Phycology of quitting analogs

[NealBJr]

Looks like I came on this thread a bit late, but I might's well share what worked for me.

I'm Neal, and I was a smoker for 20 years. I smoked a pack to a pack and a half per day. The brand varied every few years, as well as the tar/nic level. Marlboro lights, marlboro reds, Winstons, Carlton 100 ultra lights, Dorals, etc... all were my "regulars" at one time. I never really tried to quit... and that means I never REALLY tried.. I would see how long I could go without one, but not really to the point of saying "I am going to quit". Through the years,I did notice my wheezing would get worse, coughing would get worse, etc. I did try to reduce the tar/nicotine by switching to Carlton 100's ultra lights, but that went away when cigarette prices were raised so high, I decided to smoke whatever was cheapest.

I did see those Blu adds... "smoke anywhere", but I thought then that Ecigs were more of a "to look cool" type thing, and never took them seriously. I thought it was an expensive fad... those Blu cigs were like $60 for a start up... so I never tried them. For about 10 years, my policy was.. I only smoked outdoors. I used to smoke inside, and it did horrible things to a computer. I would smoke in my car, but even that quit when we sold my car and got a new one.. it did horrible things to the inside of the car window as well. So, I would smoke outdoors only.. at home, or anywhere else.

One day while shopping, I saw an ecig starter kit... only $20(Metro Ecigs). That was much less than the Blu cigs, so I figured I would quench my curiosity this one time, and not think of ecigs after I've tried them. Well, that night, I vaped almost a whole cartridge. Since you can "smoke anywhere" I decided to vape indoors. for the rest of the night, I didn't smoke except for right before bed. I repeated the incidence the next day... I didn't smoke all night while vaping, except for bed. I was surprised to see how it curbed the cravings somewhat. I figured I would give Ecigs a try.. so I bought a second $20 kit, and some cartridges.

The Ecigs almost overnight cut my cravings from a pack per day to about 3-4 per day. They tasted sweet, and not much like a cigarette. They never did fully get rid of the cravings. I bought a third kit, since most of the time the ecigs were dying off before the other one was charged. This went on for a few months. The cartridges were fairly expensive, and the battery life just wasn't good enough. I did learn you could refill those cartridges one or two times more before having to chuck them. I did some research and found an ecig place about an hour away. I drove there and bought what I call a true ecig starter kit (for the time). $60 for two ego batteries(900MaH), five clearomizers (CE4's), and five 15ml bottles of juice of my choosing. That's when things started to get interesting. The flavor was much better, I could refill those CE4's a lot more,and they lasted a lot longer than those cartridges. I went from 3-4 to 1-2 cigarettes per day.

Again, the motivation came to vape indoors, and not go outside in the cold... if I can hold out for a bit longer, I didn't have to go out. I kicked the nighttime craving by saying... "when I crave a cigarette, I will go to bed and have it in the morning".... down to 1 cigarette per day. then I would challenge myself... Each time, I allowed myself to vape anytime I wanted, but I kept saying... just one more hour before my first cigarette... one day... I went the whole day... then.. I went a second day, then had a cigarette... wow, two days without smoking... I wonder if I can beat that.....

Well, it's been quite a while since that day, and I'm still waiting... I quit accidentally. I never really tried to quit until I was down to 1-2 per day. Actually, I did try once.. about 6 months of not having a cigarette, I picked up the pack and wondered "wow, I wonder if these still taste good" took one out, found a lighter and lit it... took two puffs... and Bleh.... put it out.. and never again lit another one.

Right now, I am vaping on a Goblin mini clone on a cloupor GT. or a Taifun GT II on a Vamo V7. Things sure have changed, and I am enjoying the Rebuildable taste. Even though my mods topple like dominos sometimes if the desk wobbles (I own about 10 mods). I would spend about $30/week for cigarettes. I would say I spend about $40/month on ecigs. When you are looking at Ecigs, don't think of how much the mod is... think of how many cigarettes it would keep you from buying.. and cigarettes aren't cheap. My Vamo cost me $28, taifun $15 VTC4 $7--$40 total... that's a week and a half of cigarettes... and I've owned the Vamo for 7 months.... a good buy dollar wise. My cloupor GT arrived in the middle of September, $50, Goblin Mini $9, and two LG HE4's for $10... yes, that's about $70... or about 3 weeks of smoking...still came out ahead.

 

[MudVaper]

Looks like I came on this thread a bit late, but I might's well share what worked for me.

I'm Neal, and I was a smoker for 20 years. I smoked a pack to a pack and a half per day. The brand varied every few years, as well as the tar/nic level. Marlboro lights, marlboro reds, Winstons, Carlton 100 ultra lights, Dorals, etc... all were my "regulars" at one time. I never really tried to quit... and that means I never REALLY tried.. I would see how long I could go without one, but not really to the point of saying "I am going to quit". Through the years,I did notice my wheezing would get worse, coughing would get worse, etc. I did try to reduce the tar/nicotine by switching to Carlton 100's ultra lights, but that went away when cigarette prices were raised so high, I decided to smoke whatever was cheapest.

I did see those Blu adds... "smoke anywhere", but I thought then that Ecigs were more of a "to look cool" type thing, and never took them seriously. I thought it was an expensive fad... those Blu cigs were like $60 for a start up... so I never tried them. For about 10 years, my policy was.. I only smoked outdoors. I used to smoke inside, and it did horrible things to a computer. I would smoke in my car, but even that quit when we sold my car and got a new one.. it did horrible things to the inside of the car window as well. So, I would smoke outdoors only.. at home, or anywhere else.

One day while shopping, I saw an ecig starter kit... only $20(Metro Ecigs). That was much less than the Blu cigs, so I figured I would quench my curiosity this one time, and not think of ecigs after I've tried them. Well, that night, I vaped almost a whole cartridge. Since you can "smoke anywhere" I decided to vape indoors. for the rest of the night, I didn't smoke except for right before bed. I repeated the incidence the next day... I didn't smoke all night while vaping, except for bed. I was surprised to see how it curbed the cravings somewhat. I figured I would give Ecigs a try.. so I bought a second $20 kit, and some cartridges.

The Ecigs almost overnight cut my cravings from a pack per day to about 3-4 per day. They tasted sweet, and not much like a cigarette. They never did fully get rid of the cravings. I bought a third kit, since most of the time the ecigs were dying off before the other one was charged. This went on for a few months. The cartridges were fairly expensive, and the battery life just wasn't good enough. I did learn you could refill those cartridges one or two times more before having to chuck them. I did some research and found an ecig place about an hour away. I drove there and bought what I call a true ecig starter kit (for the time). $60 for two ego batteries(900MaH), five clearomizers (CE4's), and five 15ml bottles of juice of my choosing. That's when things started to get interesting. The flavor was much better, I could refill those CE4's a lot more,and they lasted a lot longer than those cartridges. I went from 3-4 to 1-2 cigarettes per day.

Again, the motivation came to vape indoors, and not go outside in the cold... if I can hold out for a bit longer, I didn't have to go out. I kicked the nighttime craving by saying... "when I crave a cigarette, I will go to bed and have it in the morning".... down to 1 cigarette per day. then I would challenge myself... Each time, I allowed myself to vape anytime I wanted, but I kept saying... just one more hour before my first cigarette... one day... I went the whole day... then.. I went a second day, then had a cigarette... wow, two days without smoking... I wonder if I can beat that.....

Well, it's been quite a while since that day, and I'm still waiting... I quit accidentally. I never really tried to quit until I was down to 1-2 per day. Actually, I did try once.. about 6 months of not having a cigarette, I picked up the pack and wondered "wow, I wonder if these still taste good" took one out, found a lighter and lit it... took two puffs... and Bleh.... put it out.. and never again lit another one.

Right now, I am vaping on a Goblin mini clone on a cloupor GT. or a Taifun GT II on a Vamo V7. Things sure have changed, and I am enjoying the Rebuildable taste. Even though my mods topple like dominos sometimes if the desk wobbles (I own about 10 mods). I would spend about $30/week for cigarettes. I would say I spend about $40/month on ecigs. When you are looking at Ecigs, don't think of how much the mod is... think of how many cigarettes it would keep you from buying.. and cigarettes aren't cheap. My Vamo cost me $28, taifun $15 VTC4 $7--$40 total... that's a week and a half of cigarettes... and I've owned the Vamo for 7 months.... a good buy dollar wise. My cloupor GT arrived in the middle of September, $50, Goblin Mini $9, and two LG HE4's for $10... yes, that's about $70... or about 3 weeks of smoking...still came out ahead.

Definitely relate to a lot of what you said and have had some of the same experiences.

The stores here used to sell the Blu things, and like you, I just thought it was some gimmick, like candy cigarettes only electronic.

Remember the smokeless cigarettes that came out in the early 80s? That also came to mind.

We don't have TV, so I never saw the commercials.

Anyway, some friends on another forum for a hobby I live and breathe got on the ecig bandwagon; that got me a little intrigued, but not enough to try it.
Then one day I was walking down the street smoking a cigarette and this crazy artist who used to work for me was out riding his bike. He stopped me and started going on and on about vaping. He was so stoked he had printed up these ads he created himself and carried around and handed out to ppl to try to get them to vape instead of smoke.

I like the guy and have known him for years but he's kind of whack job and really flaky (I mean, he's vape-riding his bike while passing out hand-made ads for Smokeless Image that looked like religious tracts, lol). I lost the paper.

Obviously, I like to smoke and have always been super-defensive about it. Back then, if you wanted to see the sharp side of my tongue, say one thing against smoking or suggest I should quit or cut back.

About the same time I began looking for ways to raise some extra cash. It was the first time in 20 years I'd honestly added up the true actual cost of smoking. Also started having health issues directly related to smoking.

Got the smokeless image starter, went from 50 or more cigarettes a day (almost never less, often more) to five or less a day. That lasted a few months, backslid for a month or so, started back on vaping. Got down to two or so a day, depending.

But every six weeks or so, something happens (real or imagined, lol) and I'll start smoking heavily, half to a full back a day, for a week or two, and the cycle begins again.

Started getting better gear last month, hoping it would help with the cycle of backsliding. It has, but only marginally.

I've only had one today so far, which is a record since I spent three days in the hospital back in 2007.

 

[nmackan]

My friend I wish you every success.
First of all we have to think we are not quitting smoking. Lets dont fool ourselves. What if we loose every vaping tool? we would go back smoking wouldnt we? We did not quit smoking we substitude it with vaping. Only vaping is healthier.
Also we are not addicted to a brand name or tobacco we are addicted to nicotine. That it would be possible to quit with patches if it werent for hollywood effects. Well vaping gave us this too. We can simulate every hollywood effect with vaping too.

For myself I did not intend to quit. I loved smoking But when I take my first try I thought why I should smoke when there is this. Obviously it has less harm. (Just count the materials with both)
The magic is, I had tried right liquid. Right amount of nicotine and a delicious taste. (Unfortunately it is personal cant be suggested) More to it the liquid was a fake too. (There was a label joythech and parliament under it. which I thought no one can use a brand name without permission and the last one to permit a liquid was parliament people)
Well my friend change the habit a bit. I mean your vaping habit. Because you cant expect different results with same try. Change the liquid change the nic rate change the watt try everything. And dont fight with stinkies. If you need one just smoke without feeling quilty (I stop saying dont count the ones you smoked count the ones you didnt because @AndriaD is angry with )
Find your liquid my friend and after you found it you will not be able to smoke a stinky even if you wanted to.

 

[AndriaD]

I stop saying dont count the ones you smoked count the ones you didnt because @AndriaD is angry with )

Not angry at all! It just doesn't make sense -- to know how many you didn't smoke, you really have to know how many you did. I always smoked roughly a pack a day... but to be able to count "I didn't smoke 16 cigs today," I'd have to know that I *did* smoke 4.

To me, it always seemed more impressive, knowing I was a pk a day smoker, to say "I only smoked 4 cigarettes all day!", especially to my husband, who knew darned well that I normally would .... out at least 20.

Andria

 

[navigator2011]

It's more a peace of mind thing, or perhaps a method for developing a positive frame of mind. Of course I knew I had smoked my ritualistic 5 cigarettes each day. That always felt like a failure, unless I focused on the 30 I hadn't smoked each day. By taking count of those avoided cigarettes, I began to think that maybe I really was succeeding, and then my attitude became more positive, enabled even.

 

[Rossum]

Not angry at all! It just doesn't make sense -- to know how many you didn't smoke, you really have to know how many you did. I always smoked roughly a pack a day... but to be able to count "I didn't smoke 16 cigs today," I'd have to know that I *did* smoke 4.

Yes of course if you know one number you know the other. To "count" one vs. the other may be a poor way of expressing the idea: Don't kick yourself over the ones you did smoke, celebrate the ones you didn't smoke instead.

 

[Rossum]

It's more a peace of mind thing, or perhaps a method for developing a positive frame of mind. Of course I knew I had smoked my ritualistic 5 cigarettes each day. That always felt like a failure, unless I focused on the 30 I hadn't smoked each day. By taking count of those avoided cigarettes, I began to think that maybe I really was succeeding, and then my attitude became more positive, enabled even.

Yup! The very idea of quitting smoking had a tendency to elicit negative feeling in many of us. We were conditioned by previous attempts that made us miserable and ended in failure. But with vaping you don't have to be miserable and any reduction in cigarettes can and should be regarded as success. Instead of being miserable, I had a big grin on my face every time I reached for my vape instead of lighting a smoke. Positive is good.

 

[AndriaD]

I dunno, to me, when I only smoked 5-10 a day, that was success in itself. Then when it went lower... PARTY! When my husband came home from work each day and heard that I had smoked fewer than the day before... that was MAJOR success.

Andria

 

[nmackan]

I am completely with you. In order to know how many you didnt you have to know how many you did. The gist of it, feeling you betrayed vaping with 4 times is worst thinking I did not smoke 16. The first is accusing the second is encouraging. And if you ask me encouragement is what one expects when doing something needing motivation. Same thing though, but sounds bad when thinking you smoked 4, but encouraging you didnt 16.

 

[AndriaD]

I never felt discouraged to have smoked less than a half-pack a day -- it was more than 50% less than what I normally would have smoked; it felt miraculous to me. I never expected to quit, never wanted to quit because I didn't want to suffer -- but when something came along that a) would actually enable me to quit, and b) didn't demand that I do it any certain way, or in any specific time-period, that was TRULY a miracle. I'm the ANTI-control-freak, so anything that lets me set my own schedule, do it MY way, that's a winner in my book!

Andria

 

[nmackan]

Actually I dont mind. Because with the very beginning I quit. I am trying to encourage the ones who can not succeed like me. For example not intending to quit sounds to me an encouragement. I hate repeating myself but I had gone to get an e-cig with 7 cigarettes. I tried vaping, went back 7 cigarettes untouched. If it werent for another fake liquid they would be with me now.
Not intending to quit I had made myself free, not restricted. When I can not give this thinking to the people I try to look every occassion optimistically whatever he might have done. Because in the beginning I had thought even if it could help me to reduce my smoking half it would be a victory. Instead it stopped it once and for all.
My smoking history was not a joke 40+ years hand rolling 30grs a day. And I dont count the ones before them. If this thing made me quit (even if when I did not intend to) Every one can do it.
Now that we mention it, I believe the main thing in vaping is liquid. One who finds his/her favorite does not look back.
So the story of counting smoked ones or unsmoked ones comes with this idea. I am sure by lingering one will find his/her liquid with the right amount of nic untill than I will encourage him/her.

 

[Rossum]

Not intending to quit I had made myself free, not restricted.

Exactly. A lot of people bristle at the idea of restrictions. I know I sure do, even if I try to impose them on myself. Hence I have never forbidden myself from having a cigarette if I really want one. I never "quit" smoking, I just don't smoke anymore.

 

[MudVaper]

Yes of course if you know one number you know the other. To "count" one vs. the other may be a poor way of expressing the idea: Don't kick yourself over the ones you did smoke, celebrate the ones you didn't smoke instead.

Every single post here has tremendously helped me or someone else out there with the same issues.

Some of the suggestions I've already tried/or already do frequently or found no success at all, but it might for someone else.

I've tried no counting at all, but that seems to add to my stress, lol.

Often I have to switch tactics to trick my self into not feeling deprived.

Usually I'm elated at not having smoked 50 cigarettes, but sometimes the panicky part of my brain tells me that not having smoked all those cigs has created a hole that needs to be filled - with cigs and not vapes.

Sometimes knowing I've only smoked one or two really helps me not want to light a third, and it often works, but sometimes not.

On the bright side, I tried to light one this morning (two hours later than I'd normally do my first and with zero stress about it btw) and smoke got in my eye during the lighting process and stung so bad and could get the smoke out of my lungs fast enough.

Maybe I'll start counting smoking fails because I can't tell you how good I felt after lighting that up and it was a 100% negative experience.

Talk about the physiology of smoking: elated at a failure, lol.

I never felt elated after lighting up a cig since I started vaping.

Also, for the first time ever, I was wishing my husband wasn't smoking around me. Instead of bothering me just a little or not at all, it's seriously grossing me out today.

Hopefully a corner has been turned.