What made you start vaping?

[Kiyle the Manlet]

I started vaping when my brother introduced it to me. I was smoking at the time, and I figured I would give it a try.

What made me realize that vaping was not just something I tried, like the hookah, was all of the options for mods and accessories, and all of the flavors to experience.

What made you start and keep vaping? I'm just trying to get an idea of what drew everyone to it in the first place.

 

[Storm52]

Stop smoking...keep from smoking.

 

[Kiyle the Manlet]

Stop smoking...keep from smoking.

Ever think you'll quit vaping, too?

 

[puffon]

Had a stroke, went blind in one eye.
Figured it was time to quit smoking.

 

[jfcooley]

Dying, 1 cigarette at a time.
Great motivator....

 

[Kiyle the Manlet]

Had a stroke, went blind in one eye.
Figured it was time to quit smoking.

Yeah I heard a lot of similar stories when I worked at a shop. I'm glad vaping is available as an option.

 

[r77r7r]

Stop smoking. But I don't remember how I got here. Ah, yes I do! A fella on my motorcycle forum mentioned that he had one a few yrs earlier and it didn't work. I didn't like the guy, so I thought I'd try it.

So, yeah, the roundabout thingy.

 

[Storm52]

Ever think you'll quit vaping, too?

Seriously doubt it.

 

[Kiyle the Manlet]

Seriously doubt it.

Yeah, I'm the same way. I enjoy vaping for it's own sake at this point. I smoked for 8 years before picking it up, and i tried everything to quit. Stil nothing like finding that new flavor that makes you drool, too

 

[Skunk!]

Bryan Lee Curtis.

I was on the internet when I stumbled across an article about him. He was 34 at the time of his death. Small cell lung cancer took him in 10 weeks. My son was the same age as his child was in the picture. I never want to put my son through that.
.

 

[dom qp]

I have a long ... story i've been thinking about posting for a while but never got around to it. It's pretty long and intertwined with why I started smoking cigarettes heavily in the first place.

Not sure if anyone will care, but here we go. It's therapeutic.

In my early 20s I was living the life. Everything was perfect and I was riding that high. I paid off my student loans at 21, bought at a house at 22, and a brand new car at 23. During one of those years I spent 30k on electronics/video games/toys. I literally had more cash than I knew what to do with and I was really enjoying life.

Over the next 2 years that completely changed. I went into depression, considered ending it all, and lost almost everything.

My parents split up and my mom ended up cheating on my dad with a coworker. She used to call me in the middle of the night. I would go pick her up because her alcoholic husband beat her. She was diagnosed with COPD and as a result of his beatings, PTSD. I finally managed to convince her to move in with me, but she was jobless and fully disabled. Took me a year fighting for her case, appealing to the federal tribunal so she would get disability payments. This broke my finance, put me behind in bills. She had no income, needed expensive care, and I had to pay for us both to survive.

The stress from all these things is what put me from an occasional/social smoker to hitting 1.5-2 packs a day. Sometimes more.

I decided to bring her to visit family. While we were there my home flooded. Insurance didn't cover anything. I literally lost all my physical belongings with the exception of what I had brought with me to visit my family. Already in a bad situation I didn't have money to fix the place up. I was pretty much homeless.

Here is what my bedroom looked like after they had to rip everything out and clean the mold. After this picture they made the rest of the place match. They had to tear out everything. I had 2x4s and cement floor. No insulation, no water. Canadian winter incoming.

For the next year and a half I lived with family. They slowly helped me get myself back on my feet. The stress made me lose 14 inches on my waist size. I was huge before then, and without changing anything I just started shedding weight. It was likely around 100lbs.

I met a girl there, saw her for the better part of the year. My mom decided to move back with our family. I had to drive back to my hometown to help my mom switch over her license/health care/banking, I went back to my home for 2 weeks. My girlfriend cheated on me and all that ended. It was toxic. She used me basically for fancy gifts, dinners, and as a wallet.

Edit: Forgot to mention my dog died the week I found out about the cheating. We got in a fight because I wasn't being communicative while I was busy getting my dog euthanized.

6 months later I met the love of my life. We spent a year between my family's basement and her place. Finally she convinced me to move back to my place, that I was still paying the mortgage for. Things were rough as she didn't have a job when we moved and that's when I decided to start vaping.

I checked my bank account one morning and I had enough money for cigarettes until my next pay. I was smoking ~$340-$400 worth a month. Then I realized that meant eating toast and canned food for a week. That's when I decided that I loved this woman too much to put her through it. I couldn't afford to give her what she deserved and continue smoking.

I pulled out my old MVP2, 3-4 year old e-liquids, diluted what I had with the 4 year old PG/VG I had on hand and vaped until I got paid. When I did I placed my order for a new set up and never looked back.

Why did I start vaping? Because my spouse deserved better.

I thank her every day for giving me a reason worth living for. If we had the cash i'd marry her right now.

 

[Kiyle the Manlet]

Bryan Lee Curtis. View attachment 720307 View attachment 720309
I was on the internet when I stumbled across an article about him. He was 34 at the time of his death. Small cell lung cancer took him in 10 weeks. My son was the same age as his child was in the picture. I never want to put my son through that.
.

Jesus. I'm about to be a father with my first and this really hits home.

 

[Kiyle the Manlet]

I have a long ... story i've been thinking about posting for a while but never got around to it. It's pretty long and intertwined with why I started smoking cigarettes heavily in the first place.

Not sure if anyone will care, but here we go. It's therapeutic.

In my early 20s I was living the life. Everything was perfect and I was riding that high. I paid off my student loans at 21, bought at a house at 22, and a brand new car at 23. During one of those years I spent 30k on electronics/video games/toys. I literally had more cash than I knew what to do with and I was really enjoying life.

Over the next 2 years that completely changed. I went into depression, considered ending it all, and lost almost everything.

My parents split up and my mom ended up cheating on my dad with a coworker. She used to call me in the middle of the night. I would go pick her up because her alcoholic husband beat her. She was diagnosed with COPD and as a result of his beatings, PTSD. I finally managed to convince her to move in with me, but she was jobless and fully disabled. Took me a year fighting for her case, appealing to the federal tribunal so she would get disability payments. This broke my finance, put me behind in bills. She had no income, needed expensive care, and I had to pay for us both to survive.

The stress from all these things is what put me from an occasional/social smoker to hitting 1.5-2 packs a day. Sometimes more.

I decided to bring her to visit family. While we were there my home flooded. Insurance didn't cover anything. I literally lost all my physical belongings with the exception of what I had brought with me to visit my family. Already in a bad situation I didn't have money to fix the place up. I was pretty much homeless.

Here is what my bedroom looked like after they had to rip everything out and clean the mold:
View attachment 720311


For the next year and a half I lived with family. They slowly helped me get myself back on my feet. The stress made me lose 14 inches on my waist size. I was huge before then, and without changing anything I just started shedding weight. It was likely around 100lbs.

I met a girl there, saw her for the better part of the year. My mom decided to move back with our family. I had to drive back to my hometown to help my mom switch over her license/health care/banking, I went back to my home for 2 weeks. My girlfriend cheated on me and all that ended. It was toxic. She used me basically for fancy gifts, dinners, and as a wallet.

6 months later I met the love of my life. We spent a year between my family's basement and her place. Finally she convinced me to move back to my place, that I was still paying the mortgage for. Things were rough as she didn't have a job when we moved and that's when I decided to start vaping.

I checked my bank account one morning and I had enough money for cigarettes until my next pay. I was smoking ~$340-$400 worth a month. Then I realized that meant eating toast and canned food for a week. That's when I decided that I loved this woman too much to put her through it. I couldn't afford to give her what she deserved and continued smoking.

I pulled out my old MVP2, 3-4 year old e-liquids and vaped until I got paid. When I did I placed my order for a new set up and never looked back.

Why did I start vaping? Because my spouse deserved better.

I thank her every day for giving me a reason worth living for. If we had the cash i'd marry her right now.

Man, that was a hell of a road you walked to get where you are. It takes some real strength to talk about that stuff, it's heavy, and I respect you for that.

Honestly, it kind of helps me to hear that stuff. It's been pretty crazy for me lately, but nothing that extreme. Knowing someone else can survive much more gives me hope.

Thanks for sharing, man.

 

[Frenchfry1942]

My Mother-in-Law. Her and her broom.

 

[englishmick]

I had been messing around with cigalikes for 5 years but they never helped much, just let me cut down from 20 a day to around 10.

Then my wife quit smoking with Chantix. She had to drop the Chantix after a couple of weeks because of nightmares and she wasn't quite over the cigs. A friend had an Ego and recommended them to her. I went to the shop and got one for her and one for myself. Took me another year and some better gear to quit completely.

 

[Rossum]

What got me started: During the latter part of 2013, I ran across numerous "news" items that were all lamenting the fact that the FDA wasn't doing its job because it had not yet regulated "electronic cigarettes". At that time, I had been smoking for 36 years and had given up on ever quitting. But all that negativity in the media made me wonder if there might just be something to these things, and that I should find out before goobermint ruined it. So one afternoon I did cursory research using Google, which resulted in an order for an eGo style starter kit and a tobacco flavored juice sampler with Halo.

What kept me vaping: The fact that it worked. I didn't intend to quit. I figured I'd just use 'em to try to cut back some, and perhaps not stink up my office as much. Well, cut back I did; right down to zero in less than a week, but it did require one gear upgrade and some fruit-flavored juice to get me over the hump. Oh, and the support I got here on ECF was a huge factor as well.

 

[Kiyle the Manlet]

I had been messing around with cigalikes for 5 years but they never helped much, just let me cut down from 20 a day to around 10.

Then my wife quit smoking with Chantix. She had to drop the Chantix after a couple of weeks because of nightmares and she wasn't quite over the cigs. A friend had an Ego and recommended them to her. I went to the shop and got one for her and one for myself. Took me another year and some better gear to quit completely.

I finally got my parents to vape. They smoked for basically their whole lives.

My father is an air traffic controller so he can't take chantix or for that matter, ANYTHING but Tylenol or things like that.

My mom took chantix and the same stuff happened to her.hIt worked for her, but because my dad couldn't quit with her, it made it all for nothing.

They've been vaping since last year, and they're much happier with them.

 

[Kiyle the Manlet]

What got me started: During the latter part of 2013, I ran across numerous "news" items that were all lamenting the fact that the FDA wasn't doing its job because it had not yet regulated "electronic cigarettes". At that time, I had been smoking for 36 years and had given up on ever quitting. But all that negativity in the media made me wonder if there might just be something to these things, and that I should find out before goobermint ruined it. So one afternoon I did cursory research using Google, which resulted in an order for an eGo style starter kit and a tobacco flavored juice sampler with Halo.

What kept me vaping: The fact that it worked. I didn't intend to quit. I figured I'd just use 'em to try to cut back some, and perhaps not stink up my office as much. Well, cut back I did; right down to zero in less than a week, but it did require one gear upgrade and some fruit-flavored juice to get me over the hump. Oh, and the support I got here on ECF was a huge factor as well.

Yeah, I'm ashamed to admit that I bought into the anti-vaping hysteria of the early days of the industry. Luckily I was wrong,

It definitely helps to have a group of people who get it. I found that at my local shop, and it sure makes it easier to have support.

 

[Skunk!]

Jesus. I'm about to be a father with my first and this really hits home.

Look up his story online. Very sad. Cancer from smoking and emphysema is not just for the old. I have a friend who ended up with throat cancer at 36 years old. He was fortunate that they didnt have to put the hole on his neck. He did have to do chemo though. Destroyed all his teeth. I have another friend who I think is 31 and was a heavy smoker who has Stage 2 COPD. I guess COPD will never get better, you can only stop it from getting worse. Cpngratulations on your new arrival! Having a child really changes how you see the world. You'll see. You are doing the right thing for yourself and your kid by quitting smoking.

 

[Kiyle the Manlet]

Look up his story online. Very sad. Cancer from smoking and emphysema is not just for the old. I have a friend who ended up with throat cancer at 36 years old. He was fortunate that they didnt have to put the hole on his neck. He did have to do chemo though. Destroyed all his teeth. I have another friend who I think is 31 and was a eavy smoker who has Stage 2 COPD. I guess COPD will never get better, you can only stop it from getting worse. Cpngratulations on your new arrival! Having a child really changes how you see the world. You'll see. You are doing the right thing for your kid by quitting smoking.

Thanks for the congratulations! I'll look up his story, unfortunately it's not an outlier. Tobacco kills, and if I were giving someone the same chemicals because they paid me to and they died, I'd be charged with murder. It's screwed up that we have to watch our loved ones and friends suffer because of that poison.