Pack a day for 20+ years

[Yaker]

Simple question, maybe.
To anyone who has successfully made the switch after smoking a pack a day for 20+ years, how did you do it? I tried several years ago without success, but I know things have come a long way. So what model, juice, etc... got you off the cigs?
Thanks,
Yaker

 

[RoseJ]

innokin endura t18. From the first time I used it, I never smoked again, and I hadn't even planned it! juice ... I DIY, so it's very custom to my own tastes.

 

[Dextrose]

Hello @Yaker and welcome to ECF i smoked a pack and a half for about 25 years, trying all sorts of things to quit but nothing worked till i started vaping, i started with a very simple ego batt and CE4 clearo, didnt take too long to upgrade, then went the way of the mech and dripper, that is what realy made it work for me, my juice of choice was a nice vanilla custard.

 

[Firestorm]

I smoked a PAD for about 21 years. I had purchased a V2 cigalike for short-term nicotine replacement for a short family trip. I used the cigalike on and off for about five months until I decided that I really wanted to quit smoking by switching to vaping. It took about 10 days of gradually smoking less and less until my very last one almost four years ago (that first smoke in the morning with my coffee was the hardest to quit). I've certainly upgraded my gear since then, but all it took me was motivation and a pair of cigalikes with crummy juice in pre-filled cartomizers. Fortunately, there is much better starter gear now than back then.

 

[Amphieuss]

HI and welcome,

Ive been smoking for about 25 years , ended up smoking about 3 packs a day. Until November 2015.

I started with a simple E-sig 18mg (refillable) , didn't take long to upgrade to a Eleaf Basic 20W. Now ordered a SMOK XCUBE 2 With a Griffin25 tank 6.2ML . I smoke lots of juices most with a menthol/mint element in it. I make my own juices with PG,VG and Flavourings.

Started at 18mg and now am down to 3mg nicotine.

 

[Yaker]

Mech and dripper, what is that? I don't mind spending, but I want it to be something that will work, and oh Dextrose, what was the juice you used to quit with?. RoseJ, "nice name" what strength did you start with?
thank you so much,
Yaker

 

[smilodon_fatalis]

Hello and welcome!
I have been off analogs for a little over 2 years after 25+ years of a pack a day. I know everyone has a different experience/perspective but here's what worked for me.
I was able to finally quit (after trying and failing with cigalikes several times) with a couple itaste vv 3s and Vision Spinners with protank minis and trying MANY different flavors of ejuice. I found 5-6 favorites after some trial and error. (Mount Baker Vapor and Vape Moar have some decent flavors for great prices - you won't break the bank trying out several). They do tend to be more sweet and light, but sometimes that's just what I need
If you like a tobacco flavor, I have to recommend Halo Tribeca (I no longer use it, but I would not have been able to quit without it!) It's a nutty vanilla smooth tobacco aka RY4. It has great throat hit, which is what I was missing with earlier attempts to quit.
I am also partial to Nicoticket's Virus, Radioactive, and Wakonda.
I started at 12 or 18 nic strength to curb the cravings, but I am now at 2-3 mg.
At first I allowed myself a cigarette in the am and after dinner, but they soon started to taste awful and I was able to quit completely after a week or two. I still crave them once in a while, and I still have dreams that I am smoking and I wake up feeling guilty. Lol.
Now I have several istick mini 30w and nautilus mini tanks and they have worked great for months. I just ordered my first provari mini and plan to stick with these for the foreseeable future. With all these state and federal regulations now is a good time to dig in and find out what you like.

tldr: allow yourself transition time if needed, take a risk to try a few flavors, decide if you want flavor or clouds, or both, and beware that it becomes a quest to find more and more shiny and tasty!
Good Luck!

 

[Baditude]

I smoked Marlboro Menthol, at least one pack per day, for over 30 years. During the last 10 of those years I had tried nicotine patches/gum, prescription drugs, and even hypnosis to try to quit. None of those worked.

One day back in 2012 I stopped into my convenience store to buy another pack of cigs when I saw my first e-cig, an NJoy disposable ciga-like. I bought it and tried it. It wasn't great, but wasn't too bad either. I knew there must be something a little better or sophisticated out there, so I got on the internet and started researching. Along the way I found ECF.

I ended up buying a ciga-like starter kit from Smoke-less Image. It would get me off of cigarettes within a week. I knew that I would have cravings while trying to quit, so I allowed myself a few cigarettes a day. If I felt a craving, I'd vape more. If that didn't help, I'd smoke HALF of a cigarette, and save the rest. I continued with this practice for a week. Those partially-smoked butts were real nasty, but that helped me to quit. By the end of the week I began to prefer the vape over the smoke. I haven't touched or smoked a cigarette since.

Within a month I discarded the ciga-likes for my first mod. A better battery device and a better juice delivery attachment, and I haven't looked back. I've been smoke-free for over four years and don't miss the cigarettes a bit.

I started with a menthol flavor with 24mg nicotine. It made me cough a lot, but veterans here on ECF said that it was too high of nicotine. I dropped down to 18mg with better results. Within a couple of months I was down to 12mg and stayed there for a couple of years.

I have dropped my nicotine from 12mg down to 3mg over the last year or two. I could probably go nicotine-free at this point, but I am still addicted to the "behavior".

The following blog articles may help you out, and welcome to ECF.

Good Starter Setups for a Beginner Vaper

• Typical starter setups recommended for a new vaper. Includes a video on the use of an eGo variable voltage battery/clearomizer and of the iStick and MVP mods.

Advancing Up the Vaping Ladder

• From cigalike batteries, to eGo's, to mods. Another picture dictionary of terminology and form factors for beginning vapers.

Proper Terminology: Is it a carto, a tank, or what? A Guide to Juice Delivery Devices

• A picture dictionary for beginners with descriptions of clearomizers, nano's, drip atomizers, bottom feeding mods, cartomizers, cartotanks, and RBA's (rebuildable atomizers). Includes video demos/reviews of all devices.

 

[janiegrl]

I smoked for nearly 40 years, 2 PAD for the last ten years or so.

I started vaping with an EVOD and 24 mg juice. That was pretty good, but not quite good enough. I very quickly bought an iStick 30W and a mini nautilus, and that was even better. I found 24 mg was too much with that set up, so I dropped down to 18 mg, then down again to 12. One store I visit carries 9 instead of 12, and I don't notice a difference. I may try dropping to 6 soon.

I do still smoke 2 cigs a day. It's not an addiction/nicotine thing. I think there's something in me that just isn't ready to be a non-smoker yet. I'll give those up eventually, but still, 2 a day is a lot better than 40 a day!

 

[RoseJ]

RoseJ, "nice name" what strength did you start with?

I probably simplified my answer too much. I had started using cigalikes (Green Smoke), and they didn't work well for me at all. I then tried some VaporFi pens (and juice) which was better, but I wasn't able to cut the cigarettes down to less than 10 per day (from 40).

I joined ECF, and it was the best thing I ever did, because I got some awesome advice and support. I started DIY, and I think I started at 12mg/ml. I kept seeing posts about the Innokin Endura T18 being good for quitting, so I ordered one. The day I got it, I loaded it up, puffed on it, told my husband that I think I can quit with this, then accidentally never had another cigarette.

These days I still use the Endura when I'm out because it's very pocketable, but I recently took my husband's long-time advice and started using the Provari, which I love. I'm also down to 1.5mg/ml, which was pretty easy to do.

The best thing you did was to join ECF. You will find the right device for you, and juice. Just keep asking questions. I did, and I can't begin to tell you how much help I got from these good folks.

Welcome, and good luck!

 

[Baditude]

I do still smoke 2 cigs a day. It's not an addiction/nicotine thing. I think there's something in me that just isn't ready to be a non-smoker yet. I'll give those up eventually, but still, 2 a day is a lot better than 40 a day!

We have a saying here on ECF:

"It's not how many cigarettes that you smoke a day that's important, it's how many you DON'T smoke that is."

 

[Yaker]

Wow, great advice here!
I'm curious how you know when 24mg is too much? My naïve thinking would be the stronger the better.

 

[Yaker]

Just a few minutes and I'm Hooked, on ECF I mean

 

[janiegrl]

I'm curious how you know when 24mg is too much? My naïve thinking would be the stronger the better.

For me, I wanted the hand-to-mouth action of vaping, but I felt like I couldn't vape any more. Like I do when I smoke too much. So dropping my nic allows me to vape as much as I want. You need enough nic to not want a cigarette, but a low enough level that you can vape as much as you want. I was a 2 PAD smoker, so I really feel a need for that hand to mouth action. You'll probably want to experiment and adjust the nic level to whatever works best for you.

 

[Baditude]

Wow, great advice here!
I'm curious how you know when 24mg is too much? My naïve thinking would be the stronger the better.

Too high of nicotine will cause coughing and be a very harsh vape, so harsh that you won't want to vape. It may also cause headaches or nausea or upset stomach.

Typical beginner nicotine strengths:

1/2 pack per day or less = 6 mg nicotine
1 ppd = 12 mg
1 1/2 ppd = 18 mg
2 ppd = 24 mg​

 

[beckah54]

Welcome to the forum Yaker!

I quit tobacco cigarettes with a cig-alike Njoy that I picked up at a truck stop in June 2009. I had tried nicotine patches, Chantix, and Wellbutrin. None of them worked long term. I even quit cold turkey for three months. I missed smoking and the hand-to-mouth habit. Maybe I was just ready to quit, but those wimpy Njoy ecigs got me off of cigarettes. They were weak and I didn't get much vapor but they filled my need for nicotine. I read a lot here and moved up to better devices over time.

I smoked 1-1 1/2 pack a day for 42 years and finding ecigs was one of the best things I ever did for myself along with finding ECF.

I wish you the best of luck!

 

[retired1]

Wow, great advice here!
I'm curious how you know when 24mg is too much? My naïve thinking would be the stronger the better.

I started off at 24mg and started to lower the strengths until I got to 6mg. When the overwhelming urge to find hiding spots for bodies got to be too much, I went back to 24mg. Been at that strength since then and have no intentions of lowering it.

 

[djsvapour]

I started with 24mg and it didn't work.
No surprise really, vaping at 3-4 watts at most.
Then used 18mg with a 7-8 watt device. That worked.

 

[bigdancehawk]

TL/DR version: I wouldn't recommend anything I used back in the day. These now obsolete products enabled me to quit smoking, but there's much better stuff to be had.

I started smoking 45 years ago and worked my way up to over a pack a day. I tried all the usual quitting methods, e.g., cold turkey, hypnotism, wellbutrin, inspirational books, patches and gum. Nothing worked, so I figured I might as well enjoy smoking until it killed me.

Then along came cigalikes, so I tried various brands. Totally unsatisfactory. So I smoked for another year.

To answer you question directly, about 5 years ago I found more advanced products such as EGOs, Vision Spinners and later some made by Kangertech and Aspire (there are much better products available now). With virtually no effort on my part, I completely quit smoking after only a week. I do not miss smoking and have no cravings. I started with 36 mg/ml of 50pg/50vg tobacco flavor, specifically Red Luck from MyFreedomSmokes. Sorta tastes like cigarettes. Sorta. Vaped that exclusively for a couple of years and then dabbled with other flavors. Didn't find anything I was crazy about--too much like candy. Then I found some nice liquids at a local vape shop: banana nut muffin and breakfast blend (coffee flavor). Vaped those for over a year.

Now I DIY and have made all kinds of flavors. My nic strength is now 8mg. My current mods include a custom made bottom feeder ("squonker") made from exotic wood, REOS squonkers, iStick Pico, several other iSticks and a ProVari. Toppers include two "nuppin" BFAs with two more on the way (get your order in by tomorrow if you want a chance at one), TopTank Mini, Kayfuns (v5 and v3 Mini), Serpent Mini, Bellus, Griffin, Steam Crave, the good ol' Nautilus and Kangertech Aerotank 2. All of these are capable of providing a satisfying vape, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Nuppins on squonkers are my favorites.

Without going into a lot of detail, the improvements in my health have been remarkable.

If you have any questions, there are lots of people more knowledgeable than I who will happily offer advice and support.

 

[siren.6]

I smoked for about 22 years, about a pack a day. I purchased a pen style vape with a 12 mg caramel tobacco juice. That was all I needed. The sweet taste of the caramel made the cigs taste horrible. Within two days of my first vape, I was finished with cigs. I have craved a cig a couple times but just pushed through. It has been a little over a year since I quit.

I am now at a 6 mg and prefer flavorless. I just recently switched to a MOD.