Why did you start vaping?

[j0_man]

Just wanted to know why you started vaping (is this the correct term?)

For me, I have been smoking for more than 10 year. Was able to stop for a year at most, sometimes a few months then back to the bad habit of smoking. I noticed that every time I tried to stop and returned to smoking, I smoked more than when I stopped.

Then I heard of electronic cigarette, I did not bother learning what this was at first. I started to quit smoking again, few weeks past, then months, then I had the urge again to smoke (from stress, or from seeing my friends smoking). This is when I decided to get my first electronic cigarette. More than three months have already past and I have not been smoking (plus the few months before I started vaping) and I don't think I will go back... ever. Taste better, smells better, feel better.... cant think of anything negative to say.

So, what is you story?

 

[mostlyclassics]

I had been a heavy smoker for 48 years, three packs per day.

My original impetus was to have an alternative nicotine delivery system that didn't force me to go outside into the howling wind and the horizontal sleet whenever I was at a tavern or restaurant. Otherwise, I figured I'd just keep smoking. I'm self employed, so the boss -- i.e., me -- has never screeched at me for smoking up the office, and my wife doesn't care one way or the other.

After I lurked here for about a month, absorbing a bewildering amount of information, I sprung for an eGo "starter" kit plus some e-liquids from Liberty Flights. The kit came with two 650 mAh eGo batteries, atomizers and carts (remember carts? -- they're pretty much obsolete now), and a charger.

Surprise! It turned out that e-cigarettes were a superior nicotine delivery system to regular cigarettes!

So, for me the transition was both painless and accidental. I did smoke up the cigarettes I had remaining, one to a few per day (when I remembered). But otherwise, I haven't looked back. It's been almost two years now.

Taste better, smells better, feel better.... cant think of anything negative to say.

Yeah, me too.

 

[Talyon]

Smoked analogs for 40 years. Simply put I chose ecigs to get off analogs, so far so good. I also have no intention to go back to analog or stop ecigs just love them.

 

[Pav]

It just happened to be my first attempt at quitting smoking. Was feeling terrible at 2 packs a day for 20 years and my Dad had just had a triple bypass from smoking. Glad this vaping thing worked. Over 2 years off the cancer sticks now.

 

[SteveTheKurd45]

I been smoking for 6 years. I would smoke anywhere from 2 to 3 packs a day. I started to have real bad coughs. Blood would come out of my mucus and it was just getting to expensive. So I made the switch and I can't even stand my favorite analogs anymore. Glad for that.

 

[Boiler]

They were cheaper, I could vape inside, and are less harmful.

A win-win-win situation.

 

[Kanj.nguyen]

Smoked for 6 years, quit for 5 months but relapsed when stress from work started piling up and nicotine was neccessary. Looked into PVs then and never looked back.

Main reason is analogs really hurt my sinus, especially in the morning. Cant do it indoors so have to take smoke breaks during work.

 

[tenshi]

Light smoker for years. Smoked ultra lights. I wasn't addicted to nicotine but addicted to the "lighting" it up and all other aspects of smoking. Even though I didn't smoke much compared to most, I was still subjecting myself day in and day out to over 4K chemicals and well, the smell on my clothes/hair bothered me too. I also am asthmatic and it seemed to worsen as the years went by. Vaping seemed like a wonderful alternative, safer too. It turned out that it keeps me busy enough not to ever go back. I like the taste and smell much better too. My asthma is completely controlled now. I rarely have to use my nebulizer.

 

[Thrasher]

becuase i grew up in a house full of chain smokers then became one myself.
after 35 years of a PAD+ even when i felt like crap i still lit up a smoke. and last year i came to realize i will probably die a smoker. then i ran into a blu at walgreens and tried one - the rest is vaping history......................

 

[jesusdied4u2]

I had been wanting to get off analogs. I tried several times, it was horrible. Last month our income was cut in half. We were going to have to make it on $866. There was no way my husband and I could afford the analogs.

My son came home from college and told me about the e-cig. He bought us a kit from ProSmoke. My husband easily transitioned, but he only smoked 1/2 a pack. I have had more difficulty, although I have gone from a pack a day to 3-5 analogs a day.

I have had difficulty using the cartridges. It is causing my jaw to lock. I'm having to draw to hard.

A few days ago I stumbled across GotVapes.com. I was looking at their startmeup kit. We are going to buy it. I'm hoping the draw is easier. I have been reading and studying. I think my experience will be better with the clearomizer rather than cartridges.

I'm excited!! I want completely off those analogs!!

 

[fourthrok]

I tried e-cigs as a stab at quitting smoking. I smoked 43 years...embarrassingly heavy (2-3 PAD). I'd tried a few methods...gum, patch, cold turkey, even acupuncture... nothing worked, and every time I tried to quit, I'd not only go back to smoking, but also smoking more! Main motivation was my concern over my failing health and feeling bad that my children (now grown) were so worried about me. So I figured the e-cigs were worth a shot.

They worked. Haven't had a cigarette since my first vape. That was Sept. 2011.

 

[Beccca]

I had a cough that could scare small cildren. I coughed so hard in the morning it made me dizzy. I had no breath in the am so switched to vaping and the coughing is gone. I'm so grateful!

 

[metropolitan]

why did i start vaping? harm reduction.
but how i got started is somewhat accidentally. i had experimented with e-cigs a few years ago but wasn't too impressed. more recently out of a lark i decided to give them a try again and was impressed how much they had improved. when i then started vaping that day i smoked only around 3 cigarettes (as opposed to 30-40), the next few days i only smoked one or two, by the end of the week i was not smoking at all.
i was blown away. i didn't get the new e-cig to quit but it just happened so seamlessly that like many others here i've become evangelical about it --telling all my smoking friends the good news of vaping. what i always emphasize is the lack of effort on my part. people are impressed because i'm known around my social circle as an unapologetic chain smoker.
i realize vaping is not without its own risks but harm reduction is the key.

 

[sereil46]

Since 2005 I had used about a can a day of smokeless tobacco. For the last 6 months or so I have really been wanting to stop (for health and financial reasons). I was spending about $150 a month on tobacco products and my gums were taking a beating (and starting to show it). So I decided to look into vaping after talking to a couple of people I know who vape, and hearing about their success. That being said, I started vaping on 22 Jan 13. There were some mild withdrawals and about 3 times I got the urge to go back. But I didn't, and I'm still going strong and really enjoying the vaping experience.

 

[BmoreJeff]

i smoked for ten years and can feel the effects, i hate it. i hope that the damage done will not kill me so i switched to vaping. I started vaping while still smoking and would reduce the amount of cigs i would smoke and replace them with vaping. so every day i would replace on real cig with a ecig. i got it down to the last cig of the day, the one before you go to be. took me a while to kick the habbit of smoking a cig before i go to bed, but i did it, and now i havent smoke a cig in 6 months and my last puff of the day takes place in my bed on my provari.

 

[corruption42]

Pretty much echoing everyone else -- Smoked 2+ PAD for almost 17 years, and tossed the idea around since I first heard about e-cigs back in '08. Back then, most everyone I knew who tried em went back to analogs within a few weeks, so I never gave it much thought... until last year, I noticed one of the heaviest smokers I work with had moved to vaping. Gave it another look, was shocked by how much things had changed and decided to give it a try.

Initially it was a cost savings exercise -- my wife and I were going through 2+ cartons a week between us, and the thought was if we could stretch that out to a single carton a week, that was half the cost per month. About a week of trying it out, we had about 4 cigarettes left each, hadn't smoked one in about 2 days, and decided we didn't want them... gave em to a coworker who still has no desire for e-cigs. Since then, we've saved a net of about $5,500 vs what we would have spent on cigs -- and that includes my knee-jerk purchasing habits.

...now I just have to figure out who to donate my humidor of fine cigars to...

 

[Ruth-Ann]

I was an almost 2 pad smoker for years when I was introduced to vaping. I researched and looked on this forum for several weeks and then I finally took the plunge and bought a ego starter kit. I had planned on weaning off the analogues slowly, but the day I started vaping was the last day I enjoyed an analogue. I have been vaping for 8 days now and I took one puff of an analogue and put it out, it tasted so gross.
I am already noticing how awful smokers smell. I am off smoking for good, after many failed quit attempts!
Thank you e-cigs!!!!

 

[Aymoon]

I think I would describe myself as an 'accidental' vaper

I had smoked for 19 years (with three big breaks... twice for 3 years, and once for just over a year), so roughly 11.5 years of smoking time. My father died of cancer (he was not a regular smoker), and it messed me up a bit. I was depressed, couldn't work, had money issues, and was starting to smoke very heavily. At 8 British Pounds for a pack of Marlboro Lights where I lived, my savings drying up (I never take money from the state) and with ash and odour messing up my home, I wasn't feeling any better about my situation. I had no intention at the time, however, to quit.

I'm a very impulsive person, and trying an e-cig was just one of those things where I saw it in a shop and thought... what the heck? I'll try that!! I haven't smoked another cigarette since that day (13 months now). I just really liked it. It didn't stink, it tasted good, I got a good hit off of it, it was cheaper... etc. etc. I really couldn't see any downsides. Of course, as I got more into it, I realised that it actually takes a lot of work to find the perfect vape... With cigs, it was simple... every so often you try a new brand and it's easy to do - just light up and see. With vaping, the options are overwhelming. I'm still on the hunt for my perfect flavour and delivery system. It just requires patience, and I'm so relieved that I found a way out of smoking cigarettes, even if I wasn't consciously looking for it at the time.

 

[Stormy1960]

It was killing me! I never never thought I could quit...tried so many times! I am analog free since 1/7!!!

 

[dc321]

Pack a day ex-smoker here, started off with the blu-cigs which were horrible, but found this forum and ventured into vaping and have no desire to look back. Can't believe I smoked cancer sticks for 10yrs.