Vape Makes me Cough

[CallmeB]

vaping doesn't make me cough, but it does my mother. She recently had a mini stroke and it was pretty traumatic for the whole family. The doctor told her to quit smoking ofc, and while she was in the hospital all the nurses and some of her doctors were constantly talking about e cigs and how they are unproven, BUT without a doubt safer than smoking. So she decided to give it a try. She got the Vision Spinner.

Fast forward a month or so and I started vaping on her spare battery and spare top thingy and she went back to smoking. Now I just got my first batch of diy e juice materials and I'm going to start mixing my own e juice.

Sorry for the long intro. My question is how can I help my mother stop coughing when she vapes? She is srsly ......ed about it. She can't get ANY vapor in her lungs without coughing it back up immediately. She really doesn't want to quit smoking and some of this is just her being overly dramatic, but I know when I first started it made me cough and even after a month, in the mornings, it takes me a few puffs before it feels natural again.

So what can I do. I primarily am asking how I can mix a smoother juice for her, but any suggestions to help me convince her to switch over to vaping would be appreciated. I hate to see her nearly turned into a vegetable and not change anything to avoid it happening again. Not to mention the ridiculous price of cigarettes and the guarantee that she is certainly shortening her life by smoking.

 

[Dragnok]

Try lower nic and less PG. First off make sure she is vaping correctly. Slow 4-6 second drags into the mouth, then inhale. Start small work her way up to bigger clouds. I found that I cannot vape anything with PG in it without coughing and choking on it. went to 100% vg and lower the nic and bam im producing huge clouds and not making me cough.

 

[Dragnok]

Sorry to repost but i thought i would be more specific, I started with 24mg nic in a Dekang mix which is pg/vg unknown % couldnt take the smallest toke without dieing. I switched to 12mg nic in 100% vg.

 

[Ryedan]

First, what 'top thingy' does she have? If you don't know what it's called, take a picture of it and post it. How long has she been using it? If it's more than a few days, has it been cleaned yet?

If the topper is not burning juice, throat hit (which can cause people to cough if there's too much) is mostly caused by nicotine content. What nic level is her juice? VG is also a bit smoother than PG to inhale.

Good luck with it!

 

[flowerpots]

Good luck!

 

[Ripshod]

When I first tried the ecigs they were fine, but didn't work as well as I assumed they would. When I first got to vape the actual liquids on an ego with a CE4 tank I would cough. Having tried a few time to stop smoking, and the coughing with the liquids I'd just had enough. I stopped the cigarettes and within a couple of days I grew 'accustomed' to the vapes.

I honestly believe your mother is coughing when vaping because she is still smoking the tobacco.

 

[CallmeB]

I have a picture of the top of the e cig in my photo album. It's whatever comes standard with a Vision Spinner. Think they are called clearomizers. It always seems like ppl just pull these terms out of a hat when speaking about the tank. It's not the tank. I am diligent about the coil/wick. It's the juice.

I didn't even consider the nicotine being the problem. She started on 18mg and she used that for about a week before going back to cigarettes. I vape 24mg and every time she choked it was after trying my juice. I do also think the less PG the better, but VG is very thick even diluted with 5% distilled water. I've only done that once and in a very small quantity. I'll try on a larger scale and reduce the nicotine to 12mg.

Thanks for the advice. Been very helpful.

 

[drthunder]

My mother had the same issue with coughing. She started off with 24mg nicotine juice with no flavoring (yuck!) and was inhaling immediately. Got her a more mild 12mg nicotine strawberry juice. Then i showed her how to breathe in longer hits and inhale 1-2 seconds later and that helped her a lot. I spent like a week explaining the good starter mods and of course she runs out to a local vendor and doesn't listen to my advice. She got that nasty flavorless juice and a $50 generic starter kit that was absolutely junk. It should be a crime to sell those crappy generic starter kits to people. For that price she could have gotten a MVP 2 and a decent tank *sigh*. Long story short i understand the whole "mother being ......ed and dramatic" stuff.

 

[CallmeB]

Yeah my mother NEVER follows my advice either. I'm going to mix her a 12mg vg only juice in a minute. She got lucky with the vision spinner which I think is a copy of the ego twist (not sure). It's a damn good e cig imo. I'm hoping to get a zmax with a bottom fed tank of some sort eventually.

 

[Ryedan]

Yeah my mother NEVER follows my advice either. I'm going to mix her a 12mg vg only juice in a minute. She got lucky with the vision spinner which I think is a copy of the ego twist (not sure). It's a damn good e cig imo. I'm hoping to get a zmax with a bottom fed tank of some sort eventually.

You're on the right track CallmeB. Let us know ho wit turns out.

 

[Frenz]

My mom didn't like vaping when she first started. Up until she found a flavor she truly enjoyed. I also splurged and bought her a kayfun, just so she would have the ultimate flavor and most consistent vape. But once i got her onto the kayfun, I took her nic down from 18(in cartos) to 6. She loves it. Only smokes like 1 cigarette a day now (trust me, that's a huge decrease). Hopefully she'll completely stop soon! Good Luck!

 

[Larry777]

The tank is the single biggest thing controlling "throat hit" aside from the ejuice itself.

Too high of power setting makes a burnt taste.
A defective coil makes a burnt or metallic taste.
Too much nicotine makes a harsh taste.
Not enough airflow makes "excessive" flavor.

I'd suggest the tank is the primary culprit.
Kanger Protanks (single coil PT1-2 & mini 2) are noted for an "airier" draw and may give a more satisfactory vape.
Ensuring the power level isn't set to something crazy will ensure the coils aren't getting burnt up.

Try some zero mg ejuice for comparison, if your DIY'ing juice, try straight VG and compare the experience.

It may take some tweaking but I'd suspect the "topper" is where the bulk of the trouble lies, if you can swap equipment with a different setup, you can narrow down which is causing the issue, and if it's just physcoligical, that can usually be won over with patient persistence and gentle support. Some take longer than others, but once you get a system dialed in that's comfortable for the user, they usually gain confidence in the overall chances of success.

Good luck and keep fighting "the good fight", even if you never win the battle entirely, it is a battle worth fighting forever!

 

[CallmeB]

I modified the standard evod clearomizer tank that came with the Spinner. I drilled out one of the three 1/32" holes to 1/16". It helped so much. Before you ended up flooding the coil just trying to take a puff. Now you can modulate the air with a finger if you like, but it seems to be the perfect amount of airflow for me.

 

[tcvap]

I have found, for myself at least, flavor is probably the most important. In order to get an extremely flavorful hit there must be lots of vape (IMO) this would, in turn, make for a heavy inhale and would cause me to cough every time. If I had a mentor I would not have had to experiment to find the right mix. However, that experience presented a challenge which for me was great. You must have a clean and high quality cartomizer especially if you use darker e-liquids.

 

[jtwalker78]

I agree less nic and pg good luck

 

[CallmeB]

I have no idea how anyone could vape pure VG. I've done the 5% distilled water. I don't have any alcohol but I'll try that soon, but VG doesn't hold flavor at all and it is thick as hell.

As for the "quality cartomizer" I've not seen any meaningful difference between the $5 and the $30. The coil is identical. There is a difference in capacity and air flow, but anyone can widen a hole to allow more air or put tape over a hole to reduce. I just bought a Protank 2 and I like it. I like that it's glass and holds more fluid, but other than that there is nothing that special about it.

I'm afraid my mother is a lost cause. I try everyday to get her to try new flavors, but she is ......ed. I'll video record her one day puffing this thing. She acts like she's trying to siphon sulfuric acid through a hose how she will not ever attempt to get any vapor from it. Then coughs like she just took a huge hit, but far as I can tell nothing came out. She's got mental issues. I think she's hoping for a medical problem or something. She also kinda detests me, so maybe the fact that I like vaping is enough to turn her off from it completely.

I'll keep working on her, and thinking of new ways to pressure her into at least slowing down on smoking. Maybe she'll have to go out and buy one of those ......ed Blue cigs or something. She has been smoking for 40 years. Amazingly her lungs are 100% healthy. She just had a chest xray. I'm gonna be pretty ...... if she has another stroke.

 

[AmandaD]

And just to be different, high VG makes me cough like crazy.....

I smoked for 40 years and was able to give up the first day I picked up an ecig. So it can be done, but she has to want to do it!

 

[alsmom]

I am a mom, and a 40+year smoker, and I got an ego. I coughed like crazy at first. I had to learn a different way of inhaling, once I did that, I quit the analogs for good!
I don't inhale directly to lungs, at first I was filling my mouth up and then inhaling, it takes some practice...

 

[Rmak]

Agree with learning how to draw and inhale instead of a direct inhale. It takes experimenting to see what works best for everyone but just remember it was the same when we started regular smokes a long time ago.

 

[CallmeB]

Yes this is what I keep telling her, that it takes practice. I vape the hell out of some juice but each day it takes about 3 puffs before my lungs call false alarm and accept it without any irritation. I really don't get it. Here is a product that now only delivers the nicotine we all craved at one time, but does it at a fraction of the cost and a fraction of a fraction of the side effects. I see ppl smoking now and think, "This person is an idiot." My mother spends $60/week on cigarettes. She loses 20% of the value on her brand new car for smoking in it. She has to leave her office several times a day to go outside and smoke. She has to sit in the garage of her own home sweating her .... off in what will soon be 110 degree heat. Smoking is a miserable way to kill yourself.