These forums have been absolutely invaluable the last couple of weeks.
I actually started researching ecigs for a friend who really wanted to turn an enforced cigarette hiatus (hospital stay) into a successful quit, but returned to smoking. She'd tried an "e-cigarette" but found it didn't kill her nicotine cravings and tasted bad, and although she had thought it had potential to help her quit, she was ultimately unsuccessful in replacing her tobacco and clove smoking with what was little more than an inert plastic tube. After hearing about how disappointing her ecig experience was, I thought there must surely be a better version out there and jumped into high-intensity GoogleFu mode. I kept ending up here, and kept learning. End result: I think I may have _accidentally_ quit smoking.
I've been smoking for almost 20 years; my record high was 6 packs a day. The psychology of my addiction is based in part on independence/rebellion; any suggestion that I should quit, internal or external, sends me running outside for a nice chain-smoking session just to prove/reassure myself that I can. Being without cigarettes generates panic. Being asked not to smoke here/now/so much makes me angrily critical in return. I'm not a good candidate for deciding to quit; even my doctor has given up really trying to get me to.
As I researched for my friend, I thought vaping sounded kind of fun. Tastier. Less stinky. Maybe I could add a vice... Less fatal. Maybe I could add a vice and accidentally-without-letting-myself-think-about-it reduce my actual tobacco smoking, without missing the nicotine or missing the physical, psychological, and social rituals. And without making myself angry at myself.
My friend was also told to give up her favorite soda, immediately, as an urgent health concern. She was struggling, feeling that giving up cigarettes _and_ her signature beverage was just too much to ask. I had seen cola-flavored ecig liquids and catridges mentioned here, so I set myself a mission to find her favorite flavor as vapor. In the process of finding it, and researching how to get it into her ecig, I discovered how truly abysmal an example of PVs her Smoke Assist is and how easy it would be to set her up with a better ecig experience. I also kept finding stories of people who had found quitting analogs easy and even pleasant by vaping instead. Great! That supported her initial optimism for the method. I very specifically didn't think too hard about my own addiction. That would spoil everything...
I bought a small Volcano starter kit: one battery, one atomizer, PCC, 25 carts. I chose "Blank" as one cart flavor, threw in a USB passthrough, and allocated the rest of two weeks' analog cig-money to flavors of liquid for the blanks. All in the name of _adding_ a vice - a more convenient alternative that might also help my friend quit smoking if I could find and provide her a better experience.
I haven't had a cigarette since the Volcano arrived. I knew I would initially be too entranced with the newness of all the flavors - four arriving with the kit, and another dozen or so sample sized spaced out over the next week - to feel much interest in the boring old tobacco-smoke version of my habit. I was sure I could distract myself from analogs enough to make it up in my budget and break even. I hoped in the secret recesses of my mind that I would trip over the same accident I'd read of others encountering. Adding a vice. Not quitting anything.
I'm hardly a tried-and-true ex-smoker after one week. But this is new and different... five days ago, I forgot to put a lighter in my back pocket. I had no form of fire on me for two days before I realized it. I'd been carrying my smokes, but had no way to light them. But I didn't feel my normal panic at the realization. I didn't care at all. But when I read that atomizers can break down - _then_ I panicked and ordered two more immediately! From everything I've experienced over the last four days, my addiction has transferred completely. Addictions, plural, I should say. Hand-to-mouth, the escapism of stepping outside, the social aspects of smoking and chatting with a smoker friend... all completely reassociated themselves to vaping instead. And _I want to not smoke_. Before, I would say that "I want to be quit, I just don't want to do the quitting." Now, I like the idea of quitting, because it seems so... done. Past tense. I painlessly, effortlessly distracted myself long enough to start regaining my senses of smell and taste, to run without gasping, to jog up stairs without dizziness, to wake up without chest pain and coughing. Now cigarette smoke and butts smell vile and the only reason I can imagine lighting up one of my remaining pack and bringing back all the awfulness I just escaped is a failure of all my PV equipment. (I've since added another Volcano battery & atomizer, three Sideshos, and a Janty Stick, and a Vapor King is in the mail. I'm in IT; I believe in multiple redundancy for critical systems.)
I really think I've done it. I didn't quit smoking, I just developed a stronger preference for something tastier, more convenient, cheaper, and decidedly less fatal.
So... thanks for existing, for being so full of information, so willing to share personal stories of "forgetting to smoke" for months or years. The inventors, manufacturers, and vendors are making a potentially life-saving product available, but it's the consumer communities like this one that bridge the gap between theory and real success.
I actually started researching ecigs for a friend who really wanted to turn an enforced cigarette hiatus (hospital stay) into a successful quit, but returned to smoking. She'd tried an "e-cigarette" but found it didn't kill her nicotine cravings and tasted bad, and although she had thought it had potential to help her quit, she was ultimately unsuccessful in replacing her tobacco and clove smoking with what was little more than an inert plastic tube. After hearing about how disappointing her ecig experience was, I thought there must surely be a better version out there and jumped into high-intensity GoogleFu mode. I kept ending up here, and kept learning. End result: I think I may have _accidentally_ quit smoking.
I've been smoking for almost 20 years; my record high was 6 packs a day. The psychology of my addiction is based in part on independence/rebellion; any suggestion that I should quit, internal or external, sends me running outside for a nice chain-smoking session just to prove/reassure myself that I can. Being without cigarettes generates panic. Being asked not to smoke here/now/so much makes me angrily critical in return. I'm not a good candidate for deciding to quit; even my doctor has given up really trying to get me to.
As I researched for my friend, I thought vaping sounded kind of fun. Tastier. Less stinky. Maybe I could add a vice... Less fatal. Maybe I could add a vice and accidentally-without-letting-myself-think-about-it reduce my actual tobacco smoking, without missing the nicotine or missing the physical, psychological, and social rituals. And without making myself angry at myself.
My friend was also told to give up her favorite soda, immediately, as an urgent health concern. She was struggling, feeling that giving up cigarettes _and_ her signature beverage was just too much to ask. I had seen cola-flavored ecig liquids and catridges mentioned here, so I set myself a mission to find her favorite flavor as vapor. In the process of finding it, and researching how to get it into her ecig, I discovered how truly abysmal an example of PVs her Smoke Assist is and how easy it would be to set her up with a better ecig experience. I also kept finding stories of people who had found quitting analogs easy and even pleasant by vaping instead. Great! That supported her initial optimism for the method. I very specifically didn't think too hard about my own addiction. That would spoil everything...
I bought a small Volcano starter kit: one battery, one atomizer, PCC, 25 carts. I chose "Blank" as one cart flavor, threw in a USB passthrough, and allocated the rest of two weeks' analog cig-money to flavors of liquid for the blanks. All in the name of _adding_ a vice - a more convenient alternative that might also help my friend quit smoking if I could find and provide her a better experience.
I haven't had a cigarette since the Volcano arrived. I knew I would initially be too entranced with the newness of all the flavors - four arriving with the kit, and another dozen or so sample sized spaced out over the next week - to feel much interest in the boring old tobacco-smoke version of my habit. I was sure I could distract myself from analogs enough to make it up in my budget and break even. I hoped in the secret recesses of my mind that I would trip over the same accident I'd read of others encountering. Adding a vice. Not quitting anything.
I'm hardly a tried-and-true ex-smoker after one week. But this is new and different... five days ago, I forgot to put a lighter in my back pocket. I had no form of fire on me for two days before I realized it. I'd been carrying my smokes, but had no way to light them. But I didn't feel my normal panic at the realization. I didn't care at all. But when I read that atomizers can break down - _then_ I panicked and ordered two more immediately! From everything I've experienced over the last four days, my addiction has transferred completely. Addictions, plural, I should say. Hand-to-mouth, the escapism of stepping outside, the social aspects of smoking and chatting with a smoker friend... all completely reassociated themselves to vaping instead. And _I want to not smoke_. Before, I would say that "I want to be quit, I just don't want to do the quitting." Now, I like the idea of quitting, because it seems so... done. Past tense. I painlessly, effortlessly distracted myself long enough to start regaining my senses of smell and taste, to run without gasping, to jog up stairs without dizziness, to wake up without chest pain and coughing. Now cigarette smoke and butts smell vile and the only reason I can imagine lighting up one of my remaining pack and bringing back all the awfulness I just escaped is a failure of all my PV equipment. (I've since added another Volcano battery & atomizer, three Sideshos, and a Janty Stick, and a Vapor King is in the mail. I'm in IT; I believe in multiple redundancy for critical systems.)
I really think I've done it. I didn't quit smoking, I just developed a stronger preference for something tastier, more convenient, cheaper, and decidedly less fatal.
So... thanks for existing, for being so full of information, so willing to share personal stories of "forgetting to smoke" for months or years. The inventors, manufacturers, and vendors are making a potentially life-saving product available, but it's the consumer communities like this one that bridge the gap between theory and real success.
I still dont HATE cigs, they aren't like, the anti-christ or something, but this is just better. Tastes better, I like the vapor better, I can breathe better and I smell better.
