I was a 40 a day smoker when I could barely afford analogs. When the price increased by 25% I swiched to rolling
tobacco because I knew from previous experiance that a 50gram pouch should get me through the best part of a week. However I also knew that this was no more than a stop-gap measure, as rolling tobacco is too heavy for my chest to cope with over an extended period.
vaping was my last hope of qutting analogs, even after 5 long months of research I was still having doubts because dry nicotine inhalers don't agree with me(nor did the other nicotine replacements). Thankfully I haven't had an analog since the minute my 1st e-cig arrived and I haven't missed them one little bit, now
THAT is saying something!
The fact that I am in control of what, I can only assume, is being refered to as "Throat hit" is a huge factor, as the dry nicotine inhalers had too much throat hit for me. That dry raspy kind of feelng is something I seem to have a low tolerence for and seems to be directly related to nicotine content in my case. I also feel that this throat hit is the driving factor behind the need to drink pleanty of water while vaping, because its soothes and clears that dryness. (it also solved my soda habit because the water allowed me to get a better depth of flavour and sweetness out of my e-juice) The good news is that I started at 18mg/ml quite comfortably, then decided to drop to 11mg/ml because I was chain vaping. At the end of my day I tried to go back up to my normal 18mg/ml and then found the throat hit too much after vaping my 11mg/ml. For me at least, it would seem that decreasing the amount of nicotine per ml is easier than increasing it.
Already thinking of dropping down again, but feel it would be prudent to wait till the chain vaping slows. I attribute the chain vaping to the fact that my brain is still searching for the tar that used to be there but not the nicotine. But because the e-cig mimics smoking habits/feel sooooo thoroughly it is taking a while for my brain to adjust to the fact, that after doing the same physical thing for 25 years, it is now yeilding a different result. A bit like "sea-legs" where it takes a while to adjust to the fact that on a boat at sea, the floor is constantly moving instead of being solid and stable and then that sensation can remain for a while after returning to dry land. The imitation is so good it is not actually triggering a craving for an analog but a "want" for more vapour(no doubt so your brain can continue it's seach for the missing ingredients lol).
Remember the nicotine level in e-juice is measured per ml not per cigarette. My old regular cigarettes(taylor mades) were 8mg each (To be honest I feel this measure could be more tar than nicotine or that smoke is a less efficient as delivery system but never really thought about it until using e-cigs), I averaged
40 analogs per day so that is 2240mg of nicotine and tar per week on average that I used to consume. I vape about
20 mls of 11mg nic juice per week so that is only 220mg of nicotine per week. Even at 18mg/ml using 20 mls per week it would only be 360mg of nicotine per week. So the jump to e-cigs from analogs is the biggest nose dive in nicotine levels one should experiance and personally I didnt really notice it because I dont feel I have given up anything or that anything is missing except for that head-spin/instant hit kind of feeling.
The other major factor for me was
TASTE, I
L*O*V*E!!!!!!! menthol and every time I have tried to quit, I swear, I miss the menthol as much as the nicotine and often
more so!!! My plan is, that before I get around to quitting e-cigs, I need to buy menthol crystals and perfect my own tiny hard boiled "plain" menthol lollies. Not a Eucalyptus/menthol blend found in chewing gum's or cough drop's.
OR find a new favourite flavour to
love that I can replicate easily with food/drink, like green apple, orange, lemon or cola. The latter idea being my prefference, for me will mean diluting the menthol concentration to 0% will need to take priority over nicotine reduction. And hunting for a good strong fresh flavour to fill the void and nicely follow meals etc... will need to be given the same priority. That is why I am looking to fruits/juices or sodas because real fruit/juices and sodas satisfy the hand to mouth habit and are easy to obtain provided you steer clear of seasonal fruits and they cleanse the pallet.
The Only will power required is to get through the 1st few hours and mouthfulls of e-juice till you get the hang of it. The rest is really no worse than changing brands.
I want mention about changing to e-cigs and what to expect. Thankfully I still remember how sick I felt 23 years ago, for the 2 weeks it took me to change over to menthol cigarettes, so I was mentally prepared for the same again. I am sure you will be relieved that it was no-where near that bad. Yes there was some bad coughing(and still some at times but only minor) and some minor nausea. But what suprised me was that my mouth felt like it was coated with mucus rather than saliva. Thankfully all passed within the 1st week (Drinking pleanty of water really helps -- its more that, drinking water really-often, helps rather than the quantity). I still cough on odd occasions but I was like that with analogs too, heck I cough if water vapour/steam hits me the wrong way lol. Oh and eye irritation for me it was my right eye only and yes my instinct was to question the link with e-cigs but as it was only one eye not both, I also examined enviromental and hygene factors. I noticed the fan was blowing the vapour onto the right-hand side of my face more often than not, but never onto the left side (so a minor change solved that.) The other thing was that
hand washing (essential as nicotine is very poisonous) is not always practical when refilling while out and about. 1 drop or half a drop on my skin at 11mg/ml for my body weight in my opinion, poses no great personal risk to me, provided I dry it wth a tissue or my jeans asap . However I suggest you treat it like onion or chilli because if you get it in your eyes it may cause irritation.
(this may be different for you, and I am not suggesting that this is a safe or responsible responce to an e-liquid spill of ANY quantity, I am more so pointing out that its human nature to take short-cuts and the personal risk assessments we all make at times)
Nicotine can be absorbed through the skin and is very
readily absorbed through the lining of the mouth and mucus membranes (so that includes nasal passages, throat and lungs) so huge lungfulls are not essential but may be enjoyable
PROPYENE GLYCOL--LONG TERM EFFECTS AT HIGH CONCENTRATIONS have been researched to some extent
(I did lift the next paragraph in black text from Wikipedia but about 5 months ago I did read the reports that I managed to find online and am sure you can easily do the same, sorry I didn't keep the links at the time. From memory the study on the monkeys was done at saturation point {maximim vaporisation} of PG for a period of upto 18 months, full autopsys revealed no ill effects on any organs)
Found 3 links and if you are really keen you can opt to purchase the full report but this should get you started the last link is a Biographical Memoir which includes a list of various studies Dr. Oswald Hope Robertson participated in and may offer futher reading or points of interest. While Wikipedia may point you in the right direction it is no substitue for personal research.
http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/91/1/52.abstract#
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,932876,00.html
http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/orobertson.pdf
Possible air germicideStudies conducted in 1942 by Dr. Oswald Hope Robertson of University of Chicago's Billings Hospital showed vaporized propylene glycol inhalation in laboratory mice may prevent pneumonia, influenza, and other respiratory diseases. Additional studies in monkeys and other animals were undertaken to determine longterm effects, especially the potential for accumulation in the lungs. After a few months of treatment, no ill effects were discovered.[32]
Well I don't know if any of this will help you quit e-cigs or analogs but if you are quitting analogs your key concerns when chosing a device are really battery life, cartrige capacity and ease of refilling cartriges especially when out and about. Manual batteries and pushing the button is not as huge a deal as you may think. While I do wish there were nice metalic hard enamel paint jobs in pretty colours on my e-cigs(like on cars), I cannot fault my Joye Ego's on ease of use, battery life or ease of refilling on the go because there is nothing to pull apart inside, no extra tools no paperclips required etc.. and no need to sit down.
Just take the cart off and there is the filler material right at the top, fill and replace the cart.... nice and easy (I am using the Ego carts and Ego atomisers not the 510 carts) 2 fully charged extra large batteris and 10mls of juce guarantees me 15 hours of steady and frequent vaping with e-juce to spare and I usually have a standard ego batt, atty and cart in my PCC just in case and I got the lanyard which is a God send especially when driving but I do recommend adding a 5ml key-chain bottle to the lanyard.
HAPPY VAPING!!!
I do not work for any company, these are my own thoughts, feelings and opinions and I strongly encourage people to do their own research. PG is not the only ingredient in e-cigs and I am aware of concerns with some flavourings vaper's are using, my theory is if you have doubts about a product or liquid then avoid it untill you have done your own research and made an evaluation percieved or otherwise as to your personal risks. Never disregard claims of danger and never take claims of danger or safety for that matter as gospel. Always research ingredients you are not famliar with to the best of your ability.
Until this stuff is approved by the FDA (and even after that) we the customers are the only moderators to independently decide how big a risk we are willing to take. At the end of the day
we are all literally staking our own lives in our support of these products, so we need to get it right and not fall into the trap of ignorance that we as smokers are all guilty of to some degree and has seen more than 1 smoker die throughout history, due to illnesses that "might" be linked to tobacco, by blindly following public perception at that time and failing to dig deeper. Lets try to stay ahead of the curve this time round and not let history repeat itself.
