Thoughts on Vaping from an old man.

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TedP

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Jan 11, 2013
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66
Florida
I would like to give you some background on me. I am 71 years old and have smoked since I was 13. I quit tobacco 5 years ago and turned to vaping. Before that I was a 4 pack a day cigarette smoker then switched to a pipe while in the Army and smoked 42 years inhaling the pipe. Fortunately my lungs are clear and have not contracted COPD. I found 2 of my best friends dead in their homes. I was the first person to find them. They died 3 years apart. There is a legion of gray haired people who can be of assistance in countering the FDA. The vaping community is ignoring us.
I sit at the VA and see many of my fellow veterans on oxygen and know there are many more who will be in that state in the future. The vaping community is now in the hands of the young and I feel you are destroying the benefits of getting people to quit tobacco. The vaping community is turning into a cult. I am not insulting the community but looking at it from the perspective of one person on the outside looking in.
Do you want the older, gray haired grandpa and grandma's on your side then take a good hard look at the vaping community. Go on YouTube and all you see are wanna be Grimm Greens and Pete(Phil) Busardo's. Some of them need to be strangled to be honest. I would do it but it's only a video. Nick Green changed his format and has also gone over to the dark side.
So if you want to help the vaping community get the Baby boomers on your side. Get Grandma and Grandpa into vaping. You will have them around for much longer and hopefully you never have to see them on oxygen. It is an ugly thing.
Me, criticize me if you want. I don't care. I care about getting people off tobacco and the way I see it the message being given is not a positive one. Thanks for listening .
 

Beamslider

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I'm 66 years old and gray haired. Have only switched to vaping about 7 months ago with no cigs since after smoking for over 40 years at a pack a day. Sometimes went over the pack a day but can't even imagine smoking 4 packs a day.

I have since gotten two other seniors vaping instead of smoking. Not so much because they were originally interested in it but because they really wanted to stop smoking and just couldn't otherwise. One of them has not smoked since, the other does smoke but not often.

Most vapers around here are not making a scene in public and there don't seem to be many at least in public into blowing clouds. Most just vape in the areas you are allowed to smoke in. There are however as with everything a couple of idiots that stand in the middle of the sidewalk and look like a fog machine.

What the idiots do on youtube, etc is not what is normal, they are just looking for attention and fortunately most people never see it.
 

TedP

Full Member
Jan 11, 2013
8
66
Florida
Are you saying it's taking a turn for the worse because of cloud competition's and high wattage sub ohm stuff?

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
Yes, that is what I am saying. It was originally there as an alternative not a competition. It is turning into a Cult culture, not for what it was intended.
 

stols001

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TedP, I'm not going to argue with you, cloud competitions are going to destroy sub-ohm vaping, at least it will except on devices that you can build yourself. I really hate them, I think it was djsvapor who stated that it was akin to drinking as much as possible, then "rating" the vomit. :) I agree with you that we need to get the baby boomers on our side, because they are like, the best PAC ever, man. I think that you will find a welcome here, there may be a few members really into cloud chasing, like anywhere, but overall most folks stay reasonable.

I don't think I can get my mom into vaping, she's a non-smoker, LOL. That said, I live really close to several "Old people only here" neighborhoods that are filled with boomers, it's just that.... They're so unwelcoming, LOL. If you even ride a bike through there, they'll glare at you, I'd be terrified to walk up to the front door and actually converse with any of them.

I could see talking to the AARP, but I'm not sure really, how to go about this. I do get the impression that baby boomers want to live forever, not relinquish their assets to their kids or you know, anyone else? So with that said, there may be some smokers who'd want to switch over.

I'm open to ideas, I too, when I got my first vape with the insutructions "vape anywhere! Here's an *information card* you can present to anyone who challenges you!" was just a terrible idea, and my thoughts were that the vape community was essentially wiping out its own future. It's great to quietly help a smoker quit, but I almost never vaped *anywhere* and was like, "Okay, it's just a matter of time where I will only be able to vape in the secrecy of my bathroom, in the dead of night, with all the drapes closed."

Let's hope that day doesn't come. But, some people are going to do dumb stuff, come what may. It's a shame, and congratulations on your vaping wins, so far!

Anna
 

gandymarsh

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Welcome to ECF!

There are a lot of older folks here and most of them (us) vape to get off and stay off tobacco.

Yes, the youngsters that need to show off their big clouds are a part of the vaping community but not the only part.

When you've smoked for decades like I did, your lungs can't handle the big clouds anymore. Also there's no need to show off.

I watched a young reviewer the other day that really put me off. Every other word was the F bomb.

I'm no prude and I do drop that word once in awhile but when you overuse it, it makes you sound stupid.
 

listopencil

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I see where you're coming from but here's the thing: People vape for different reasons and people do it according to their own wishes. So different things are going to appeal to different people. For you it's a health thing because you have lived long enough to see that those simple everyday choices/habits make an incredible difference in the long run. I'm old enough to see the same thing. I wish I had taken better care of my teeth over the years. I wish I hadn't been foolish with my money when I was younger. But as the old saying goes, "Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions."

So, I'm OK with whatever people need to do to get into something that helps them make the decision to not smoke. For a younger person that means that maybe the experience needs to be fun. Or interesting. Or cool. I goofed around with chucking clouds myself. Once I filled up a sauce pan on the stove top with a big plume of vapor so it looked like boiling water. Then I called my kids into the kitchen and pretended to be angry with them and demanded to know which of them had left the stove on. Sure, it was a 'Dad' joke and they just groaned when they realized what was going on. I thought it was hilarious though. Or occasionally I would hand them a coffee cup full of cloud and pretend it was hot chocolate. Again, the groans. I cackled though. It was fun for me.

Even the equipment itself can be fun, or interesting, or cool. I have had a few mods that I just really liked because of the way they looked. And I have fairly simple tastes. There are some really wild looking pieces of equipment out there. I've seen a soda can (with straw), a cell phone, a walkie talkie, a scepter, a video game controller, a Sonic Screwdriver, and I have one right now that looks and feels just like a Zippo lighter. People are having fun with it. That's not a bad thing.

Yes, I find some of the YouTube personalities annoying as well. When that happens...I stop watching them. If they annoy enough people then they go away. If they entertain enough people then they stick around. That's exactly how it should be. They put their stuff out into the marketplace of ideas and it either fails or succeeds on its own merits. As for the people with annoying vape tendencies, yes, I think you should be considerate when you vape. In some small ways vaping should be treated like smoking. Just be considerate of the people around you. Don't be a jerk. With all of that being said our culture is just as much in the hands of the young as it is the old or the middle aged. I'm glad that the young are picking up vaping. They are the future of the activity.
 

stols001

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Yes, the young are going to want different things, maybe. But, I don't think cloud chasing competitions should be legal, if only for the fact that it *does* make vaping look like a fad, and especially right now, that's a bad thing. That said, young folks (some of them) are either going to want the latest, greatest thing, and/or think it's cool to make big clouds, which is fine with *me* as long as it's done responsibly. My son was able to blow a cloud similar to the ones Micheal Phelps made with another burned substance, but he didn't stand around doing it in ppl's faces (other than mine, in the car, even as a smoker his vape juice made me retch (but he liked to combine menthols with juices) he vastly prefered a higher powered device and DL, and that worked well for *him* but he had less than a year smoking under his belt, and he quit vaping after two years. So, I'd be sad if he only had the option for say, a cig-a-like, for one he'd be unable to afford it and I don't think he would have gone down the yellow brick road of vaping as easily. That said, my kiddo's a polite kid (I raised him that way, LOL, he'd better be!) and he always looked to either going to the smoking area, or somewhere secluded. It would be a shame if all high vapor production devices were removed from the market.

And yes, most kids are going to be kids. I just think saying something is a harm reduction device then having *competitions* ah, sends the wrong message.

I have a VA here I routinely go to (I help out a few vets in my area, mainly the ones in AA who need detox, I will take ANY vet ANYWHERE for that, maybe I need to pull out my vape next time in the waiting area, as that is a super friendly place and I *adore* our vets and they are super chatty and fun. I will probably do *that* next time I go.

Anna
 

TedP

Full Member
Jan 11, 2013
8
66
Florida
TedP, I'm not going to argue with you, cloud competitions are going to destroy sub-ohm vaping, at least it will except on devices that you can build yourself. I really hate them, I think it was djsvapor who stated that it was akin to drinking as much as possible, then "rating" the vomit. :) I agree with you that we need to get the baby boomers on our side, because they are like, the best PAC ever, man. I think that you will find a welcome here, there may be a few members really into cloud chasing, like anywhere, but overall most folks stay reasonable.

I don't think I can get my mom into vaping, she's a non-smoker, LOL. That said, I live really close to several "Old people only here" neighborhoods that are filled with boomers, it's just that.... They're so unwelcoming, LOL. If you even ride a bike through there, they'll glare at you, I'd be terrified to walk up to the front door and actually converse with any of them.

I could see talking to the AARP, but I'm not sure really, how to go about this. I do get the impression that baby boomers want to live forever, not relinquish their assets to their kids or you know, anyone else? So with that said, there may be some smokers who'd want to switch over.

I'm open to ideas, I too, when I got my first vape with the insutructions "vape anywhere! Here's an *information card* you can present to anyone who challenges you!" was just a terrible idea, and my thoughts were that the vape community was essentially wiping out its own future. It's great to quietly help a smoker quit, but I almost never vaped *anywhere* and was like, "Okay, it's just a matter of time where I will only be able to vape in the secrecy of my bathroom, in the dead of night, with all the drapes closed."

Let's hope that day doesn't come. But, some people are going to do dumb stuff, come what may. It's a shame, and congratulations on your vaping wins, so far!

Anna
Anna,
You get it. When to "lawmakers" research Youtube(and they do) what do they see. Cloud chasers spouting the F bomb every other word. Their introduction is a massive cloud blown in the direction of the camera. Negative vibes right there. Who cares about what this mod is or which tank or atomizer to use. Use what fits you and there is no guidance out there. Terminology is another drawback. I know what a mod is, does grandpa. I am satisfied with my istick 30W with a Cubis tank and a .6 ohm atomizer. Many of the older generation who would like to vape get turned off by the terminology. Don't be afraid of us baby boomers, we maybe grumpy sometimes but we're not the enemy. The FDA is.
 

TedP

Full Member
Jan 11, 2013
8
66
Florida
I see where you're coming from but here's the thing: People vape for different reasons and people do it according to their own wishes. So different things are going to appeal to different people. For you it's a health thing because you have lived long enough to see that those simple everyday choices/habits make an incredible difference in the long run. I'm old enough to see the same thing. I wish I had taken better care of my teeth over the years. I wish I hadn't been foolish with my money when I was younger. But as the old saying goes, "Good decisions come from experience, and experience comes from bad decisions."

So, I'm OK with whatever people need to do to get into something that helps them make the decision to not smoke. For a younger person that means that maybe the experience needs to be fun. Or interesting. Or cool. I goofed around with chucking clouds myself. Once I filled up a sauce pan on the stove top with a big plume of vapor so it looked like boiling water. Then I called my kids into the kitchen and pretended to be angry with them and demanded to know which of them had left the stove on. Sure, it was a 'Dad' joke and they just groaned when they realized what was going on. I thought it was hilarious though. Or occasionally I would hand them a coffee cup full of cloud and pretend it was hot chocolate. Again, the groans. I cackled though. It was fun for me.

Even the equipment itself can be fun, or interesting, or cool. I have had a few mods that I just really liked because of the way they looked. And I have fairly simple tastes. There are some really wild looking pieces of equipment out there. I've seen a soda can (with straw), a cell phone, a walkie talkie, a scepter, a video game controller, a Sonic Screwdriver, and I have one right now that looks and feels just like a Zippo lighter. People are having fun with it. That's not a bad thing.

Yes, I find some of the YouTube personalities annoying as well. When that happens...I stop watching them. If they annoy enough people then they go away. If they entertain enough people then they stick around. That's exactly how it should be. They put their stuff out into the marketplace of ideas and it either fails or succeeds on its own merits. As for the people with annoying vape tendencies, yes, I think you should be considerate when you vape. In some small ways vaping should be treated like smoking. Just be considerate of the people around you. Don't be a jerk. With all of that being said our culture is just as much in the hands of the young as it is the old or the middle aged. I'm glad that the young are picking up vaping. They are the future of the activity.
They may be the future of the activity but they are killing it at the same time.
 

Two_Bears

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I would like to give you some background on me. I am 71 years old and have smoked since I was 13. I quit tobacco 5 years ago and turned to vaping. Before that I was a 4 pack a day cigarette smoker then switched to a pipe while in the Army and smoked 42 years inhaling the pipe. Fortunately my lungs are clear and have not contracted COPD. I found 2 of my best friends dead in their homes. I was the first person to find them. They died 3 years apart. There is a legion of gray haired people who can be of assistance in countering the FDA. The vaping community is ignoring us.
I sit at the VA and see many of my fellow veterans on oxygen and know there are many more who will be in that state in the future. The vaping community is now in the hands of the young and I feel you are destroying the benefits of getting people to quit tobacco. The vaping community is turning into a cult. I am not insulting the community but looking at it from the perspective of one person on the outside looking in.
Do you want the older, gray haired grandpa and grandma's on your side then take a good hard look at the vaping community. Go on YouTube and all you see are wanna be Grimm Greens and Pete(Phil) Busardo's. Some of them need to be strangled to be honest. I would do it but it's only a video. Nick Green changed his format and has also gone over to the dark side.
So if you want to help the vaping community get the Baby boomers on your side. Get Grandma and Grandpa into vaping. You will have them around for much longer and hopefully you never have to see them on oxygen. It is an ugly thing.
Me, criticize me if you want. I don't care. I care about getting people off tobacco and the way I see it the message being given is not a positive one. Thanks for listening .
Im 62 went to vaping after a 38 year habit of smoking 2 PAD.

Been vaping 50 months (4 years two months. Been totally nicotine free for 19 months.

About the only difference is thay i have VERY LITTLE gray hair.
 
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listopencil

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Im 62 went to vaping after a 38 year habit of smoking 2 PAD.

Been vaping 50 months (4 years two months. Been totally nicotine free for 19 months.

About the only difference is thay i have VERY LITTLE gray hair.

Hair's all gone, eh? I just got mine cut yesterday. I just told her to use a number 5 on the sides and blend the top into the bald spot.
 

Mike McVape

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I'm not exactly a youngster at 63 and new to vaping and the vaping community. Day 18 vaping day 18 off cigarettes after smoking pack and half plus a day for 48 years. Prior to taking the vaping plunge I researched for a couple months including chatting with a few people in a different none vape forum who vaped and one person local who'd started vaping and been off cigs over a year now. Some of the stuff I saw researching with giant clouds and stuff was to me like whatever, kids will be kids. I thought better giant clouds of vapor than smoke!
 

listopencil

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I'm not exactly a youngster at 63 and new to vaping and the vaping community. Day 18 vaping day 18 off cigarettes after smoking pack and half plus a day for 48 years. Prior to taking the vaping plunge I researched for a couple months including chatting with a few people in a different none vape forum who vaped and one person local who'd started vaping and been off cigs over a year now. Some of the stuff I saw researching with giant clouds and stuff was to me like whatever, kids will be kids. I thought better giant clouds of vapor than smoke!


That's great, good luck staying off the cigs! I smoked for about 30 years. A pack to a pack and a half a day. Started when I went into the NAVY right out of High School. Vaping MTL setups got me off of cigs. I got caught up with DTL at higher and higher Wattages for a while...and started craving cigs really badly. Since then Ive clamped down and gone back to MTL.
 

suprtrkr

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Welcome to the board. I'm a certified Crusty Olde Phart™ myself. I also think the cloud busters are annoying and not nearly as amusing to watch as they seem to think. OTOH, I also tend to ignore them. I am not worried about vaping personally: I make my own juice and can build mechanical mods all day. That's something you might want to consider; at least the juice part. It's no harder than mixing a recipe to bake a cake. Cheaper, too. As in way, way cheaper.
 
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