Question for the ex long term smoker's

[roxynoodle]

I smoked for 35 years, and thought I would never quit. I actually managed with the crummy ego t, but it took me two months. I wanted a tobacco flavor, too, but none taste like a cigarette.

I do recommend you get him some Nicoticket Virus. To me, this is the most satisfying e juice for ex cigarette smokers. Its like what a cigarette would taste like if we all lived in Disneyland, lol, for lack of a better description.

If he doesn't really want to quit, I'm not sure you can make him. Me, I decided I didn't want to die, was tired of freezing outside, and tired of not being able to smoke anywhere I went. I love vaping. Even mor than I loved smoking.

 

[mauricem00]

you can't help someone change until they are ready to change. don't put pressure on your dad to quit. it won't work. just be there for him when he is ready. I smoked for 45 years and on christmas started using a vaporizer and have not smoked since then but all the pressure to quit smoking over the years had no influence on my decision to quit. it only made me resentful of the anti smoking crowd and now that I am an ex-smoker I try not to become like them. I give friends batteries tanks and juice to try but 80% of vapers still smoke. they smoke less and in time may quit all together but pushing them will only create resentment. be happy that your father is using a vaporizer and hopefully in time he will start to vape more and smoke less until he finally quits. I have never found a juice that taste like the tobacco I use to smoke. they all have an overwhelming non-tobacco flavor or taste like cheap stale cigars.but other flavors can be satisfying if they have a high nicotine content which give the high smokers are looking for.I started at 24mg and am now down to 10mg but everyone is unique and move at their own pace

 

[TX Foilhead]

Sounds like me, I didn't want to stop I just wasn't able to smoke at work anymore. I picked the e cig back up for probably the 4th or 5th time and got a new setup I could use at work. I had tried it maybe once or twice a year for the last few years so I knew what parts didn't work for me and what I wanted it to do. Basically I wanted an all day battery and a tank that would last as long or I would just pick up a smoke. So you have to get something that works for whatever schedule someone has, it's really much easier to have a smoke than it is to have to wait for a battery to charge or wait until you have time for a refill or wait until you have time to change out a non working piece of your rig. Again everyone is going to be different so you have to find something that fits the individual.

The second part was finding that ADV that you would rather have more than a cig. I got the rig situation solved, and I smoked much less, but hadn't stopped. I had flavors I could tolerate, but they got the job done and were nothing spectacular. I just went with what I liked, cinnamon and chocolate and variations off those two. Tobacco flavors work, but nothing tastes like tobacco so I would say don't even try that at first, go with something that doesn't try to taste like a cig. Got to reading about things other people like around here and kept hearing about Nickoticket Virus, that one did the trick for me. It is a tobacco flavor, but I've never tasted tobacco remotely close to the way it tastes fresh after a while it does turn into some sort of pipe tobacco eventually but I rarely have a bottle sit long enough for it to steep to that point. One day I realized that it was bed time and I hadn't had a smoke and I didn't want one and I haven't had one since.

I had some difficulty that first week, but I just tried to go one more day and spent a lot of time here figuring things out. The side effects aren't that bad when your expecting them to happen. I would say just give it some time and try some different flavors, if you're mom vapes I'm sure he hears about it from her and doesn't need someone else to tell him what to do. Just give him a little bottle of something every now a then to try out, one of them will be that ADV eventually.

 

[roxynoodle]

I was also box mod resistant a year ago. Then last summer I discovered I preferred them. I would let him use his ego. Protanks aren't bad.

 

[OldBatty]

78 year old father in law quit after 65 years of smoking using tobacco flavors. He likes 'Tall Paul' from My Freedom Smokes though he says the 'US Red' tastes exactly the same. (He smoked both of those brands) He did not like the Baker White tobacco flavor from the local vape shop. Currently working through the nine different tobacco flavors from Aqua Vapor. They have a very reasonable priced 10 flavor sample pack so you need to add one more flavor to round it out. I picked coffee which he did not care for.

 

[pokemom]

I smoked for 35 years. I played with cigalikes for nearly 6 months and could never quit (but I did cut down because I used the cigalikes in public and only smoked in my car and at home). I gave up. Then I went to something with a little more power, and I cut down more. BUT it took me nearly 4 months of using the more powerful setup (and we're only talking a vivi nova and 900mah battery) until I was ready to quit cigarettes altogether.

That will be 2 years ago on Saturday. It can happen. Have patience. For some, its not about all or nothing, but easing into it until you actually make a decision.

 

[DancingHeretik]

My mom thought she would only want menthol flavors when she started because she was a menthol smoker. What actually got her off the cigarettes was coffee flavors. She vaped nothing but that for about a day and a half, tried to smoke a cigarette, and couldn't stand the taste of cigarettes anymore. She never went back to smoknig after that and she smoked for 20+ years.

Yup. Coffee flavors is what did it for me. After 4 years, that's still my ADV.

 

[mojofilter]

I smoked the equivalent of a Canadian PAD (25) of RYO cigarettes for 42 years, and quit the first day my PV arrived. I started with a tobacco-flavored liquid in 24%, but I hated it, and a vanilla in 24, which I loved, but it made very little vapor. I wondered if my PV was broken, but it turned out to be lack of VG in the liquid. Then I went to a vape shop in town and bought a grape flavor in 18, which I loved, and then one that tastes like cupcakes on the inhale and minty on the exhale, in 12. These were 60/40 ratio, and made plenty of vapor, comparable to what I'd blow out in smoke. It was those flavors that helped me quit inside a month. I carried a pouch of tobacco and papers with me everywhere I went for that month, but I never took them out, because I was getting what I got from them from vaping, without the poisons. When I realized my addiction to nicotine and smoking was broken, I quit vaping, too.

These other folks are right when they say that your dad has to want to quit, otherwise he never will. Best of luck to him. He can do it, if he wants to.

 

[Bunnykiller]

one needs to understand that its not a direct replacement for ciggies.... never will be. Its a alternative method for nic delivery.... he needs a reason to switch.... be it health related, money related... if there is no real reason to switch, it wont happen... start with asking about the coughing and lung crud as an entry point to getting him to consider switching.... drop a few hints about lung health maybe that might get him thinking of a reason... also it may take a few months to transition to vaping 100%

Pirates Booty from Heathers Heavenly Vapes worked for me... ( 100VG 36 nic 2X flavor shot)

 

[pianoguy]

Yup. Coffee flavors is what did it for me. After 4 years, that's still my ADV.

I smoked for over 40 years before switching to vaping. I started out with tobacco flavors, but they all tasted like an unlit cigarette to me, not very satisfying. Coffee flavors provided a little of the "bite" that I was missing, so I used them for the first few months. I later switched to menthol - I had never been a menthol smoker, but I found menthol flavors to be refreshing, and satisfying even at lower nicotine levels.. Nowadays I use unflavored - I would also recommend giving that a whirl.

 

[NancyR]

I smoked for 27 years, was up to 3 packs a day for the last 5 years or so, and I dual used for a long time before I fully quit smoking. So just take what he is able to give right now, even if he is only using an e-cig where he can't smoke at least he is using it.

You didn't say what mg juice you have for him, I know once I went over to full time vaping for about 2 to 3 weeks I needed a really high nic lvl, for that first couple weeks I was vaping 30 mg (I already DIY'ed so could adjust as needed).

It may not just be the taste of the tobacco he wants, and honestly as much as I hate to say this, maybe pick up an n-joy king and give to him. Yes it is a disposable, but for a lot of people it helps as it has the form factor, the higher levels of nic and really for a disposable cig-a-like isn't bad.

Thing I found is that you have to want to quit smoking to be completely successful. I have herd that non-flavored e juice is a lot like tobacco.

Vaping unflavored at this point and can tell you first hand it is NOTHING like tobacco

 

[house mouse]

I smoked for over 40 years before switching to vaping. I started out with tobacco flavors, but they all tasted like an unlit cigarette to me, not very satisfying. Coffee flavors provided a little of the "bite" that I was missing, so I used them for the first few months. I later switched to menthol - I had never been a menthol smoker, but I found menthol flavors to be refreshing, and satisfying even at lower nicotine levels.. Nowadays I use unflavored - I would also recommend giving that a whirl.

Same here. I smoked heavily for 33 years. I quit using the tobacco flavors because I really, really wanted to quit but it wasn't hugely satisfying. Coffee flavors were a BIG improvement and made me realize I could do this quit thing. But what gave me the lung/mouth feel I was looking for at the time was the hot cinnamon flavors. Those, rotated with the coffee flavors really did the trick. That, and starting with 36mg liquid. Less than that and I wouldn't have made it starting out. Of course back when I started vaping a basic ego with a 510 atomizer was about the best I could find to start with. With the more powerful options out there now, he might not need that much nicotine to be satisfied.

 

[KattMamma]

Lots of good advice here, and I have read lots of stories on ECF from people who smoked and vaped for a long time before giving up the cigs.

As long as he is still vaping, even just a little, there's hope. Don't nag too much, that might turn him off to it.

See if you can get him to try a variety of flavors - not just tobaccos. If all I had when I started was tobaccos and fruits, it wouldn't have worked. It was a cheesecake flavor that got me to quit cigs. If he tries a flavor he really likes, he will naturally want to vape more.

 

[tj99959]

So my question to you ex long term smokers, what helped you make the switch? I feel like I just can't relate to smoking 30 something years.

I smoked for almost 60 years, and the transition from smoking to vaping was seamless. One day I was a smoker, and the next day I was a vaper.
#1 I wanted to quit smoking.
#2 I found the right flavor (for me) at the right nicotine content.

I made the switch with a little ole eGo-T, so I'm of the belief that the equipment used has very little to do with the ability to stop smoking. The desire has to be there, and the liquid has to be right for the individual.

 

[ppeeble]

He's really got to want to quit smoking and it sounds like he's not ready to do that yet. As long as the option is there for him to vape that is all you can do.....
Whenever i get people who say 'it doesn't taste like tobacco' i ask them to describe the taste they're looking for. Not one person has been able to describe the taste of smoking tobacco. I will generally tell them that the nearest taste to smoking is licking a dogs .... and no-one has contradicted me yet....
Tell him to stop craving dogs ...., it's just not right ! : )

 

[SmokinRabbit]

Tobacco flavors never did it for me... They are just an imitation and none are right. Flavors are what helped make real cigarettes start to taste bad, so by default I wanted to do it less and less.

Flavors like coffee, mudflap (mud slide), waffle ... Had a smokey type flavor to me, but tasty and appealing.

I also liked a good cig-a-like when I was first quitting. ERoll, though fiddly in some ways, was amazing for me initially, in the first month especially.

Had the Ego One been available then, I would have tried it. Might be one to consider. I actually just recommended it to a friend trying to quit. Outstanding vapor but easy to maintain and pocketable.

I smoked 30 years, 2 PAD. Never thought I'd quit completely. I'm tobacco free over 6 months now.

 

[crunchie812]

I smoked between a pack and a half to two packs a day for about 45 years. I tried cold turkey, gum, patches, never quit for more than three months. I tried the nJoy disposables which were pretty good but price prohibitive. I tried the rechargeable BLUs but they were a complete PITA and didn't do a thing for me and the menthol hardly tasted like menthol. A vape shop set me up with a 2 pack of eGo/CeE4's and some 30mg menthol juice. First hit and it was "OK, this will work."

After a week I was able to, wanted to cut the nicotine down, but I had to stop smoking first. Maybe upping the nic level to head spinner level will work for him.

One of my co-workers is trying to quit. I gave him a pair of eGo's with minipro clones to replace the gear he had thrown against the wall in frustration along with some of my juice. He likes it, but only vapes in the house, and said he's puffing like a madman. I gave him some 36mg juice cut only with flavoring this morning, along with some VG to cut it down. We'll see.

If your dad is fine with the eGo and minipro, let that be. I went through a vv/vw stage and a LOL, OMG Boxmod stage, and I'm back to the little unregulated eGo and minipro.

Serioulsy, if your mom had lung cancer and switched to ecigs, I don't know what would suffice to motivate him.

 

[RosaJ]

I smoked 1 to 1 1/2 pad for more than 45 years. I quit smoking a week and a half after I started vaping.

My daughter and my son-in-law bought my first ecig and the first couple of months' supplies and told me I could try vaping to see if I liked it and if it didn't work, it was all right, they still loved me no matter what. There was absolutely no pressure from anybody for me to quit.

From 30 cigarettes a day I immediately went down to 5, then 3, then one day I forgot to smoke. I lit one up immediately and after 3 puffs I put it out after gagging.

Vaping is Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) and if it helps to cut down on the number of cigarettes we smoke then it's done what it's supposed to do.

That last cigarette was more than 3 years ago for me. Some quit smoking the first time they vape, others take longer. Don't approach your dad as if it has to be smoking cigarettes or vape, it's not one or the other. If he lights up, celebrate with him the ones he hasn't smoked and don't handle it as a "failure."

Your dad is probably going through stress of his own because of your mom's health and smoking may be helping him cope with it.

 

[choochoogranny]

RosaJ, particularly like your last sentence. So much changing for his dad in the last yr or so and will never be the same. A lot of coping going on here, and always the constant thought in the back of his mind that the cancer might return.

 

[Brkdnc]

I smoked 30+ years around 2 pad. I was a dual user for a few months until I finally switched to vaping exclusivity. For me I started with trying to find Tobacco flavors that tasted like a cig really didn't find any close enough to the taste I wanted. I finally did find a nice mild Tobacco flavor that I did really like Red Oak Silverthorn From Johnson Creek After I found that and got the right Nic level which in my case was 24mg, because I had started at 12mg went to 18mg but at 24mg was when I could fully give up cigs.

Nic level is the big part with a juice he can enjoy.