Question for the ex long term smoker's

[AndriaD]

I'm not sure it could be any other way, given the extreme difficulty of getting free of cigarettes, even WITH a good substitute, AND a strong desire to quit. Sure, some people forget to smoke or something, when they start vaping, but for a great many of us, we have to TEACH ourselves to forget, to prefer something different and far more fiddly and prone to "feces occurs" -- learning to do all the rebuilding stuff is a great distraction! If the mind is actively focused on something, it's not so prone to wandering down dark smoke-filled alleys.

Andria

 

[Rizzyking]

Nothing occupys the hands like coiling and wicking till you get used to it then its done and over quickly .

 

[AndriaD]

Nothing occupys the hands like coiling and wicking till you get used to it then its done and over quickly .

Yes... then there's DIY to occupy that wayward mind...

Andria

 

[DC2]

Everyone is different. Everyone smoked for different reasons. There is a viable solution to EVERY problem.
That pretty much sums up my philosophy on switching from smoking to vaping.

Then you have to account for fiddle-factor, and how amenable or averse they might be.

The rest is just filling in the blanks.


Take a look at this poll to see how different we really are...
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ou-put-down-those-last-couple-cigarettes.html


As for those that say you have to want to quit, there are many here who would disagree.
Find what makes you happy and you don't even need to want to quit to make this whole thing work.

But you have to believe it can work.
That's probably the most important thing there is.

 

[AndriaD]

Everyone is different. Everyone smoked for different reasons. There is a viable solution to EVERY problem.
That pretty much sums up my philosophy on switching from smoking to vaping.

Then you have to account for fiddle-factor, and how amenable or averse they might be.

The rest is just filling in the blanks.


Take a look at this poll to see how different we really are...
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ou-put-down-those-last-couple-cigarettes.html


As for those that say you have to want to quit, there are many here who would disagree.
Find what makes you happy and you don't even need to want to quit to make this whole thing work.

But you have to believe it can work.
That's probably the most important thing there is.

Yes, I think that belief in it as a viable process is actually more important than the desire to quit -- I'd had the desire for a long time, but since I thought it was impossible, I never made any efforts. When I tried vaping and the drastic reduction in smoking showed me that it might actually be possible, THEN that old desire came to the fore.

When I quit the 2nd time, after my month-long smoke-break following my appendectomy, I did the same gradual reduction in smoking/gradual increase in vaping that I did the first time -- but I made the full switch when I was still at 5 cigs a day, rather than the 1 a day from the first effort, because I KNEW it was possible -- without that knowledge, I'd have arsd around for another week or two before making the full switch.

Andria

 

[Cacique]

I love how everyone thinks going cold turkey is impossible.

I started smoking hand rolled cigars at 18 when I lived back home in Puerto Rico. Had 1 or 2 about every other day, and I took lung hits from the start. Just thought that's how it was. From there I started smoking menthols, about a pack every 3 days. By the time I moved to Fort Lauderdale a short time after that, I was smoking about 4 black and milds a day until. I then switched to cloves, about a half to a pack a day when I was around 19 to 20. At around 20, I was stuck with Newports. Not sure if I was smoking a pack a day because I just never paid attention to it, but it was at least 1 pack every 2 days. By 21 I was at a pack or more, but I met my girlfriend short after that.

Her mom was on remission from cancer and they had quit not that long ago. I would have my last cigarette on the way there and not smoke another until the end of the way when I went back home. The more time I spent with her, the less I smoked. I cut back smoking to only when I went to hang out with my friends right off the bat, that was maybe 2 or 3 cigarettes a week. Then one time I was hanging out with them, lit up a cigarette and it tasted like pure nastiness. And that was it, I actually didn't pick another cigarette up.

I picked up a rechargeable cigalike when I was around 22 or 23 and we were living in a house with no cable or internet and in the middle of nowhere waiting for our house to finish being fixed up before we could move in. That didn't last long and I just didn't pick up any cigarettes or anything. I'm 28 now, and a couple of years ago I picked up an Ego twist and some clearomizers with 0 nic but it wasn't doing anything to me. I kept wanting something to replicate smoking because even though I was able to quit cold turkey, I would still have occasional cravings for a smoke and wanted to satisfy the hand to mouth feeling. I was also a horrible nail biter as a child and I was only able to fully stop after I started smoking, and it started to slowly creep back with time.

Sorry for the hijack and bit of the rant. But what I wanted to point out is that willpower is stronger than people think. Also, just because quitting cold turkey didn't work for you it doesn't mean it has never worked. You quit cigarettes the way you can and want to.

My stepfather did it by placing his pack of cigarettes on his desk to remind himself of what he wanted to quit. He never picked one up after that and it's something you wouldn't know from him unless he decided to tell you that story. He's in his 60-70s so it was some time back. (My family doesn't do birthdays so I have no idea of his actual age. My grandpa is in his 80s and he's not far behind.)

Erazzz, however it happens, I wish you and your father good luck. Quitting a horrible habit that you connect to everything in life (happiness, sadness, boredom...etc.) is hard. I hope he is able to find the right juice and device that will give him what he wants. I 2nd what an earlier poster said of taking him to some vape shops to try the juices himself. Maybe he'll see that it's not just a bunch of 20 year olds, even though that's mostly what I see.

 

[AndriaD]

No one said it's impossible, in fact several of us have quit that way at least once, and therein lies the problem: "just quitting" gives you NOTHING for those long-term cravings that go on and on and on and on.... my mom has been quit for over 10 yrs, using the patch and gum and anything else she could find, and she's been off all the NRT for more than 7 yrs. But she says she STILL gets cravings. My stepfather has been quit for more twenty-five years, and he never smoked more than a half-pk a day -- and he says he still gets cravings.

With vaping, there is something to fill that void, so that you don't GO BACK to smoking, and you don't have to tough it out with white knuckles.

Andria

 

[Cacique]

I totally agree, but it doesn't have to be all white knuckled. It wasn't for me. I'm not saying it's not for most, but it wasn't for me. For whatever reason, I just don't think I was that hooked, as I suffered from nothing other than occasional cravings that wouldn't push me to buying cigarettes because they tasted horrible. While I craved them, I never had a problem not buying a pack while out and about.

 

[Rossum]

I totally agree, but it doesn't have to be all white knuckled. It wasn't for me. I'm not saying it's not for most, but it wasn't for me. For whatever reason, I just don't think I was that hooked, as I suffered from nothing other than occasional cravings that wouldn't push me to buying cigarettes because they tasted horrible. While I craved them, I never had a problem not buying a pack while out and about.

So why are you vaping now?

And for how long did you smoke? That makes a big difference. Let's see, you said you started smoking at 18, and you quit when you were 22 or 23, so 5 years or less? Yet, "I kept wanting something to replicate smoking." That's because cold turkey worked so well, right?

Look, there's no doubt that some people succeed that way. There's also no doubt that some people can be "social smokers" all their lives, just like some people can be "social drinkers" all their lives, while others cannot. People are different. Heck, there are plenty of people who've tried vaping who didn't manage to quit smoking that way either. It is what it is for each individual.

 

[Cacique]

So if cold turkey didn't work then why did I not pick up a cigarette after I quit? The cravings I'm talking about are the same as a craving for a certain food or drink. I explained the reasons why I started smoking but I'd be glad to give the full length story to anyone interested, it's just long and possibly boring and wouldn't want to hijack any further. I simply thought I'd share my story since everyone here has had such a hard time, I figured someone reading this that wishes to quit could benefit from knowing that it's not the same for everyone.

I liked smoking when I did it, and quit for health reasons. Why would I not pick up a much healthier option? The more I read on this forum the more it feels like the only people welcome here are addicted ex-smokers. For some reasons I feel like I'm somewhere in between, considering your post makes me feel somewhat unwelcome here. Not sure if I'm just getting it wrong. I feel what bugs me the most is that my point was similar to yours, that it's not the same for everyone.

 

[Ryedan]

So if cold turkey didn't work then why did I not pick up a cigarette after I quit? The cravings I'm talking about are the same as a craving for a certain food or drink. I explained the reasons why I started smoking but I'd be glad to give the full length story to anyone interested, it's just long and possibly boring and wouldn't want to hijack any further. I simply thought I'd share my story since everyone here has had such a hard time, I figured someone reading this that wishes to quit could benefit from knowing that it's not the same for everyone.

It's definitely not the same for everyone and poeple quit using a variety of techniques, but a lot of people have a really hard time with it.

IMO it's more an issue of likelihood of success for people. I believe the success rate for cold turkey is less than 5% and the patch and other methods are a couple of percent higher. I suspect that using vaping takes the success rate significantly higher than that, but it is still nowhere near 100%.

In my case I was not successful at quitting smoking until I did it by switching to vaping. The way I remember it, if the difficulty of quitting on a scale of 0-10 was a 10 for cold turkey or any other method I tried (unsuccessful), it was about a 7-8 when I used vaping to quit. That difference allowed me to be successful.

It still took me almost a year and a half to really get over the smoking addiction and had I not really wanted to quit smoking I'm pretty sure I still would not have made it.

I liked smoking when I did it, and quit for health reasons. Why would I not pick up a much healthier option? The more I read on this forum the more it feels like the only people welcome here are addicted ex-smokers. For some reasons I feel like I'm somewhere in between, considering your post makes me feel somewhat unwelcome here. Not sure if I'm just getting it wrong. I feel what bugs me the most is that my point was similar to yours, that it's not the same for everyone.

I'm not an 'addicted ex-smoker', I am not addicted to vaping or to smoking now. I'm not the person you replied to, but FWIW I do consider you very welcome here

 

[james chapman]

Erazz,don't know what to tell you. Today(4-10-2015) makes 4 years since I had a Cig. I smoked for 35 years,and was smoking 2 1/2-3 packs a day,when I quit. I started with the Blu,went to the ego,then to the Provari. It was like goldylox and the 3 bears. Blu not enough,egocould be better,Provari just right. I'm not hyping the Provari,as I did quit using the Blu. I started making my own juices and enjoy the whole experimenting with flavors. 'm 53 and retired and it is like a hobby to me. I use the slotted Boge Cartos and a Texas 2 tank. Watched my Grandfather die of emphysema,when I was 17 and that did not scare me enough. I would think your moms lung cancer would scare him. Glad she is in remission. He will quit when he is ready. No amount of nagging will make him quit,if anything he will just smoke more. I know as my Dearest and Mom nagged me to no end. Good luck to him and you.

 

[KattMamma]

I liked smoking when I did it, and quit for health reasons. Why would I not pick up a much healthier option? The more I read on this forum the more it feels like the only people welcome here are addicted ex-smokers. For some reasons I feel like I'm somewhere in between, considering your post makes me feel somewhat unwelcome here. Not sure if I'm just getting it wrong. I feel what bugs me the most is that my point was similar to yours, that it's not the same for everyone.

I don't think the intent was to belittle you or make you feel unwelcome.

It's just that claims that quitting cold turkey is easy are usually not met well, because for most it's not easy. Saying it's easy indicates that those who want to quit but can't do it cold turkey have no will power, or are somehow weak.

For long term smokers (think DECADES) like myself, cold turkey is impossible. We tried. And tried. .

The longer you smoke the deeper the addiction goes, and the harder it is to quit.

If you had smoked for 30 years and quit cold turkey (yeah, I've seen a few of those, but they're in the tiny minority), your claims of it being easy would still be met with some resistance, but probably not as much.

I haven't been here long, but I have noticed that the long-term smokers are some of the most vocal and active proponents of vaping. Like myself, they are amazed and delighted that something finally worked!! We tried cold turkey, we tried patches and gum... they didn't work. Vaping saved us from a decades-old addiction!!

 

[cocoloco]

I've been trying to get my dad to quit smoking for two years now. He wanted to quit using an e-cig. However, he just can't seem to stick with it. He has been smoking for 30+ years. He smokes almost two packs a day.

I think the problem really is that he hasn't -tried-. As soon as he wants a real smoke, he lights one up. He only uses his e-cig is places he can't smoke.

He says he wants something that taste like tobacco. I've tried buying him numerous tobacco e-liquids. The closest was one from Ahlusion, but he still says it isn't like tobacco. He keeps saying he'll quit, but then he doesn't.

He has an ego with a mini protank, he seems fine with that. He isn't very amused by my mech mods and RTAs. lol.

I'm just lost as to what to do. A lot of people say to just stop telling him to do so and let him do it on his own. It is hard to just sit and watch him smoke though, esp when my mom had lung cancer just over a year ago (luckily, she did quit smoking with an e-cig and went into remission after radiation treatment). When I switched, I had only just started to smoke again (I smoked 3 years, quit, then started smoking again for about 4 months, then to an e-cig). I didn't like tobacco flavors when I started and almost immediately went to fruit flavors. He's tried those too, doesn't have much interest in them.

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.

Erazzz;

Unfortunately, it appears that your dad needs an incentive to quit, like emphysema or COPD or some other lung-related condition. It worked on me (COPD), and chances are it'll work on him. It would be so much better if he quit smoking BEFORE his health forced him to do it, but sometimes you just need to let mother nature do her thing.

 

[mcclintock]

I think it should be emphasized that vaping can be MORE enjoyable than smoking. Not just the variety, but the intensity and sensation of the flavors. Not only that, if one has been trying to cut down, rationing, one great advantage is being able to vape more often and still be somewhat more healthy.

Finding both tobacco and non-tobacco flavors that work for someone can be tricky. I don't find it enough to be "oh yeah that tastes like ____ for sure" -- it needs to be even better, more unique and enveloping than eating some good food. Younger smokers may also need powerful hardware to be impressed. Older ones may be overwhelmed, by the vapor as well as the look.

I actually don't think it takes much willpower at all, although transition may be stretched without a push. The main motivations required are buy some stuff, and for vaping to be an exception to more or less everything else in a heavy smoker's life where they smoke a cigarette first in preparation. If they still want to smoke one when the next smoking time slot comes around, that's OK for a while.

 

[AndriaD]

So if cold turkey didn't work then why did I not pick up a cigarette after I quit? The cravings I'm talking about are the same as a craving for a certain food or drink. I explained the reasons why I started smoking but I'd be glad to give the full length story to anyone interested, it's just long and possibly boring and wouldn't want to hijack any further. I simply thought I'd share my story since everyone here has had such a hard time, I figured someone reading this that wishes to quit could benefit from knowing that it's not the same for everyone.

I liked smoking when I did it, and quit for health reasons. Why would I not pick up a much healthier option? The more I read on this forum the more it feels like the only people welcome here are addicted ex-smokers. For some reasons I feel like I'm somewhere in between, considering your post makes me feel somewhat unwelcome here. Not sure if I'm just getting it wrong. I feel what bugs me the most is that my point was similar to yours, that it's not the same for everyone.

You made the point yourself -- not everyone is the same. Just because YOU could do it cold turkey, it DOES NOT FOLLOW that EVERYONE can do it that way -- and in fact, while it's certainly possible, for most it just doesn't "stick" -- which is why e-cigs are necessary -- because standard NRT is also not very effective for MOST people.

Being an example of ONE doesn't mean that every example is the same as you. I quit drinking (HARD drinking) cold turkey. Do most people do it that way? No, most people go into the hospital for detox, because it can be very dangerous, and I'm here to tell you, it's a long, long way from easy. But I did it -- should I go around telling everyone to do it the same way I did?

I see and hear this "if I could do it, ANYONE can," all over the place, and it's really insulting, as well as being not true. Because everyone is different. Everyone's reality is different. Everyone's ability to withstand suffering is different.

Andria

 

[DC2]

I totally agree, but it doesn't have to be all white knuckled. It wasn't for me. I'm not saying it's not for most, but it wasn't for me. For whatever reason, I just don't think I was that hooked, as I suffered from nothing other than occasional cravings that wouldn't push me to buying cigarettes because they tasted horrible. While I craved them, I never had a problem not buying a pack while out and about.

It was kind of the same for me as well...
But like you, I'm not positive I was ever addicted to them.

I smoked about 7 per day, on average, for 27 years.
And I could go all day without one sometimes, and not crave one.

The weird thing was that once I saw someone having a smoke, I would then want one.
And when I wanted one, I would HAVE to have one.

So yeah, I don't know.

 

[cocoloco]

I smoked for over 50 years. I even quit once for 5 whole years back in the 70s.

Once I got the incentive (COPD) to quit four years ago, vaping afforded a painless way. I've never experienced any analog withdrawal symptoms. One day is was analogs, the next it was a cig-a-like.

I still think the issue with erazzz's dad is one of lack of incentive. No one would purposely die a slow death by choice, but many would condone the equally-slow and inevitable consequences of smoking rather than suffer the discomfort and loss of a very personal and long-standing addiction. That's why vaping is such a God-send.

However, in order to do it, there first has to be the will and desire. Without it ...

 

[Cacique]

You made the point yourself -- not everyone is the same. Just because YOU could do it cold turkey, it DOES NOT FOLLOW that EVERYONE can do it that way -- and in fact, while it's certainly possible, for most it just doesn't "stick" -- which is why e-cigs are necessary -- because standard NRT is also not very effective for MOST people.

Being an example of ONE doesn't mean that every example is the same as you. I quit drinking (HARD drinking) cold turkey. Do most people do it that way? No, most people go into the hospital for detox, because it can be very dangerous, and I'm here to tell you, it's a long, long way from easy. But I did it -- should I go around telling everyone to do it the same way I did?

I see and hear this "if I could do it, ANYONE can," all over the place, and it's really insulting, as well as being not true. Because everyone is different. Everyone's reality is different. Everyone's ability to withstand suffering is different.

Andria

I figured someone quitting might want to hear that it's not the same for everyone, and not feel like it's pointless and that they got a chance. I didn't meant to post my story up as an I'm better than you, simply to show people that you can. I figured if someone read my story, it would help push them to quit by thinking if people can quit in different ways this way might work for me.

Thanks to those who made me feel welcome. I'll try to stick a little longer on the forums but not sure how long I'll bother if my being/doing things differently is going to rub others the wrong way.

I find it interesting we all come here to help someone trying to help their father, yet turns into something stupid like this.

 

[AndriaD]

I figured someone quitting might want to hear that it's not the same for everyone, and not feel like it's pointless and that they got a chance. I didn't meant to post my story up as an I'm better than you, simply to show people that you can. I figured if someone read my story, it would help push them to quit by thinking if people can quit in different ways this way might work for me.

Thanks to those who made me feel welcome. I'll try to stick a little longer on the forums but not sure how long I'll bother if my being/doing things differently is going to rub others the wrong way.

I find it interesting we all come here to help someone trying to help their father, yet turns into something stupid like this.

Well, since he's asking for help in how to get his dad interested in vaping... how exactly does a cold turkey story answer that? No one is disputing that cold turkey quitting is POSSIBLE, we just know that for most of us, it just doesn't stick and stay stuck. You seem unable to accept that and move on, so it doesn't seem that we're the ones with a problem.

I'm really not trying to be rude or difficult, but you were the one who brought up cold turkey, and seem unable to accept that a) for most of us, it hasn't worked, and b) it really hasn't got anything to do with the question of how to get an entrenched smoker interested in vaping.

Andria