Smoking vs Vaping

[Grimheart]

I am thankful that I have found the world of vaping. I have finally kicked the habit and I am 100% certain that analogs are a thing of the past. For me, vaping is the new norm. A brand new ritual that just didn't replace smoking but in fact superseded it. I honestly don't care that vaping doesn't mimic smoking to the nth degree. As a matter of fact, I think those that try to force that matter are almost certainly doomed to a lifetime of stumbling and ultimately failing and going back to the old habit. I know that tobacco flavors are popular and for the life of me I don't know why. In all my years of smoking I never looked for a cigarette that tasted good, it was more or less finding one that didn't taste bad. I understand fully that the mimicry of smoking a real analog is very important to someone that is trying to quit but at some point you have to separate the two. Being able to truly bury a bad experience in life means that you don't carry part of that episode into the future. I don't miss smoking, not one single bit and it's due to the fact that I realized that vaping isn't going to give me the exact same experience. It's like trying to eat healthy and desperately searching for a vegetable that looks and taste like a big a Big Mac. I can honestly say that my transition has been softened by the fact that I could care less that I can't dangle a Vmax from my lips or that I can't pack a bottle of Ecto plasm on the palm of my hand. Smoking is smoking and vaping is vaping plain and simple. I truly believe that the more you separate the two the more successful you will ultimately be. Some may argue that we've just traded one habit for another and there is a tiny bit of truth to that. We are still addicted to nicotine and there isn't any way of getting around that. The good news is that we now have a viable option for quiting, the old way can simply be replaced by the new. The key here is that you embrace the new and let the old stay buried in the past.

 

[fourthrok]

Grimheart says: " In all my years of smoking I never looked for a cigarette that tasted good, it was more or less finding one that didn't taste bad"

AMEN! That is exactly the way I felt about the whole thing. If I could stand the taste...I'd smoke it. That's about it. Now, with vaping, I actually ENJOY what I'm tasting. Very very much!

 

[EddardinWinter]

Yes, it is still a habit. I still "need" nicotine.

But it is very different now seven months into my analog free life. I used to go an hour or two before I started freaking out if I could not have a cigarette. Now, I can go all day at work without vaping, although I don't do it very often. The need is muted. So many other benefits to vaping, and we all know them. Vaping being like smoking is something that helps the early transition for the vaper for that difficult time. Once you get past that, you start to appreciate vaping as a really cool unique activity.

 

[spaceballsrules]

Congrats on your success!

Smoking tobacco is one thing, but vaping tobacco is a different animal altogether. When tobacco isn't burnt to ash, it actually tastes really good, and smells amazing as well. Think of opening a fresh pack of smokes, or smelling a well used humidor, or walking into a high end tobacco shop, or walking through a tobacco cure house. THAT is what you get from vaping tobacco, especially naturally extracted tobaccos. Vaping allows tobacco aficionados to really taste the tobacco without the combustion getting in the way, and allows the subtle nuances of different tobaccos to come forth.

 

[DC2]

Just for a different perspective...

Personally, I loved everything about smoking.
Well except for the ashes.


I probably would not have liked how bad I smelled, had I known.
But I had no idea how bad I smelled until I stopped smoking.

I don't consider smoking to be a bad experience that I want to bury.
And I am glad that technology is allowing us to get closer and closer to that experience.

 

[Jimmythebutcher]

Just for a different perspective...

Personally, I loved everything about smoking.
Well except for the ashes.


I probably would not have liked how bad I smelled, had I known.
But I had no idea how bad I smelled until I stopped smoking.

I don't consider smoking to be a bad experience that I want to bury.
And I am glad that technology is allowing us to get closer and closer to that experience.

I agree! I feel like i've "moved on." If that makes any sense. I LOVED smoking and now I LOVE vaping and prefer it to smoking. Its kind of what I always wanted out of smoking. Something to do with my hands, something that tastes good and something i could have a puff or 2 of and stick back in my pocket. wonderful stuff.

 

[singu]

There is just no comparison between the two, exept they both give us nicotine. The biggest difference is that smoking was just stressful ...you can't smoke for some reason and thats driving you crazy, you can smoke but someone is irritated you are smoking, everything you own smells bad including you, winter comes and you can't smoke indoors...

Vaping is just relaxing and you know you are not doing anything wrong for your health and enjoy your preffered e-liquid in your home...just bliss...

 

[Grimheart]

Just for a different perspective...

Personally, I loved everything about smoking.
Well except for the ashes.


I probably would not have liked how bad I smelled, had I known.
But I had no idea how bad I smelled until I stopped smoking.

I don't consider smoking to be a bad experience that I want to bury.
And I am glad that technology is allowing us to get closer and closer to that experience.

I have friends that feel the same way. For me, I cursed under my breath every time I bought a pack of smokes. I'm one of the ones that started smoking in high school because I thought it was cool and before I new it I was hooked. Personally, smoking was a nightmare that I'm glad I woke up from.

 

[Thucydides]

I love these threads where people describe how they feel about vaping and what it means to them.

 

[SissySpike]

I love Vaping so many cool gadgets! Lingo, Cartomizer love that word! Im very glad I can Vape or not Vape its not an over powering all consuming feeling when I cant vape for one reason or another. I do miss my Zippo though.

 

[starr1349]

When I first started smoking I really enjoyed it, I liked everything about it. Until I started trying to quit about 15 years ago. Obviously that didn't work out to well. While I had given up and resigned myself to being a lifelong smoker, it really really sucked. I hated the money I was literally burning up every month. I hated seeing clouds of smoke in my house turning everything yellow. I hated dumping and washing ashtrays knowing that is what I was putting in my lungs. I hated that craving that felt like a "need" not a want.

Now? I could really care less about smoking. The longer I vape, the less I am interested in smokes. While I don't say anything to my friends, I am really starting to hate the smell of smokes. I can't believe smoked for so long and never noticed it . Wow, just wow. And I swore I wouldn't be one of those ex smokers who whined about the smell. No, I don't whine to anyone about the smell, but I really really don't want to be around it anymore. Cigarettes have a very distinct odor, not like a woodburning campfire or a fish smoker, but a "bad" odor now.

So I may have started vaping to quit smoking, that's not how I look at it now either. Smoking was one thing, and vaping is a whole other animal. I don't think I will smoke again, but I am really enjoying vaping now.

Rise from the ashes...

 

[Bosco]

One of the best/strangest things about vaping for me so far is that I'm getting congratulated by my family and close friends for quiting smoking ... but I don't feel as though I've given anything up. Quite the opposite, in fact! Vaping is better than smoking ever was!

 

[cocacola31173]

I had to go in my old tobacco shop and let them know I haven't died...they actually asked my mother if I was ok! Right now Im trying to talk him into starting up a little section dedicated to vaping. But he might make more selling reg cigs, I don't know. It would just be great if we had a store in town.

Now my regular convenience store knows not to have my smokes ready for me when I get to the counter too. They are amazed I am sticking to this. Only problem is they have a 5 dollar minimum to use a debit card now so I have to make sure to keep some cash on hand if I want a drink or something. My cigs use to cover that with nooo problem. LOL

My biggest thing to get use to is buying all my supplies up front. I used to go in and just buy a pack a day (didn't seem to be that much that way even though it was)....now Im having to shell out 50 bucks at time, even though with that I know Im good for a month.

 

[Grimheart]

One of the best/strangest things about vaping for me so far is that I'm getting congratulated by my family and close friends for quiting smoking ... but I don't feel as though I've given anything up. Quite the opposite, in fact! Vaping is better than smoking ever was!

This is quite possibly the greatest thing about vaping. I don't feel like I've had to give up anything but instead, have gained so much. Some people struggle to make the switch, I understand this. For me, It was an easy transition and I'm very thankful for this. I can't look back at smoking analogs with a teary eye, I see it for what it was. A filthy, stinking habit that was ruining my life.

For those that like tobacco flavors please don't take offence at my stance. I just want to leave as much as possible about smoking in the past and not bring it into my vaping experience. If you include tobacco in your flavor profile that's cool, whatever keeps you off the stinkies is a good thing. To each his own as they say.