What was your "final straw" moment?

[RedhddOne]

My moment isn't really a moment, but an upcoming change in my life that required a lifestyle change. I'll be moving to live with my boyfriend in May of this year. He hates the fact I smoke. He has basically informed me that I will need to quit (right now I smoke about 3 -4 cigarettes a day). I enjoy smoking. I don't enjoy the smell, taste, or pain of going outside in the winter. Smoking has always been more of a "mental addiction" for me. vaping will give me the mental without so much of the physical. I'm good with that.

 

[juicejunky]

Call it disgusting.. but I found myself downtown and broke one day... no cigarettes.. I asked more than a few people for a cigarette and no one would give me one, 'too expensive'.... Instead of continuing my search for someone to give me some sweet sweet nicotine.. I Bent over and picked up a half smoked cigarette of a high traffic sidewalk.. and without a second thought I lit it up....

I used to commute through Grand Central and Penn Station, so smoking outside could empty a pack in no time if I gave one to everyone that asked. I had a rule to let one person bum a smoke per day and if I only had time for a few drags I would put it out gently in a reasonably clear spot for those looking for pre-smoked ones.

 

[rach3l]

When I started hacking with a wet-sounding phlegm after my post-mealtime cigs. My habit was only 10 cigs a day, but that still adds up over a few years. Something about the combination of eating meat and then following it with a cigarette does something nasty to the back of my throat. ewwwww

Also, my grandpa died of emphysema, NOT a pretty way to go. And I was also motivated by the memory of my grandma destroying various bits of property because she was a forgetful and lazy smoker. She burned a huge divot in the top of her tv with too many hot butts in a poorly-insulated ashtray. There were burn marks on her wood floors from dropping cigs and being unable or unwilling (or both) to put them out. Burn holes in her clothing. She actually ended up dying of smoke inhalation because she fell asleep with a cig in her hand near her oxygen tank and it set her living room ON FIRE. It was awful and I will not end up like that!

 

[ksmith]

For me, it was the constant hounding by my wife. I know she has and had my best interest in mind the whole time. I had tried just about every other product out there re:gum, patch, inhaler, chantix. with no results. I had smoked for over 32 years at 1 1/2 to 2 packs a day and had just about come to the conclusion that I'd never be able to quit. That was until I tried my first e-cig two weeks ago and now I'm going 11 days without an anolog. Just wish I'd heard about these things 25 years ago.

 

[Rosa]

I had a lot of moments that should have been a final straw (pregnancies, coughing at bed time, throat biopsy), but I totally and completely ignored them because I had tried to quit several times already and I knew that it was absolutely impossible for me to do anyway.

I ordered the e-cig because I read the ECF success stories and it seemed like there might be a glimmer of hope, and if nothing else I could have a good laugh at all you poor ignorant fools wasting your money and slapping each other on the back. I really didn't think it would work for me, though because nothing ever worked for me before. But guess what.... it did work!

 

[markfm]

I got ticked when NY announced a big cig tax increase (I loathe the concept of "sin taxes", even if I can afford them).

 

[MsBree]

The nasty stuff I was coughing up every morning was getting harder and harder to look at...

Not just in the mornings either...it would sneak up at the most in-opportune times of the day too! YUCK!!!

 

[MsBree]

I LIKE Vaping more than I ever loved smoking!

I LOVE this, I LOVE this, I absolutely LOVE this!!!!!

 

[MsBree]

After 26 years of smoking I finally admitted to myself that my life was revolving around cigs.

This didn't really hit me until right after I quit smoking...to this day, I still cannot believe how much of my daily life revolved around those nasties!

 

[Noodoggy]

I started smoking 20 years ago with a pipe because my pawpaw smoked one and at the time my step father did. Loved the smell and the ritual. Of course the smoking quickly escalated to cloves and cigarettes. Fast forward to 20 years plus later and I had tried to quit smoking several times with little or no success. Then one day about two months ago an employee of mine came in with an ecig and I at first told him you cant smoke that in here! lol But of course he told me all about it. I was very interested. I had about electronic cigarettes many years ago, but dismissed it as a non-starter. But when I saw it in person and I am sure much improved, I thought to myself...I gotta try this. Unfortunately I was harboring this thought while out Xmas shopping and bought one of the overpriced koisk ecigs. Worked for about 2 weeks and then went kaput. I enjoyed it though I was definitely self conscious about it...like I was some kind of fake smoker lol Then after it broke I went out and got some analogs. I had been smoking some cheap little cigars at 1 dollar a pack so cost was not a factor in making me quit...like I was hoping it would be 2 summers ago when they raised the taxes. But after I got through about half of my carton...a severe sinus infection knocked me down for the count. I missed a week of work. I have only missed one day at the most in a row in ten years with this company. After I smoked and hacked and coughed my way through my last pack of analogs, I went out and bought the npro duo from 7-eleven and now its been three weeks. no desire to pick up an analog...just constant pleasure of vaping! My sinus infection is not completely gone...but its manageable...and will probably take another week or so to be gone completely...but I have so much more energy now! And I really hadnt thought of this as a way to quit smoking...more of a better way to "smoke". I dont think I could have done it if I thought I was quitting smoking. i still consider myself a "smoker" who's gonna slowly evolve into a vaper! lol And then I will spread the word...because this is the best and dont need to sell it as quitting smoking but a better way to "smoke". love this thread! thanks and happy vaping to yall!

 

[blackchalice]

my final straw was when i started to cough up little black specks amidst the phlegm it was lovely

 

[progg]

The Pact act...

 

[EastSkier]

It was when I started to notice that I was winded from just walking fast and generally felt like crap after every smoke, it took a couple years after that to finally quit after discovering these wonderful e-cigs.

 

[MsBree]

Vaping gives me what I loved about smoking without the smoke.

Another great line...I LOVE it!!!!!!

 

[MsBree]

This past year I noticed every time I yelled at the kids I would lose my voice somewhat. I then discovered vaping! I have a very strong voice now!

Too funny Downrivour...so what do the kids think now? lol

 

[Sassyonemeis]

when my 12 year old son sat in the backseat of my car, crying, begging me to quit smoking so that I wouldnt die sooner. It still took me a few months after that to take the first step, which I took on a whim by buying a kit at the mall, but that was the best purchase I ever made.

And my son? Is absolutely thrilled that I vape now instead of smoke. He has learned quite a bit about vaping right along with me, because he doesnt want me going from one bad thing to the next.

 

[ajkron]

My final straw moment was after my heart attack my son asked me if I was planning on being around to see him graduate high school.

wow thats deep. congrats man. sure your son is very proud of you. lost my old man to heart failure. luckily he saw my first born son but missed my little girl by less than a month. keep fighting the good fight!

 

[OwnedByAGrey]

Fifteen years of trying to quit and failing. Bloody skin from the patch, raw mouth and gums from lozenges and gum. Managing to quit for a few months and then feeling like an utter failure when I couldn't take it anymore.

Last try started 12/27/10. More bloodied arms, rashes, a mouth so sore I could barely eat. I lasted until 1/26/11. After one month of torturous cravings, absolute non-stop-kick-you-in-the-gut cravings 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, I'd had enough. Got more analogs, hated every damn minute of it, even resented the lack of cravings. I hate being controlled.

Next day, the youngest of my twins sat down (I had been crying.) and told me about e-Cigs. She had mentioned it once before when she and her brother and sister had gone to a local hookah bar, saw others using them, and had asked the vapers there what it was all about. I said, "Yeah. Right. I am through trying to quit." She got the laptop, went to this site, gave me the laptop and walked away.

I spent 8 hours straight scouring this forum the first time. More the second. By the end of the next day, I'd ordered my Riva.

A 25-year, 2 pack a day habit was gone the minute I'd taken one vape. The years of feeling like a failure, being treated like a leper and a second-class citizen; the experience of being villified - yet taken advantage of finacially due to my addiction - was done.

So, I guess the last straw wasn't a straw at all, it was a VP, and I couldn't be happier.

I have this forum and its members, and my kids, to thank for that.

 

[Telynau]

Read this entire thread. What wonderful stories, whether sad or joyful. Thank you, Everyone.

I didn't plan on quitting smoking, only cutting back a little more. My husband bought me a "Deluxe Duo" kit and three boxes of each flavour/nic level from a local mall kiosk. The sales associate recommended ECF, as an excellent resource for "all things e-cig". She also said a carto was about 5-7 cigis worth of puffs.

So...Here I am, happily vaping away on a 4081 with a stock "chocolate, high" carto and a refilled "Wyatte Earp, 24-mg" with an assortment of other juiced-up cartos waiting to be savored. And, you know, she was pretty close on how many puffs to a carto LOL. We did have a good chuckle that day over "how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop". Oh, I also have an 808XL on the charger.

Guess you could say the final straw was the possum eatin' poop grin hubbikins had as we walked around the mall with me puffing on a pink e-cig.

 

[Scooter70]

I guess my final straw was that I abused my body through my teens,twenties,and thirties with cigarettes,and now i'm 40 and want to spend the rest of my years smoke free..I made a new years resolution to be done with analogs for good,and with my e-cig and this forum for support and knowlege,I haven't looked back and I feel so much better.