vaping and music

[Throwaway1234567]

First off I wanna start by saying this post isn’t made to bad mouth vaping in any way and I must say I am really going to miss doing it


Just to give some context I have been vaping for around 7 years and I make rap music


As the years have gone by I have began to notice the shortness of breath taking effect very slowly but I feel due to what I do, it is a lot more apparent than the average user and the average user would probably not be effected by this at all.


I used to be able to go a very long period of time without breathing flawlessly, compared to now where I can barley mutter 4 sentences without a huge pain in my lungs , coughing and becoming light headed due to straining


I used to work in a vape shop so I am very informed on about almost everything to do with the stuff


I have tried many different variants of PG/VG , many different devices , flavours , nicotine and no nicotine and nothing has ever taken away the effect and I can only imagine it will get worse and worse so I have decided to quit


I made this post to see if anyone else who deals with vocal work has experienced similar effects over a long period of time


I still think vaping is an amazing alt and everyone should make the switch

 

[Sloth Tonight]

I thought this was going to be like a "what are you listening to while vaping right now" thing, and I happen to be listening to Tool while vaping right now and was all excited to talk about it

I hear you though for sure. I'm not a vocalist save for a brief stint in high school choir, but inhaling anything other than air regularly would surely have an impact. Curious though - were you a smoker before, and if so did you not notice a larger impact on your vocal capabilities?

 

[Throwaway1234567]

I thought this was going to be like a "what are you listening to while vaping right now" thing, and I happen to be listening to Tool while vaping right now and was all excited to talk about it

I hear you though for sure. I'm not a vocalist save for a brief stint in high school choir, but inhaling anything other than air regularly would surely have an impact. Curious though - were you a smoker before, and if so did you not notice a larger impact on your vocal capabilities?

i was a smoking before but only for around 3-4 year’s , experienced no defects really but I was only smoking for a short period

 

[GOMuniEsq]

You weirdos are coming out of the woodwork lately. How much did they pay you to write this? Throwaway indeed.


Edit by classwife : Please don't

 

[bombastinator]

First off I wanna start by saying this post isn’t made to bad mouth vaping in any way and I must say I am really going to miss doing it


Just to give some context I have been vaping for around 7 years and I make rap music


As the years have gone by I have began to notice the shortness of breath taking effect very slowly but I feel due to what I do, it is a lot more apparent than the average user and the average user would probably not be effected by this at all.


I used to be able to go a very long period of time without breathing flawlessly, compared to now where I can barley mutter 4 sentences without a huge pain in my lungs , coughing and becoming light headed due to straining


I used to work in a vape shop so I am very informed on about almost everything to do with the stuff


I have tried many different variants of PG/VG , many different devices , flavours , nicotine and no nicotine and nothing has ever taken away the effect and I can only imagine it will get worse and worse so I have decided to quit


I made this post to see if anyone else who deals with vocal work has experienced similar effects over a long period of time


I still think vaping is an amazing alt and everyone should make the switch

So you’re a vocalist, yet you started smoking? Vaping really did save you. I’m astounded you even vaped as long as you did. A lot of smoker vocalists sound like in sink garbage disposals before they reach middle age. Many vocalists I’ve met won’t even drink alcohol at all. The choral group in my high school passed around “fishermen’s friend” lozenges like drugs. My half sister is an early music vocalist and she won’t even yell at her kid.

 

[englishmick]

As the years have gone by I have began to notice the shortness of breath taking effect very slowly but I feel due to what I do, it is a lot more apparent than the average user and the average user would probably not be effected by this at all.

Interesting thought. I guess you being a singer makes you the canary in the coal mine. You would definitely notice it more than most folks. I smoked for a long time and I'm old so if I started noticing shortness of breath I couldn't really blame it on vaping. For me it would be like I was wandering around in summer wearing a heavy coat, then I put on a scarf and started feeling overheated.

Have you been off vaping long enough to see whether the effect goes away?

 

[bombastinator]

Interesting thought. I guess you being a singer makes you the canary in the coal mine. You would definitely notice it more than most folks. I smoked for a long time and I'm old so if I started noticing shortness of breath I couldn't really blame it on vaping. For me it would be like I was wandering around in summer wearing a heavy coat, then I put on a scarf and started feeling overheated.

Have you been off vaping long enough to see whether the effect goes away?

If it goes away it only might have been vaping. The problem with being a vocalist is you only ever get one instrument, you have to carry it around with you everywhere you go, pour stuff into it daily, and it always eventually wears out. Even colds are terrifying to vocalists. A lot of them do literally everything possible to save their voice.

 

[Jebbn]

were you a mtl or DL vaper?
What sort of builds/coils and how many watts did you vape at?
How much juice did you consume daily?
What flavours?

Ive been gigging all my life as a guitar player singer.
Since I started vaping and quit smoking tobacco my vocal range has expanded and it is literally easier to sing and remain at pitch. I feel like I have the same power behind my delivery that I did when I was in my 20's(Im 55 now). Its exciting to be more relaxed and comfortable going for notes that I had been avoiding for the last decade due to smoking taking away the ability to get there.
I also run every day and my recovery from exertion is incredibly quick.
Your experience doesnt line up with mine at all, it is the opposite in fact. Hope what ever you do helps get things back on track.

 

[Sloth Tonight]

I also run every day and my recovery from exertion is incredibly quick.

Same. The extent to which I noticed improvement in lung function with regards to exercise was profound. Absolutely profound.

 

[Throwaway1234567]

So you’re a vocalist, yet you started smoking? Vaping really did save you. I’m astounded you even vaped as long as you did. A lot of smoker vocalists sound like in sink garbage disposals before they reach middle age. Many vocalists I’ve met won’t even drink alcohol at all. The choral group in my high school passed around “fishermen’s friend” lozenges like drugs. My half sister is an early music vocalist and she won’t even yell at her kid.

I never thought I would ever want to take it seriously , plus , smoking in the hip hop industry is fairly common

 

[Throwaway1234567]

Interesting thought. I guess you being a singer makes you the canary in the coal mine. You would definitely notice it more than most folks. I smoked for a long time and I'm old so if I started noticing shortness of breath I couldn't really blame it on vaping. For me it would be like I was wandering around in summer wearing a heavy coat, then I put on a scarf and started feeling overheated.

Have you been off vaping long enough to see whether the effect goes away?

I took a 2 month break from it last year and felt great, I think it’s just time to put it down now

 

[Throwaway1234567]

were you a mtl or DL vaper?
What sort of builds/coils and how many watts did you vape at?
How much juice did you consume daily?
What flavours?

Ive been gigging all my life as a guitar player singer.
Since I started vaping and quit smoking tobacco my vocal range has expanded and it is literally easier to sing and remain at pitch. I feel like I have the same power behind my delivery that I did when I was in my 20's(Im 55 now). Its exciting to be more relaxed and comfortable going for notes that I had been avoiding for the last decade due to smoking taking away the ability to get there.
I also run every day and my recovery from exertion is incredibly quick.
Your experience doesnt line up with mine at all, it is the opposite in fact. Hope what ever you do helps get things back on track.

In answer to all of your questions I can tell you that I have tried and done many things over the last few years , I used to Be just purely MTL on lower watts and 50/50 juices , but sometimes I would favour the higher watts and switch it up Abit and use my bigger devices , I have had many RDA’s and RDTA’s etc , mostly stuck with sub ohm for convenience

 

[Throwaway1234567]

I feel like people need to realise everyone reacts differently to everything, vaping is no different , no two experiences will be completely the same

 

[bombastinator]

I took a 2 month break from it last year and felt great, I think it’s just time to put it down now

Do anything else different as well? If you were in a different area it could even be local air. Even local air temperature or humidity. One of the problems with self tests is with a test you need a control and you only change one thing. Very hard to do with life. If you can go two months without it I’d say for sure stay away. Ecigs are a way to not smoke.

 

[stols001]

It is certainly possibly vaping. Seriously we other instrumintusts wanted to punch the vocalists sometimes they were so incredibly temperamental. "I HAVE TO TAKE MY Instrument with me EVERYWHERE I GO, SIGH." LOL.

I was like, "I have to not cut off my fingers in a hedge trimmer!" I mean, yeah, musicians all have their challenges.

I say quit vaping, I'm personally quite shocked you noticed nothing after 4 years of smoking, I was a decent singer and the lead in my High School Musical did some opera singer training (more for the violin) and I noticed within a few months. I just didn't care as it wasn't going to be my future anymore. I got more annoyed by NOT being able to exercise.

I would say vape, aerobic exercise big time, humidifier at night (if useful) make sure you are not exposed to mold, sensitive to any pollens, and see if it gets better..

Now the good news is, if you SUCK you can go back to vaping. If you get excellent, you can similarly go back to vaping because autotune/live autotune. You should be fine if you can still mouth words.

If you want to be a middle of the road rapper, playing gigs for little money and teaching little kids how to rap (which is exactly what my little brother does, and he loves it, so I mean no disrespect. Not a rapper, but musician) well I'd say don't vape, don't smoke.

That means your best harm reduction method would be snus. Not sure if you can use it while performing however, as too much MAJOR rapping, you might get some black, oozy goo come out of your mouth. Snus rap in the mirror first. I'm serious, I have dentures and I had to figure out what snus I could USE that did not result in the black goo.

I have no idea what is causing what (we tend to lose vocal capacity with age, period, but you have not been kind to you AS a VOCALIST.) I found my singing voice returned aplenty once I stopped smoking and began vaping but I was smoking 3 ppd nowhere to go but UP.

I also don't have to sound super fabulous.

Good luck to you, I hope it improves. There is certainly a decent shot it MIGHT but if this is your dream I'd say you owe it to yourself to try. A visit to an ENT might not go amiss either. At worst, they have no suggestions, at best they have some good ones.

Anna