Who still craves a cigarette?

[VNeil]

Wouldn't the fact that we vape actually prove that we still crave cigarettes, at least the hand to mouth, visible vapor and nicotine parts of it? To me, those were the parts that kept me hooked. If cigarettes tasted and smelled like vaping I do wonder if vaping would have been as successful.

But back to the topic, I don't know if craving the three attributes I mentioned above is all that craving a ciggy is, if so I crave ciggies, if not then I don't.

If that were all it was, we would all have had a much easier time quitting . I think We are all different though and may be/have been hooked on various other compounds to varying degrees. I honestly do not believe I crave cigs but I do crave vaping. And I can vape 0mg and not get cravings or any discomfort at all. I came to understand it is mostly or perhaps all behavioral now.

 

[Robert Cromwell]

What you say about going longer without vaping than smoking is true for me as well, as long as it's not to long. I will get a bit cranky if it's been a very long time. I like to think that I have control over this (vaping) and that I am ok without it and could eventually quit but the more time passes I'm not so sure. I can't get below 12mg and still chain vape and that has me wondering if I'm one of those who would go back to smoking if faced with that situation. I may be craving smoking but thinking I'm just fine without it and not craving it because I have my pacifier

I am down to 5% nic.

Forgot I had dropped my nic.
Now down to 3.6 mg/ml

 

[VNeil]

What you say about going longer without vaping than smoking is true for me as well, as long as it's not to long. I will get a bit cranky if it's been a very long time. I like to think that I have control over this (vaping) and that I am ok without it and could eventually quit but the more time passes I'm not so sure. I can't get below 12mg and still chain vape and that has me wondering if I'm one of those who would go back to smoking if faced with that situation. I may be craving smoking but thinking I'm just fine without it and not craving it because I have my pacifier

When I was quit for about 5-6 months or so, I was down to 12mg from 24 when I started (and I would have gone higher if my local shops had 36mg). One day I realized I had had very minor nausea for the past couple of days. Which is odd because to this day I can vape 24mg for a few hours, hard, and not get nic OD symptoms. But for those few days I did. I dropped immediately to 6mg and the nausea went away, and I was fine at 6. A few months later I guess I dropped to 3, just as an experiment in the interests of science, and I was fine with that too. Then I dropped to ZERO and I was fine as long as I did my usual chain vaping.

Anyway... when I was at 12mg and before I tried that drop to 6, I got to thinking about the idea of dropping 1mg at a time. I DIY so it would have been easy to do. I never tried it, but it might be something you want to try. Because you may never notice the drop, it being less than 10% at a time, at least for the first couple of drops. And when you get down to 8 or so you could even drop slower, at 0.5mg each time. If you don't now, you'd more or less have to DIY although you could do the same by buying 12mg and 0mg juice and just mixing that in the correct proportions.

Just a thought. I never had the opportunity or need to do the experiment.

 

[Plumes.91]

@Plumes.91 ~ I didn't quote you since it was so long but this line "my GUESS is that anyone reporting that they still continue to crave cigarettes, are those whom continue to sneak cigarettes." kind of surprises me. Not everyone who still craves actually takes the step to light one up- regardless of where they're at.

I've been vaping over 2 yrs & still have cravings from time to time. I'm around more people who smoke than vape; the difference for me is not giving into temptation.

& yes you are right, you can definitely crave them periodically, even if you've quit completely, and have-not smoked in 1/2/3/4+ months, sure- But it is less-likely. It becomes more infrequent with time. I still crave them, maybe once every 2 or 3 months, sure! But what I am craving is the nostalgia. I am craving the act of smoking a traditional. I am craving the heavy, dirty, warm smoke, rather than our clean light cool vapor with that HINT of flavorless propylene glycol undertone that our vapor can so-often contain. In other words, our e-liquid satisfies my physical and mental CRAVINGS. Our e-liquid can stop a "cigarette" craving in it's tracks within a minute of vaping. I DO NOT crave nicotine once that PV hits my mouth... There's no way I could possibly crave nicotine with my APV nearby... I over-nic myself on a daily.. no, hourly.. basis... (just as I did with smoking, so often) so, I can clearly say that I do-not crave a cig because vaping does-not satisfy my physical and mental URGES to smoke for nicotine consumption. Yes, my nic consumption is VERY well taken care of. lol. ESP at 18mg in an RDA haha.

Should my brain begin to feel as-if it is sagging, should I begin to yawn, and feel tired and restless, should I begin to feel moodless, angry, irritable, hungry/starving, should I begin to get a head-ache or stomach discomfort, if i begin to feel too "normal" lol... I pick-up my vape & I VAPE! & that takes care of everything. I no-longer need nicotine, and I definitely don't need a cig.

 

[pennysmalls]

I was able to switch to vaping instantly, no withdrawal what so ever. So that's what makes me assume it was the hand to mouth, visible vapor and nicotine that had me hooked on cigs. If vaping had had no flavors I don't know if I'd have switched, maybe or maybe not. Probably would have for safety reasons I think. So I think, at least for me, all the crap that's in cigs that we're supposed to be addicted to along with the nicotine wasn't a factor for me because I had no withdrawal and that tells me that I could easily get hooked on cigs again and maybe still am addicted but vaping is the barrier needed to keep me off them. So I'm going to assume that I do still crave cigs or the activity of smoking

 

[AndriaD]

Same for me, I'm scared to death of even taking a puff. And after 6 months or so, the cravings pretty much disappeared except for occasional fleeting thoughts. Of course I chain vape whenever I can

I don't know how people can smoke just a cig or two a day, or a couple of week. It would be like Chinese Water Torture for me, restarting the cravings with each cig. And I was never ever able to cut down from my usual 2-3 PAD until I quit fully while vaping. One day I made a decision never to smoke another cig, and that was it. I stuck with it. Day 4-5 was horrible, but then it slowly got better. I never want to go through that day 4-5 again. Too painful.

This exactly, absolutely! When you haven't had one in a while, and you light one up... it tastes like HOME SWEET HOME.

And continuing to have even one a day, keeps the addiction alive and kicking, in your brain. That's why I say there is no such thing as "cheating" -- you're only cheating yourself, by keeping the addiction alive instead of letting it die from inattention. If you really want to KEEP craving... go ahead and "cheat" and have "just one more"... and tomorrow there'll be another demand from your brain to have "just one more"... and everytime you give it "just one more", you're setting yourself up for another craving, later.

Andria

 

[AndriaD]

I am down to 5% nic.

Forgot I had dropped my nic.
Now down to 3.6 mg/ml

5% nic is 50mg.

Andria

 

[VNeil]

This exactly, absolutely! When you haven't had one in a while, and you light one up... it tastes like HOME SWEET HOME.

And continuing to have even one a day, keeps the addiction alive and kicking, in your brain. That's why I say there is no such thing as "cheating" -- you're only cheating yourself, by keeping the addiction alive instead of letting it die from inattention. If you really want to KEEP craving... go ahead and "cheat" and have "just one more"... and tomorrow there'll be another demand from your brain to have "just one more"... and everytime you give it "just one more", you're setting yourself up for another craving, later.

Andria

There is a sad Ultimate Truth here. You can't quit smoking unless you quit smoking.

We all have to do it our own way but in the final analysis we all face that same Ultimate Truth.

 

[AndriaD]

There is a sad Ultimate Truth here. You can't quit smoking unless you quit smoking.

We all have to do it our own way but in the final analysis we all face that same Ultimate Truth.

I wrestled the hell out of it, during my relapse, when I was *really trying* to get back to smoke-free. I finally had to recognize that Yoda was right: "There is no 'try'.. do or not do." Either quit or don't. But that halfway crap, making yourself miserable while you "try".. that's for the birds!

Andria

 

[VNeil]

I was able to switch to vaping instantly, no withdrawal what so ever. So that's what makes me assume it was the hand to mouth, visible vapor and nicotine that had me hooked on cigs. If vaping had had no flavors I don't know if I'd have switched, maybe or maybe not. Probably would have for safety reasons I think. So I think, at least for me, all the crap that's in cigs that we're supposed to be addicted to along with the nicotine wasn't a factor for me because I had no withdrawal and that tells me that I could easily get hooked on cigs again and maybe still am addicted but vaping is the barrier needed to keep me off them. So I'm going to assume that I do still crave cigs or the activity of smoking

@pennysmalls how long since your last cig?

 

[VNeil]

I wrestled the hell out of it, during my relapse, when I was *really trying* to get back to smoke-free. I finally had to recognize that Yoda was right: "There is no 'try'.. do or not do." Either quit or don't. But that halfway crap, making yourself miserable while you "try".. that's for the birds!

Andria

I think a lot of people go though that.

 

[pennysmalls]

@pennysmalls how long since your last cig?

August 16th 2013

 

[VNeil]

August 16th 2013

Over two years and you still can't comfortably drop below 12. How much do you vape per day (in ml) and what wattage and atty? It's interesting how we all follow different paths.

 

[HauntedMyst]

I don't miss smoking so much as I do miss not carrying around my zippo lighter. When I smoked, I had the dream that one day I'd be at the airport fighting off some terrorist and as they speed down the runway trying to get away, I'd flick my zippo at the fuel trail of their leaking plane and blow them to smithereens. I'd never flick my mod into a fuel trail. It's too awesome and I wouldn't want to dent it.

 

[pennysmalls]

Over two years and you still can't comfortably drop below 12. How much do you vape per day (in ml) and what wattage and atty? It's interesting how we all follow different paths.

I vape probably between 7-10 ml's per day depending on what's going on that day. And I use several different BF atties (Rogue's, Manta, Odin's, Thump etc) on Reo's and a CC mod at around 35 watts. I have a dual coil build that comes in at .5 ohm that I use for just about all of my atties. I remember when I bought my first Reo in July 2014 I thought I'd be able to go down in mg due to dripping being more "efficient" for nic absorption, but nope. Then I thought the same thing again when I moved on to bigger 22 mm atties building dual coils at lower ohms, but nope. I've tried using stronger flavors in lower nic levels but nada.

At least I got down to 12 though. I started at 24 and immediately went down to 18 but that kept me up at night so went down to 12 (probably around November 2013) and have been stuck here ever since. I've tried 0 and 3mg to see what it's like and 6mg but with almost no throat hit in any of them it was a no go.

I'm ok with all of this, if this is were I need to be then so be it. I do love vaping more than I ever loved smoking (and I did so love smoking and didn't plan on quitting), but people like me, and I can think of a few other ECF members who still vape higher nic, would have a very hard time staying away from cigs if regs got super stupid. I'm fully stocked and ready though.

 

[VNeil]

I vape probably between 7-10 ml's per day depending on what's going on that day. And I use several different BF atties (Rogue's, Manta, Odin's, Thump etc) on Reo's and a CC mod at around 35 watts. I have a dual coil build that comes in at .5 ohm that I use for just about all of my atties. I remember when I bought my first Reo in July 2014 I thought I'd be able to go down in mg due to dripping being more "efficient" for nic absorption, but nope. Then I thought the same thing again when I moved on to bigger 22 mm atties building dual coils at lower ohms, but nope. I've tried using stronger flavors in lower nic levels but nada.

At least I got down to 12 though. I started at 24 and immediately went down to 18 but that kept me up at night so went down to 12 (probably around November 2013) and have been stuck here ever since. I've tried 0 and 3mg to see what it's like and 6mg but with almost no throat hit in any of them it was a no go.

I'm ok with all of this, if this is were I need to be then so be it. I do love vaping more than I ever loved smoking (and I did so love smoking and didn't plan on quitting), but people like me, and I can think of a few other ECF members who still vape higher nic, would have a very hard time staying away from cigs if regs got super stupid. I'm fully stocked and ready though.

Well the good news is that the only thing really wrong with nic is the politics. If it weren't for the politics the stuff would be sold in health stores (I seriously believe that!)

 

[pennysmalls]

I believe that too VNeil and I do believe we will get there one day. Probably not in our lifetimes though.

 

[VNeil]

I believe that too VNeil and I do believe we will get there one day. Probably not in our lifetimes though.

I'm less optimistic. I think it will happen, in fact it is happening now, but it's in a parallel universe and I don't know where the wormhole is

And there are two other possible parallel universes. One where it is controlled as an OTC medication and is very expensive. The 3rd it is prescription only and costs $500/mo, plus Dr visits to maintain the scrip. Those last two are, unfortunately, the more likely of the 3 parallel outcomes

 

[AndriaD]

I'm less optimistic. I think it will happen, in fact it is happening now, but it's in a parallel universe and I don't know where the wormhole is

And there are two other possible parallel universes. One where it is controlled as an OTC medication and is very expensive. The 3rd it is prescription only and costs $500/mo, plus Dr visits to maintain the scrip. Those last two are, unfortunately, the more likely of the 3 parallel outcomes

And don't forget, in that universe where it needs a prescription, those of us with asthma/COPD would be automatically disallowed from using it -- just like the Nicotrol inhaler when those first came out.

Yeah, THAT'S intelligent, keep the people who MOST need to quit smoking from using the technology that would most help them. Which reinforces my opinion that those in the medical field are just highly educated IDIOTS.

Andria

 

[Paul lamb]

The smell makes me sick