No such thing as an ex-smoker

[MP2012]

I've come to the conclusion that the term ex-smoker is a fallacy, it doesn't exist. Once you are a smoker you will always be one. You may be choosing not to smoke, you may be vaping as opposed to smoking, but in the background, in a tiny piece of your brain, right in the back of your mind, you remember the good smokes.

I haven't had a cigarette for nearly 3 months, will be 3 months on the 23rd of this month and that's due to vaping. I need you to understand I was the epitome of smoking, I LOVED smoking, the way the smoke felt in my mouth, that first dawn smoke sitting outside my house with my cup of coffee; everyone knew I was a smoker and nobody believed i would ever stop.

I like vaping but sometimes feel it's not enough, its nothing to do with the flavours or the equipment, its difficult to put my finger on, I don't get that same kick or feeling as i did when i smoked, I even dream about smoking sometimes.

I put this post out there because it's more an admission of guilt (?) or at least a need to share what's in my head and nothing about the hardware of vaping. I would like to think I will never smoke again, that vaping will be my be all and end all of this particular addiction. But dammit, sometimes i just want a smoke.

 

[gsolo19564]

I do not agree. I consider myself a non smoker now. About 3 weeks ago I tried a cigarette for 'old times sake'. What a disappointment. I looked at my buddy who let me bum a drag and said 'How the ____ do you do that? That is horrible.' I smell people smoking and they stink. My wife hasn't completely quit smoking, down to 2-3 a day. I don't know how non smokers can kiss smokers. I almost got sick. I can say I don't have those urges to smoke anymore.
I think it is different for everyone and wish you the best of luck.

Thanks,

An ex-smoker

 

[Tracker II]

Here's my history:

- Smoked for 10 years
- Quit for next 11 years and ran 2 Chicago Marathons
- Smoked for the next 16 years (after buying a pack to keep me awake during a non-stop drive from Oregon to Chicago
- Quit smoking and have vaped for the past 2 years

I am now an ex-smoker because I'm in my late 50's and not only can't my body handle the smoking anymore, but my wallet can't either.

 

[juicejunky]

Quit smoking dreams. For me there were two kinds, the one where I am happy to be smoking and the bad one where I wake up smoking and am really ...... at myself since I quit. Before ecigs I had them regularly every time I tried to quit, even a year out. Never had one since I switched to vaping.

As a life long smoker I so know what you are talking about, but at 2 years I truly don't think of myself as a smoker anymore and never think about cigarettes at all. At the 3 month mark, I still did. I still get urges for some unexplainable extra kick once in a while, but strangely it's not for cigarettes. It passes quickly and is very infrequent now.

I am an addicted vaper and while I know never to say never, it is highly unlikely I'd go back to cigarettes.

Maybe having some really high nic juice around to use as your "cheat" vape would help. I used to do that to psychologically get over those urges. A little 2 ml bottle lasted me a year, I'd just drip a few for a high nic rush when I felt that way.


I say if you truly want a smoke, don't beat yourself up, just smoke one. At 3 months chances are you won't like it anymore and it's really easy to go back to vaping. Cigarettes taste awful compared to vaping, that tiny piece of your brain is lying to you.

 

[fishtaco]

Most ex smokers consider themselves Non smokers which is correct. Never smoked people quite often still consider a non smoker who has quit a smoker still "once a junkie always a junkie" its human nature for many to want to feel better in themselves than the next person and in the past few decades with anti smoking campaigns this has given non smokers a feeling of superiority over smokers.

The truth is if you are not smoking you are not smoking so fall under the non smoker banner.

The guilt smokers can feel is so deeply ingrained that its hard to ignore.

Many things in life are bad for us and others around us,this doesnt mean those things were never nice or pleasurable just because some have never tried or liked those thing?

You are a non smoker

Den

 

[Xamicon]

I am an Ex-Smoker. I am because I choose to be, and I must be. I still remember all the good times my pack(s) and I had, but I also remember the bad. The aching in my lungs every morning, the coughing all night every night, and especially the fact that every single time I got a cold it turned into bronchitis if I was lucky. Pneumonia because I am not. Lucky Strikes indeed! Congratulations on CHOOSING to be a fellow vaper, and stay away from those packs, no matter HOW friendly and familiar they look!

 

[albcig]

i loved smoking. nearly 2 packs a day. i still do love to feel the throat hit when i drink a coffee. but the smell and the cough were somethings that made me feel guilty after each cigarette so then i tried a tiny ecig. anyway 1.5 years after, here i am, enjoying the throat hit with the coffee without the horrible smell and the cough. quiting smoking is one of the hardest things in life. we should consider ourselves very lucky to have achieved that. and ofc spread the news to the people we care for.

 

[dnakr]

I have been vaping for 5 years now. My urge for cigarettes have long ago left me. I have no desire for them, nor do I ever think of them. I consider myself a non-smoker. I never thought I would be able to quit and now look at me - 5 years smoke free. Yep, I'm a non-smoker .

 

[juicejunky]

Here's my history:

- Smoked for 10 years
- Quit for next 11 years and ran 2 Chicago Marathons
- Smoked for the next 16 years (after buying a pack to keep me awake during a non-stop drive from Oregon to Chicago
- Quit smoking and have vaped for the past 2 years

I am now an ex-smoker because I'm in my late 50's and not only can't my body handle the smoking anymore, but my wallet can't either.

Wow quit for 11 years and went back. I forgot how good cigarettes were for keeping yourself awake on long drives. I always knew if I was smoking I wouldn't nod off.

 

[Jman8]

I think 'smoker' is the fallacy. Nicotine addict is closer to the reality.

As someone who still chooses to smoke, and vape, I think of myself as 'not smoking' when I'm not smoking. Seems pretty simple, really. But am clearly one who is addicted to nicotine.

When I went cold turkey for a good 8 years, I had dreams occasionally (they got less and less over time) where they were so convincing that I would wake up in the morning thinking that in recent days I had gone back to smoking and was determined to get a pack that day. That never happened cause like 20 minutes later, I saw the self deception at work. But is interesting nonetheless.

With all this said, I do concur with OP that vaping doesn't capture exact essence of smoking and that something is missing. I think it is flavor. You become an ex-smoker, and you despise the taste, just as non-smoker does. When you were smoker, you understood that, and felt it difficult to explain the flavor to non-smokers and not worth it. With vaping, flavor is at another level, but how many newbie vapers do you see coming into forums asking for something that matches their tobacco brand? I see it often. All experienced vapers know they'll never find that, not possible. It is simply an acquired taste. I hated it when I first started smoking and each time I went back. Flash forward 2 weeks later, and I had acquired the taste back, and enjoyed it. Still do. But as I sit here and puff on my cinnamon vape, I really really enjoy that as well. So, to me, it comes down to each (nic addict) to their own, without judgment. Unless acting like a nazi is of some interest to you.

 

[fishtaco]

Wow quit for 11 years and went back. I forgot how good cigarettes were for keeping yourself awake on long drives. I always knew if I was smoking I wouldn't nod off.

Try telling that to the families of all those who die each year from smoking in bed!

Smoking gives you less oxygen which makes you tired,smoking may occupy the tired mind for a few moments but i am sure a stong coffee would be better than a smoke?

Den

 

[Tmartin63]

In the grand scheme of things, I feel as long as we are not smoking real cigarettes, congratulations to us all. But I agree with MP2012, once a smoker always a smoker. I just chose not to smoke real cigarettes. I no longer inhale smoke, I inhale vapor. Do you consider an alcoholic an ex drinker? An alcoholic is an alcoholic, some chose not to drink. I will always consider myself a smoker, knowing that i could never stop inhaling something. For me it was never the nicotine, it is the throat hit. Hard to explain. But I crave the throat hit. I could vape 0 nicotine if it gave the throat hit. Just my two cents..... I still can't understand why cigarettes are legal and e cigs are under such scrutiny. Imagine the lives that could be saved if cigarettes were banned and the ONLY thing available were e cigs. Sorry didn't mean to get on the soap box.

 

[rjeatkrconley]

My question is......why do you care? Unless your filling out a health care questionnaire, why do you care? I smoked for 20+ years. Now i dont. What else matters?
Sent from my SGH-i667 using Board Express

 

[grandmato5]

You have to remember you haven't been away from cigarettes for very long yet. You smoked a whole lot longer then you have vaped and vaping is not the same as smoking so makes a lot of sense you are still missing things you got from smoking you wont ever get from vaping.

Since I started vaping I've gone through several different phases. It was fairly easy for me to quit smoking and enitrely switch to vaping BUT every once in a while a craving for a cigarette would still rear its ugly head for the first 9 month usually completely unexpectedly. Not too hard for me to resist but it still did happen. For the next year every once in a while I really missed smoking, No cravings, but a sadness for an old friend I really missed. That entire time I often said I would NEVER return to smoking BUT the reality was that IF vaping was taken away from me I'm not so sure that I couldn't have found myself easily smoking again in a moment of weakness. For me, once I past my two year vaping anniversary I've forgotten what smoking felt like and I no longer ever desire a cigarettes at all on any level anymore.

BUT I smoked for a lot of years and I know as much as I have no desire for it on any level anymore, an ex-smoker can again become a smoker if they aren't extremely careful. That's why I'm so grateful for vaping today. It allowed me to quit smoking and entirely switch to vaping. Vaping has allowed me to stop missing that old friend smoking. I no longer am addicted to nicotine although I do sometimes choose to use some. Today I still enjoy the actions of smoking that vaping allows me to do. Who knows if giving up vaping is in my future or not but I do know as long as I have the ability to vape IF I choose too there is absolutely NO danger that I will ever loose my ex-smoker status.

 

[juicejunky]

Try telling that to the families of all those who die each year from smoking in bed!

Smoking gives you less oxygen which makes you tired,smoking may occupy the tired mind for a few moments but i am sure a stong coffee would be better than a smoke?

Den

I never smoked in bed, but I drove some pretty long night shifts cross country and as long as I was smoking I could keep driving--maybe it was the paranoia of dropping a lit cigarette that kept me awake.

 

[Jman8]

To me, a huge difference with vaping is - I don't think relapse is entirely plausible with a vaper. But with someone that's gone cold turkey, it is very plausible that if you have just one to 4 smokes, you'll get back on that train and ride it for awhile. With vaping, you'd be like, 'yes, I like nicotine. A lot. But I prefer this flavor over here for getting that.' And even if you somehow manage to say get a pack and finish it, chances are high that with just a teeny tiny effort and some chain vaping, you'd not go back to heavy smoking.

 

[MP2012]

I don't know what nic levels people vape at, whether they have reduced or vape happily away at 36mg. I do know that if Big tobacco and whoever else is behind trying to get e-cigs banned gets their way, how many of the vapers of the world will remain off the smokes. I hope that day never comes when they ban my precious as they have done in Denmark, Singapore and just recently Malaysia. I don't want the day to come when Mr. Cutter's Choice comes knocking whispering promises in my ear about how it will be different this time, about how I've had a nice long break but it's time to come back to daddy...

 

[Rocketpunk]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you have to smoke cigarettes to be a smoker?

I'm not a smoker. I'm a vaper. I vape.

What about my grandfather who quit smoking cold turkey 30 years ago when my uncle went to college back in the early 80's? He smoked for thirty years before that time, and hasn't touched one since. He's still a smoker?

I don't agree with the OP, but meh.

I've come to the conclusion that the term ex-smoker is a fallacy, it doesn't exist. Once you are a smoker you will always be one. You may be choosing not to smoke, you may be vaping as opposed to smoking, but in the background, in a tiny piece of your brain, right in the back of your mind, you remember the good smokes.

I haven't had a cigarette for nearly 3 months, will be 3 months on the 23rd of this month and that's due to vaping. I need you to understand I was the epitome of smoking, I LOVED smoking, the way the smoke felt in my mouth, that first dawn smoke sitting outside my house with my cup of coffee; everyone knew I was a smoker and nobody believed i would ever stop.

I like vaping but sometimes feel it's not enough, its nothing to do with the flavours or the equipment, its difficult to put my finger on, I don't get that same kick or feeling as i did when i smoked, I even dream about smoking sometimes.

I put this post out there because it's more an admission of guilt (?) or at least a need to share what's in my head and nothing about the hardware of vaping. I would like to think I will never smoke again, that vaping will be my be all and end all of this particular addiction. But dammit, sometimes i just want a smoke.

 

[Faylool]

I actually know when I bummed a cigarette I reevaluated my feelings. I learned it was not what I was remembering at all. I know I can have a cigarette if I want but I don't want since learning its not what it was anymore. I am really glad they have WTA cape and a variety of nicotine levels because everyone is different. I vape high nicotine and a lot of it has WTA. I'm getting what I crave and not having to vape all day long.

 

[zapped]

I dont agree with the OP's post all and I certainly dont consider myself a smoker in either thought or action.

I do agree that some people dont see the need to change how they look at things in addition to giving up the analogs and that almost always leads to a relapse.

Ten step programs calling this being a dry drunk or dry addict.....youre only halfway there at that point and usually miserable.

The key to getting completely away from analogs for me has been finding my perfect setup first and then changing my outlook on life. It hasn't always been easy but its no different than someone changing careers after 20 years or deciding to go back to school.

Saying that the entire lot of us will always be smokers is like saying every Irish person in the world is a drunk. It simply isnt true.