please advise-closest i've been to success

[Melanie Mitchem]

Hi all. I've actually been a member for a while now, and ECF has been a true font of info for me. I've always been able to find the info I need if I look long enough, but I'm closer to success than ever and therefor would like input asap. I started vaping a year or 2 ago in the effort to get off the stinkies and have had moderate success. By that I mean I was a pack a day + now a bad day for me is 10. Based on a buddies advice (and a lot of reading on here) I recently got a joyetch aio and am again pushing myself to quit completly, instead of being ok with a greatly reduced habit. I do realize that every vapor is different and there should be some consideration for personal preferences. But I've been nursing the same pack for 3 days now, and am pretty enthusiastic about hitting goal again so... opinions please: I am currently using the joyetech aio with the .6 coil and Kure's on tap Cowboy blend with a nic level of 18 at a 50/50 ratio. I smoke fullflaver 100's. So: would a different vg/pg ratio make much of a difference? What about nic level? And as much as I love the juice I am using,its rather pricey compared to others, but its also the closest taste I've gotten to analog yet (think Doral ff100's).
Any other favs. out there? Also what could I expect if I use a different coil, say the .5 or the 1. Thanks much to any and all who are willing to give me the benefit of their ESH (experience,strength ,hope)

 

[Beamslider]

Chasing the taste of a real cigarette is a lost cause. There is not ejuice that matches it. There are lots of cigarette, pipe and cigar flavors out there, but none are the same as a burning tobacco taste

 

[bombastinator]

+1 to @Beamslider The bromide iirc is “ you can make an e-cigarette taste like anything in the world except a cigarette”

Part of the problem I think is that tar and the other various damaging stuff e-cigarettes don’t have all have flavors. To imitate them you’d have to imitate the problems which is not the point.

 

[Gramdogg]

I'd say your fine as you are. Try lowering the cigs 1 every month or so. Only smoking half and saving the rest for later cuts it in half right away and I found it just as satisfying. Oddly flavours that weren't tobacco helped me more then months of trying to find a perfect tobacco vape. The Gummy Bears and Skittles etc are like a reward for choosing to vape instead of smoke. Tobacco tastes horrible why would you vape it when you can vape a chocolate brownie? You'll also notice you can't taste very well after a cig so you'll automatically want to smoke less to enjoy the vape more.

 

[Weenie66]

Maybe up your nic level in the juice your using. I use salt nic 45mg. That worked for me, I'm completely off of those cigs! Good luck, you can do it!

 

[Skunk!]

I have heard it said on here before It isn't the ones you smoke it is the ones you don't. I have found that Black and mild (not wine) flavors come the closest. I use Black Jack fromFlavor Shack and very little. I diy but you could get double strength and dilute with vg or pg. I am about a month and a half in with no smokes. I was smoke free for about 2 years before but fell off the wagon. I am looking more at dessert tobacco right now but this whole time I didn't like sweet flavors at all. With drier flavors you can mimic the flavor a little and the sensation a lot. The closer you get to unflavored I have found the more cigarette like it tastes. Most of the "cigarette" flavors I have found taste neither like a cigarette or good.

 

[Ablonz]

@Melanie Mitchem What worked for me was vaping Unflavored and not trying to keep the taste of the cigarette. The more I vaped, the worse the cigs would taste which in part help reduce the amount that I smoked. I smoked for 28 years and was @ around a pack and a half of those little cigars. I used 24 mg on a 1.5-1.8 ohm coil. As everyone is different. Unflavored was like drinking water. Hope this helps and keep up the great work. You can do it!!!!

 

[dsites]

Welcome .... you're on the right track. Many people have used the suggestion of only smoking half a cigarette and smoking the 2nd half later. The 2nd half won't taste as good but that's also a good thing.

 

[Winchester]

Howdy!
You can talk about quitting all you want and tell your self I'll nurse this pack all week long. The bottom line is you have got want to quit! All the rest is bulls--t! Your killing your self!

 

[AzPlumber]

I suggest you explore flavors other than tobacco's. Finding a flavor that is much more rewarding than a cigarette will be key.

 

[Melanie Mitchem]

Chasing the taste of a real cigarette is a lost cause. There is not ejuice that matches it. There are lots of cigarette, pipe and cigar flavors out there, but none are the same as a burning tobacco taste

You are quite correct Beamslider, and I apologize for my poor choice of wording. Maybe satisfaction would be more accurate, as taste is only one facet of the whole. It also involves throat hit, mouth and lung feel and the nic level.

 

[Melanie Mitchem]

I have heard it said on here before It isn't the ones you smoke it is the ones you don't. I have found that Black and mild (not wine) flavors come the closest. I use Black Jack fromFlavor Shack and very little. I diy but you could get double strength and dilute with vg or pg. I am about a month and a half in with no smokes. I was smoke free for about 2 years before but fell off the wagon. I am looking more at dessert tobacco right now but this whole time I didn't like sweet flavors at all. With drier flavors you can mimic the flavor a little and the sensation a lot. The closer you get to unflavored I have found the more cigarette like it tastes. Most of the "cigarette" flavors I have found taste neither like a cigarette or good.

Thank you very much Skunk, that's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I'll check out Flavor Shack shortly, I had a similar issue when I first started. Sweet was ok for thru the day but when it came to the crunch time cigs (right after waking,after a meal, coffee etc.) it didn't cut it . I'll also go by my 2 fav brick and mortor places and ask about unflavored. I just hate going in with no idea of what I'm after; I'll be there all day lol. Thanks again

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

You are quite correct Beamslider, and I apologize for my poor choice of wording. Maybe satisfaction would be more accurate, as taste is only one facet of the whole. It also involves throat hit, mouth and lung feel and the nic level.

Have you considered that maybe you are addicted to more than the nic in cigarettes?

There are so many different chemicals in cigs that some are also addicted to what is known as Whole Tobacco Alkaloids(WTA). There are some that just need that added boost to be able to kick the stinkies to the curb.

Search on ecf for WTA. A wonderful ecf member and chemist isolated these alkaloids a few years ago and Aroma ejuice makes this for the vapors. They also have a forum here on ecf where you can read about what it is and what it does. There are a few online vendors whom also sell different variations of it.

Good luck and let us know how its going.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Here is the link to their forum here at ecf

Aroma Ejuice

 

[Skunk!]

Thank you very much Skunk, that's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I'll check out Flavor Shack shortly, I had a similar issue when I first started. Sweet was ok for thru the day but when it came to the crunch time cigs (right after waking,after a meal, coffee etc.) it didn't cut it . I'll also go by my 2 fav brick and mortor places and ask about unflavored. I just hate going in with no idea of what I'm after; I'll be there all day lol. Thanks again

Don't buy unflavored from B&M go online and you can get it for $40 a gallon in any strength you want.
Nicotine Base - NicSelect

 

[Melanie Mitchem]

Thanks to all for the suggestions and encouragement, I appreciate it greatly. I will keep checking back and will also post if I have an "Aha" that I think may help. And Winchester, thank you very much for your bluntness, you are correct. I have had to say similar things to young ladies when they first walk in the rooms and make the decision to pick up a white chip; although I will say I'm prob. a little gentler. ESH to lift my girls up; if they are where I was, they have already been knocked down about 5'6". Thanks again all,and am open to any other suggestions/ advice that have helped others.

 

[Melanie Mitchem]

Have you considered that maybe you are addicted to more than the nic in cigarettes?

There are so many different chemicals in cigs that some are also addicted to what is known as Whole Tobacco Alkaloids(WTA). There are some that just need that added boost to be able to kick the stinkies to the curb.

Search on ecf for WTA. A wonderful ecf member and chemist isolated these alkaloids a few years ago and Aroma ejuice makes this for the vapors. They also have a forum here on ecf where you can read about what it is and what it does. There are a few online vendors whom also sell different variations of it.

Good luck and let us know how its going.

Thank you so much, Sugar and Spice, I had no idea about WTA and am def. looking into it. It makes perfect sense. I know I have an "addictive personality"; that had been pointed out to me when neg consequences had started to pile up and I was still doing what I had been doing. The brand of insanity that is comman in certain rooms. I'll check it out and let ya'll know how it goes. Also will share the info with a couple of friends in the same boat.

 

[Opinionated]

Hello... I would second the recommendation to increase your nicotine level..

I find it doubtful that your getting as much nicotine as when you smoked. If you increase your nicotine level to 24mg, see how you get along with that.. you can also increase to 36mg but it sounds like your fairly close to where you need to be at 18mg, so i wouldn't bump it up too far unless you need to.

That said, no matter what you do your going to have some discomfort and some withdrawals... not too many if you get the nicotine level right, but still some.

That aspect you will just have to power through...chain vape through the cravings is what most of us did

 

[chellie]

I did not do the dual use thing because it would not work for me --I am an all or nothing gal. You seem to be having some success using both so just focus on decreasing the analogs slowly. I do agree that that the ecigs do not replicate the taste of analogs BUT they do satisfy AND in my opinion taste better.

I smoked Marlboro reds or the Gold 100's so I smoked full flavor as well. When I first started vaping I went with something that I knew I would like --Vanilla. Everything was in the vanilla family - vanilla tobacco - vanilla nut - vanilla cream -- coffee vanilla - caramel vanilla - and 6 years later pretty much am still within that flavor profile. I'll try different things here and there. I started at a crazy high nic rate 40+ and then down but I was using 2.4 coils and wimpy equipment.

I think the most important thing in the beginning is the nicotine strength so that you get satisfaction and the flavor a close second. If something tasted great and didn't satisfy I would have been a nervous wreck so I rate nic level as the most important. Even though I used "wimpy" stuff in the beginning it was at a very high nicotine strength so I was satisfied.

There's been a lot of advances now. I use a .5 coil at a low nic strength and am satisfied. I vape a high VG %. But that is after some time of stepping down. The thing is -- at the beginning - you will naturally be vaping a lot and if you use a high nic percentage and are smoking regular cigs you could take in too much nicotine.

I looked at the setup you are using. With the .6 coil 18mg of nic seems high to me. Knowing what I know now if I were using that setup, and vaping MTL (mouth-to-lung) and based on the amount you were smoking I would probably start out at 12% nic with a high % VG juice and try very hard to go a full day with only vaping to see if that satisfies you.

I smoked up to 2.5 packs per day so I know how difficult it can be. Vaping can definitely get you off the analog but it is not a total magic bullet. There will still be an adjustment.

In my case, I really REALLY wanted to stop smoking analogs so I worked on fine turning the nic level and flavor and what worked for me was not smoking any analogs. Everyone is different but for me if I knew I could fall back on analogs I would have so my advice is to try to eliminate the analogs and the fallback to analogs. If you eliminate that and have the desire then you will have no choice except to focus on making the vaping work.

 

[Skunk!]

Thank you very much Skunk, that's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I'll check out Flavor Shack shortly, I had a similar issue when I first started. Sweet was ok for thru the day but when it came to the crunch time cigs (right after waking,after a meal, coffee etc.) it didn't cut it . I'll also go by my 2 fav brick and mortor places and ask about unflavored. I just hate going in with no idea of what I'm after; I'll be there all day lol. Thanks again

The Black Jack for me goes with everythhing. Coffee, Beer, Monster,( a little too well, started drinking more) and after food... I have only bought flavoring from them. I don't know about prices on E liquid.