Still smoking support and chat thread

[AndriaD]

THANKS - For the link and asking . . .

AND - Although I am still struggling with becoming a "Full-time Vapor" and looking for that allusive "ADV" Flavor - I'm doing alright . . . Been checking out the NET & WTA Threads a little more and looking at trying some unflavored VG Nicotine to use with "Liquid Menthol Crystal" & "Kolada" to see if that will also help . . . We'll see . . .

HOW - About "You" ? ? ? & "Jazz" ? ? ?



@ "Andria" - CONGRATULATIONS on becoming an "'ECF Veteran" . . .

Thx. Didja get your new BB yet?

Andria

 

[Uncle]

Thx. Didja get your new BB yet?

Andria

YEP ! ! !

BTW: It actually turned out to be an unbelivable "BB Prize Package" . . .
(That I Posted Pic's of too . . . )

 

[AndriaD]

YEP ! ! !

BTW: It actually turned out to be an unbelivable "BB Prize Package" . . .
(That I Posted Pic's of too . . . )

Ok, I'll go check it out. I had to leave that thread when they started talking about replacement coils. I am SOOOOOOOOO not ever doing that again. Also, I figured out that that crowd is a bit too rich for the likes of me; when I get a BB, it'll almost certainly be a clone -- even $80 is more than I've EVER spent on a mod; $180??? The day I win the lottery!!!!! Or the day I don't care if I'm homeless, since I spent 1/2 the mortgage payment on a mod!

Andria

 

[xena222]

Andria just showed me this thread on my "I hate myself" post - LOL, all good now, but maybe if I can help one person through that, it will help - so I am here and will be checking in

 

[Kivrin]

Ok, so, hi.

I'm still new to this and who knows, maybe I won't end up posting this, but whatever.

My last cigarette was Thursday morning. I kind of smoked it out of habit. I went somewhere in the car and keep a pack/lighter in the pocket of my door. I realized what I had done, but then just finished it.

I'm sitting in my usual spot in the house and my cigarettes are next to me. An ashtray with four butts is sitting where it usually sits. But I'm not reaching for them, I'm reaching for the vape.

I think I was really hoping I'd be one of the once I vape, I don't wanna smoke people. That would've been awesome. Sort of how I was hoping this time last year that my furbaby would just pass away one night instead of having to put him down. Maybe I need to put off quitting until after I get over the one-year anniversary of that. But when that day comes, will I just have a new excuse? I've had an excuse not to quit every day since 1986 when I started on the damn things.

Maybe I need a higher nic level. I'm using 18, but forgot that the juice I loaded up this morning was 12. Emptied, rinsed, tried again, doesn't feel like enough. Do I try a 24? I could take a five minute walk and come back with one for a few bucks. Do I try the WTA? Can I just add a few drops of that when I fill a tank? Do I just need to keep breathing and keep sucking on this metal stick and hope tomorrow will be better. Do I reach over and take one of the cigs. They're not really tempting me, but I feel all stretched out inside, like my insides are trying to burst out of my skin.

I've had a couple of days off and I've been able to sit and vape and vape, but the real world starts again tomorrow. Will I be able to get by on a few stealth vapes and get through to the evening? Am I worrying over nothing because tomorrow is another day and maybe I'll feel better then. Is this just that 3 day hump I hear about?

I guess part of what set me off was a thread I just read where the person was complaining about this place being so focused on quitting smoking. Did I really sign up to quit just because I started vaping, or is this site that I joined to learn about vaping and chat with people who do this when I know no one IRL who really even smokes, much less vapes making me feel pressured to quit? Do I just need to take more of what I do need and ignore the things I don't?

I'm sorry, I've been reading through a lot of this thread and some makes me want to try harder and some makes me want to give up. I'm gonna go take care of my dinner dishes and then see where I am. Thanks

 

[AndriaD]

Ok, so, hi.

I'm still new to this and who knows, maybe I won't end up posting this, but whatever.

My last cigarette was Thursday morning. I kind of smoked it out of habit. I went somewhere in the car and keep a pack/lighter in the pocket of my door. I realized what I had done, but then just finished it.

I'm sitting in my usual spot in the house and my cigarettes are next to me. An ashtray with four butts is sitting where it usually sits. But I'm not reaching for them, I'm reaching for the vape.

I think I was really hoping I'd be one of the once I vape, I don't wanna smoke people. That would've been awesome. Sort of how I was hoping this time last year that my furbaby would just pass away one night instead of having to put him down. Maybe I need to put off quitting until after I get over the one-year anniversary of that. But when that day comes, will I just have a new excuse? I've had an excuse not to quit every day since 1986 when I started on the damn things.

Maybe I need a higher nic level. I'm using 18, but forgot that the juice I loaded up this morning was 12. Emptied, rinsed, tried again, doesn't feel like enough. Do I try a 24? I could take a five minute walk and come back with one for a few bucks. Do I try the WTA? Can I just add a few drops of that when I fill a tank? Do I just need to keep breathing and keep sucking on this metal stick and hope tomorrow will be better. Do I reach over and take one of the cigs. They're not really tempting me, but I feel all stretched out inside, like my insides are trying to burst out of my skin.

I've had a couple of days off and I've been able to sit and vape and vape, but the real world starts again tomorrow. Will I be able to get by on a few stealth vapes and get through to the evening? Am I worrying over nothing because tomorrow is another day and maybe I'll feel better then. Is this just that 3 day hump I hear about?

I guess part of what set me off was a thread I just read where the person was complaining about this place being so focused on quitting smoking. Did I really sign up to quit just because I started vaping, or is this site that I joined to learn about vaping and chat with people who do this when I know no one IRL who really even smokes, much less vapes making me feel pressured to quit? Do I just need to take more of what I do need and ignore the things I don't?

I'm sorry, I've been reading through a lot of this thread and some makes me want to try harder and some makes me want to give up. I'm gonna go take care of my dinner dishes and then see where I am. Thanks

When I first got here, I felt a bit of that -- I just want to learn about vaping, nevermind quitting smoking! Because honestly I didn't think it was possible -- but all these folks here who've done it so easily... I started thinking maybe it was easier with vaping than was ever before possible. And I'd been wanting to quit for a long time; my dad died of lung cancer in 2006, and ever since, everytime I'd light up, I'd think about seeing him on the respirator in the ICU, and realize it wasnt' just a memory, it was my future if I didn't quit. also we're pretty poor, and the expense of smoking was killing me; every pay period, twice a month, doing the budget and bills and realizing how much better off we'd be if I didn't have to reserve $88 just for my stupid cigarettes.

So, I really didn't start vaping with any intention of quitting smoking; mainly I just wanted to not have to go out and freeze my buns off on really cold nights. so I just started substituting vaping for as many cigarettes as I could, comfortably... and within a few weeks, cigarettes were down to 4-5 a day, and that was really without even trying very hard. So I wondered what would happen if I really did try... well within another week I was down to 2-3 a day. So I thought, what the hell, the worst thing that happens is I fail at quitting smoking, and that's certainly happened before, no need to get upset about it.

The morning smoke was the hardest one to give up, because I didn't yet know the correct way to vape for max nic absorption; after some practice with the slow inhales, holding it in my mouth and throat, exhaling via my nose... I got so much nicotine from 6mg that it gave me stomach pains! So the next morning, instead of going straight out to smoke, I just sat and vaped... slowly... nose exhaling... slooooooooowly.... nose exhale.... and I never did go have that smoke. It was my first smoke-free day. And it didn't even "hurt," because I had a good substitute.

I had a serious setback in the summer with my appendectomy... but after a month of smoking, e-cigs helped me once again to become smoke-free. It was a little harder, no lie, but I knew it was POSSIBLE, so I kept at it. And added WTA when the cravings came back, 10 days smoke-free and perfectly happy about it. My advice on WTA would be, try vaping for a while without it, see how it goes; if you've read this thread, then you know it's not for everyone; not everyone needs it, and not everyone benefits from it -- it's kind of a last-ditch attempt for some of us to avoid going back to smoking, and in that case, sometimes it's very helpful. But you won't know if you need it until you try without it for a while, and what I've observed is that those who just go ahead and use it, not knowing if they need it or not, don't generally seem to find it very helpful.

Hang in there...
Andria

 

[Kivrin]

Whew! Put on the tea kettle, steeped some max happy joy tea, walked to store, got a small bottle of 24 in a new flavor. Loaded up my free tank, emptied an ice cube tray, chugged a glass of tea, poured another to sip, sat down and vaped...let's see....30....nice slow hold in mouth exhale through nose puffs. I can really taste the nic more than the juice, but it seems like a good flavor for that store. I'll have to try this one in a lower nic level. But my crisis is passed. Think I'll take a melatonin and try to go to bed early. I may not even need that once the tea kicks in.

I maybe just need the higher nic for the monster urges.

 

[rangerrobin]

Welcome Kivrin!

No pressure here. It took me 7 months to give up smoking, and I WANTED to quit! My advice, if you do want to give up smoking, dispose of all smoking paraphenalia and stick around this thread.

 

[Rotowoman]

Ok, so, hi.

I'm still new to this and who knows, maybe I won't end up posting this, but whatever.

My last cigarette was Thursday morning. I kind of smoked it out of habit. I went somewhere in the car and keep a pack/lighter in the pocket of my door. I realized what I had done, but then just finished it.

I'm sitting in my usual spot in the house and my cigarettes are next to me. An ashtray with four butts is sitting where it usually sits. But I'm not reaching for them, I'm reaching for the vape.

I think I was really hoping I'd be one of the once I vape, I don't wanna smoke people. That would've been awesome. Sort of how I was hoping this time last year that my furbaby would just pass away one night instead of having to put him down. Maybe I need to put off quitting until after I get over the one-year anniversary of that. But when that day comes, will I just have a new excuse? I've had an excuse not to quit every day since 1986 when I started on the damn things.

Maybe I need a higher nic level. I'm using 18, but forgot that the juice I loaded up this morning was 12. Emptied, rinsed, tried again, doesn't feel like enough. Do I try a 24? I could take a five minute walk and come back with one for a few bucks. Do I try the WTA? Can I just add a few drops of that when I fill a tank? Do I just need to keep breathing and keep sucking on this metal stick and hope tomorrow will be better. Do I reach over and take one of the cigs. They're not really tempting me, but I feel all stretched out inside, like my insides are trying to burst out of my skin.

I've had a couple of days off and I've been able to sit and vape and vape, but the real world starts again tomorrow. Will I be able to get by on a few stealth vapes and get through to the evening? Am I worrying over nothing because tomorrow is another day and maybe I'll feel better then. Is this just that 3 day hump I hear about?

I guess part of what set me off was a thread I just read where the person was complaining about this place being so focused on quitting smoking. Did I really sign up to quit just because I started vaping, or is this site that I joined to learn about vaping and chat with people who do this when I know no one IRL who really even smokes, much less vapes making me feel pressured to quit? Do I just need to take more of what I do need and ignore the things I don't?

I'm sorry, I've been reading through a lot of this thread and some makes me want to try harder and some makes me want to give up. I'm gonna go take care of my dinner dishes and then see where I am. Thanks

Hey there and Welcome!! I can relate to a lot of what you've said. I too had hoped that I would be one of those people who vaped and never thought about a cigarette again. Well, it worked like that for a little while until I let something stress me out one day. But, being a little on the stubborn side, I wasn't ready to give in to the cigarettes, so I kept chugging along. I put my hands on some WTA and a higher nicotine juice (I started at 18) and I'm plugging away at it once again.

I'm really tired of being a slave to the cigarettes, so that is my motivation. I was at 2 packs a day. Now I'm at roughly half a pack a day, which is still too much for my liking.

 

[xena222]

Whew! Put on the tea kettle, steeped some max happy joy tea, walked to store, got a small bottle of 24 in a new flavor. Loaded up my free tank, emptied an ice cube tray, chugged a glass of tea, poured another to sip, sat down and vaped...let's see....30....nice slow hold in mouth exhale through nose puffs. I can really taste the nic more than the juice, but it seems like a good flavor for that store. I'll have to try this one in a lower nic level. But my crisis is passed. Think I'll take a melatonin and try to go to bed early. I may not even need that once the tea kicks in.

I maybe just need the higher nic for the monster urges.

Hi there Kivrin! Welcome! First off - the one thing I discovered about here in the last two weeks is that this is NOT AA...LOL, thank God...I starting vaping to quit, and I wanted just to quit...it is the ones you don't smoke that matter - I learned that after last week or so ago, I had a meltdown - and I went to have a cigarette...I wasn't happy with myself, but it wasn't the end of the world - if you having cravings - stick to 24mg for a while - mornings were always the hardest for me - when the real world has to start back up - I did learn one thing that helped at work a lot - when I was vaping, the cravings weren't as bad as when I smoked, believe it or not - it actually made the days a little easier to get through...if you want to quit with vaping, you can....no one is telling you you HAVE to - as soon as you start thinking HAVE to - it makes everything harder....here for you

 

[Kivrin]

Thanks Rotowoman and Xena! Not AA....I'll remember that.

The 24mg really helped last night. I couldn't take it in the morning, but I was the same with cigarettes for years. Glad I have more than one tank. Coffee is always priority #1 in the morning I was mostly fine today, but I was busy. Not busy busy, but just real true busy. I'll remember that too.

I'm gonna keep popping in on this thread to check it out, but I may not comment again. I had a remarkable experience this morning that may have made me completely determined to see this through.

 

[rangerrobin]

Keeping busy really helps. When I get a craving, and I still do, not for the nicotine, but for the nostalgia of a cigarette, I chain vape my way through it.

 

[Thayamax]

I'm happy to hear you guys are doing better. It's hard to imagine, but the cravings do go away eventually. Just do what you have to do to get through them, whether it's upping your nic, upgrading your gear, chain vaping, WTA or even smoking a cigarette. It's not the end of the world or the end of vaping if you have the occasional cigarette when you really can't seem to make it through without one. Don't get discouraged or beat yourself up about it. Most people discover that at some point they enjoy vaping more than smoking. If quitting smoking is your goal you'll find it gets easier with time. Those cravings become fewer and farther apart until you realize they're pretty much gone. I truly thought I'd still be smoking on my death bed and look at me now....over 1 1/2 years smoke free.

 

[Topdogie01]

question for those of you with a russian 91.. i built my russian for the first time last night and was estatic i built it correctly the first time! but.. it has a 3 ohm coil in it. even at 6 volts (on new "gently used" provari i got yesterday, or my sigeli) it isnt satisfying. is there a way i can get to the build deck without draining the tank? if there isnt whats the best way to drain it without using a syringe (out of syringes, plunger broke on last one i had over the weekend grr!) with minimal losses? thinking i want to rebuild it closer to 1.5 ohms rather than the 3 ohms its sitting at lol.

i guess i should have figured the russian would be easy to build after the headache that is the aqua tank. or trying to build a dual coil anything with only one center post. note to self. dont use 26 gauge wire to get the best surface area for the russian when you have trouble centering it and then wonder why its having pitiful performance.

 

[AndriaD]

question for those of you with a russian 91.. i built my russian for the first time last night and was estatic i built it correctly the first time! but.. it has a 3 ohm coil in it. even at 6 volts (on new "gently used" provari i got yesterday, or my sigeli) it isnt satisfying. is there a way i can get to the build deck without draining the tank? if there isnt whats the best way to drain it without using a syringe (out of syringes, plunger broke on last one i had over the weekend grr!) with minimal losses? thinking i want to rebuild it closer to 1.5 ohms rather than the 3 ohms its sitting at lol.

i guess i should have figured the russian would be easy to build after the headache that is the aqua tank. or trying to build a dual coil anything with only one center post. note to self. dont use 26 gauge wire to get the best surface area for the russian when you have trouble centering it and then wonder why its having pitiful performance.

I don't think so, unfortunately; this super-gunking strawberries and cream I've been vaping lately requires a rewick/dry-burn twice a day, and it's a huge PITA because of the tank draining required -- I'm getting a Magma for this stuff!!!

I usually build my kayfuns to about 1.8-2 ohms, using 29ga, about 7-ish wraps on a 7/64 bit -- stupendous vape!

EDIT: draining -- if you have a wide mouth bottle, or even a measuring cup, or a graduated cylinder -- hold the tank upside over the bottle/cup/cylinder and open the "bottom" -- the liquid will vacate into the bottle/cup/cylinder so it can be re-used.

Andria

 

[JoJo14008]

So, I'm new to ECF and pretty new to vaping as well. I'm still smoking 2 to 3 cigs a week. I first switched over (almost completely) in November. I have pretty good gear and juice and I'm happy with. I sometimes have cravings but I can usually get past that. My problem is that I think I really needed those MAOIs. I have had major depression my whole life and it's very treatment resistant, which means I have to switch medications a lot. Usually around a year or a year and a half after beginning a new med it slowly starts to not work as well. I have been using mothers milk WTA but I don't really like the taste and I'm really not sure if it even does much for me. Is the WTA from the other 2 vendor's any better? I can't afford to experiment too much in that area.

 

[Rotowoman]

So, I'm new to ECF and pretty new to vaping as well. I'm still smoking 2 to 3 cigs a week. I first switched over (almost completely) in November. I have pretty good gear and juice and I'm happy with. I sometimes have cravings but I can usually get past that. My problem is that I think I really needed those MAOIs. I have had major depression my whole life and it's very treatment resistant, which means I have to switch medications a lot. Usually around a year or a year and a half after beginning a new med it slowly starts to not work as well. I have been using mothers milk WTA but I don't really like the taste and I'm really not sure if it even does much for me. Is the WTA from the other 2 vendor's any better? I can't afford to experiment too much in that area.

Hello and Welcome! You can always mix the Mother's Milk with your other juices. Either that, or vape the Mother's Milk when you start your day and then switch to another juice later on. Or you can Vape the Mother's milk whenever you crave a cigarette. I've tried Mother's Milk and Aroma. They all taste the same to me. I just mix them with other juices and that seems to work for me.

 

[JoJo14008]

Hello and Welcome! You can always mix the Mother's Milk with your other juices. Either that, or vape the Mother's Milk when you start your day and then switch to another juice later on. Or you can Vape the Mother's milk whenever you crave a cigarette. I've tried Mother's Milk and Aroma. They all taste the same to me. I just mix them with other juices and that seems to work for me.

I have been mixing it with other flavors and I can manage to vape it like that. It's just not my favorite though. I'm mostly interested in the antidepressant affects of WTA though. It's my mental health that I'm concerned about right now. Smoking an actual cigarette seems to help more than the WTA.

I don't know. Maybe it's just all in my head. [emoji13]

 

[AndriaD]

So, I'm new to ECF and pretty new to vaping as well. I'm still smoking 2 to 3 cigs a week. I first switched over (almost completely) in November. I have pretty good gear and juice and I'm happy with. I sometimes have cravings but I can usually get past that. My problem is that I think I really needed those MAOIs. I have had major depression my whole life and it's very treatment resistant, which means I have to switch medications a lot. Usually around a year or a year and a half after beginning a new med it slowly starts to not work as well. I have been using mothers milk WTA but I don't really like the taste and I'm really not sure if it even does much for me. Is the WTA from the other 2 vendor's any better? I can't afford to experiment too much in that area.

The WTA from wholecig.com is perfectly clear, has no particular odor at all, so probably just tastes like regular nicotine that you use to make ejuice -- WTA is 95% nicotine anyway. I've also suffered from depression my whole life, and the WTA helps a great deal, but I think you wouldn't really notice that much from WTA if you're also still smoking cigarettes -- the MAOIs are more concentrated in the tobacco, and since it's burned, the particles are far smaller and get absorbed by the lungs and thus "uploaded" to the brain really fast; vaping absorption is almost completely via the soft tissues of the mouth, throat, and nose/sinuses, and it's much slower, and travels more slowly to the brain.

This is why I said that it's best to see if WTA is really needed, even if you already know that it probably will be -- in other words, after you've quit, you're vaping like a maniac but the cravings are still driving you up a wall -- THEN, when you use the WTA, you really notice the difference. But just in reinforcing your own will to quit, to not smoke no matter what? MAOIs, even whole WTA, won't do that; YOU have to do it. All the WTA will do is make that decision tolerable.

When I started using the WTA to get past those kinds of cravings, I was using wholecig's 25mg unflavored, and mixing it as 10% of my ejuice, and kept at that level, in everything I vaped, for 5 months. Now I'm starting to go down one percentage point a month.

Thoughts of cigarettes will come and go for a long time; thoughts won't hurt you, if you just dismiss them and busy your mind with something else, something to distract you. Cravings on the other hand won't be dismissed with mere distraction; they grind into like a stiletto heel, refusing to let you distract yourself with anything else. That's where WTA helps; it softens that stiletto so your mind CAN be distracted.

Andria

 

[aikanae1]

I'm also a big fan of wta's. I stopped fighting it and started poning up the $ for Aroma's dk honey tobacco as an adv. I find myself really clinging to it in the mornings and evenings. During the day I vape all sorts of flavors plus I don't notice much difference between 24mg and 18mg. If I'm real busy I'll forget to vape at all. The hardest part has been giving up that pack of cigs like a security blanket. In the beginning I had a lot of equipment failures and a hard time getting to a point where something was always available, charged and ready to go. Flavor was also important - finding a few flavors that were "WOW" I want to taste this! Is still an ongoing quest. I think I'm a flavor junkie, it's another addiction in itself.

I stress smoke so it just didn't make sense to add to that with expectations I'll never smoke again. That seemed to make it worse. I prefer the approach of choosing to vape over smoking - which also means an addiction to vape mail (so much for saving $). It's worth it to be smoke free (as much as poss). I also have pre-existing lung disease and the difference is amazing.

Shari - so sorry about your sister. I had a very similar experience with my sister this year just before Christmas. Same thing. It is very surreal. I don't know anyone reaching 65 anymore.

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