Quitting Smoking

[BriDog67]

I've read a ton about vaping and the different flavors that ppl enjoy but I'm still trying to do away with real cigarettes. I see a lot of the banners with timestamps and money saved but i could use some tips and pointers on making the transition. I couldn't find another thread about quitting smoking.

I love the e-cig but constantly find myself reaching for the real thing. I have some 24mg juice coming so I'm hoping that'll help.

If anybody knows a good way to get a heavy newport smoker away from newports, I'd really appreciate any advice.

My apologies if this is already posted everywhere I haven't yet looked.

 

[Houdini]

When you run out of cigarettes don't buy any more. When you want one think of it like "either I vape or go without". That's how I did it. I've been happy with 24mg since I started.

 

[doots]

Hi Bri
good choice to go with high nic juice and also will power comes into play.

keep on going and you will be able to kick the cig habit in time.

dont feel bad that it doesnt come all at once. it will come if you are determined..

good luck!

 

[Elapid]

Go high nicotine and if that doesn't work, go high voltage and high nicotine. When you want a cigarette just hit the e-cig like a mad man, the Joneses will go away I promise.

 

[oldtechno]

When you first star vaping...how many cigarettes you burn that day is your starting point. DON't go by these success stories when they put down their cigarettes the same day and didn't look back.

This is YOUR story...not theirs.

I had three packs of ultralites the day my Health E-Cig arrived. I was a three pack a day smoker at that time. It took me two weeks to finish off those three packs.

Most of the time the impulse hit me to light one up, I just shoved that e-cig back into my mouth. Sometimes I didn't, (usually early in the morning, and late night before bed). I didn't fight it at all, just ignored it and puffed on the e-cig.

All in all, my main weapon against lighting up those first two weeks was '...don't have a lot of spare time...' and every time the impulse or thought came to mine--shove that e-cig in there fast.

 

[Marinus]

deffinetly don't have any tobacco around.
just don't give yourself the option, vape or nothing.

 

[Snarkyone]

All I can do is tell you what worked for me. I ordered the high strength carts with my first order, some strong juice and some med juice. I did not purchase any more tobacco products to have lying around as an excuse. Whenever I felt like having a cigarette I grabbed the E-Cig and vaped away. I didn't really buy the kit with the full blown intention of quitting. It was a lark purchase to see what the deal was with it and to take it from there. I happen to get lucky and I was able to stop smoking tobacco the very day it arrived and I have not looked back since. I didn't have cravings or go through crazy mood swings, I just grabbed the E-Cig whenever I felt like smoking a cigarette and smoked that instead. I now have 3 different models and they all have their strong points and they all have their weak points. The tech is really in it's beta stage at this point, I expect better and better models in the coming months and years and I am really looking forward to it.

I don't see any reason why we can't have a IC controlled atomizer that mist much like a fuel injection system on a automobile. The chips are small enough that we could have something like that with no big problem at all. It's going to be fun to see where this technology takes us in the long run.

 

[laurieok]

It took me about a month to wean myself off of analogs. Don't pressure yourself!! Do it at your own pace and it will work out. Find yourself a liquid you really like and up it a bit to 24mg and it will happen!!! I still have a pack of cigarettes in my purse! They are old and stale now, but they still there. If I throw them away, I know I will panic. Sort of my safety net!

 

[Eric in AK]

Sometimes you win the battle one cigarette at a time.

If you normally smoke one just before getting in the car to go to work, for instance, skip that one. Try to identify all the other times when smoking is a routine, not a need. Eliminate those times one by one. Soon you might find that you're only grabbing a cigarette half the times you used to. Once you find that the e-cig is giving you the chemical part that you crave, you can start to reduce the "habit" part of smoking analogs and let the vaping take its place.

 

[Giz's Mom]

I was a menthol smoker too and what I found was to find a really great menthol juice you love and save it for those times when you feel you really need a cig. Maybe have it be a little higher nic than you normally vape. I just mixed some for a friend to use in this way and she said it has been helping. Save it just for those times. I also think if you really have to have a cig, have one. It will come and less pressure you put on yourself the better.

 

[Brachinus]

Everybody's different. If you like the taste of your cigs (I didn't especially like the taste of mine), you might look for "Nuport" flavors or other menthol-tobacco flavors, since it will help remind you of your cigs.

If you didn't particularly care for the taste, but liked the effect (perhaps including the hit at the back of your throat that tells you nicotine is on the way), you might also enjoy plain mint (not menthol) or cinnamon, both of which hit your throat in a bigger way than the more fruity flavors.

As for nicotine, you can start high and work your way down, or start high and stay high (nicotine isn't health food, but it's not really the major unhealthy part of smoking). Cutting tar without cutting nicotine is still probably a lot better for your body.

And as others have said, don't beat yourself up if you find yourself still craving (or even smoking) analogs. If all you do is cut down, you've accomplished a lot, and you may find (as many of us have) that after you vape for a while, a stick of burning leaves doesn't hold the appeal it used to. But again, everyone's different. Don't measure yourself against what other people have done, take it at your own pace and listen to your body.

 

[Jules22871]

My cat is really sick and I am really stressed. I have been vaping since April and I swear I have never wanted a cig more than I did today. I broke out my Puresmoker 36mg and vaped on that for a bit and just refused to have a cig. We still have them in the house. My hubby still smokes. You just have to make up your mind what is important to you and planning ahead really helps. Keep a higher nic than what you usually vape for the bad times and you can do it!

 

[thewomenfolk]

I agree with laurieok. Just let it happen. No pressure. Although I also quit and didn't look back, I still sort of missed certain little habits I had around the cigarette habit, for about a week. Those habits, using a lighter, tapping the ashes, walking to the appropriate place to smoke, etc, strangely enough, do go away, and you develop new ones. The most important part of the habit is replaced by vaping.

If you haven't suffered physically yet from smoking, it's a little harder to say goodbye and good riddance to the real thing. But if they've hurt you, like they did me, you can't dump them fast enough, and you find yourself counting your blessings every day. So you're feeling the normal things of someone who still enjoys a cigarette. So have one. Vape in-between that one and the next, and before too many weeks, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to see what happens.

Please let us know in this thread how you're doing a few months down the line. And good luck to you! Lots of folks on this forum didn't quit overnight!

 

[happily]

a step up in nicotine will do the trick. Your body adjusts down to your nic level

 

[Valkerie]

Not having tobacco around is a good start. I had 3/4's of a pack left and smoked 2 in the morning and 2 at night until they were gone. Didn't buy anymore...but hubby smokes, so they're always in the house.

Yes, I wanted to light up and kept grabbing the e-cig. Got higher nic juice. Played with flavors. I broke a battery and smoked a pack of his that day before the replacement arrived.

My Mom got her kit two days ago. She's having trouble giving up the smokes. The fact that she has some in house is a huge problem. But, I told her how proud I was, that she was reducing the amount of cigarettes she smoked.

It takes everyone a different amount of time to stop. Just keep trying and grab your PV everytime you want to smoke.

 

[quovadis]

I've read a ton about vaping and the different flavors that ppl enjoy but I'm still trying to do away with real cigarettes. I see a lot of the banners with timestamps and money saved but i could use some tips and pointers on making the transition. I couldn't find another thread about quitting smoking.

I love the e-cig but constantly find myself reaching for the real thing. I have some 24mg juice coming so I'm hoping that'll help.

If anybody knows a good way to get a heavy newport smoker away from newports, I'd really appreciate any advice.

My apologies if this is already posted everywhere I haven't yet looked.

Go with Rocky mountain vapor turkish blend 24 mg. Then buy some pure nicotine 48mg so you can add some nic to it. (Nhaler sells 30ml bottles of nic)

It's normal the first 2 weeks to reach out for your analogs. Reflex action.

I would vape an 801 atomizer with a 30 mg juice or thereabouts...
Trust me, you will not reach out for your newports any more.

 

[props76]

LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE!!!

Think of how many cigs you've cut back on. 1/10th or better of what you were before? That's an achievement!!!

Other methods of quiting, patch, gum, cold turkey, if you slip up and have one cig then its over. That doesn't seem to be true with vapeing.

When I started I still had a few smokes now and again, but at worse it was 5 a day, down from more than 30. One day I had a race to go watch. My batts wouldn't last me all day, so I took a pack of smokes and smoked them. Next day it was back to vape and I haven't looked back since.

It has gotten to the point now where cigs taste really bad, and I don't even want one. I have a carton in the freezer and I couldn't care less.

Get the stronger juice, I use 36 during the week when I am at work and can only take smoke breaks. Stick with it, and everything will work out for you.

 

[mikea]

BriDog67: I know how difficult this is. Some people here started using e-cigs and almost immediately they were able to quit. It took me several months. I did cut down almost immediately, and eventually went for six days without a cigarette -- for the first time in over 40 years! Then I back-slid, started again, and it was another couple of months before I got back onto the wagon, as it were. Then on September 30 I decided: I just have to do this. And the only way to do it would be...to do it. Just stop. Stop and don't start again.

So I did. Considering how badly hooked I had been, I don't think I'd have been able to do it without e-cigs. Both my parents quit smoking cold turkey -- I don't know how they did it. But they did. Hats off to them. (Too late for my mother, though -- emphysema got her after all.)

I did something people told me not to do: though I eventually threw out my last bag of tobacco (I'd started rolling my own) -- that bag is still sitting in the garbage can in my office. I decided to see how much I could push myself -- could I tough this out even with tobacco in reach? I would get insane, irrational cravings for cigarettes -- irrational because I must be getting enough nicotine from the e-cigs. But the cigarette cravings continued! And once in a while -- like right now, in fact -- I'll get those cravings again. It's totally baffling to me. But I've been fighting them off. (The "oh, just one won't hurt" excuse doesn't work -- guaranteed, it won't be JUST one!)

One extremely useful piece of advice came from one of the many books on quitting smoking. The advice was: thinking that you're being forced to quit, that you're somehow being forcibly deprived of tobacco, increases your anxiety level and tends to make you resist wanting to quit -- you might begin feeling as if you have to "fight back," somehow.

But you needn't feel anxious -- because you're not being forced to do anything in particular. The book's author pointed out: you can, if you feel you can't stand the stress of it any longer, always drive to the store and buy some more cigarettes. But you don't have to do that. You don't have to smoke another cigarette, and you don't have to feel as if some monster were sitting on your chest, preventing you from smoking when you "want" to.

I put "want" in quotes because even though many of us felt (or still sometimes feel) as if we "enjoy" smoking, it isn't "enjoyment" -- it's the relief that comes from staving off withdrawal symptoms!

I'll send a private message regarding another kind of product that helped me quit (it isn't a nicotine-containing product). I'll make it private because the last time I posted about it in this forum, someone (not a moderator, but one of these "net.cop" types who like to police everyone's messages) accused me of "spamming" the forum. I don't have any connection at all with the product in question but I'm not thrilled about seeing such spitwads thrown in forums, so I'll just use the private message feature.

Anyway, hang in there. It's difficult but it does get easier over time. Not necessarily easy, but easier.

 

[mikea]

BriDog...

One friend I "met" here in the forum (hello, Hellen!) suggested getting some menthol e-liquid -- for instance, to help with those "gotta have a smoke first thing in the morning" cravings. I can see how this would work, but the menthol liquids I've bought so far taste more to me like spearmint gum than like a menthol cigarette. I don't know who sells a menthol e-liquid that really is menthol-like.

Her other recommendation -- and this one did work for me -- was to get some e-liquid in a flavoring called French Pipe. Not all French Pipe is created equal, I found. The particular brand she recommended -- unfortunately, now discontinued by the vendor who was selling it -- has a very heavy, almost cigar-like smoky flavor. It's a very strong flavor. Kicks like a mule, in fact.

It won't taste anything like a Newport, but it sure does taste -- to me -- like a heavy-duty tobacco product and it was helpful in "simulating" smoking a cigarette. If you can find some really strong French Pipe e-liquid (or something similar) that might help at times.

I have wondered if the e-liquid flavor I see sometimes that's called "Cigar" is similar to French Pipe. (Anyone having experience with both flavors: comments?)

I've posted messages asking if anyone knows where to find that super-heavy-hitting French Pipe. I got almost no responses, except from one person who said he'd heard from someone else that the company Totally Wicked sells a pretty strong French Pipe version. But I haven't tried it yet. I also wrote to TW about whether theirs is a really strong smoky flavor, but their response didn't really address the question. (I suppose they have to play it safe, since how e-liquids taste is totally subjective.)

 

[BriDog67]

Very good stuff everyone. Thank you.

One of the things I've found is that I can use my e-cig anywhere and that is throwing off the patterns. I don't smoke in my house so it's like just adding a new habit. I started bringing it out to the garage, etc. to emulate my smoking patterns and haven't bought any real cigarettes today.

See, with me I can't afford both habits, neither physically nor financially. I have to quit smoking.