This behavior accompanies other forms of addiction as well. Misery loves company, and to some people the idea of somebody getting free of the addiction is abhorrent to them. It's a rejection of their lifestyle, a shrink of their social group, and a reminder that they have so far been unable to achieve what you have. Honestly, it's not worth the argument to even discuss it with them, IMO.
What's with all the hostility smokers?
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Thought I'd add a the point of view of some one in the early transitional stage.
First hearing about the e-cig, I was of the mind that "this is just plain silliness. Another way to keep me addicted to something and not going to be the least bit helpful in quitting."
First seeing one, I though it rather "sad and fruity that they even try to look like cigarettes".
First seeing one being used (not indoors, but rather out with 'us smokers'), I thought "oh now that's just sweet, something else for a bunch of holier than thous to shove in my face". If I'd first seen one use indoors, I may have had the same thought, but may have been more open minded too. No way of knowning.
I never voiced any of my opinions, but I certainly had them. Then I started looking into them.
The first thing I picked up one was the base chemical and yup, I freaked out. I'm a chemist by education, but trucker by trade. I still haven't looked very deep into this aspect.... call me a wuss. lol
Anyway, I decided to try one of those cheapie disposable clinkers that truck stops were starting to all carry. Something like "Smokers 1 Choice" or close to that. On one hand it was kinda cool that I could still have that 'lung hit' feeling, get my nicotine and not go into a coughing fit. I really had no intentions of switching to PVs or anything of the like. I didn't even try and use it indoors. For some reason, I just decided to be open minded and try one. It tasted like overcharged (superheated) hydrochloric acid and I've have never gone a step further if not for my habit of hitting google constantly and finding this site.
OK, so I'd gone from WTF to OK, it sorta makes sense, but man just let me have my pipe and the occasional pall mall. Then something happened that actually happens to us all (smokers) at some point or another. I was driving down a rhythm section patch of interstate in the North West (USA) and dropped my lighter on a huge frost heave in the blacktop. Lighter ended up in the 5th corner of the 31st dimension and I never did find it. Reached in my pocket to get my trusty backup and wouldn't ya know the striker flew out of it on first attempt.
Fear not, I'm a smoker, I have spares. I reached into the door pocket of the Kenworth and grabbed a backup, but then realized I had a pen or pencil in my hand as well. You guessed it, no pen or pencil, it was the disposable.
Put the disposable "fake cigarette" back in the door pocket and proceeded to light my pall mall. By this point, the rhythm section has gotten so rough that I must have looked like a clown on a pogo stick to any speedbump drivers looking on (cars). I couldn't get the dang flame and cigarette to meet in the same time zone.
OK, I got peeved. Big time. I threw the lighter as hard as I could at the fridge behind the passenger seat and splatter she did.
"OK Frank, that was about as swooft (swift in non southern american) as a 3 legged race horse. Now what ya gonna do?"
Sadly yes, I was in fact talking to myself. Sadder still, I answered.
"Effin (ok, that's not part of the direct quote, but gimmie a little credit, I try. lol) ______ (not going to fill that blank in with even a similation of the word. Sorry, you'll just have to use your imagination or ignore it) fake cigarette to the rescue!"
I got by with the nasty thing for about 6 hours. In a truck stop, I found other brands of disposable clinkers and bought me one of each (2). One was as nasty as the first one, but the atomizer worked much better and I didn't have to try and pull the thing apart with my lungs to get some "smoke". I used it for the remainder of the trip as my dumb .... had forgotten to buy a pack of cigarettes while in the flipping truck stop. (for those curious, few truck stops still carry pipe tobacco or I'd have never even tried an e-cig).
Stuck to my guns and toughed it out with Nasty ver 2.0 and decided I'd try and leave analogs alone for a while (bought another pack later and smoked 4 over a few days. The rest of the nasty things are still on the dash to this day).
When this second e-cig "Nasty ver 2.0" finally began to play out, I tried what I was sure to label "Nasty ver 2.1". WRONG. I liked it! It actually tasted something like my pipe baccy (tobacco).
Sadly, this disposable didn't last very long and I couldn't find any of it's kin at the next few truck stops. I just started grabbing what was available and some were nasty, but some were only very bad.
Was sitting in a truck stop in Arizona (somewhere near Phoenix, but don't remember exactly where) and decided I'd go ahead and try one of my fakes inside the building. Got no looks what so ever. Later I went up to the counter to get another of the clinkers and had started to puff on it without even realizing I was doing so. . . .
The lady at the counter said something to the effect of "why are you using those nasty things, you need to try these". She pulled an N-Joy out of her purse and showed me.
Some people are just plain selfless! She unscrewed the "thingy off the end" (didn't know a carto from a hippo, let alone what a disposable "thingy on the end" was called), and handed me the "cigarette part" (yup, battery), and a "thingy that goes on the end" that was still wrapped up in it's little plastic baggie.
Fumbled around, assembled the thing and gave it a try. 3 things.
1) I thought I was going to die. The amount of draw it took (time) to get a good puff from the other clinkers was WAY too much on this lil critter.
2) It tasted dern good!
3) To heck with cigarettes (I've mailed my pipes home as I don't know that I'd be able to pass up a few puffs and there is no way in heck I'm gonna buy a new pipe and try to break the thing in on the road).
Bought an "express kit" of the N-Joy clinkers and gave her one of the "thingies that heavenly vapor comes out of" to replace the one I was not giving back of hers. She ended up loaning me her spare charged battery and charged mine for me behind the counter. The next day, I bought another "express kit" so I'd have a second battery (talk about timing, by the time the new batt had turned green, the first one poofed).
So to sum up to this point:
A bunch of nasty disposables, one pretty nice disposable, 4 cigarettes and probably 10 bowls of baccy (tobacco).
2 N-Joy express kits that totaled $43 and some change. This gives me 4 "thingies that heavenly vapor comes out of", two batteries and two USB to battery charge adapters.
Had I bought the full starter kit, I'd have gotten the same two batteries, only one of the USB to battery charge adapters, but a plethora of other charging setups included, and 20 friggin "thingies that heavenly vapor comes out of" instead of 4! This would have cost about $5 less than the two express kits and about $60 to $80 less than all the nasties to date.
Now all the sudden, my view has changed. I PREFER the e-cigs to actual light-em up cigarettes, and place them very near (though still below at this point) to my pipe.
Now they aren't cigarette alternative, they're just something better. And all this on friggin N-Joy stuff, not even the nice stuff that I came to this site to hunt down.
From the first N-Joy to today is only a 5 days, but I haven't wanted anything to do with a cigarette since my first puff of the N-Joy. Can't wait to get my "old goat's mod.... bottom feeder box mod", some 14500s, some LR510s and some juices to try and come up with something better than my pipe (Black vanilla cav).
Sorry about the long and winding post, but being right on the virge, I figured I might was well share the point of view.
Have a great one all!
Frank (sitting in Laredo, TX trying to get a load to anywhere 800 or more miles in some other direction)
First hearing about the e-cig, I was of the mind that "this is just plain silliness. Another way to keep me addicted to something and not going to be the least bit helpful in quitting."
First seeing one, I though it rather "sad and fruity that they even try to look like cigarettes".
First seeing one being used (not indoors, but rather out with 'us smokers'), I thought "oh now that's just sweet, something else for a bunch of holier than thous to shove in my face". If I'd first seen one use indoors, I may have had the same thought, but may have been more open minded too. No way of knowning.
I never voiced any of my opinions, but I certainly had them. Then I started looking into them.
The first thing I picked up one was the base chemical and yup, I freaked out. I'm a chemist by education, but trucker by trade. I still haven't looked very deep into this aspect.... call me a wuss. lol
Anyway, I decided to try one of those cheapie disposable clinkers that truck stops were starting to all carry. Something like "Smokers 1 Choice" or close to that. On one hand it was kinda cool that I could still have that 'lung hit' feeling, get my nicotine and not go into a coughing fit. I really had no intentions of switching to PVs or anything of the like. I didn't even try and use it indoors. For some reason, I just decided to be open minded and try one. It tasted like overcharged (superheated) hydrochloric acid and I've have never gone a step further if not for my habit of hitting google constantly and finding this site.
OK, so I'd gone from WTF to OK, it sorta makes sense, but man just let me have my pipe and the occasional pall mall. Then something happened that actually happens to us all (smokers) at some point or another. I was driving down a rhythm section patch of interstate in the North West (USA) and dropped my lighter on a huge frost heave in the blacktop. Lighter ended up in the 5th corner of the 31st dimension and I never did find it. Reached in my pocket to get my trusty backup and wouldn't ya know the striker flew out of it on first attempt.
Fear not, I'm a smoker, I have spares. I reached into the door pocket of the Kenworth and grabbed a backup, but then realized I had a pen or pencil in my hand as well. You guessed it, no pen or pencil, it was the disposable.
Put the disposable "fake cigarette" back in the door pocket and proceeded to light my pall mall. By this point, the rhythm section has gotten so rough that I must have looked like a clown on a pogo stick to any speedbump drivers looking on (cars). I couldn't get the dang flame and cigarette to meet in the same time zone.
OK, I got peeved. Big time. I threw the lighter as hard as I could at the fridge behind the passenger seat and splatter she did.
"OK Frank, that was about as swooft (swift in non southern american) as a 3 legged race horse. Now what ya gonna do?"
Sadly yes, I was in fact talking to myself. Sadder still, I answered.
"Effin (ok, that's not part of the direct quote, but gimmie a little credit, I try. lol) ______ (not going to fill that blank in with even a similation of the word. Sorry, you'll just have to use your imagination or ignore it) fake cigarette to the rescue!"
I got by with the nasty thing for about 6 hours. In a truck stop, I found other brands of disposable clinkers and bought me one of each (2). One was as nasty as the first one, but the atomizer worked much better and I didn't have to try and pull the thing apart with my lungs to get some "smoke". I used it for the remainder of the trip as my dumb .... had forgotten to buy a pack of cigarettes while in the flipping truck stop. (for those curious, few truck stops still carry pipe tobacco or I'd have never even tried an e-cig).
Stuck to my guns and toughed it out with Nasty ver 2.0 and decided I'd try and leave analogs alone for a while (bought another pack later and smoked 4 over a few days. The rest of the nasty things are still on the dash to this day).
When this second e-cig "Nasty ver 2.0" finally began to play out, I tried what I was sure to label "Nasty ver 2.1". WRONG. I liked it! It actually tasted something like my pipe baccy (tobacco).
Sadly, this disposable didn't last very long and I couldn't find any of it's kin at the next few truck stops. I just started grabbing what was available and some were nasty, but some were only very bad.
Was sitting in a truck stop in Arizona (somewhere near Phoenix, but don't remember exactly where) and decided I'd go ahead and try one of my fakes inside the building. Got no looks what so ever. Later I went up to the counter to get another of the clinkers and had started to puff on it without even realizing I was doing so. . . .
The lady at the counter said something to the effect of "why are you using those nasty things, you need to try these". She pulled an N-Joy out of her purse and showed me.
Some people are just plain selfless! She unscrewed the "thingy off the end" (didn't know a carto from a hippo, let alone what a disposable "thingy on the end" was called), and handed me the "cigarette part" (yup, battery), and a "thingy that goes on the end" that was still wrapped up in it's little plastic baggie.
Fumbled around, assembled the thing and gave it a try. 3 things.
1) I thought I was going to die. The amount of draw it took (time) to get a good puff from the other clinkers was WAY too much on this lil critter.
2) It tasted dern good!
3) To heck with cigarettes (I've mailed my pipes home as I don't know that I'd be able to pass up a few puffs and there is no way in heck I'm gonna buy a new pipe and try to break the thing in on the road).
Bought an "express kit" of the N-Joy clinkers and gave her one of the "thingies that heavenly vapor comes out of" to replace the one I was not giving back of hers. She ended up loaning me her spare charged battery and charged mine for me behind the counter. The next day, I bought another "express kit" so I'd have a second battery (talk about timing, by the time the new batt had turned green, the first one poofed).
So to sum up to this point:
A bunch of nasty disposables, one pretty nice disposable, 4 cigarettes and probably 10 bowls of baccy (tobacco).
2 N-Joy express kits that totaled $43 and some change. This gives me 4 "thingies that heavenly vapor comes out of", two batteries and two USB to battery charge adapters.
Had I bought the full starter kit, I'd have gotten the same two batteries, only one of the USB to battery charge adapters, but a plethora of other charging setups included, and 20 friggin "thingies that heavenly vapor comes out of" instead of 4! This would have cost about $5 less than the two express kits and about $60 to $80 less than all the nasties to date.
Now all the sudden, my view has changed. I PREFER the e-cigs to actual light-em up cigarettes, and place them very near (though still below at this point) to my pipe.
Now they aren't cigarette alternative, they're just something better. And all this on friggin N-Joy stuff, not even the nice stuff that I came to this site to hunt down.
From the first N-Joy to today is only a 5 days, but I haven't wanted anything to do with a cigarette since my first puff of the N-Joy. Can't wait to get my "old goat's mod.... bottom feeder box mod", some 14500s, some LR510s and some juices to try and come up with something better than my pipe (Black vanilla cav).
Sorry about the long and winding post, but being right on the virge, I figured I might was well share the point of view.
Have a great one all!
Frank (sitting in Laredo, TX trying to get a load to anywhere 800 or more miles in some other direction)
Some smokers are hostile because they see a simple solution when they don't want one.It could be that they feel more fingers pointed their way which would be sad, cause to embrace new things is to evolve.
Hello Frank in Laredo!
Good story! Loved it, and understood every word (must be a TX thang).
Good story! Loved it, and understood every word (must be a TX thang).
I find it very interesting that people have experience different types of inquiries and opinions from other people. I'm very glad for those who have experienced mainly positive responses from others.
The world is about perception and I've been perceiving a negative response from smokers. For me, it's not every smoker who gives me negativity; but for the few that have, it's been really negative. I've attempted to put myself in their shoes. How about my own shoes a year ago (when I had no intention of quitting)? Yes, I was very defensive about my cigarettes. If I perceived any discontent about my smoking, I put up my guard instantly.
I get it, I was just like them. Defensive, yes; but flat out hostile, no. The responses I'm getting could be a number of things. It could be that they are jealous that I quit or it reminds them that they have failed to quit. It could also be that they are simply repairing themselves for a lecture even though I have no intention of doing so. It could even be that I'M being too sensitive at the little gabs I'm taking about a product I'm insanely passionate about.
What ever the reason, I'll take it in stride. I'm taking the, "I do me, you do you" mentality.
The world is about perception and I've been perceiving a negative response from smokers. For me, it's not every smoker who gives me negativity; but for the few that have, it's been really negative. I've attempted to put myself in their shoes. How about my own shoes a year ago (when I had no intention of quitting)? Yes, I was very defensive about my cigarettes. If I perceived any discontent about my smoking, I put up my guard instantly.
I get it, I was just like them. Defensive, yes; but flat out hostile, no. The responses I'm getting could be a number of things. It could be that they are jealous that I quit or it reminds them that they have failed to quit. It could also be that they are simply repairing themselves for a lecture even though I have no intention of doing so. It could even be that I'M being too sensitive at the little gabs I'm taking about a product I'm insanely passionate about.
What ever the reason, I'll take it in stride. I'm taking the, "I do me, you do you" mentality.
That was a good read Frank, welcome to the community. I started out almost the same way as you, went to the store to buy a pack of smokes and noticed a $10 disposable & decided to get one of those to just to try out. 2 weeks later I have a Joye eGo & havn't had a single cigarette.
I've had some folks from my church ask me "Isn't it the same as smoking?". I simply look at them and say "Sort of. I'm not getting the harmful effects of the traditional smoke and neither is my family. There's no secondhand smoke in the air, and I'm not inhaling tar into my lungs. But, I still get the nicotine I need to encourage me to be completely free."
I have to say that vaping is no different than the patch, the gum or the inhaler. If folks don't get any kind of negative feedback from people, when they use those, then we should have no shame in how we quit.
I have to say that vaping is no different than the patch, the gum or the inhaler. If folks don't get any kind of negative feedback from people, when they use those, then we should have no shame in how we quit.
+2
I think there are also smokers who have tried stopping so many times that the idea of something working for them is like a fairytale to them. They have been telling themselves for so long that this is just the way it is and they will smoke for the rest of their lives that they aren't able to wrap their minds around PVs working for people.
I feel compassion for them. I know what it is like to feel that way and I don't think any of us should be taking it personally as long as we aren't proselytizing. They will get there if they are ready.
i know exactly what u guys are saying. people at my work think im a total weirdo for vaping. one guy said it looks gay cause its not real. i just said listen. i smoked for moree than half of my life, i could careless what u think or what others think
Be you . just don't be "Glee"ish and the world will be your oyster not your battleground.In no way do I think we should not express ourselves but to make it an agenda, it seems over the top.
"I've actually found that kids can be the most obnoxious about it. I'd say that it's a good thing that kids are being taught that cigarettes/tobacco is, essentially, evil but I wish they'd keep their mouths shut. Most people who complain/badger smokers think they have some moral obligation. Few of the loudmouths understand addiction."
THey'll give you methadone until you're ready to quit, though.
Few of the loudmouths understand messing with an addict. Or minding their own business.
THey'll give you methadone until you're ready to quit, though.
Few of the loudmouths understand messing with an addict. Or minding their own business.
That's same with me!!! I get so many questions, but at the same time so many negative jibes about it! And thats how I leave it, with the close-minded folk.
Welcome Frank!
Yeah, I can't say it's a bad thing by any means. I've just had a number of obnoxious, passive-aggressive experiences. I learned to shake off and not care about it when people directly address my smoking. "You know it's terrible for you and you really should quit" is a statement I totally agree with and can get behind, usually followed by me talking about how I tried everything (gum, patch, medication, willpower, toothpicks, carrots, etc.) multiple times and none of it stuck. Some of the younger crowd are just... rude.
But they don't understand addiction, and they don't understand that a world used to exist where smoking wasn't seen as the worst of social habits.
*shrug* It's really no big deal.
Wow, I feel lucky. I don't go out much, but my cousin immediately bought a kit when I told her about it and also quit cigarettes. My husband loves this alternative for me, and has been nothing but proud and supportive, and my Aunt who has been trying to get me to quit for years literally screamed with joy when I told her what I have done. That said, I live in a place filled with self-righteous, ignorant, annoying people. When I finally go out and get verbally maimed I am totally taking Rosas' advice.
Youtube is the home of stupidity. I say that because that's where i've been exposed to most negative comments, which reflect some I here in the real world, but are more numerous.
Quite a few smokers seem to mock the things or somehow belittle people using them now and then, as if we're the suckers for paying less and being healthier. Not a general rule, but a surprising amount of negative criticism. I can understand if you've tried vaping and it doesn't work out for whatever reason, but not a condescending attitude towards people who've been fortunate enough to take better to vaping.
A lot of non-smokers just see it as still smoking, but that's fine. Neither should be assumed to be pre-educated about it. Non-smokers seem to take tot he idea better, oddly. I guess because they aren't attached to cigarettes in the same way and defensive.
Quite a few smokers seem to mock the things or somehow belittle people using them now and then, as if we're the suckers for paying less and being healthier. Not a general rule, but a surprising amount of negative criticism. I can understand if you've tried vaping and it doesn't work out for whatever reason, but not a condescending attitude towards people who've been fortunate enough to take better to vaping.
A lot of non-smokers just see it as still smoking, but that's fine. Neither should be assumed to be pre-educated about it. Non-smokers seem to take tot he idea better, oddly. I guess because they aren't attached to cigarettes in the same way and defensive.
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