The ciggie wasn't supposed to taste good

[Rice Noodle]

Hi all, new member here!


On June 22nd, I decided to have my last cigarette after smoking for 33 years. I had been using ecigs throughout the day for about 2 weeks prior which had given me enough courage to attempt my journey without analogs. I was successful for 6 weeks until I encountered 3 days of massive stress. On day 3 I bought a pack of smokes.

I have read many times over on this forum about people stating after vaping awhile the analogs taste terrible. I I braced myself for a foul taste upon my first drag after a month and a half. Nope, that ciggie tasted good, too good. All was right in the world again and I felt like I just woke up from a long state of sleep walking. This is my vice. I don't do drugs, don't even drink, but I feel like a drug addict. In a way, yes, I am.

Perhaps I set my goals too high too soon. vaping has enabled me to not smoke 2 packs a day. If I was able to go 6 weeks without an analog before, then I'll be able to do it again someday. This is a door I thought I'd never be able to stand in front of, let alone have a one foot in.

I want to thank this forum and to all of those who contribute. It is a wealth of life altering information.

 

[Bill's Magic Vapor]

Many new to vaping do both, and end up smoking far less as a result. Success is measured by how many analogs we avoid, not by quitting alone. Try it, maybe. And certainly we all know how analogs can help through difficult times, particularly if we don't develop alternative mechanisms, which do take time. Wish you well on your VapeQuest. I was one of the ones that thought a smoke tasted terrible after I vaped for a bit. I've had exactly one puff in the last six months. I'm a vaper now. Best to you!

 

[Susiejo]

Don't beat yourself up. Everybody's journey is different.
I have been vaping for almost 4 months and about a week ago my m-i-l had me try an analog and for me it did taste bad but it is not that way for everyone. There are many people on this forum who still smoke analogs and vape also. They just don't feel the need to quit 100%, so they still have a cig when they want one.
Any cig not smoked is a good one so if you smoked 2 PAD and your down to 1 PAD then that is good, it is a step towards a better life.
Give it time, and someday you will get to that place of "I don't want a cig ever again" but until then do what you have to and don't forget that there are alot of people here to give you encouragement.

 

[Gautama]

You are being way too hard on yourself my friend. On average, a smoker tries to quit 7-9 times in their lifetime before they're successful. The key is to try to learn something about yourself after every attempt in order not to repeat the same mistake. You went 6 weeks before you had a cigarette! That is truly a feat and, at the very least, you are smoking far fewer cigarettes than you were. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. For example, I failed every time I put a date on myself. Others seemed capable of doing it but I just couldn't. As the dreaded day approached, I had built up so much anxiety knowing that after x day I could no longer smoke that I was bound to fail. Continue vaping and let things go as they will. Just be sure to learn something about self along the way. Good luck.

 

[Chimney34]

You're doing great my friend! Do not beat yourself up. Celebrate the cigs you haven't smoked & not the ones you have! We smoked for years & if quitting was easy we wouldn't need ecigs.

 

[Ryedan]

I loved to smoke for 37 years. I loved everything about it, the smell, the TH, the high with the first one in the morning, everything except what it was doing to me health wise. I have not had one now since July last year. I started vaping in April and after a couple of week I was vaping all the time. Until my daughter came to visit and I had one of her smokes. I loved it. Last time that happened was in July. She is exploring vaping now.

The last couple of months I've been in the company of a bunch of smokers. They asked and I said it was OK to smoke around me, even in the car. I still like the smell of smoke. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is really easy and 10 is really hard, the effort it took to not bum a smoke from one of them was a 0.5. Really. Keep in mind I have been vaping only for over a year and have been on zero nic juice since January.

It took me a few months to get over smoking. Then I started lowering nicotine levels slowly and found that pretty easy. Take it easy on yourself! You have time, go slow, at your own pace. Whatever works for you is good. If you NEED a smoke, smoke it and don't beat yourself up about it. This process is personal and it will work. If I could, you can do this too

 

[Rice Noodle]

Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement.

I generally avoid online social groups (a bit old school, don't even own a smart phone). But I knew joining this forum would be the right thing to do.

 

[retired soldier]

I vaped and smoked for some months, and enjoyed both. One morning while trying to cough up a lung, I decided to quit the smokes, and found that it was pretty easy. I don't mind others smoking around me, (my wife still smokes), but seldom am tempted to try one. Just don't beat yourself up. When you are ready to quit, you will quit.

 

[Kulsius]

Rice Noodle, i'm a new member, just recently started vaping and i wasn't constant smoker (could last days without any smoke if i had no analogs at a time), but always enjoyed cigarettes and cigarillos (pack for 2 days were just normal for me, sometimes pack lasted for a week). I believe you are way more addicted to smoking, but if you want to cut it, then don't think about e-cig as replacement, which will make analogs smell worse, think about it as replacement for analogs. I smoked like 5 menthol marlboro cigarettes (my favorites) same day i got my e-cig and smoked some next day, but found mint e-juice much better and now my favorite analogs just smell weird and makes my hands smell disgusting... I just think you need more time.
And i think i don't lie saying, that this forum is just the right place to find support when trying to get rid of smoking.
I know my sentences may sometimes make no sense, but i haven't used English in few years

 

[Kulsius]

Edit: Stupid browser double posted... so i'll just write more thoughts...
I suggest trying to quit by simply trying to last as long as possible without analogs. If you feel like you are dieing without real cigarette and e-cig is not helping then have one (I still have pack of cigarettes just in case). My friend is traveling much and got his e-cig some time ago. He still thinks that real cigarettes are better, but tries to avoid smoking them as much as possible. Yet, sometimes he just can't stand and smokes few cigarettes one after another (I just can't imagine how he can smoke Camel in such quantities...)

 

[Rickajho]

Hi

Me for you. I'm one of the lucky many - after a 30 year 2 PAD habit smoking got real gross, real fast when I started vaping. Didn't see that coming. I actually shudder at the thought of smoking one. But people like you have it a lot tougher and staying quit will always take more effort for you than it does for me.

Now you have to look at it as a "And what have we learned?" experience. What pushed you over the edge to believe smoking was a needed option? Anything you can change should a similar stressor come up again? Either about the experience itself or why you believed smoking was the better response to it? Could just be you need more time to shake off years of reasons/needs/places associated with smoking. Triggers.

I'm not beating up on you! It's just something you will need to ponder if you know you still really like cigarettes. View what happened more as a "quit smoking experiment" rather than an American Cancer Society total failure. If you have the desire to quit that's the important thing. But if you still like smoking you can't get lazy in your approach to quitting either. It's harder for you peeps.

This can still be the easiest way to quit you ever tripped across. Ponder your innie things. We can help with the outie things - maybe a better device, talk to us about your nic level, horribly practical things you can do that may help too. Like once you buy a pack never make it easy. In your shirt pocket? Just too easy. On the top shelf in the kitchen cupboard? Gotta work, even a little, to go and get that next cigarette. Even that little extra effort, with your PV right at hand instead, can influence your decisions in the process.

Again, don't beat yourself up over it. We all know how well that works with the ACS quit smoking program... Just try to learn from the experience and move on. This is the no guilt method this time. Always remember you have vaping as a choice this time around.

Best wishes

 

[BlueMoods]

Not everyone looses the taste for analogs, most seem to but my step daughter never has, she mostly vapes, has been for 2 years now but, her birthday present to herself is to have a real cigarette, she likes them.

 

[VaporClouds]

Every cig you dont smoke is a success. It took me a while to be completely cig free. Ive been cigfree for a couple months now but ive been vaping like almost 4 months. So even though you have a few cigs, vaping still cut you way back....thats one way to look at it.

 

[hvac999]

It is kind of like an alcoholic having to avoid that first drink. The same goes for analogs.

 

[Rice Noodle]

My desk is currently littered with vape supplies: an X6, several different sized ego batteries, chargers, clearomizers, carts, drip tips, juices in many different flavors and various nic levels. I'm also looking at plumber's tape, a pair of scissors and pliers. Paper towels, lots of paper towels and 3 water bottles for hydration.

When I smoked, all I had at my desk was a pack and an ashtray by the adjacent window (my one smoking area in the home).

Early on during the 6 weeks I didn't smoke, my teenage Daughter noticed the ashtray was missing. She said that it was her biggest dream come true......this was the first time I heard her say these words.

Currently I have a pack in a drawer in the garage, so I have to go outside to have a cig. I also have some upgraded vape supplies enroute.

I feel this is going to work, but I also realize it will take some time. Thank you everyone.

 

[Kulsius]

As i understood, you Daughter supports you. It's so nice I believe that by trying to quit smoking you are making good not only for yourself, but also for your Daughter

 

[Kblair1701]

I was 2 PAD and now a pack of analogs lasts me 4 days This after 4 weeks of vaping. but I'm kind of stuck on those 3 or 4 or 5 analogs a day -- especially after a meal or first thing in the AM or during high stress periods. Part of that is my equipment (not enough battery life, burnt or clogged attys) but luckly that can be fixed (in the market for a mod and some 2000-3000mah batteries and a good intelligent charger). The other part I have found is just plain old habit. After 20 years, my coffe in the AM doesn't taste right without an analog. I drive a lot (90,000 miles in the last 18 months) and vaping while driving has been my most successful adventure.

So my goal isn't to quit, just to extend the time between analogs. 3 a day, then 2 a day, then 1 a day, the 1 every other day. Eventually I'll get to where "I can have an analog in 6 weeks"

 

[mkbilbo]

Hi all, new member here!

On June 22nd, I decided to have my last cigarette after smoking for 33 years. I had been using ecigs throughout the day for about 2 weeks prior which had given me enough courage to attempt my journey without analogs. I was successful for 6 weeks until I encountered 3 days of massive stress. On day 3 I bought a pack of smokes.

I have read many times over on this forum about people stating after vaping awhile the analogs taste terrible. I I braced myself for a foul taste upon my first drag after a month and a half. Nope, that ciggie tasted good, too good. All was right in the world again and I felt like I just woke up from a long state of sleep walking. This is my vice. I don't do drugs, don't even drink, but I feel like a drug addict. In a way, yes, I am.

Heh. Yeah, nicotine is a drug and folks get addicted. Makes us basically drug addicts.

Then again, so are the people who have an addiction to caffeine. So there!

Perhaps I set my goals too high too soon. Vaping has enabled me to not smoke 2 packs a day. If I was able to go 6 weeks without an analog before, then I'll be able to do it again someday. This is a door I thought I'd never be able to stand in front of, let alone have a one foot in.

Hey, now you know it can work. So you "slipped"? Big deal. You went six weeks without any right? Happy dance time.

And it's actually not "supposed to" anything. Some folks, as their sense of taste returns, find the taste of cigs becomes pretty awful. Especially in comparison to their favorite vape flavors. But us humans aren't stamped outta the same mold or machined or anything. The experience is different for just about everybody. Probably some big categories of similarities but no "hard and fast" rules.

Not everybody stops all at once. I was "dual use" for weeks before I stopped smoking entirely. I did go through the "cigs are nasty" thing and actually started dreading those "I wanna real one" urges. It was weird.

Sometime this summer, I had a few. Partly out of curiosity. And they were... just cigs. Tasted like cigs. Felt like cigs. And, also... weren't all that interesting. It was just... "Yeah I remember this". But I didn't react much one way or the other.

Like you, my habit was over 30 years. And got pretty heavy. Not sure when I hit 2 packs a day but it was a while back. I sort of stumbled into vaping and was stunned it seemed to work. Didn't expect much. Got more than I could have dreamed.

But it was such a constant companion, the thought of "quitting" could actually cause a kind of panic reaction in me. My doc said something to me, very much in passing, before I found vaping, about "we need to talk about your smoking" and I felt like the air had been sucked outta the room.

So, myself, I play a goofy head game with my brain. Like those "counters" some folks here use? I won't use one. I don't ever put a "THE END" on it. I haven't "quit", I just don't feel like one right now. I stay in a kind of a perpetual limbo of I could smoke any time I want, I just don't want to. Not now. If I get that vague, almost longing feeling of, "Gosh, wouldn't a cig be great right now?" I come back with, "Maybe later" and grab the PV.

Also, sometimes, I think, "Yeah but that means I got to drive to the store, buy a pack, find a lighter, find an ashtray, I don't remember did I keep any and..." it starts sounding like a lotta trouble.

Fact is, cigarettes are too easy to get. And who would know? I could be sitting here, chain smoking for all anybody knows. I could doing a big, stupid (and deeply weird) online con thing. Pretending to vape for some... I can't even imagine what the point would be. Anyway, how would anybody know?

I think, for some of us, making a Big Dramatic Thing of it all is just setting ourselves up to fail. I consciously decided with this vape thing--unlike all my other horrible, miserable, failed quit attempts--as long as I was smoking less, I'd be happy. Over the weeks, it became less and less and less until it went to zero. Or you could say that since I gave in sometime in the last four months (I really can't pin it down), you could say it's less and less per month?

I dunno. Less is good when it comes to smoking. More less is even... more good? You went six weeks last time. Next time, maybe twelve weeks. Then half a year. Then...

 

[Mivsy]

I "relapsed" this past weekend after not smoking for three weeks. I went away to a cabin for a few days. The night before i left I packed up all my vaping supplies into a case. Made it halfway to my destination before I realized I left it sitting on my desk. I ended up buying a pack of smokes. First thing I noticed was that the cigarettes tasted really horrible. Kind of like a mix between the first one I ever smoked and the way they taste when you have a cold. I also noticed I smoked a heck of alot less. A pack lasted me all weekend. I really don't regret what I did since it left me knowing that I am completely done with cigarettes and prefer vaping alot more.

 

[Cuando]

The longer you vape, the more they taste awful. At least most brands. I had a Camel Turkish Gold last week and it actually didn't taste like an alleyway. Like many here have said, no biggie, those six weeks were probably great for your health. I have been vaping on and off for almost five years, and it's only been the last year and a half that I've actually stuck with it. I do still have an occasional analog, but I don't kick myself for it. All I know is I feel better than I have in over a decade, and I have a fun new hobby to immerse myself in to boot.

Good luck, stick with it, good days are ahead.