Switching from smoking to vaping -- a sort of poll

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Baditude

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I believe the addiction and dependence with cigarettes is more than just to the nicotine found in cigarettes. It's extremely complex, with not only physical factors but psychological and behavioral factors as well.

Cigarette tobacco has hundreds of added chemicals besides dried tobacco leaves. Many of those have been found to be addictive, so withdrawal symptoms can be expected even with nicotine replacement systems in place. This is a good explanation for the reason that the Nicotine patch and gum are so ineffective.

Much of cigarette addiction involves behavioral factors. The hand-to-mouth ritual is hard to break after years and years. Holding the cigarette in the hand is a familiar behavior. During times of stress, cigarettes can act as a pacifier to give a false sense of security. We all remember how we often chained smoked during a crisis. A legitimate reason why long time smokers are so reluctant to even consider quitting - that would be like giving up on and betraying a long-time loyal friend who was always there to comfort them during times of stress.

Nothing is easier than lighting up and smoking a cigarette. vaping is more difficult - it requires some foresight and preparation far more complex than smoking. Charging batteries, filling juice attachments, steeping e-liquids, planning far in advance to order e-liquids with enough time included for the shipping/delivery of those e-liquids, etc. Cigarettes were easy enough to get with a 5 minute drive to the nearest convenience store or gas station. Add to the fact that no e-liquid flavor is ever going to exactly mimic the cigarette brand that the smoker used for decades.

A potential vaper will need to make concessions to make the transition from smoking to vaping; concessions that some stubborn smokers are not willing to make. "It's too big and heavy; it looks nothing like my cigarettes. I'll never use something that looks like that!" "The vapor is too harsh and makes me cough. I'd rather stick with my cigs." "I just want something that tastes like my ****** brand of cigarettes, otherwise I want nothing to do with it".

Of course, the most important factor to quit smoking is the genuine desire and motivation to quit. If its not there 100%, chances are any attempt to quit will be unsuccessful. For some smokers, a life-changing event will be needed - a heart attack or a stroke. A close family member or friend dies from cancer or lung disease.

For myself, I had tried the patch, gum, hypnosis, and prescription drugs to quit smoking. By coincidence, the week I found my first e-cigarette at a convenience store was the week my mother discovered she had cancer. One week later she was told her cancer was untreatable, and two days later she passed on. This hit me extremely hard. She was 85, extremely active and driving herself everywhere, still playing the piano for my childhood country church. Thought to be in good health for her age.

Her death was a life changing event for me. It made me realize my own mortality. I was tired of coughing up a lung every morning with my children asking me with concern, "Dad are you alright?" I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without becoming out of breath. I knew I had to quit or I'd be dead within 10 years. I was way too young for that to happen.

Making the choice to transition from smoking to vaping changed my life, and saved my life. :thumbs:
 

hittman

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    I was a pack+ per day smoker for 23 years. In a couple weeks of vaping I was down to about five a day. It was a struggle for me but I finally went off them completely for a couple months but found myself sinking into depression. After reading and researching I found out that besides all the chemicals that are added to cigarettes, there are naturally occurring minor alkaloids in tobacco that affect us also. I made a post calling for help and found out about Swedish snus and how it's over 90% safer than smoking with research to back it up. Since then whole tobacco alkaloid liquid has become available which is a combination of nicotine and the other minor alkaloids found in tobacco and that are not in regular eliquids. I think that some people like me need the minor alkaloids to function properly. I enjoy snus and wta liquid to help me stay level but also use regular liquids. Like someone else already said, you have to be committed to quitting but if you are and are still struggling then there are other low risk options available to help. On the other side, if you make the transition easily, then I wouldn't bother with trying the other things.
     

    AegisPrime

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    I smoked the nastiest, most additive riddled tobacco there was and switched over 100% in 1 day

    It took me two days but 100% I think this is the best way to switch - smoke the cheapest, foulest tobacco you can find for a few days (or weeks) and then start vaping - it'll be heavenly in comparison :D
     

    jp_cfc09

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    I smoked for 15 years now and srarted on lights to menthol then the strongest analogs and roll ups and have found it hard changeing to vapeing alone. months ago I started vapeing and went down from 20 analogs to 2 a day for nearly a month but had a hard time and threw the head up and went back to analogs. the other day I just felt angry I never kept vapeing so went to my local vape shop and got new clearomisers and juice and back down to 2 analogs a day.

    I have 1 analog left for before bed tonight and I know im just kidding myself about stopping if I keep smokeing even 2 a day so im going to take the plunge and not buy anymore. hopefully I can stick at it, I love vapeing but sometimes its not enough for me so ive got 36mg juice there now and it should be enough. I think the probelm is will power for most, well it is for me lol.

    i look at my sig and release how stupid it was to start smokeing again, would change it back to restart from zero but took my days to get it working last time lol
     
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    Enoch777

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    I only smoked around a quarter of a pack a day, "additive free" and "medium taste," for 9 years. My biggest crutch has always been the after dinner smoke. It was a ritual I looked forward to very much, but over the years I realized how much I was smoking and wasn't happy with that fact.

    Originally, I got into vaping because I wanted to cut back. It worked. I craved less. I smoked less. I only allotted myself 1 or 2 cigs a day, only on my breaks while at work.

    The transition took a while for me, roughly 3-4 months juggling between smoking, vaping, back to smoking, dig in to vaping and find ways to get a better vape, etc. Once I finally found what worked for me which wasn't easy, I was vaping so much even vaping at work that I suddenly realized I hadn't smoked in 3 days. Was it easy? Not in particular. Finding the right mod, the right delivery, the right juice... It's a trio of necessary steps that I feel are not easy to get right on your first try.

    Setup that worked for me:
    APV @ 8-12W
    RDA w/ Organic Cotton & Low Resistance Nano Coil
    NETs and botique blends

    After getting that far I decided I was done with analogs for good and haven't looked back. Vaping is entirely more enjoyable in so many ways. I enjoy my vape. I enjoy crafting (rebuilding) my vape. I love learning new things, trying new builds, and generally fiddling as a vaper hobbyist.

    Easily one of the biggest and most positive changes in my life. :vapor::angel:
     

    Rossum

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    I believe the addiction and dependence with cigarettes is more than just to the nicotine found in cigarettes. It's extremely complex, with not only physical factors but psychological and behavioral factors as well.
    I agree with much of your post, except this part:

    Nothing is easier than lighting up and smoking a cigarette.
    I find vaping easier and here's why: When I lit an analog, I was making a time commitment to smoke it. I'm by no means poor, but at $6.00+ a pack, it felt wasteful to light one up and snuff it out after just a couple of drags. Nor would I put a part-smoked analog back in the pack; even to multi-decade smoker like me, that was more stink than I could tolerate.

    With vaping, yes, you have to keep your gear filled and charged and maintained, but.. When you only have a minute or two, nothing is easier than pulling out your device and having a couple of good drags on it, then putting it away again. You you can do this without feeling like you just wasted half (or more) of an analog, and you can do it without worrying how to dispose of the what's left of the analog. Ash trays are getting harder to find all the time and I never liked being a litterbug. Nor did I like putting a but or half-smoked analog back in the pack; either one would stink badly enough that even I, a multi-decade smoker found it offensive.

    So from that perspective, I actually find vaping be liberating and easier than smoking.
     

    ZombieHunter

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    I've struggled a bit with it. Especially because the majority of my friends and acquaintances still smoke analogs. I use the e-cigarette now all the time and don't really care what they have to say about it. Especially at first it was hard to be around people bashing e-cigarettes. Now I just tell them that I'm vaping and I'm happy with it. I don't have anything to say to them about smoking analogs and I'm not trying to start a controversy. I smoked regular big tobacco cigarettes.
     

    bmilt

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    I smoked the nastiest, most additive riddled tobacco there was and switched over 100% in 1 day

    pretty much this, i switched completely over in 1 day, and the only time ive smoked cigarettes since last july (about a half a pack) was when i was drinking and busted a protank in someones yard
     

    omyeyes

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    Smoked for 40+ years and quit right away in June. Tried one a month later and it was disgusting. Tried another one a month later and that too was disgusting. I had previously tried everything under the sun to quit but obviously nothing worked. All those things were, (I'm convinced) was just a money making scheme. Not lookin' back, not goin' back!
     
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    Scotticus93

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    Honestly I used to smoke camels almost exclusively. Then Marlboro reds as well. Before I made the switch I smoked through a pack of Winston's and found the switch much easier than I had trying to switch from camels or marb. Smoke free as of the new year. Tobacco supposedly has other addictive things in it and that's why they have wta juice. But I'm sure bt adds thing cuz it's easy to chain smoke camels and marbs or was for me. That's just my two cents


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    Tinkiegrrl

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    Smoked a pack a day, to a pack and a half a day for 16 years. Marlboro lights. My grandmother died in October of lung cancer that spread to her brain, and my mother gave me my first ego style battery and clearo the day of her funeral. Considering the circumstances, I promised to try it, but I never promised her or myself that I would quit smoking cigarettes. I was pretty skeptical of it working, as I've tried my friends cigalikes and they weren't satisfying at all. Also, I tried every quit smoking trick out there, from cold turkey to Chantix and nothing ever worked.

    To my surprise, that very night I only smoked one cigarette. The trend continued for a week where I smoked one or two per day, and vaped the rest of the day. I stopped buying cigarettes, an only smoked one of my husbands occasionally. I ordered him an ego style battery and clearo so that he stopped buying cigarettes as well. Once I wen a full 24 hours cigarette free, when I bummed one off a friend out of curiosity (they were getting progressively worse tasting as I smoked less and less), I couldn't even finsh them whole thing. It was that bad. I knew then that I wa done with cigarettes for good.
     

    tmillin

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    I was a PAD smoker for about 35 years and last month I decided to make the switch to vaping. I immediately went to 5-6 a day and within 2 weeks was down to 2-3 a day. The hardest ones to give up were that wake up smoke and the after dinner smoke. I tried to go with the "fruity" flavors but that didn't quite work. I also was told to start out with a 12mg juice, but I found out that a good tobacco flavor at 18mg was my "golden ticket" to giving up those last couple I felt I just couldn't do without. I smoked my last analog at 11:30pm 12/31/13 :) I started with an ego starter kit but have already upgraded to a mvp2 and already looking at mechanicals. At $6 a pack vaping is still cheaper in the long run after intitial expense of the gear not to mention long term health benefits Happy vaping everyone and I am glad I found this forum as a great source of info and support

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    ccubed

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    I've enjoyed reading everyone's stories in this thread. I got my starter kit (eGo-t upgraded batteries, Kanger MT3S BCC's) with 3 types of menthol and a US Tobacco to blend into them. Had about 5 or 6 cigarettes left in a pack. Left Vapor Leaf (local B&M) vaping. I alternated between vaping and smoking that afternoon and evening until I had one cigarette left. Got up the next morning and vaped until noon, then smoked my last cigarette. Been vaping ever since. Bought LOTS more juices, including fruit flavors, ice cream flavors, coffee flavors. Waiting for an order of juice from Mr. Vape as I type. The first few weeks I craved an analog 7 or 8 times (not 7 or 8 times a day). The transition from smoking to vaping has been easier than I expected.

    I am so very grateful that vaping was an option for me. I wanted to quit smoking. I had tried every way possible before trying vaping. Vaping has been more than a sufficient substitute for me. Dang....I must have gotten some dust in my eyes because a tear is welling up as I type my experience. Thanks to the folks here in ECF. My being analog free for more than 3 months has a lot to do with the people here. Namaste.
     
    Been smoking 44 years picked up the evod-v on Christmas day ( present for Christmas from my sons ) and am amazed at the easy transition
    we've had my wife included a 38 year smoker and we did not smoke any natural tobacco just the raunchy big brands.
    I started with 24 mg of nicotine my wife started with 16 and its going very well. Good luck and hi im new to this forum

    Signed :: still waiting for something negative
     

    Katmandu

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    It took me 3-4 weeks to fully transition. I decided one day to take my vape only on break, instead of cigs, too. I started leaving them in my car after that. A big part of it for me was fear. What would I do if I removed the option to smoke!? I discovered, I'd vape :)

    ^^^^This. Cigarettes were so much a part of who I was. After 33 years of smoking, it's kind of like lopping off your right arm to give up the smokes.

    There is a psychological aspect to smoking that I don't think gets talked about enough.

    It took about 6 weeks for me to transition over to just vaping. I had to make that mental leap to know I actually could walk away from the smokes and not fear leaving them behind.
     
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