Trading one habit for another ?
- Thread starter bols2DaWall
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I understand exactly what you are saying. At first my girlfriend was glad that I was able to quit smoking real cigarettes immediately upon getting my first vape (eGo-T with a clearomizer). When I started climbing the learning curve, upgrading gear, sampling different juices, and basically throwing myself into the vaping world full-throttle, it jarred her a little bit. She said the exact same thing you did, "You're just trading one habit for another." Being able to "beat" the addiction to real cigs came as a hollow victory to her, as she believes I'm now just as consumed by vaping as I was smoking.
And she's right. But you see, among fellow vapers, I found a mature, polite, kind, and very helpful community. I discovered a hobby that I never even knew existed but find myself highly interested in. I love the gadgets, the sci-fi terms (atomizers!), the flavors, the camaraderie. But to my gf, it's like I went from one bad habit to another. Oh, well...
EDIT: Forgot to answer your question. Many juice vendors allow you to lower the nicotine strength in their juice. My favorite vendor, Mt Baker Vapor (http://www.mtbakervapor.com/), allows you to choose anywhere from 36 mg of nicotine down to 0 mg of nicotine, with many increments in-between. Start at what you think you'd need for your average nic fix, and slowly lower the nicotine mg between bottles until you're down to 0. If you're down to 0 mg of nicotine and all you crave is the act of vaping, then, well, bud, you made it. And if you're vaping 0 mg nicotine, you're my new hero! Good luck and keep the faith.
And she's right. But you see, among fellow vapers, I found a mature, polite, kind, and very helpful community. I discovered a hobby that I never even knew existed but find myself highly interested in. I love the gadgets, the sci-fi terms (atomizers!), the flavors, the camaraderie. But to my gf, it's like I went from one bad habit to another. Oh, well...
EDIT: Forgot to answer your question. Many juice vendors allow you to lower the nicotine strength in their juice. My favorite vendor, Mt Baker Vapor (http://www.mtbakervapor.com/), allows you to choose anywhere from 36 mg of nicotine down to 0 mg of nicotine, with many increments in-between. Start at what you think you'd need for your average nic fix, and slowly lower the nicotine mg between bottles until you're down to 0. If you're down to 0 mg of nicotine and all you crave is the act of vaping, then, well, bud, you made it. And if you're vaping 0 mg nicotine, you're my new hero! Good luck and keep the faith.
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I've heard many people here say they had a much easier time quitting vaping than smoking. I know I definitely don't jones to vape the way I used to jones to smoke. Going without my PV for a time is much less distressing than going without a cigarette was. And since you can progressively step down your nicotine level, it can be a much gentler process when/if you choose to quit vaping.
eh its hard to quit the hand and mouth addiction. you have it. all smokers have it. when you get nervous or upset your gonna want to hold something in your hand. you may feel the need to put something up to your lips. After years and years and years of lighting a cigarette when you walk into a room at a party, when you strike a conversation with a guy/gal, when you meet up with friends... Your hand and mouth addiction is strong and it doesn't just go away easily. You'll feel like your missing something. You may feel vulnerable without satisfying that side of the addiction. Other than that, its all about the nicotine too. You are extremely addicted to nicotine if you've been smoking a pack a day longer than a month. Your extremely addicted to an extremely addictive substance. You will withdraw if you don't taper your dosage down slowly. You can do this with vaping. You can buy increasingly lower mg nicotine juice... But you may end up subconsciously vaping more and more, the more you step down your dosage. it happens. thats addiction. You are powerless with addiction. I know this first hand. Your powerless and its a struggle for anyone and everyone. You can quit cigarettes with vaping quite easily... with little to no withdrawal. I did. you may miss the taste of cigarettes or the feeling on the warm smoke for a while until you get settled into vaping, learn where your favorite voltage to ohm ratio is, your favorite all day juices.... But you'll get there. You'll find a point where smoking seems insane. Willingly putting yourself at a 50% chance of getting deathly cancer? You were insane. But yeah, its still going to be hard to quit vaping. I'd say it may be easier than cigarettes because you can step down, you can taper your dose, and you can get to 0 nicotine juice, vape that for a bit, and then slowly stop using the device.. But it wont be easy.
My addiction is nicotine. I haven't traded addictions, just the delivery system. And this system allows me to DIY my nicotine and titrate it down S L O W L Y over time so I don't notice that I am beating the addiction.
So far, I went from 24 to 18, I tried vendor juice but the jump from 18 to 12 was too steep and I was unable to put the thing down at 12 mg/ml. So now I mix mine at 16. Then will be 14, etc. until I get to a lower amount. Since nicotine is good for me, I don't want totally off it. I figure when I get to the point that I can take it or leave it, I will have conquered it. I have a long way to go, but don't mind as I have enough gear and DIY nicotine to last for years should it become taxed or regulated out of my price range like cigarettes were.
So, to answer your question, I don't know how easy it will be; but so far, so good!
So far, I went from 24 to 18, I tried vendor juice but the jump from 18 to 12 was too steep and I was unable to put the thing down at 12 mg/ml. So now I mix mine at 16. Then will be 14, etc. until I get to a lower amount. Since nicotine is good for me, I don't want totally off it. I figure when I get to the point that I can take it or leave it, I will have conquered it. I have a long way to go, but don't mind as I have enough gear and DIY nicotine to last for years should it become taxed or regulated out of my price range like cigarettes were.
So, to answer your question, I don't know how easy it will be; but so far, so good!
In order to switch from smoking to vaping you have to rid yourself of your addiction to all the additives in cigarettes along with become comfortable with all the differences between smoking and vaping. To quit vaping you have to get rid of your addiction to nicotine and your addiction to the hand to mouth ritual which some find to be a huge part of their addiction.
We are all different so there is no one answer for everyone. It is hard to quit smoking and it is hard to quit vaping although most will say it is much harder to quit smoking then to give up vaping. Many find that their addiction to nicotine is much weaker without all the additives found in cigarettes. For most of those that have successfully quit both they did so by first becoming totally free of their cigarette addiction. And then took time without rushing to step down their usage of nicotine until they found themselves comfortable with only vaping 0 mg juice and from there chose to stop vaping.
If you wish to give up both you will have to find what method works best for you.
We are all different so there is no one answer for everyone. It is hard to quit smoking and it is hard to quit vaping although most will say it is much harder to quit smoking then to give up vaping. Many find that their addiction to nicotine is much weaker without all the additives found in cigarettes. For most of those that have successfully quit both they did so by first becoming totally free of their cigarette addiction. And then took time without rushing to step down their usage of nicotine until they found themselves comfortable with only vaping 0 mg juice and from there chose to stop vaping.
If you wish to give up both you will have to find what method works best for you.
For those that truly want to quit vaping, I believe it is a lot easier than quitting smoking. The problem is that many people who think they are going to want to quit smoking and then quit vaping actually change their minds about the vaping part once they find out how much they like vaping.
If we were to ever find out that vaping can cause any serious degree of harm, a very large percentage of those people would probably change their minds quite quickly and decide to quit vaping. And I think they would find it really isn't too hard to do so if they really want to.
The thing is, you are asking this question if a forum full of people who have never tried to quit vaping. Anyone who has quit vaping is no longer posting here, so you will never get their opinion on the matter.
If we were to ever find out that vaping can cause any serious degree of harm, a very large percentage of those people would probably change their minds quite quickly and decide to quit vaping. And I think they would find it really isn't too hard to do so if they really want to.
The thing is, you are asking this question if a forum full of people who have never tried to quit vaping. Anyone who has quit vaping is no longer posting here, so you will never get their opinion on the matter.
In 8 months I've gone down from 24mg to 3mg nic. Will I quit vaping once I get to 0mg nic? I don't know. I like to vape flavors, just like I like to drink Starbucks, eat good food, sip good wine during the holidays, etc. Why does it always have to be a question of all or nothing at all and vilified as a "habit?" Just because I have a glass of wine a couple of times a year doesn't make me an alcoholic, does it? Albeit, I vape every day at this point, but so what? I still have dominion of my senses to know when to stop if it doesn't agree with me. Btw, I eat every day too.
When people ask me how vaping is working for me (with regards to quitting smoking), this is how I explain it.
There are 3 main addictions in smoking: the nicotine, all the other crap and chemicals in a cigarette (very generalized), and the hand-to-mouth. The easiest way to quit smoking is to break those addictions one at a time. When you vape, you aren't ingesting the thousands of chemicals that are in smoking. The first addiction you break is all of the other crap that is in commercial cigarettes, while still getting nicotine. This is important, because nicotine is very addictive on its own.
After a while, you can reduce the amount of nicotine that is in your juice. I make my own, so I step down to whatever I feel comfortable with. I vape 1mg and 2mg nic. Eventually, I will be at 0 nicotine.
And finally, breaking the hand-to-mouth, a behavioral addiction that isn't necessarily harmful. It's yet to be shown the true effects of vaping over time, so we shall see if vaping itself is something you need to quit. At that point though, replacing vaping with twizzlers/blow pops/tootsie pops shouldn't be too difficult. Going from smoking to twizzlers, though, I failed every time. Stopping vaping from 0mg nic, in theory, would be 1000x easier than quitting smoking cold turkey.
Disclaimer: The above is 100% my opinion.
There are 3 main addictions in smoking: the nicotine, all the other crap and chemicals in a cigarette (very generalized), and the hand-to-mouth. The easiest way to quit smoking is to break those addictions one at a time. When you vape, you aren't ingesting the thousands of chemicals that are in smoking. The first addiction you break is all of the other crap that is in commercial cigarettes, while still getting nicotine. This is important, because nicotine is very addictive on its own.
After a while, you can reduce the amount of nicotine that is in your juice. I make my own, so I step down to whatever I feel comfortable with. I vape 1mg and 2mg nic. Eventually, I will be at 0 nicotine.
And finally, breaking the hand-to-mouth, a behavioral addiction that isn't necessarily harmful. It's yet to be shown the true effects of vaping over time, so we shall see if vaping itself is something you need to quit. At that point though, replacing vaping with twizzlers/blow pops/tootsie pops shouldn't be too difficult. Going from smoking to twizzlers, though, I failed every time. Stopping vaping from 0mg nic, in theory, would be 1000x easier than quitting smoking cold turkey.
Disclaimer: The above is 100% my opinion.
Why do you care what other people think? I certainly don't... and I don't "worry" about being addicted to nicotine any more than I "worry" about being addicted to caffeine. The main reason I started vaping is because I COULDN'T stop smoking and it was killing me. I have asthma and developed COPD. I couldn't breathe, but I still couldn't stop. I'm thrilled beyond believe that I have an alternative that lets me still breathe. I don't plan on ever stopping vaping and I don't give a rat's patootie if someone else "disapproves"!!!!!!!!
I like to dabble in writing contemporary pulp space opera (the genre is my handle name), and I used to have a lot of characters who smoked (as a throw-back to old pulp characters from the 30's-50's). Now, I've switched them all to vapes! It is so right up my alley with the high-tech look, feel, and concept.
"Brannigan's blaster flashed to his hand. Before the bug-eyed monster could react, a brilliant rod of lambent energy lanced through its brain, scorching the metal wall behind it. The hideous monstrosity slumped to the floor. Brannigan's eyes searched for signs of life, but there were none. Feeling safe for the moment, the space ranger spun his blaster and slipped it back into its polished chrome holster. With a sigh of relief, he lifted his vape to his lips, took a good, long drag, exhaled, and relaxed..."
"Brannigan's blaster flashed to his hand. Before the bug-eyed monster could react, a brilliant rod of lambent energy lanced through its brain, scorching the metal wall behind it. The hideous monstrosity slumped to the floor. Brannigan's eyes searched for signs of life, but there were none. Feeling safe for the moment, the space ranger spun his blaster and slipped it back into its polished chrome holster. With a sigh of relief, he lifted his vape to his lips, took a good, long drag, exhaled, and relaxed..."
Yikes , having a bad day ? You might want to bump up your nic input a little .
I didn't ask if people approved or not , i want to quit smoking and i would like hopefully to quit vaping one day too . These are MY goals , just wondering if anyone had quit vaping or perhaps know someone that did and how difficult it might have been .
Yikes , having a bad day ? You might want to bump up your nic input a little .
I didn't ask if people approved or not , i want to quit smoking and i would like hopefully to quit vaping one day too . These are MY goals , just wondering if anyone had quit vaping or perhaps know someone that did and how difficult it might have been .
There's a guy on the forum who just announced today he was quitting vaping. He'd been vaping 0mg juice for a couple weeks, and then started leaving his ecig at home. And he's feeling pretty good about it.
In my personal opinion, I'd say quitting vaping is way, way easier than smoking, if done right. Vape for a while, step down your nic slowly until you're at 0mg, then you should be good-to-go.
Where vaping is concerned, one can decrease the level of nicotine over time. If one chooses to continue as a habit, or hobby, it's a healthier choice by far.
1:40 mark:
David: "Is nicotine in itself bad for you?"
Katherine: "I don't know. I've read things that say that it's really not; that it's as bad as a cup of coffee. It's a stimulant like caffeine. I'm choosing to believe that."
Audience laughs.
2:16 mark:
David: "Is there a chance that you'll become addicted to the device?"
Katherine: "Oh yeah, I'm totally addicted to the device."
Audience and David laughs.
Katherine: "But it's not bad for you. So it's a fun addiction."
This.
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I agree with those who say it will be easier to quit after vaping awhile. My problem is I don't want to quit. I find myself leaving my ecig at home often anymore and it's no problem. If I had forgotten my cigarettes before I would have bought both a new pack and lighter on the spot. There are quite a few studies out saying that a certain amount of nic is beneficial. I have several friends with SO's that have alzheimers so have been reading up on that type stuff as well as new medications containing nic for diabetic patients. Who knows what the future will determine.
My mother-in-law found it very easy to quit vaping and she is still quit after 2 1/2 years (she only vaped for about 6 months.) She didn't wean off, she just stopped one day. It's going to be different for everyone, though. The good news is, if you "relapse" from quitting e-cigarettes, you are relapsing back to safer vaping and not to smoking! (So keep some supplies around but out of sight, just in case, so you don't end up buying a pack of cigarettes instead!)
E-cigarettes weren't designed as a nicotine cessation treatment, they were meant as a safer alternative for those who would otherwise still be smoking. So they aren't a magic bullet for quitting nicotine - you still have to have resolve and really WANT to quit altogether. But e-cigarettes can HELP break some of the smoking triggers, eliminate exposure to the other addictive chemicals in smoke and reduce the amount of nicotine you need. But I know it can be done because I've seen it firsthand.
E-cigarettes weren't designed as a nicotine cessation treatment, they were meant as a safer alternative for those who would otherwise still be smoking. So they aren't a magic bullet for quitting nicotine - you still have to have resolve and really WANT to quit altogether. But e-cigarettes can HELP break some of the smoking triggers, eliminate exposure to the other addictive chemicals in smoke and reduce the amount of nicotine you need. But I know it can be done because I've seen it firsthand.
From someone that has severe COPD I couldn't have said it better. I haven't been to the ER or had an ambulance have to pick me up for a long time. I'm not done with the stinkies yet but I feel so much better now than I ever did before. Hand to mouth is the hardest part to break. Sorry just the way I feel today.
I failed vaping once back in 2008 when the technology was still young and everything was .... compared to what we have now.
I couldn't stand the juices and went back to analogs. I was at 2 analogs a day during that 2 months of vaping.
Fast forward to this year, I met a friend with a LavaTube + Vivi Nova. I was stoked by how much the technology has improved. I bought my Lambo 2 days later and stopped smoking right off the batt. I didn't even plan for it. I just hey, nice vape and never thought of analogs again.
It's been 3 weeks now and I've spent $500, getting a ton of juices, tanks, cartos, coils, and a few PVs to play around. I'm addicted. But not to vaping. I'm addicted to having these vaping gears. How they work, fiddle with them, rewick them, recoil them. Washing my stuffs everyday is a joy.
Back on topic. I don't think it will be hard to quit vaping. I'm on 18mg nic since the day I returned. And frankly, I have no urge to vape in the morning. The only urges i get is my habit of smoking something after a meal. But even that craving can be controlled. With this experience, I strongly believe that one can just go cold turkey when they decides to stop vaping.
I'm only vaping a ton now because I'm in love with my new toys. Not because I have the constant urge to vape. If I only vaped when I have a craving, I think I'll be vaping less than 2ml a day.
I couldn't stand the juices and went back to analogs. I was at 2 analogs a day during that 2 months of vaping.
Fast forward to this year, I met a friend with a LavaTube + Vivi Nova. I was stoked by how much the technology has improved. I bought my Lambo 2 days later and stopped smoking right off the batt. I didn't even plan for it. I just hey, nice vape and never thought of analogs again.
It's been 3 weeks now and I've spent $500, getting a ton of juices, tanks, cartos, coils, and a few PVs to play around. I'm addicted. But not to vaping. I'm addicted to having these vaping gears. How they work, fiddle with them, rewick them, recoil them. Washing my stuffs everyday is a joy.
Back on topic. I don't think it will be hard to quit vaping. I'm on 18mg nic since the day I returned. And frankly, I have no urge to vape in the morning. The only urges i get is my habit of smoking something after a meal. But even that craving can be controlled. With this experience, I strongly believe that one can just go cold turkey when they decides to stop vaping.
I'm only vaping a ton now because I'm in love with my new toys. Not because I have the constant urge to vape. If I only vaped when I have a craving, I think I'll be vaping less than 2ml a day.
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