Vaper/Smoker Household - Help/Suggestions?

[Krafted Khaos]

Hi, all. It's me... again. Sorry for so many new threads, when y'all get tired of seeing me start so many, please let me know to slow it down. Now, on to my question:

If you missed my introduction, I just started vaping exclusively 3d 8.5h ago (hey, I'm proud of those 8.5 hours, not gonna leave them out!). My boyfriend has declined to re-start the vaping with me (for the whole story, see my introduction post), and so he's still smoking cigarettes.

Now, my dilemma is two-fold.

A) One of the things everyone talks about in their quit stories is how they don't stink of cigarettes anymore... and I want that, too... or at least a great reduction in stinking like cigarettes.

B) Since I quit three days ago, the stench of cigarette smoke is getting stronger and stronger to my no-longer-smoking nose and, this morning, even burned slightly.

Now, this is HIS house. I moved in with HIM, he pays the bills, etc etc. I'm not about to start hounding him about what he does in the house he pays for, but I want us both to be comfortable here.

My question is this... what can we do that will keep us both comfortable in our home without relegating him or me to an outcast?

An air purifier? Smoke-eater candles?

We have a house fan, but we heat using a fireplace, so that's not an option in winter (it draws the smoke into the house instead of up the chimney).

Please, any and all suggestions are welcome. I don't want to be THAT ex-smoker, I don't want to ruin our relationship by turning into a nag, and I don't want to have to be in separate rooms, because that defeats the purpose of spending time together...

I never noticed just how acrid and pervasive the smell was while I was smoking, and it's only been three days... if it's bothering me this much already, it's only going to continue getting worse as my sense of smell improves.

Please Help!



Amanda

 

[BillyWJ]

Ugh, that's a serious dilemma there. When I smoked inside, years ago, I always ran air filters - good ones, the biggest I could find, to keep the tar off of everything, and the smell out. They work, to a degree, but even as a smoker I realized that the only way to keep the smell out was to smoke only outside, even if it's snowing. The only time I broke the rule was during hurricanes, and then i smoked in the basement.

Why is he refusing to switch, may I ask? I'd work on that angle, if it were me, for the health reasons alone.

 

[denali_41]

wow !! tough one here

your choices are rather limited to say the least

you could try getting a vanilla juice,a lot of them will make a house smell good ,that might make him a little more open to vaping ??

sadly enough for you,,your sense of smell will improve greatly !! sitting on the throne for a long time will soon be a thing of the past

 

[ShariR]

That is a tough one for me. My DH never smoked so for the past 20 years I have smoked out in our sunroom. Never smoked in the house. I can not help you tonight but did want to post to show you I am supporting you and there will be others who live/lived with your situation. It would help if we knew if he is supportive of your vaping or is he giving you a bad time about it? I know he does not want to quit now, but I get that he may come around down the road a piece.

What I can say is that don't let him feel threatened or backed into a corner. He may feel you may try to force him to quit his cigarettes. You will work it out. If you need to, have a place or room to where you can go to get away from the cigarettes for a while. You can read a book for a bit or take a nice hot bath.

 

[ingerri]

I totally understand. ive been vaping for almost 2yrs and husband refuses to quit the stinkies. we live in a peaceful smoke/vape household LOL. the only restriction I have on him is don't smoke sitting next to me, LOL. cant stand the immediate smell but from across the room it doesn't bother me. neither of us nag the other on the choice and neither goes outside. he had me order him an ego kit like mine but its been sitting around and he now says he will never use it. I was nagging in the beginning trying to get him to smoke outside(I started vaping right after Christmas) and he made a good point, its his house too. so we just have the under standing of to each their own.

 

[Margate69]

My house used to have 4 smokers. Now we have 3 vapers and one cold turkey.

Give it a little time, try and get him to ease back into it.

It took about two weeks for my roommate to convince me to vape instead of smoking.

My house smells great now. And I don't have fly problems...

 

[Jwaterski]

Wife still smokes, it's her choice, no problem. I love her and respect her choice.

 

[elfy]

Cage match? Ok that wont work..wait, it will cuz he smokes so he will run out of wind in like 30 seconds.


Uhm....did he try vaping? Maybe he wasnt getting decent vapes off the gear, and/or had high enough nic content juice? I had 24mg stuff and vaped my elf head off for a few days, and then quickly went to 18mg stuff since that higher juice was making me feel..well...crispy

I had one last cig in the pack and smoked it and really havent looked back since, not that its been a long time (couple of weeks) but now when I do crave a cig, I have a massive honk off my vape instead..and I have a decent collection of juices too.

I rebuilt my Kanger heads and used cotton wicks, so that instead of getting a wet burnt sheepdog taste I got...nice vapor.

I wonder if he had a really nasty vape experience and thats soured him on vaping in general. I didn't and Im happy I gave up analogs. On top of that I have known for a very long time just exactly whats IN tobacco smoke and its not pretty. Its really no wonder why so many folks get sick and die from it. Its a LONG list of poisons.

Vaping might not be healthy but compared to tobacco smoke, its so much less of a health risk.

I wish you the best, it would be nice if he put the cigs down. In the end they will be the end of him. They always win.

Unless its a cage match, then hes fallin over in 30 seconds 'cuz he cant breathe.

Oh yea: dont forget this is a MASSIVE support forum for you AND him. He can come here and complain to me personally if he wants - im not here to bicker or fight, but im happy to help and offer advice on how *I* threw out the smokes and am not really looking back (so far).

 

[xpfx]

Not much you can do to be honest. Smoking in doors is terrible for everyone involved.

 

[Krafted Khaos]

(Oh, my goodness... as a side note... the million pop-up ads on this site are killing me. New computer and NO idea how to stop them!)

Boyfriend is very supportive of me vaping (costs less for him, as I'm a 'housewife', just without the 'wife' part, so he was supporting both our habits, and juice is much cheaper than smokes), he even tried it with me the first time we tried (got sick, had to stop, couldn't get back into vaping at the time). I decided I was ready to try again, it worked for me, but he declined to try again. I explained in more detail on another thread, but, long story short, the throat hit isn't satisfying to him (at least, that's what he's saying as his reason).

We, I mean HE (still can't believe it's not 'we' anymore!) pretty much only smokes in one room of the house, unless he happens to walk through with one in his hand. We're in the living room almost exclusively except when we're asleep or I'm cooking, and we have curtains over the entrances to other areas of the house, so the smoke is contained (sortof - my new sense of smell is telling me that the curtains aren't containing the smoke as much as we thought!) to one room in the house, maybe 15x15.

Is there an affordable air purifier that would take care of the worst of it in a space that size?

We don't have central heat or air.

We also have a housemate who smokes, but he stays in his room with the door shut 99.99999% of the time, so it's not really 'contributing' to the issue unless/until he opens his door to leave/enter the room.

I guess if worse comes to worst, I can always put a fan behind me, to blow the smoke away, I was just hoping for something to take the worst of it out of the air. If I'm not puffing on a cigarette, I don't want to breathe in his 'used' smoke, either, LOL!

I think part of me is also scared for the day that the smell doesn't bother me... of the day that it starts to smell 'normal' or worse, 'good'! I want it to smell terrible to me... not get used to it!

Any suggestions on a reasonably priced air purifier that actually WORKS?

(And thank you all for the encouragement and support... I really appreciate it!)

 

[ShariR]

Amanda, there is a lot you can do. Right now you have to worry about you and how you are doing with cravings and dealing with the smell of cigarette smoke. Think about it. What would you do if you had to work right next to someone that had horrible body odor or bad breath, or ..... you know, there are ways to cope. It is harder for you because you are so newly quit and your sense of smell is going to be all over the place for a bit.

Have you thought about just sitting down and talking to him, like you did in your post here? Think about it. Nobody knows what your situation is but you. Plus, you may be a bit frustrated and angry that he is choosing not to do this with you at this time. There is always a way to workaround stuff.

 

[Jwaterski]

If he got sick while vaping, try some VG juice if he's willing. PG just doesn't agree with everyone. Smoking is an addiction, even if some of us don't want to admit it. You will never convince an addict to quit or change, only they can make that decision.

 

[WindyCityJoe]

I would have to agree with ShariR, might be time for a real heart to heart with your other half. Maybe you can convince him to give vaping a second chance with different juice with more of a kick to get that throat hit. Best of luck to you both.

 

[Krafted Khaos]

Shari - I asked him this evening before he left for work if we could get an air purifier or something because the smell was beginning to bother me. I pretty much told him the same things I said here, I don't want to nag, and I want us both to be able to be comfortable... we just have to be able to afford the purifier... I'm guessing one that's worth a plug nickel is going to be a little pricey.

Jwaterski - we both got sick, but not from vaping. We caught some kind of chest cold that made vaping virtually impossible to do if we wanted to breathe, LOL. Something about the vapor (we were only 2 weeks into it, so it could have been exacerbated by the fact that our lungs were still trying to get used to inhaling something new) just took our breath, so we went back to the cancer sticks. Once we were over our cold, we just had no desire to vape... took a year for me to want to try again, but I'm determined to stick to it this time... hopefully the colds will hold off until my lungs have gotten used to vaping!

We both openly admitted our addiction, I think he's just not ready to quit, mentally. He's resisting vaping, but I don't think it's so much the act as it is giving up smoking. Last time we tried it, we had no intention of quitting, we just wanted to cut down on cigarettes a little... I'm going to try (lightly) pushing that angle (money's tight, it's a valid argument)... and I've been telling him that all the guys are talking about how much better 'bedroom activities' have been since they've stopped smoking, LOL! (Testimonials are giving me great talking points!)

 

[narcosis]

this is what i had in my computer room HealthMate | Austin Air Purifiers Official Website my girlfriend use to complain every time i smoked inside i got one of these for my computer room and she all of the sudden stopped complaining. it works wonders and the filter lasts a long time. the smoker has to be in the room where the filter is located because it will not filter the entire house, unless you buy one for every room and that is just not cost effective. but it does work it will even get the smell out of beds carpet and cloths. the ultimate goal though is to turn him over to the vapor side

 

[Ryedan]

I explained in more detail on another thread, but, long story short, the throat hit isn't satisfying to him (at least, that's what he's saying as his reason).

I'm sorry, I don't know of a good air purifier. Just wanted to input a couple of thoughts.

It's very easy to get more throat hit. I suspect you already know this and it's probably not the real issue anyway, but thought I would mention it just in case

I think part of me is also scared for the day that the smell doesn't bother me... of the day that it starts to smell 'normal' or worse, 'good'! I want it to smell terrible to me... not get used to it!

I quit smoking a year and a half ago. I still really like the smell of cigarette smoke as long as it's not blown right in my face or three people in a car with me all smoke at the same time. This does not however change the fact that I will not smoke again. So, for me it doesn't make any difference.

Whatever you end up doing, I wish you the best of luck with it

 

[rickyrickeric]

Greetings KK. I wish your and your boyfriend the best of luck in getting tobacco-free, and also that you two can work together on this.

I cannot make any suggestions as far as price, but have you looked into getting what's known as an air ionizer? I remember seeing them demo'ed at some fair several years back, and I recall that it worked quite well on cigarette smoke. From what I understand (I'm no expert, just sharing what I've read about it), it emits a small amount of ozone (a little bit is just fine), and a series of electrons. The electrons bind themselves to anything in the air with a positive charge, which is a trait of many nasty pollutants, including cigarette smoke. The guy doing the demo had a Plexiglas box with an ionizer unit inside, and a small hole drilled in the side for a cigarette to pass through. He lit a smoke, stuck it on the end of a turkey baster, and after putting it through the hole, he proceeded to use the turkey baster to pump the cigarette in order to fill the box with smoke (and did it ever look nasty). He then turned on the ionizer, and within seconds, all of the smoke dropped to the bottom of the box. He said that the only thing was that you needed to vacuum more often if you ran an ionizer. Might be worth doing some research.

 

[Krafted Khaos]

Thank you all for your replies and suggestions!

I just can't believe how STRONG the smell is to me now... and in such a short time. I feel like a bloodhound, lol.

narcosis - that looks very similar to the purifier my housemate has, and is in about the same price range. While I would LOVE to have one for the living room, there's no way he'll pay $500+ for one, unfortunately.

I wonder if I could post a wanted ad on Freecycle and Craigslist...?

Ricky - thanks for the suggestion... I'll look into them ASAP. If they're any more affordable, it might be worth a shot!