See I have a similar problem to others... I really really like smoking. At this point I view the vaping as harm reduction... I'll probably keep dialing down the nicotine over time but I don't think I'll stop.
Switching one bad habit for another?
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Hmmm...A very good question with endless opinions and thoughts. If you are caving in towards having a cigarette, without doubt, you best get a little nicotine in your e-juice to try to keep the actual use of cigarettes away. You may be intaking nicotine again, but without the 4,300 chemicals that come free of charge with a cigarette.... Sure, nicotine is one of the most addictive substances based on how quickly it gets into your blood stream and the swift withdrawal at 40-60 minutes on average.
I love vaping. Could I quit? Well I have been clean & sober for coming up to 5 years so yes, I reckon I have the will power...Do I want to stop enjoying a hobby where I have had an opportunity to have something in common ground with millions of people, no, although vaping can get expensive, depending on the mods you buy. Once again, you can look at it as something to put a battery in to heat up a coil wicked with cotton (one example) with a nicotine vapour being produced in a flavour you think is kick ..., or they are works of art. For me, I love my Mechanicals and Variables. I take great pleasure in using them and experimenting with new flavours.
This for me is now a passion, not just a hobby.
I love vaping. Could I quit? Well I have been clean & sober for coming up to 5 years so yes, I reckon I have the will power...Do I want to stop enjoying a hobby where I have had an opportunity to have something in common ground with millions of people, no, although vaping can get expensive, depending on the mods you buy. Once again, you can look at it as something to put a battery in to heat up a coil wicked with cotton (one example) with a nicotine vapour being produced in a flavour you think is kick ..., or they are works of art. For me, I love my Mechanicals and Variables. I take great pleasure in using them and experimenting with new flavours.
This for me is now a passion, not just a hobby.
Nicotine is only that fast when you SMOKE it. With vaping, it takes 5-15 minutes -- there is no "rush." It's also being shown very clearly that nicotine is not nearly as addictive as the ANTZ have hollered about for years; it's actually all that other junk in cigarette smoke together WITH nicotine that makes smoking so addictive -- not the nicotine alone.
Nicotine alone is no more "addictive" than caffeine. It's dependence-producing, not addictive.
I swear, I need to make all this stuff into macros, to refute the constant stream of ill-informed posts about nicotine's "addictiveness."
Andria
Definitely a fun hobby building different coils trying new mods tips bats wires cottons etc.... but it sounds like that's not what he's looking for lol.For long have you been smokefree since you don't use nicotine?
And yea even if you switched one addiction for another, it's the healthier one.
Welcome to the forums! I'm sure you'll enjoy it here!
The ultimate turn off for new vapors is bad juice and those cheap s***** ecigs they do such a disservice to the industry. start with an eGo T battery as it fits darn near EVERTHING and I highly recommend shopping at backwoodsbrew.net or fuzionVapor.com if you like their descriptions you will like the flavor. or if interested, making your own juice but that's getting into the hobby realm
I agree. Nicotine isn't nearly as addictive as some may want you to believe. Cigarettes are addictive. I very rarely smoked and even still, had the occasional craving. I regularly vape 3-12mg juices and feel no addiction or craving if I don't vape. Yes, I enjoy vaping and the effects of nicotine, but I don't feel addicted to it. I can go all day without even thinking about it, but when I have some free time, it is nice. I had to work at another camp for two days, and nearly left my vaping supplies in my room because I didn't feel I needed it. Total vaping time over those two days was 10 minutes or less on 3mg juice. I don't think I was crabby or short tempered (like a smoker can be when they run out of smokes lol) and honestly I didn't think about it much. Now, today I had a 3 hour drive home, and I vaped a lot. That was more to stay awake though, not that my body was craving nicotine.
I smoked pretty much as constantly as I could manage, considering that for the last 16 yrs, I always went outdoors -- in pleasant weather, I got a lot of reading done, pretty much camped on the porch with my book and my cigarettes! Of course in the winter, there were some nights when I really didn't wanna go out there at all -- which is precisely why I started looking into vaping, as the winter of '13-'14 was the hardest winter in Atlanta in over 30 yrs. But, I smoked ultra-lights for the last 20 yrs, so even with all that smoking going on, and as FIRMLY! addicted as I was, I had to start vaping at 6mg or it made me nauseous -- because I was doing it constantly, and since it was indoors, that really meant constantly! But as the novelty has worn off, I've gone up to 10mg and stuck there for about 11 months now, though now it seems I need to drop it just a smidge, currently at 9mg and it's working fine.
But I've also had to add WTA for the last 11 months, due to an appendectomy, relapse to smoking for a month, and return to smoke-free; coming back to smoke-free was far harder than getting there in the first place, and it was only the WTA that finally put the hard physical cravings to bed. I've slowly been reducing that from 10% of my juice to now, 4% of my juice. But till it's completely gone and I'm vaping just nicotine, I'm still physically addicted, no question about it. My need for vaping isn't quite as demanding as my need for cigarettes was, but still a very big part of my consciousness. Maybe after I've vaped a few more years and still more of the novelty falls away, my powerful dependence on vaping will ease.
But as the novelty has worn off, I've gone up to 10mg and stuck there for about 11 months now, though now it seems I need to drop it just a smidge, currently at 9mg and it's working fine. But I've also had to add WTA for the last 11 months, due to an appendectomy, relapse to smoking for a month, and return to smoke-free; coming back to smoke-free was far harder than getting there in the first place, and it was only the WTA that finally put the hard physical cravings to bed. I've slowly been reducing that from 10% of my juice to now, 4% of my juice. But till it's completely gone and I'm vaping just nicotine, I'm still physically addicted, no question about it. My need for vaping isn't quite as demanding as my need for cigarettes was, but still a very big part of my consciousness. Maybe after I've vaped a few more years and still more of the novelty falls away, my powerful dependence on vaping will ease.
Not everyone!
I am still using the same 510 atomizers I started with six years ago.
And I'm still using the same Ego Twists I switched to about three years ago.
I'm not addicted to the nicotine, and haven't been for a long time now.
But I pretty much need the "activity" of vaping in my life.
If I don't have something to do with my hands when I'm drinking, there's going to be problems.
And if I don't have something to do with my hands when I'm stressed, there's going to be problems.
And if I don't have something to do with my hands when I'm trying to relax, I won't be able to relax.
Here is a list of stuff I have been keeping track of...
Nicotine maybe not so addictive after all?
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Vaping is behavioral for me. I don't *need* nicotine but I'm not against it in any way at all. I just like the relaxing effect of vaping, as I did smoking, and feel that I am way safer vaping of course.
I don't think of it as replacing a bad habit with another bad habit as was the title of this topic. We all have habits, some bad, some good, I will never be perfect and not even trying to be.
I am a bit of a "stickler" about vaping clean (i.e, as few additives as possible) but that is because I feel like I turned over a new leaf when I decided to quit smoking, and I don't want anything to take from me what cigarettes did. That is the one thing I am rather adamant about if you've read any of my posts
And even then I am only speaking for myself.....I don't care what other people vape on, sub ohm, whatever keeps them off the cigs, although I do subscribe to the "less is more" philosophy in life in general.
I think it is different for everyone though......I also do not believe nicotine is addictive, but it defintiely imbues a "dependency", and I do understand the difference. All dependencies are not necessarily *bad*. I have gotten my coffee intake down to 1 cup a day and that seems to keep headaches away. Plus, I really look forward to having my morning coffee, somehow it gets me out of bed and I am NOT a morning person.
As for nicotine, I do enjoy some of the good stuff it does for people, even though I only vape 3mg now. (probably not even enough to be worth mentioning) and most of evenings vape 0%. If I was having open heart surgery I wouldn't use nicotine before or during as I do believe one of it's bad effects is vaso constriction. For most part, I can't see nicotine being bad for most everything else.
Everybody needs a crutch or a vice of some sort. Do you want the one proven to be killing you, or the one that sure seems a lot safer and makes you feel better?
I prefer my Vape over my cigarettes and I smoked from
13 till 39!
Now I feel better I had bronchitis every 3-4 mos like clockwork now haven't had it once! Blood pressure dropped[emoji175] doc is happy and I'm happy it's a healthier alternative!
Best is quit cold turkey if can be done but I'm grateful there's an alternative for us!
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13 till 39!
Now I feel better I had bronchitis every 3-4 mos like clockwork now haven't had it once! Blood pressure dropped[emoji175] doc is happy and I'm happy it's a healthier alternative!
Best is quit cold turkey if can be done but I'm grateful there's an alternative for us!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Nicotine I started at 18 and now Vape 6-12 and 18 w coffee lol
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I was not referring at all to being an addict although the 54 years of smoking I certainly was. I can't count the number of times I would leave my house during a raging blizzard to get myself smokes but leaving the house to buy milk or bread would have never happened. When I wrote about trading one bad habit for another, I was also considering the cost. It seems everyone who vaps just keeps going bigger and better. I'm reading about upgrading, buying batteries, replacing coils, buying better chargers, buying several units, making your own e-juice and customizing this and that. My eyeballs are rolling back in my head. I have no idea of what atomizers will fit on what battery. When searching, it looks like BUY, BUY, BUY and that is kind of what I meant about trading one bad habit for another. You guys are talking making e-juice and I hardly make dinner.
Checking in on you Carolo43, wondering how you're doing within questioning Vaping.
I read your first post. Bringing your written words Here:
Carolo43: I have smoked for 54 years. I have emphysema (stage 4) and STILL was smoking until a month ago.
Makes you wonder how anyone can reach the age of 72 and still be so darned dumb!
I actually did pretty well when I stopped with the help of chewing gum and hard candies but like so many
others, the "act" of smoking itself was more missed than the actual cigarette, I believe.
I wish you to watch this video, it's a young lady who quit smoking relatively quickly, she purchased
a Halo G6 E-cig, which she Vaped and it gained her to quit Smoking Tobacco.
She shows within her review her purchased " BLU E-Cig" She ran out of e-juice, she
while waiting for her delivery, opted to buy a BLU in the interim. She shows the comparison.
There isn't any. They are not alike. They are like comparing apples to cranberries, or blueberries.
The day you wrote your first post, I purchased without her aware, I purchased for my Mom a G6 Halo e-cig.
She is 73, she has been smoking since age 14. My dad 12 yrs her senior, he died in 2009. He too was
a lifer Smoker. Camel no filters from the time he was Eight years old, till the day he died, he smoked Camel no filters.
He too was diagnosed with Emphysema in his late 50's.
I have a Halo Triton, which is the alternative e-cig that Halo sells. Halo e-cig site: HaloCigs | Premium E-Cigarettes and E-liquid
She saw me Vaping my Triton, I offered it to her to try it. This was 10 days ago.
She drew off it, she freaked out. She did because she was inside my daughters house " Non Smoking home"
She was Oh I shouldn't have done that, I said to her MA, it's not cigarette smoke, it's Vapor.
Her eyes got really big, I asked her what she thought, she said, well,.. it's kinda nice. She then to
become all flustered all over again. She to inform me that she " bought" one of those before, that it
was a total waste of money. That she said it tasted like crap, it didn't work half the time, so she
threw it away. She to me, I don't know about all that stuff. I dropped the subject. It was late.
She to know that I began Vaping in April of 2015. I smoked 29 yrs myself, that she could not
believe it is was" that easy" for me. I smoked my last cigarette pulling into the parking lot of the
Vape shop. My not ever to experience a Vape Shop. I left Vaping. I haven't Smoked, not one cig since
1PM 4/17/2015. I suffered nothing. I experienced Zero Withdrawals. I had tried everything to Quit, only to relapse.
Not this time. You couldn't pay me to Smoke another Tobacco Cigarette. NOPE.
Why I am bring the G6 over to your attention. It's a no fail e-cig. It's not one that requires Money
to be thrown at it. The set up I bought for my Mom, I was online chatting with the Customer Service
Staff of Halo. I wanted the set up to be prescriptive for her. Not me simply buying blindly.
They right there, aiding me. She has issues with sight, so I thought I'd start her out with the preloaded juice
cartridges, which you choose your own flavor. All of this is within the Kit itself. You receive TWO battery's
so you can be charging one, and Vaping with the other. The charger is in the kit, for WALL, not Computer.
It offers the USB, yet most persons like the wall charger.
They offer you choices not options. You can chose an Automatic Battery which is as you Draw
on the e-cig it's on. The Manual is you are to push the side button, to turn it on. Which I've read
it's more preferred as it saves on the battery, and your e-juice. The Cartridges you can also have " empty" which
this is You loading by dripping your choice of e-juice into the Cartridges. I chose the preloaded for
her, due to this is all new, and I didnt' want her to feel this was Work.
Cost, the Preloaded Juice Cartridges, I asked Customer Service if they are Refillable, or they are Disposable?
They to inform me, that the preloaded cartridges, they are Refillable. You receive " 5" cartridges in a Set up.
You can refill them each 7-10 times.
Then Toss them. Batteries they offer TWO different sizes. You can choose both the same or one different
from the other. What is the difference Size and Puff capacity.
The longer battery offers you 300 puffs at a full charge. This battery combined with your tank/cartridge
is the same size/length as a 100 cigarette.
The Shorter Battery offers you 200 puffs at a full charge. This battery combined with your tank/cartridge
is the same size/length as a Regular cigarette.
The Preloaded Juices are Made by Halo. All is USA Made.They are high quality, they are Vaped by many,
even if they do not use Halo E-Cigs. I asked Customer Service what was a comparable Juice to the
brand of Cig my mother smokes, they Bingo had one that is to be almost identical. That their Ejuices
are Tobacco based, they are not the " Flavors galore" of confusion for a New Vape Customer.
You chose your Nicotine. They offer 0, 3, 6, 12, 18. I chose for her 12nic. As she smokes a Menthol
light -this is Halo's recommended, a 12nic for a Menthol light.
What is needed and necessary to Maintain a G6?
Nothing -other than your preloaded Cartridges, $ 9.99 for 5 - they again you can refill 7-10 times
with your choice of E-liquid. Or if you chose the empty cartridges,
it would be the cost of your preferred e-liquid. There is no filter, there is no coil, there is nothing
that requires replacement within maintaining the G6, other than it requiring electricity, that's it.
Right Now they have a " 4th of July" SALE on their Entire Site, " 15% Off" their cheapest shipping
which is 1-3 days is less than 4.00.
The G6 Halo normal price Start up kit is $44.99: E-Cigarette Starter Kit | E-Cig starter kits Halo G6
You chose Your Color, they offer 9 choices of Color. The Cartridges if you buy them empty
you too can choose out of the 9 colors. The pre-loaded Cartridges are black.
I ordered using the 15 % off, one G6 Start up kit, and One " Mini tank" which is a Clear Tank ( colors are avail)
as shown Here, cost $3.99 : E-cig Tanks | Mini-Tanks for G6 E-Cigarette | Halo Cigs
This for her to have an empty tank, if she were to venture out and wish to purchase an Ejuice
on her own. The tank Clear for her, " easier' to fill, reading reviews the Mini Tank produces
more flavor, this is all personal preference. This Tank does require a replacement Coil.
The Coils are 12.50 for a pack of 5. This an option for you, using a Mini tank vs the cartridges.
Total cost with Shipping was less than $43.00 - it came to 42 dollars and change.
Cost equal to 6 packs of Smokes which we all know are " disposable"
I wish for you to consider the G6, if this is the route you Want to take
yet the confusion is swaying you elsewhere, that you may go back to smoking.
This I do not wish for you. I wish for you to Taste Freedom. NO More " out the door"
at 10 pm because you know tomorrow am is You with 2 left in your pack.
How bout you kicking back in your favorite chair knowing you no longer have
that hanging over you, that unnecessary anxiety of " how many do I have left"
Sending You Positive thoughts - Positive Energy
Knowledge is Power
Be Well My Friend, Tiger
there is no such thing as a ignorant question on this site
Toss it out there, and Answers will arrive
I smoked pretty much as constantly as I could manage, considering that for the last 16 yrs, I always went outdoors -- in pleasant weather, I got a lot of reading done, pretty much camped on the porch with my book and my cigarettes! Of course in the winter, there were some nights when I really didn't wanna go out there at all -- which is precisely why I started looking into vaping, as the winter of '13-'14 was the hardest winter in Atlanta in over 30 yrs. But, I smoked ultra-lights for the last 20 yrs, so even with all that smoking going on, and as FIRMLY! addicted as I was, I had to start vaping at 6mg or it made me nauseous -- because I was doing it constantly, and since it was indoors, that really meant constantly!
But I've also had to add WTA for the last 11 months, due to an appendectomy, relapse to smoking for a month, and return to smoke-free; coming back to smoke-free was far harder than getting there in the first place, and it was only the WTA that finally put the hard physical cravings to bed. I've slowly been reducing that from 10% of my juice to now, 4% of my juice. But till it's completely gone and I'm vaping just nicotine, I'm still physically addicted, no question about it. My need for vaping isn't quite as demanding as my need for cigarettes was, but still a very big part of my consciousness. Maybe after I've vaped a few more years and still more of the novelty falls away, my powerful dependence on vaping will ease.
And if it doesn't, Andria, that is OK too. I went back to smoking after two years smoke free, because of the trauma of watching my then three year old get stitches on his forehead. Trauma, be it physical, emotional or psychosomatic, causes us to hit the 'reset' switch back to better times, times when you smoked. So you need the WTA at this point, it is still far preferable than all the by-products of burning tobacco. Oh ya, don't be so hard on yourself, there are enough people out there to do it for you.
Not everyone!
I am still using the same 510 atomizers I started with six years ago.
And I'm still using the same Ego Twists I switched to about three years ago.
As an acknowledged gadget freak, I have started on my trek for shiny things, but I still enjoy my eGo Twist(s) with a 510. A ridiculously good vape for the money, imo.
And if it doesn't, Andria, that is OK too. I went back to smoking after two years smoke free, because of the trauma of watching my then three year old get stitches on his forehead. Trauma, be it physical, emotional or psychosomatic, causes us to hit the 'reset' switch back to better times, times when you smoked. So you need the WTA at this point, it is still far preferable than all the by-products of burning tobacco. Oh ya, don't be so hard on yourself, there are enough people out there to do it for you.
I'm not hard on myself about this at all -- I know better! My 39 yr cigarette addiction isn't about to let me off the hook easily, despite how easy vaping makes it. I'm pretty sure that the cravings I experienced after the appendectomy had a lot more to do with the sepsis and inflammation in my colon, than anything to do with the addiction itself; when the body needs something, it has no way to tell you except to give you those cravings -- apparently my colon needed those extra alkaloids, because as soon as they were added, the cravings vanished and haven't returned.
However, none of this is happening in a vacuum, and given all the insanity the FDA seems to be eager to visit on us, I have to face the potential reality that WTA may not be available forever, or even for very much longer, so I'm weaning. I noticed last month at 4%, I had a few days when it seemed that I just couldn't vape enough, so when I mixed up the first 60ml for this month, instead of dropping straight to 3%, I made it 3.5%. After that's gone (10days-2wks), THEN I'll drop to 3%.
I have no plans whatever to drop nicotine; lowering the mg on that is only a matter of new hardware, and *possibly* lessening tolerance after so many months without the nicotine cocktail in cigarettes. My new Achilles RDA definitely requires lowering the power of my mod, from 10w to 8.5w; slightly lowering the nic, from 10mg to 9mg, has also made it easier on my throat, and I seem to get less hiccups.
Andria
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