One bad habit for another??

[deluxe]

I tell people I brush my teeth 3 times a day and I'm not giving up my toothpaste habit either! I don't feel like just nic in itself is terrible for me, based on what I've read about it. BUT I don't like the idea of nic dependency either because I'm afraid as long as I feel I need it, there is a chance I could go back to using analogs. If the fda does ban nic liquid or if they make it really inconvenient/expensive to get I don't want to be freaking out over it. So I have started using 0 nic juice as my main vape, and only drip a couple of drops of nic juice when I feel the need. This is working great for me! I find myself hardly using any of the nic juice at all and am confident at this point that I could switch to no nicotine at all without too much trouble, if I want to, eventually.

 

[charady]

When hubby and I started using the e cigarette, he was all for getting down to zero and then stopping altogether. I, on the other hand, said no way-there are way too many flavors to try! If I get down to zero, great, but its still yummy so I don't want to quit. Well, then hubby found out he liked tinkering in making mods and found out stuff tasted even better to him on higher volts-now his stance is wanting to get to zero with no plans of quitting vaping lol. Go figure!

Btw, he went to zero a little too quickly-worked for a week or so but he needs more nicotine. So just go slowly as you drop down (I am at 4, 6, or 8, depending on the vendor I use). It is working great for me at this point. Heck, two days of being sick and no vaping at all and I wasn't even having a nic fit at all!

 

[jstcroix]

I am using dr. pepper but the problem is that the supplier I get it from lives in Canada bc and has no online store. If you would be really interested I can see if there's a possible way to get it to you. Just let me know. The Dr. Pepper I have is 18mg nic. and cost 8 dollars per 30ml bottle.

 

[denali_41]

i quit the analogs at 24mg 3 months ago,,and shortly after 24mg was way to strong,,i am now down to 12mg or less,,,

aiming for zero,,if i keep vapin when i hit zero ??? that remains to be seen

 

[hdviggy]

Stacey,

Dont be so hard on yourself! You have made a huge impact in your habit(and health), period! Nicotine may be common shared element between analog cigs and digital cigs, but thats the only one.

I personally think that nicotine alone is alot easier to quit then you think.... Its all the other chemicals that make the habit so hard to break. (Commonly found in analog cigs)

I have been smoking for 20+ years, then switched to vaping 3 weeks ago... sure i have had urges, but they really dont last long. I started vaping at 24mg and about 5 days ago went down to 8mg. No problems.

I consider myself an average e-smoker, here is my consumption:

Week-Ends : 2.5mls to 3.5mls
Week-Days : 2.0mls to 2.5mls

i dont want to quit nicotine, i dont want to quit smoking, i do want to quit killing myself. I get power in understanding my addiction, knowing that its about 4000x safer then traditional cigs... I will not go back to regular cigs...

 

[swedishfish]

I have also been vaping like I smoked. I only go outside to vape. I do not want to get into the habit of sitting here at my computer with an e-cig any more than I do with a cig. I guess it's fear that vaping is to good to be true and will be found to be even more dangerous than smoking. I have read all of the research and right now it seems to be a better alternative to smoking, but there was a time when smoking analogs was not considered dangerous either. I mean, I have a picture of my mom sitting on a hospital bed 9 months pregnant with me and about to give birth at any second and she had a cig in her mouth and the ash tray sitting right next to her. lol So I guess it goes back to the old saying "if its sounds to good to be true, chances are it is."

Try quitting then.

 

[swedishfish]

Stacey, I'm with you. I'm new to vaping, it helps me stay off tobacco, but I think fearing it's "too good to be true" is the correct skeptical stance. In our journey for knowledge, too many times did we find out that whatever was considered "common sense" at one time was indeed completely false. Some go as far as to say that in science, our "gut feelings" end up being wrong a majority of times. It's "common sense" that vapor can't be as harmful as cigarette smoke, but that doesn't mean at all that given time and data we won't discover it's as bad or worse, or still not as bad but worse than we thought. A hundred years ago, nobody would have imagined smoking was as bad for you as we know it is now.

On the flipside, the current "common sense" is that all addictions are bad for you and you should try to be addiction free. This is a mix of puritan remnant and hasty generalization (the most "visible" addictions around are really bad), but it's not necessarily true. In fact, there is a lot of misunderstanding about what is an addiction, as opposed to chemical dependence, habit or "abuse". I think it's very bad that nowadays both scientists and policy makers replace prejudice and belief for knowledge and evidence in dealing with this subject.

I also happen to think it's probably incorrect to encourage people to vape by stating "vaping is harmless / won't kill you / is healthy". A lot of it comes from the marketing, unfortunately. I think if you browse this forum and linked resources you will find a more balanced overall approach.

huh?

 

[dearme]

Well, I don't eat processed food, fast food, soy products, or drink sodas. I take lots of vitamins and supplements so I'm generally considered a health nut, and a very healthy one at that.....LOL..........I vape 24 mg, and may, or may not, lower the nicotine, but I don't intend to quit vaping or quit using nicotine. I don't feel like I'm addicted to vaping, but I like my personality and mental state much better with nicotine.

 

[peacegirl64]

I liked smoking but I love vaping. Habit and addiction. I'm okay with that. No carcinogens, no cough, no nasty odors, great air exchange, no weight gain. Smoked for 30 years. Vaping for3 months and will happily vape for the rest of my life as long as I'm off the analogs. Habit? Addiction? Either way I'm cool.

 

[TonyTT]

I personally don't believe that vaping is bad for you. Maybe the OP just wants to eliminate all addictions.

Still don't understand that...I feel some people go slightly zen, they think they quit smoking, so they feel they've overcome this hurdle, and then they lock on the next thing that looks like smoking. We're all vaping, because we didn't have the strength to quit smoking for realz...I can understand weaning yourself off of it, but this is a process that should take years, but when I my friend tells me he's going to get zero nic next time and it's only been a couple weeks, I expect him to go back to analogs...

 

[funkfist]

My bad habits progression: Cigarettes -> cigarillos -> pipe -> domestic cigars -> cuban cigars -> hookah -> ecig 36mg -> 24mg -> 10mg -> 0mg -> back to hookah again. They are all bad habits and I see myself visiting the ecig again in the future but right now I'm back to an occasional hookah smoke. It's all an addiction to nicotine and you stay with whatever you make yourself stick to. I've went to 0 nic and I got cravings so I'm using hookah to replace the cravings.

 

[TonyTT]

Most of us smoked because we have addictive personalities...Replacing an addiction with another addiction works. But getting rid of all of them to try and be perfect is robbing many of us of a coping mechanism. When you tell me you want to get rid of all your habits. I assume two things. 1, you're doing really well at vaping and feel good about yourself. and 2, since you feel on top of the world, you think the rest of your life is going to be smooth sailing from here on out.

 

[swedishfish]

Still don't understand that...I feel some people go slightly zen, they think they quit smoking, so they feel they've overcome this hurdle, and then they lock on the next thing that looks like smoking. We're all vaping, because we didn't have the strength to quit smoking for realz...I can understand weaning yourself off of it, but this is a process that should take years, but when I my friend tells me he's going to get zero nic next time and it's only been a couple weeks, I expect him to go back to analogs...

And I don't understand people that enjoy flogging themselves.

 

[Nikkita6]

I would love to go 0 mg but scared to. I think its to soon since I quit smoking to try it. I will eventually though. IMO, if I can't get down to 0 mg nic, I feel like all I have done was trade one bad habit for another.

One of the main reasons I wanted to quit smoking was because I was so tired of being a prisoner to cigarettes. Planning my day around my smokes. A real pain in the hiney. Well, I may not be smoking cigarettes, but my day is still planned around vaping. A healthier alternative, I am happy for. I would eventually love to be able to say I am nicotine free.

I am inclined to agree with you, and it does puzzle me a bit that many vapers are content to vape high levels of nicotine with no intent of cutting down, because like you said, isn't this just trading one addiction for another?

When I started vaping I used zero nicotine and continued to smoke a few analogs a day (4-6) ... prior to vaping I smoked 1/2pack a day . 6 months later I began vaping 6mg nic juice a) because I wanted to stop analogs all together and b) this was the only level of nic that I could actually handle without choking.

Because vaping does not include the many other carcinogens that cigarettes do, we as vapers have every reason to believe that it may be a "safer" alternative to smoking, but to say it is "Healthier" ???

What is Healthy about a life long addiction and dependency to Nicotine, which is a known poison??? ... doesn't matter what the form of delivery is. Last time I checked, an addiction/dependency to any person, place, substance or thing is not Healthy.

I am the most impressed by the stories of ECF members who not only quit smoking analogs, but also eventually weened off the Nic juice all together, and there are several such members. So I say look to these members as inspiration because they are the only one's who can truly claim success with a Healthier Alternative.

 

[hdviggy]

Still don't understand that...I feel some people go slightly zen, they think they quit smoking, so they feel they've overcome this hurdle, and then they lock on the next thing that looks like smoking. We're all vaping, because we didn't have the strength to quit smoking for realz...I can understand weaning yourself off of it, but this is a process that should take years, but when I my friend tells me he's going to get zero nic next time and it's only been a couple weeks, I expect him to go back to analogs...

Thank god if he does relapse there are "vapor" options, just support him either way!

I dont really know why there is a push to quit nicotine, when it wasnt the thing hurting analog smokers, it was the other 4000+++ "things"!

 

[lamar]

vape more, Staceylt40, vape more.

 

[lamar]

And I don't understand people that enjoy flogging themselves.

Heeeyyy! I love a good flog!

 

[Sweeney Todd]

Because vaping does not include the many other carcinogens that cigarettes do, we as vapers have every reason to believe that it may be a "safer" alternative to smoking, but to say it is "Healthier" ???

What is Healthy about a life long addiction and dependency to Nicotine, which is a known poison??? ... doesn't matter what the form of delivery is. Last time I checked, an addiction/dependency to any person, place, substance or thing is not Healthy.

You're entitled to your opinion and I respect that, but I totally disagree with you.

EVERYTHING is a known poison. Excessive water intake is fatal. Artificial sweeteners kill rats if you give them enough to fall out of solution and form crystals in their bodies. Whether something's poisonous 'in theory' doesn't matter one whit to me. Do you avoid tomatoes because they contain nicotine?

Vaping is healthier than smoking. Nobody's saying it's "healthy" in the abstract. Is it healthier than Chantix, which has a laundry list of side effects? I just say, "It's safer than smoking", because it is, I'm not inhaling burning things.

So, I think what you're really talking about is MENTAL health, not physical health, when you say it's unhealthy to be dependent on a substance. No offense, but you don't get to make that call about MY mental health as long as the chemical in question is legal. My physical health? Sure, you get an opinion on that, if we're friends or relatives.

I'm absolutely dependent on caffeine and on getting enough protein every 3-4 hours to avoid a sugar crash. I am also dependent on nicotine. Heck, I get so much more done when my wife's around than when I'm alone, maybe I'm dependent on her, too I'm comfortable with these things. You may not be. Personal choice.

Hope you don't take this as an attack -- you feel strongly about it, and so do i.

 

[polyfoam]

I recently ordered several different flavours at 18mg nic since I thought I could just dilute them. Now I'm finding that diluting them really ruins the flavour. Should have just grabbed an 11 or 8mg. :\

 

[Staceylt40]

I liked smoking but I love vaping. Habit and addiction. I'm okay with that. No carcinogens, no cough, no nasty odors, great air exchange, no weight gain. Smoked for 30 years. Vaping for3 months and will happily vape for the rest of my life as long as I'm off the analogs. Habit? Addiction? Either way I'm cool.

I just said that this morning to my husband. LOL Every time I have quit in the past, I have gained 20 or so pounds in no time at all. This morning I weighed after being a week without analogs and whoa..... lost 4 pounds. Holy Cow!!! I love it.