Quitting nic, and vaping. My plan.

[Automaton]

So... I have been off ciggies since July 3rd. Since then, I have only had one cigarette, about 2 months ago. And I'm feeling pretty confident that I don't have real cravings anymore.

I am not totally married to the idea of quitting nic. I really, really want to. But I have come to realize that, for me, nicotine is a form of self-medication that really does help me function.

All the same, I want to see if I can re-learn to function without it. So I have put together a plan to get me to 0-nic in a year (don't laugh!), and off of vaping full time by New Year's of 2012.

I thought I would post up my little plan, for others who may be interested. Especially those of you who, like me, find that nic is a way of self-medicating, and hope to quit.

For those of you wondering, Qhit is something recently released by FlavourArt, that supposedly increases throat hit. I'm going to test it out, and if it works, I will use it in my juice once I get down to 8mg to replace the lacking throat hit.

I'm taking it really slow. I like vaping. Nic helps me. So don't make fun of me!

November 1st, 2010
14mg

January 1st, 2011
11mg

March 1st, 2011
8mg (add Qhit)

May 1st, 2011
6mg (add Qhit)

July 1st, 2011
4mg (add Qhit)

September 1st, 2011
0mg (add Qhit)

October 1st, 2011
0mg (½ Qhit)

November 1st, 2011
0mg, reduce vaping frequency

January 1st, 2012
Little to no vaping

I haven't entirely worked out how I'm going to regulate how much I vape. Ideas?

Also, I plan to *always* keep a bottle of 18mg juice and at least 2 functioning batteries and 2 functioning atties around at all times, to prevent me from relapsing. It's easier to go to the gas station and buy cigs than it is to order a PV and wait 3 days for it to arrive, so I don't want to get caught off guard.

If I find that I cannot function as well as I do now without nic, I will simply abort the plan and continue to vape at the lowest effective nic dose. I'd rather vape than smoke, and I would also rather use nic to medicate myself than take the scary drugs that Big Pharma is pushing.

Anyway, that's my little plan. Hopefully someone finds it interesting of helpful.

 

[fair dinkum]

Good plan Mistress Nomad, so I'll give you a little bit of encouragement. Of course there have been people already that have quit both smoking and vaping.

I quit smoking on the 16th December 2009 and I haven't had a smoke since then. I started some months ago to cut back on the nic content and at one stage was cutting back 1mg nic per week.

When I quit smoking I started on 28mg nic and I am now vaping at .81mg nic. I've now been vaping on .81mg for about a month and will probably cut it back to .50mg in the next week or so.

I don't believe that I get a 'kick' out of the vaping any more because the percentage of the nic juice is so low. It's more like a habit if anything.

Am I vaping less than I used to on a higher nic content? I'd say definitely yes.
Could I give up vaping? Absolutely and will probably have stopped vaping by the end of this year.

 

[Jurassica Parks]

You go, lady. I love vaping, but I am trying to get to 0mg. I wanna pop out kids someday. It's easier if I quit nic early...years ahead of when I wanna actually bake muffins in mah oven.

 

[jdh5484]

bottles of each strength - 5 ml (max) per day. Approx 3 months.

Well, a funny thing happened and I don't know why. About the 3rd day of being analog free and vaping 18mg I started to get sick/light headed and I was only vaping maybe 2.5 ml/day! So, I cut it back to 15. After a few days the same thing happened! Long story short, at day 14 I went down to 3mg/ml! However, now I'm doing 4-4.5 ml/day (vaping alot more). I should be having the heebeegeebees but I'm not. I figure I'll go with it.

Good luck to you ! The Tortoise beats the Hare!

 

[Automaton]

You go, lady. I love vaping, but I am trying to get to 0mg. I wanna pop out kids someday. It's easier if I quit nic early...years ahead of when I wanna actually bake muffins in mah oven.

This is probably true. One less thing to make your hormones wacky. And trying to quit while pregnant... ouch.

Fortunately for me... I have time. I am keeping my uterus closed for business for, like, ever.

But why do they have to make vaping so damn enjoyable? I should start vaping something terrible, so that it's easier to nudge myself into quitting eventually, or at least not needing to vape all the time.

 

[confused]

I enjoy vaping, it's given me an alternative to smoking, it's something to do, I think I'm orally fixated (no funny comments please lol). It's really helped me quit the analogs. I've tried quitting a few times before but this time it was really easy. I don't intend to smoke again, ever, it was such a filthy habit.

 

[Vap510]

Good plan!!! I am planning the same, dont think I could give up vaping..def want to be in the 0 nic group!

 

[topdown67]

I've only been at this 6 weeks or so, but I am finding dropping the nic level very easy. I was an ultra-light smoker and absolutely believe that my habit was much more a hand-to-mouth or social need than the actual nicotine. Anyway, after starting with 24 and 18mg, cartos, I placed my next order of juices with at the 12 / 11 level. My most recent order was for 8mg and am finding the transition seamless. I've got juices to last a couple of months now and will likely make my next order at an even lower level. Not sure that I'll ever quit vaping, but I do intend to get to 0 nic one of these days.

Good luck to you MistressNomad!

 

[fair dinkum]

I'm already at .27mg Nic level (1 drop for 10ml) and the next step is 0mg because I it's hard to go below one drop. I really wonder what effect if any .27mg Nic has on the body.

 

[Vap510]

Thanks for the thread! Lastnight I mixed 2 no nic solutions. 1 Bavarian Creme & 1 Clove. Switched between the 2 and it cut down on using the nic cartridge. Next order will pickup different colored carts for no nic formulas.

Instead of smoking the nic cart every hour I mainly used the no nic carts & the nic carts 3 times.

Cant believe how simple mixing is! Picking up 2 glass dropper jars to store the nic & pg/vg mix, speed it up more since I wont have to use pipettes.

 

[Zen~]

MistressNomad,

That's a lot of pressure you're putting on yourself, and when plans like these are made that kind of leaves you with really only two options: Succeed or Fail... from my point of view, half of those options are pretty unattractive.

You've said that you enjoy vaping, and you lament about how enjoyable it is. Is there a particular reason why you have to stop it entirely? Vaping at 0mg or even trace amounts of nicotine most likely isn't going to cause you any long term ill-effects. If we were all worried about trace nicotine levels we probably shouldn't eat tomatoes, eggplant or french fries!

The other issue I have with your plan is that a plan such as yours is stress-causing... that is the very antithesis of what you should probably be doing if you want to abolish vaping from your daily routine. In the grand scheme of things, you should enjoy your life, not create the scenario where you are stressed for no real reason, with no huge benefit from actually succeeding at your plan.

I have a plan too... and I would like to share it with you.

I was at 18mg when I first started vaping 7 or 8 weeks ago. Yep, I'm a novice at this, but I'd say I have at least some measure of success at it. Anyway, within a week, I kicked it up to 24 mg, which is admittedly on the high side. I also enjoy vaping like there's no tomorrow, so at 24mg (2.4%) I could easilly give myself the shakes if I vaped hard. So, I cut some of that 24mg juice in half with VG down to 12mg and used that as an "all day vape" and I reserved a few flavors for "treats" or "after dinner vapes" and I left those at 24mg.

A week later I cut the all day vape to 9mg and this past week I cut to 6mg for my all day vape flavor. My treats are still at 18-24mg. This was a RAPID cut in nicotine level, and next week I may cut to 6... I may not. I'm not on a schedule... no pressure at all. Yesterday I vaped some 0mg peppermint for HOURS on end, then I had an afterdinner vape at 24mg, and later I did some of my 6mg.

My point is as follows: I'm not creating a set schedule, and I'm not staying at any one given level of nicotine. I'm all over the map! I enjoy ALL of it, including the 0mg. I whipped up some 0mg French Toast juice that I could vape for hours on end. There is really no need for a plan of how much nicotine... if you want to break up the habit... break up the patterns!

From looking at your proposed plan, I surmise you're vaping at a level of 16-18 Mg/Ml currently, and as a baseline, that's 1.6% to 1.8% and is a good place to start by calling that your "high spot"... Make some of your flavors up at that level and call them "treats", then make an all day vape at something like half that level... use that as your "go to vape"... if you make up like 30ml of it, when you have used about 1/4 of it... add some VG or PG to the bottle and a couple more drops of flavor... you've cut the nicotine by 25%... you can get to zero pretty fast that way... and by all means have a couple treats each day...

Have FUN with it! Don't create pressure or schedules... you cannot fail at something you have not planned!

You spontaniously started smoking... it was a series of events that snowballed into an addiction. The reverse process more resembles what I have suggested, than a long involved plan of set levels and schedules. You're human... be gentle on yourself... treat yourself well and don't judge yourself.

Will you quit vaping? I'm not entirely sure you should if you enjoy it so much! Vaping at 1mg or 2mg is .01% and .02%... is it really worth creating additional stress in your life? Vaping IS a habit... but I'm not so sure it's a BAD habit! All habits are not bad. Some are good!

But if you DO decide to exit the legions of vapers, do it in a stress-free and enjoyable way! Just as you replaced Smoking with Vaping (Which you seem to prefer), you can ALSO cut back and eventually quit vaping if you really want to, and you can do that without killing yourself with stress or making your life miserable. Eventually, if you cut back on the nicotine, in a less controlled chaotic manner, you will probably just wake up one day and not vape. Does it HAVE to be on a certain day, in a certain timeframe, or via a method which will make the even a control freak cringe? Probably not...

I don't see anything about your plan that screams "I AM ENJOYING MY LIFE"... and EVERY thing you do in this life is something you should enjoy!

 

[Brewtus]

MistressNomad,

That's a lot of pressure you're putting on yourself, and when plans like these are made that kind of leaves you with really only two options: Succeed or Fail... from my point of view, half of those options are pretty unattractive.

You've said that you enjoy vaping, and you lament about how enjoyable it is. Is there a particular reason why you have to stop it entirely? Vaping at 0mg or even trace amounts of nicotine most likely isn't going to cause you any long term ill-effects. If we were all worried about trace nicotine levels we probably shouldn't eat tomatoes, eggplant or french fries!

The other issue I have with your plan is that a plan such as yours is stress-causing... that is the very antithesis of what you should probably be doing if you want to abolish vaping from your daily routine. In the grand scheme of things, you should enjoy your life, not create the scenario where you are stressed for no real reason, with no huge benefit from actually succeeding at your plan.

I have a plan too... and I would like to share it with you.

I was at 18mg when I first started vaping 7 or 8 weeks ago. Yep, I'm a novice at this, but I'd say I have at least some measure of success at it. Anyway, within a week, I kicked it up to 24 mg, which is admittedly on the high side. I also enjoy vaping like there's no tomorrow, so at 24mg (2.4%) I could easilly give myself the shakes if I vaped hard. So, I cut some of that 24mg juice in half with VG down to 12mg and used that as an "all day vape" and I reserved a few flavors for "treats" or "after dinner vapes" and I left those at 24mg.

A week later I cut the all day vape to 9mg and this past week I cut to 6mg for my all day vape flavor. My treats are still at 18-24mg. This was a RAPID cut in nicotine level, and next week I may cut to 6... I may not. I'm not on a schedule... no pressure at all. Yesterday I vaped some 0mg peppermint for HOURS on end, then I had an afterdinner vape at 24mg, and later I did some of my 6mg.

My point is as follows: I'm not creating a set schedule, and I'm not staying at any one given level of nicotine. I'm all over the map! I enjoy ALL of it, including the 0mg. I whipped up some 0mg French Toast juice that I could vape for hours on end. There is really no need for a plan of how much nicotine... if you want to break up the habit... break up the patterns!

From looking at your proposed plan, I surmise you're vaping at a level of 16-18 Mg/Ml currently, and as a baseline, that's 1.6% to 1.8% and is a good place to start by calling that your "high spot"... Make some of your flavors up at that level and call them "treats", then make an all day vape at something like half that level... use that as your "go to vape"... if you make up like 30ml of it, when you have used about 1/4 of it... add some VG or PG to the bottle and a couple more drops of flavor... you've cut the nicotine by 25%... you can get to zero pretty fast that way... and by all means have a couple treats each day...

Have FUN with it! Don't create pressure or schedules... you cannot fail at something you have not planned!

You spontaniously started smoking... it was a series of events that snowballed into an addiction. The reverse process more resembles what I have suggested, than a long involved plan of set levels and schedules. You're human... be gentle on yourself... treat yourself well and don't judge yourself.

Will you quit vaping? I'm not entirely sure you should if you enjoy it so much! Vaping at 1mg or 2mg is .01% and .02%... is it really worth creating additional stress in your life? Vaping IS a habit... but I'm not so sure it's a BAD habit! All habits are not bad. Some are good!

But if you DO decide to exit the legions of vapers, do it in a stress-free and enjoyable way! Just as you replaced Smoking with Vaping (Which you seem to prefer), you can ALSO cut back and eventually quit vaping if you really want to, and you can do that without killing yourself with stress or making your life miserable. Eventually, if you cut back on the nicotine, in a less controlled chaotic manner, you will probably just wake up one day and not vape. Does it HAVE to be on a certain day, in a certain timeframe, or via a method which will make the even a control freak cringe? Probably not...

I don't see anything about your plan that screams "I AM ENJOYING MY LIFE"... and EVERY thing you do in this life is something you should enjoy!

Bravo and well put!! People ask me all the time if I am going to ever stop vaping...sure maybe someday I will but as of now I have no plans to. But I think your right on the money with the ".. if you want to break up the habit... break up the patterns! " bit. Thanks for this post.

 

[Automaton]

So... you're telling me that you have a problem with me NOT wanting to feed my addiction for the rest of my life?

I'm 21. My brain is still developing. I have a real shot at being able to function without addiction, because my brain can still re-wire itself. That is something that many of the 40+ people here don't have anymore. I still have a chance - I don't want to waste it.

There is nothing especially rigid about my plan. It's a 2-year plan, stepping down in practically unnoticeable increments. What's stressful about that? Did you read all the way to the end?

If I find that I cannot function as well as I do now without nic, I will simply abort the plan and continue to vape at the lowest effective nic dose. I'd rather vape than smoke, and I would also rather use nic to medicate myself than take the scary drugs that Big Pharma is pushing.

There is no "succeed or fail." All there is, is "I would like not to be an active addict forever." What is so terrible about that?

I don't WANT to vape forever. Everyone enjoys being an addict to some degree - that's why people continue to do it, no matter what it costs them.

But vaping has never been proven safe, and I am young. I can be free someday, if I want to be.

And I do. I don't want to do this forever. If I can be free, I want to. Right now, I am taking a risk to buy me more time while I figure out how to free myself.

I don't want to do that forever.

This is not about "enjoying my life." This is about me not wanting to be an addict. Vaping has not changed that. I didn't switch to keep enjoying being an addict. I switched to buy myself time until I found out how to beat it.

You may have different priorities. Fine. But I am young and I have a lot of years. I don't want to spend all of them feeding my addiction. I have better things I want to do, and better things to spend my money on.

I do enjoy vaping. But I'd enjoy not vaping more.

Thanks for the encouragement...

 

[misterD]

ecigexpress is gonna have some Qhit soon. do you know of any other place that has it in the US?

 

[Automaton]

ecigexpress is gonna have some Qhit soon. do you know of any other place that has it in the US?

Not sure, I received a sampler from someone on PIF.

 

[misterD]

i dont plan on quitting but im curious about how this thing works. if you're supposed to add it to liquid or vape it pure cos it comes on 4 different "flavors" (the 4 elements or whatever). italians are freaking pazzi da legare

 

[Automaton]

As I understand it, you have to use a fair amount of it - 10 to 20 percent? It's for throat hit. I haven't used it yet, since I'm still at 16mg and get a fair amount of throat hit. I may mix up some low-nic juice for chain vaping, and try out the Qhit.

 

[misterD]

as soon as ecigexpress get it i plan on ordering. buy buy buy buy buy. that is something i have to quit doing!
are you a journalist or something similar? you write so dang well! keep it up, girl! and you're very pretty too

 

[Automaton]

Heh... I do have experience in journalism, and writing is all I've been doing since I was knee-high. So... yeah, I guess so, although I'm currently sort of unemployed (Which may be changing soon? Maybe? Pretty please?).

Thanks.

 

[Zen~]

Mistress Nomad...

I understand why you want to quit, and it makes complete sense. I actually would never try to talk you out of it... My post was to suggest that there may actually be a more rapid and lower stress path to that goal. I'm not 21, I'm 53... My brain is wired, but I am absolutely certain I could get to zero nic in less than two months if I wanted to, and once at zero I could make the physical aspects (hand to mouth, etc.) of the addiction go away pretty easilly.

You didn't start smoking by saying... "I'll have ONE today... and one each day for a week... then I'll move up to two... with any luck I should be at a pack a day in a year..." Sounds silly doesn't it?

The reverse of the addiction should resemble a more chaotic breaking up of the patterns than a schedule. I know you worked hard on your plan, and if you follow it through, I wish you success... I'm just saying that if your intent is to quit, then do it with as little stress, and as organically as possible. I admire your strength and desire to quit. I'm just trying to help you get there if it's what you would like to do.

You have a huge support group here on the forums who are all on your side and I think I speak for all of them when I say, we all want what is best for you... and what is best for you is up to you to decide.

Again... I'm 53... and I have quit MANY bad habits in my life... (many many many many) and this is just my 2 cents regarding what has worked for me in other areas... If I personally was planning on quitting vaping any time soon, I would get it done in a few months... I'm pretty happy being analog free for the moment, and I love vaping.