Still smoking support and chat thread

[ShariR]

I was thinking about you last night when I heard about that tornado that was heading your way after it went through Fayetteville. I was not on my computer with the storms so I could not remember exactly where you are located but was hoping you were ok. Tues is not supposed to be as bad. More south and east. We got lots of rain and wind, that is all. Thankfully.

I found after going to rda's that I had to drop my nic to 6mg, the 18 and even 12 was just too much on them. I do actually like a lung inhale and find now that I'm used to the drippers I can vape a little higher nic.

The last couple of days I've actually been adding 18 and 24 mg to my 6 to raise it up a bit and last night during the storms I was dripping almost straight 18 like a steam engine.

I'm happy to see that you made it through yesterday's storms ok Shari, hopefully everyone did. We got a little too close for comfort for me, but fared fine. A huge supercell with extreme rotation and tornado signatures cut to the east just south of us by about 5 or 10 miles, but it was coming straight at us for a while.

Goody goody a repeat performance possible tonight.

 

[ShariR]

Thank you. That is a lot of money to spend on something that does not work right. The heads are real expensive too. After my problem with the R91v2 and the drama surrounding a faulty design I do not think I am going to buy anything in its first release. Since I have trouble making up my mind anyhows it will not be difficult to wait.

I do love my Russian now that I have gotten a Version 1. Coil building is interesting. Some days no problem, others are a real challenge. I have to change the cotton every day or two, or about every 2 tanks. Of course I do not realize cotton needs to be changed until after I just refill. Grrrrrrr..........

Hold off on the Nautilus, I know several people who have gotten them and it seems like at first they are great and within a few days dry burnt hits. Changing heads does not seem to fix it, will work great for a few hits and then boom, also they are having trouble with the tanks cracking with non tank cracker juices.

 

[Claudia P]

I was thinking about you all day Monday, like you I'm not sure exactly where you are but could see red triangles on the doppler in the general area I think you are in.

Ours came up from the southwest rather than the west, when they come straight east the plateau manages to diffuse them, from the south or southwest all bets are off. The one that killed those people in Lincoln county was coming straight toward us and had such high numbers that our meteorologist was scared, but it veered east about 5 miles south of us. It did damage in it's long path but mostly just to trees and of course the trees did some damage to buildings and vehicles.

We didn't even get the wind or much rain until it had passed, last night they called off all of the watches and warnings by midnight so I thought I could have a nice relaxing night of sleep. HAHAHAHA about 2 the thunderstorms started and while they weren't severe they were way too loud to sleep and a few shook the house.

Then I get up this morning and went to make coffee and no water.

I think I've had enough of this week can we please go on to next week now. lol

I was thinking about you last night when I heard about that tornado that was heading your way after it went through Fayetteville. I was not on my computer with the storms so I could not remember exactly where you are located but was hoping you were ok. Tues is not supposed to be as bad. More south and east. We got lots of rain and wind, that is all. Thankfully.

 

[ShariR]

I am 35 miles south of Nashville and only a couple of miles off I-65. We had lots of rain and wind. I think our house is in a wind tunnel, the wind sweeps over the higher ground from the west/southwest of us and seems to pick up speed in our neighborhood. Of course, we have a nice pretty creek within sight of our house. So charming until we figured out that in TN the creeks funnel all the water from half of TN within site of our house.

We were not in a flood zone when we purchased this house 11 years ago, but the Govt redid the flood maps after the 2010 Nashville floods and, guess what, we are now in a flood zone. We had no water in our house but did in our front yard. So did everybody else. My sister, 7 miles away, had water that went underneath her mfg home but they did not put her in a flood zone. I guess we just don't live our lives right or something.

Hope you get your water back soon. Good to see you have electricity and internet and no damage.

Glad to hear you are safe and it all missed you. Several years back we had a small tornado touch down about a mile up the road from us and it scared the dickens out of us. And the story is true. It does sound exactly like a freight train. We could not see the tornado from our porch but saw the dark area and heard it loud and clear from our front porch.

I was thinking about you all day Monday, like you I'm not sure exactly where you are but could see red triangles on the doppler in the general area I think you are in.

Ours came up from the southwest rather than the west, when they come straight east the plateau manages to diffuse them, from the south or southwest all bets are off. The one that killed those people in Lincoln county was coming straight toward us and had such high numbers that our meteorologist was scared, but it veered east about 5 miles south of us. It did damage in it's long path but mostly just to trees and of course the trees did some damage to buildings and vehicles.

We didn't even get the wind or much rain until it had passed, last night they called off all of the watches and warnings by midnight so I thought I could have a nice relaxing night of sleep. HAHAHAHA about 2 the thunderstorms started and while they weren't severe they were way too loud to sleep and a few shook the house.

Then I get up this morning and went to make coffee and no water.

I think I've had enough of this week can we please go on to next week now. lol

 

[ShariR]

Where is everybody? Has everyone moved and left me behind?

I am amazed at how much not having a great vape experience can play with my mind and get the cigarette thoughts churning. Even after 9 months. My vape is still better than a cigarette tastes, but it is not where I know it can be.

Fussing and fiddling with toppers is great fun when it works and I get an amazing vape. When the outcome is just an ok vape, I wonder if all the coil building and cotton fiddling is worth the effort and aggravation.

Vaper's Tongue I seem to be able to deal with a horrible vape for a week or so. My poor coil and cotton skills I do not seem to have the same level of patience. Interesting.

 

[Thayamax]

Where is everybody? Has everyone moved and left me behind?

I've been wondering the same thing. I had to brush aside cobwebs and step over crickets just to make this post.

 

[Topdogie01]

I've been dealing with insomnia. And child did not want to let me sleep once I actually fell asleep. He is watching Japanese kids shows right now. Hopefully I can at least nap.

Ebd of bowling league tonight. Getting most of our money back. Since so many people quit in previous years this year it was required to pay all season even if you drop out so you don't cost your tean mates money. Girlfriends team members all quit.

 

[Thayamax]

Is she that bad of a bowler? (jk)

 

[Claudia P]

I'm still here reading, trying to recover from all of the stress of the storms. I panic over them and don't sleep well until they are over, it takes me a while to recover. I know this is irrational but there appears to be nothing I can do about it.

This has been the week from hell, hopefully I don't get in trouble for saying that. Things started going downhill Saturday night with a power out that fried a cable box and then two days of storm stress, and then yesterday our water was off most of the day, and other stuff in the mail today, SS crap.

I just haven't felt very sociable and can't seem to get out of worry/panic mode.

Shari I'm not so sure the antis aren't right about vaping not being a way to quit smoking, just trading one addiction for another. I know much of the time I am left feeling unsatisfied by my vape. Flavors taste great for a day or two and then the flavor fades, and I am still chain vaping and I shouldn't be at this point. I'm not thinking about smoking though, I really really don't intend to ever take even one drag off another cigarette, but I do think at some point I am going to have to go cold turkey and not even vape before I can consider myself a non smoker.

Of course the proposed FDA regs don't help with that, I'm so picky about what I like to vape that DIY isn't going to cut it for me at all. I require complex flavors, simple ones do nothing for me. I know my favorite vendor has a plan in action with big money backing that should keep them going even with the regs when they are enacted but even that doesn't seem to give me any peace of mind. I'm just hoping that lawsuits and the like keep this going long enough for me to be gone before it happens. That really shouldn't be all that much longer at my age, and with my family history.

Where is everybody? Has everyone moved and left me behind?

I am amazed at how much not having a great vape experience can play with my mind and get the cigarette thoughts churning. Even after 9 months. My vape is still better than a cigarette tastes, but it is not where I know it can be.

Fussing and fiddling with toppers is great fun when it works and I get an amazing vape. When the outcome is just an ok vape, I wonder if all the coil building and cotton fiddling is worth the effort and aggravation.

Vaper's Tongue I seem to be able to deal with a horrible vape for a week or so. My poor coil and cotton skills I do not seem to have the same level of patience. Interesting.

 

[aikanae1]

No they aren't right. Would you have even considered quitting smoking without an ecig? I know I wouldn't. Patch, gums, chantix, everything else they've come up with "approved" was worthless to me. It was still cold turkety. This (ecig) I could do, even if it wasn't perfect it was better than doing nohing - and nothing was the only other real option.

 

[aikanae1]

Where is everybody? Has everyone moved and left me behind?

I am amazed at how much not having a great vape experience can play with my mind and get the cigarette thoughts churning. Even after 9 months. My vape is still better than a cigarette tastes, but it is not where I know it can be.

Fussing and fiddling with toppers is great fun when it works and I get an amazing vape. When the outcome is just an ok vape, I wonder if all the coil building and cotton fiddling is worth the effort and aggravation.

Vaper's Tongue I seem to be able to deal with a horrible vape for a week or so. My poor coil and cotton skills I do not seem to have the same level of patience. Interesting.

You've got a vape meet coming up where you can get some hands on help don't you?

I read a post from DVap awhile ago about the "X factor" in vaping. I'm not 100% sure if that applies here, but it popped into my brain when I read your post. I've been meaning to track that post down again since it stands out as one of my fav's ever on ECF.

Meanwhile I've been doing to much reading, specifically figuring out these regulations. They are broad and I'm not liking them. Then the Calif online sales thing was yesterday. And I gotta get off the internet at some point ....

But I've wondered about FQ too?

 

[Thayamax]

No they aren't right. Would you have even considered quitting smoking without an ecig? I know I wouldn't. Patch, gums, chantix, everything else they've come up with "approved" was worthless to me. It was still cold turkety. This (ecig) I could do, even if it wasn't perfect it was better than doing nohing - and nothing was the only other real option.

I agree. If it came right down to it I'd rather be hooked on ecigs than on cigarettes. They're way less harmful, so I'd rather be chain vaping than chain smoking, which is what I did before. And yes, sometimes my vapes aren't completely satisfying, but I had the same problem with cigarettes. At this point in time I would most likely return to smoking if I couldn't vape anymore, but I think maybe in time I could ease my way down to 0mg nicotine if I had to without returning to smoking. You don't really have that option with cigarettes.

 

[ShariR]

Oh Claudia, what a rough week for you. It is terrible to have anxiety over something that you have no control over. It can make you feel so helpless. I hope with the weather clearing nicely that you get a chance to have things settle down. So you can relax.

I hear you about feeling like you traded one addiction for another. When all I did was drip I was pretty satisfied. Now that I am playing with the RBAs a little I see the quality of my vape go up and down like a roller coaster. I do not like that. I am just surprised that it is bothering me as much as it is. I will never smoke again either, even if I quit vaping at some point. But, if I stopped vaping today; I think I would go through a withdrawal not so unsimilar to the cigarettes. Maybe not but that is how I am reading myself and my reactions to the inconsistency in my vape quality.

I have never felt I was one of those vapers that is chasing the perfect vape. I have had a good, pleasurable, flavorful vaping experience since I started, pretty much. But since the Russian 91% and some fleeting days of amazing vapor, I am now finding the path becoming more twisted. I am hoping that experience with winding more coils and fine tuning the wicking will put me back on a steady path.

Sometimes I wonder if I should just find a clearo and just plug in the heads for that steady monotonous mediocre vape. Not sure, and here I go thinking again.

I'm still here reading, trying to recover from all of the stress of the storms. I panic over them and don't sleep well until they are over, it takes me a while to recover. I know this is irrational but there appears to be nothing I can do about it.

This has been the week from hell, hopefully I don't get in trouble for saying that. Things started going downhill Saturday night with a power out that fried a cable box and then two days of storm stress, and then yesterday our water was off most of the day, and other stuff in the mail today, SS crap.

I just haven't felt very sociable and can't seem to get out of worry/panic mode.

Shari I'm not so sure the antis aren't right about vaping not being a way to quit smoking, just trading one addiction for another. I know much of the time I am left feeling unsatisfied by my vape. Flavors taste great for a day or two and then the flavor fades, and I am still chain vaping and I shouldn't be at this point. I'm not thinking about smoking though, I really really don't intend to ever take even one drag off another cigarette, but I do think at some point I am going to have to go cold turkey and not even vape before I can consider myself a non smoker.

Of course the proposed FDA regs don't help with that, I'm so picky about what I like to vape that DIY isn't going to cut it for me at all. I require complex flavors, simple ones do nothing for me. I know my favorite vendor has a plan in action with big money backing that should keep them going even with the regs when they are enacted but even that doesn't seem to give me any peace of mind. I'm just hoping that lawsuits and the like keep this going long enough for me to be gone before it happens. That really shouldn't be all that much longer at my age, and with my family history.

 

[aikanae1]

I think choice is good.
"sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't"

 

[ShariR]

I am bouncing between 18mg and 12mg juice and nothing is tasting just right or satisfying me right now. Even my dripping is not cutting the mustard. I wonder if that is what is so scary for me right now.

It may be the stress or I am not eating right or not enough water or a bunch of other factors over the past couple of weeks to a month. Not sure. I am also wondering if the first blush of newness has worn off too. I know I am thoroughly dependent on my vaping these days. Just wish I was enjoying the taste more. It has always been about the taste for me. I have what is supposed to be some of the best available gear and juice. So it is me.

 

[Claudia P]

Yes I not only would have but tried and failed many times. But I do believe that I have simply traded one addiction for another, yes it is a less harmful addiction but an addiction none the less. That is what I was talking about.

Truth is I am vaping far more than I was smoking and it has become an obsession as well as an addiction, I still am not managing to accomplish anything at all. I haven't painted or drawn in the 8 months since I stopped smoking, I think about almost nothing but vaping.

Yes it is less harmful physically but now vaping and reading the vaping forums is all that I do and that is not good. I need to do something about this.

No they aren't right. Would you have even considered quitting smoking without an ecig? I know I wouldn't. Patch, gums, chantix, everything else they've come up with "approved" was worthless to me. It was still cold turkety. This (ecig) I could do, even if it wasn't perfect it was better than doing nohing - and nothing was the only other real option.

 

[Thayamax]

Yes I not only would have but tried and failed many times. But I do believe that I have simply traded one addiction for another, yes it is a less harmful addiction but an addiction none the less. That is what I was talking about.

Truth is I am vaping far more than I was smoking and it has become an obsession as well as an addiction, I still am not managing to accomplish anything at all. I haven't painted or drawn in the 8 months since I stopped smoking, I think about almost nothing but vaping.

Yes it is less harmful physically but now vaping and reading the vaping forums is all that I do and that is not good. I need to do something about this.

Do you feel that you're more addicted to the vape or the hobby aspect of vaping? I know that you got into rebuilding and dripping which takes up more time and thought than simply filling a carto or clearo. That alone could cause it to become a bit of an obsession.

 

[Claudia P]

I believe that I am more addicted to the vape. I wouldn't be questioning this at all if it were not for the FDA regs coming and the realization that they are setting this all up so that only the big tobacco companies can possibly afford to jump through the hoops to get anything approved. I will NOT vape anything made by big tobacco, they put chemicals in the cigarettes and I'm sure they will do the same thing to vape. Not only that but they intend to keep it to cig a likes with non refillable cartridges and those do nothing for me.

If I believed that I could continue to vape the way I am now for the rest of my life I would probably be happy, but all of the uncertainty about that possibility keeps the stress level up and creates my anxiety. I had gotten down to 6 mg nic and this week I've been going back the other way to manage the stress. I'm mixing the 18 and 24 mg with the 6 to raise the nic intentionally when I was using smaller amounts before to vape juice I like that is higher.

Speaking of which Shari, I managed to make it 5 days before trying the CPBT. I don't know what it is going to taste like when it steeps but it's already very very good stuff. I can't begin to describe what I taste now but whatever it is it's wonderful.

Do you feel that you're more addicted to the vape or the hobby aspect of vaping? I know that you got into rebuilding and dripping which takes up more time and thought than simply filling a carto or clearo. That alone could cause it to become a bit of an obsession.

 

[aikanae1]

What's CBPT?

It's going to be interesting if they only allow cigalikes because I doubt those will have anymore success than NRT products. I read a transcript of an investors meeting and Llorlliand was explaining why sales were flat. I could be wrong.

But you can't worry about it now. Cigs will always be there. It is very frustrating and so stupid.

 

[aikanae1]

I am bouncing between 18mg and 12mg juice and nothing is tasting just right or satisfying me right now. Even my dripping is not cutting the mustard. I wonder if that is what is so scary for me right now.

It may be the stress or I am not eating right or not enough water or a bunch of other factors over the past couple of weeks to a month. Not sure. I am also wondering if the first blush of newness has worn off too. I know I am thoroughly dependent on my vaping these days. Just wish I was enjoying the taste more. It has always been about the taste for me. I have what is supposed to be some of the best available gear and juice. So it is me.

Sounds like a flavor lull to me.