn't vape, even though cravings were beating me to death, so I smoked again, knowing full well that it was temporary and that I'd be getting back to vaping ASAP -- that also took about a month, as I worked out my dehydration/electrolyte problems, and re-established my "taste" for vapor vs. cigarettes.

Andria

 

[dstncllns]

I haven't had any taste issues yet but I do have a terrible cough that started on day two. Everything I have read suggests this is just my lungs cleaning themselves out but it does get very annoying. Did you have any of these issues when you started? I went from nearly 2 packs a day to just vaping.

 

[DingerCPA]

Hello dst! Fellow Hoosier here (well, Hoosier by birth; Boilermaker by the Grace of God!)

Took me 3-1/2 years of playing with vaping until I finally walked away from cigarettes in March 2014. The "right gear" is what works for *YOU*. Doesn't matter if it doesn't work for anyone else....

I needed longer battery life (my original cig-alikes didn't last terribly long) I needed more flavorful cartridges (that held more liquid....) I needed to find ECF a heck of a lot sooner than I did

:edit: Most important tool was my own head. I finally allowed it to help me "over the hump".

Keep asking questions - lots of way-smart people out here who can help

 

[AndriaD]

I haven't had any taste issues yet but I do have a terrible cough that started on day two. Everything I have read suggests this is just my lungs cleaning themselves out but it does get very annoying. Did you have any of these issues when you started? I went from nearly 2 packs a day to just vaping.

My own experience with coughing can't be taken as any kind of example, because I have asthma -- I accepted regular coughing, to keep my airways clear, a long time ago. I don't "cough up" nearly as much actual "stuff" as I did as a smoker, but the cough is still there, and sometimes the asthma even seems worse than when I smoked.

I think some of my current lung issues are simply getting rid of all the 'stuff' I took in during that last month of smoking -- I noticed the coughing up had come back when I had been back to smoking only a week, but before my appendicitis/appendectomy, when I had been smoke-free 3 1/2 months, I really wasn't coughing much at all, even first thing on waking, and I didn't use my inhaler as often.

There's also the stuff that tobacco companies put into cigarette tobacco to make it smoother and more tolerable; it's a type of "local anesthetic," and I noticed the lack of it within a week of quitting, especially this 2nd time. So some of what I'm experiencing now is probably because of that lack; as a smoker, my lungs were worse, but I didn't feel it too much. Now I'm not smoking, but the junk is still in there, and with the lack of those chemicals, if my lungs are struggling I can really feel it, there is no masking.

Andria