On the fence.........AGAIN!

[shannonekgs]

I tried the ecig a few months ago and liked it I never quite smoking all together but cut back quite a bit. After getting a little frustrated with the ecig and refilling my own I started smok ing more and using the ecig less. Jump ahead a couple months and I came down with a bad case of bronchitis. Today would of been my 13 day of not smoking, I was so sick I couldn't smoke or use the ecig. I put a patch on and was fine. Well not that I'm feeling better I want to smoke in a very very bad way. I smoked 3 cigs yesterday and one today. It tastes like crap and my lungs were feeling heavy last night. I had a bad craving last night and used my ecig it worked on the craving but I still couphed up a lung the first few hits.

It makes sense everything I've read about the ecig but it seems so much like smoking I find myself still tempted to smoke and wonder if it really is that much better than smoking. It probably is but no one can be sure can they? You are still putting at least 3 foriegn substances in your lungs. I know that is better than the thousands you put in your lungs while smoking.

Right now I am stuck debating between putting a patch on ( After I smoke I realize it's not all that and it makes it easier the rest of the day) Using my ecig. Or just giving up all together.

 

[UntamedRose]

If you can Quit Quit and be totally free of all these addictions and bad habits...by all means Go for it!!!

Way I look at it...Vaping most defiantly is a step up from smoking...but Not doing any of this stuff is the best thing you can do.

I Vape..b/c I cant Not do anything. Think that I am as addicted to the actions of having something in my hand, inhaling and exhaling as much as I am the chemicals.

 

[Israfil]

I'm sorry you're having a hard time with it. I'm sick too, so I know the feeling. I would say the cravings could probably be calmed a bit with products like snus if you really need your alkaloids... they're said to be less harmful than analogs.

If your wish is to quit analogs entirely, the best way I've found is to focus on how horrible they taste. Tell your mind you don't like them and they make you want to gag. Aversion therapy! ^_^ Try to focus on the scent and taste...and if you can, make em out to be even worse than they are.

If you don't actually wish to quit analogs entirely...then don't! It is your decision to make...don't feel pressured to do anything, you'll feel a lot better knowing that everything is in your hands.

As for the foreign substances...we already inhale water vapor pretty consistently in any humid area, PG is used in food products, VG is used in food products...the flavors are literally food flavoring. Nicotine is known to have an adverse effect on the heart, but other than that you're good.

 

[wenchy69]

sorry you've been sick. if you feel you are able to.... i'd say quit altogether. as you say, we don't know for sure if vaping is all that safe. i choose to do it because i believe it has to be better than analogs and all those horrid cancer causing chemicals, but when you get down to it, our lungs were only designed to inhale nothing but clean, fresh air.... vaping certainly isn't that!
i wish you well.

 

[shannonekgs]

Thanks! It would be wonderful to quit everything. Just don't know if I can do it. It makes me mad that I'm so weak! I think I will try and use my ecig most of the day and see how it goes.

 

[GrandPoobah]

I went through a similar process... twice.

I fist picked up an ecig when I was really desperate to quit. I could feel my smokers cough getting worse. Sadly I got a Smoke Everywhere at the mall. That lasted about 3 days and the device was so bad that I went back to cigs. A few months later I tried again with a 510 I got from totally wicked. That worked out great for like two weeks but I got so frustrated with dealing with carts and carrying a rag that I stopped again. I had tried all the carts mods, but IMHO they are work-arounds for a problem that really has never really been resolved.

In the end I got a drip tip and I could not be happier. I'd prefer not to have to "load up" all the time, but its so much better than carts and less to deal with. Some people love the "art" of e-cigs, but I personally found it frustrating. Especially when on the go.

Obviously quitting nic outright is the best thing you can do, but as you can see from the amount of activity on this board, many of us cant make that clean break. If you're still smoking butts, I cant see an argument not to switch to e-cigs.

 

[wenchy69]

Thanks! It would be wonderful to quit everything. Just don't know if I can do it. It makes me mad that I'm so weak! I think I will try and use my ecig most of the day and see how it goes.

nonsense! you are not weak! smoking is an extremely hard addiction to quit. just being able to cut down is awesome, so do what you can and try not to be hard on yourself. you may very well find that after a while of vaping, you no longer want analogs, and after some time you may no longer want to vape. just go slow and see what happens.

 

[Happy Domino38]

nonsense! you are not weak! smoking is an extremely hard addiction to quit. just being able to cut down is awesome, so do what you can and try not to be hard on yourself. you may very well find that after a while of vaping, you no longer want analogs, and after some time you may no longer want to vape. just go slow and see what happens.

What wenchy said.

Studies have determined that it is more difficult to quit smoking cigarettes than it is to quit using ....... But, you don't see any Dr. Drew Celebrity Rehab episodes focusing on quitting SMOKING.

It MIGHT have been a case of 'mind over matter' 50 years ago to quit. But, that was before they started adding all the additional chemicals to GREATLY increase the addictive properties in tobacco and nicotine.

Vaping ISN'T the same as breathing fresh, clean air but, on the other hand, I think it's interesting that a lot of large institutions, (including schools and hospitals) are looking into a way of 'bathing' some rooms in a PG 'fog' to eliminate some types of bacteria.

And while, yes, dripping and refilling carts can be a PITA, consider this, you CAN'T smoke cigarettes that taste like your favorite coffee or taste exactly like a wonderful piece of candy! (Tasty Vapers Atomic Cinnacide jumps to mind!) THEN, think about the 'wasted time' we ALL did running to the store for a pack, a lighter or an ashtray. How many times have you had to 'toss' your car looking for a lighter? I won't even go INTO all the times we had to pack our gear up to run outside, in inclement weather, to have a cigarette!

At THIS point, IMHO, it boils down to a case of 'pick your poison'. If you CAN'T completely quit smoking, THAT'S OKAY. If you're cutting back on the analogs, PAT YOURSELF ON THE BACK AND STOP TORTURING YOURSELF!!

YOU'RE DOING GREAT!!

 

[davidsipes]

A lot of people use the patch while using their ecig.

 

[Happy Domino38]

A lot of people use the patch while using their ecig.

NOT a good idea, btw...

 

[spaky]

NOT a good idea, btw...

Why not? I mean I wouldn't recommend using high strength juice and the patch, but why not the patch and low or no nicotine?

 

[Blaze]

Try snus to help calm those cravings. You can get a free sampler from Get snus at GetSnus.com. See if it works out for you, as it helped me finally kick the analog habit, and that's from 2-2.5 packs a day. Just keep with it, it took me 3 months to finally "quit", but the effort is WELL worth it

 

[Blaze]

Why not? I mean I wouldn't recommend using high strength juice and the patch, but why not the patch and low or no nicotine?

WAY too much nicotine intake all at once. It WILL make you incredibly sick. I found this out the hard way

 

[spaky]

How is using snus and vaping that different than using the patch and vaping?

 

[soarer425]

I fist picked up an ecig when I was really desperate to quit. I could feel my smokers cough getting worse. Sadly I got a Smoke Everywhere at the mall...

...In the end I got a drip tip and I could not be happier. I'd prefer not to have to "load up" all the time, but its so much better than carts and less to deal with.

Wow that's my story exactly! Except the drip tip (mines on order )

Seriously though, it is super hard to quit and takes a lot of will. For a while when vaping I would bum the occasional cig from my buddies, but now, a few of my closest friends have switched to vaping also so we can't bum off each other.

Stick with it, use a combination that works for you. Like said previously, even cutting down your intake of analogs is an achievement.

 

[dhowardpeters]

WAY too much nicotine intake all at once. It WILL make you incredibly sick. I found this out the hard way

How is using snus and vaping that different than using the patch and vaping?

Can you answer that, BLaze, or anybody? I'm interested, as Spaky seemed to be recommending patches and low or no nic vaping.

 

[Happy Domino38]

Can you answer that, BLaze, or anybody? I'm interested, as Spaky seemed to be recommending patches and low or no nic vaping.

If you want to use a patch and then take up ZERO nic vaping, go ahead. I don't think that's the OP's desire though..

Patches are designed to CONTINUALLY deliver nicotine into the blood stream. Vaping, like smoking, delivers it in 'bursts' (for lack of a better description..). So, you're essentially SPIKING nic intake by vaping WITH nic in the juice and you WILL get ill.

If you're looking to get off analogs and are having a bit of a struggle, I wouldn't suggest ordering 0 nic juice to QUIT analogs. If you can get yourself off the analogs and decide that you don't want to do ANYTHING, decrease your nic level over time. WEAN yourself off nic, why torture yourself?

 

[Happy Domino38]

To go slightly off-topic here, I had NO desire to quit smoking. I wasn't having any health problems, I LOVED smoking. I fell into e-cigs, strictly by accident, but I was one of the 'admitted' lucky ones. I was able to make the transition rather painlessly after finding a flavor I enjoyed, etc.

I think a lot more people MAY be able to give up analogs altogether if they just didn't HAMMER themselves thinking they MUST quit. No one, (with the exception of yourself), is going to try to take you out behind the barn and do away with you if you pick up the odd cigarette.

My 0.02..

 

[shannonekgs]

Thanks Everyone! I guess quiting isn't a huge hurry like I've made it out to be. I was just disapionted in myself a little. I had not smoked for 12 days and then to smoke?? But I was also very sick with bronchitis and really had no choice. I do have a patch on now and am doing ok. My lungs feel like crap after smoking today.

I have hit my pv a time or 2 with the patch on. I figure if each ananlog has 2-3 mg of nic and I smoke 18 a day that's at least 36 mg a day. If I have on a 21mg patch I have a little leeway. But wouldn't want to do it unless I was really needing it and not more than a couple times.

Just heard Sun. about a woman who put on every patch in the box at once and died. Didn't hear the whole story though. Couldn't believe it.

 

[mini_art]

If you are fed up with the filling, dripping etc, why not just get a kr808 and buy filled cartomizers. No mess no fuss.
I give you all the credit in the word if you can quit with the patches though