I started vaping hoping to cut back from 2+ pad to 1 pad. so I vaped and smoked. if I wanted a cig, I vaped for a while and then if I still wanted the cig, I had it. for the difficult times (mornings, after eating, etc) the first few days I waited 10 min before I had the cig, the next few days I waited 15, etc, until soon my first cig of the day was at 1 in the afternoon. always vaping while waiting. I slowly and easily went down to 2 cigs a day. I am still there by choice, I am old and never really wanted to stop smoking completely. however if I find that I start having 3 or more cigs a day I will have to go to -0-.
I have a neighbor who stopped smoking 30 yrs ago. he told me he still craves them
My story, two years in this month, is nearly identical (including the "I am old" part). My original goal was pretty vague--probably not quit smoking, but decrease to a less harmful and less expensive level. At some point a few months after I started, I set a ceiling of seven cigarettes a day, which I rarely hit and I think only exceeded a couple times due to poor planning when travelling. Five to six was my usual for many months. More recently (in part thanks to higher voltage mods), I decided to go the next step: no more than four a day. Typically this means two in the early morning, one right after the other. Then none until late evening when I typically smoke two before bedtime. To my surprise, I'm starting to find that I'm sometimes skipping one or both of those nighttime cigarettes--or actually reminding myself that it's time to smoke--if I want. The two morning cigarettes I never skip. My rationale, such as it is, is equilibrium. I still love the taste of cigarettes (and, yes, the smell of smoke), and I fear that if I were to quit entirely and then get sick of or lose patienced with vaping, I'll go back to a pack and a half or more a day pdq. This works for me.
If there's a lesson there for you, I think it would be that there might be some benefit in setting routines that involve long intervals (hours) without smoking, and put no restraints on how much you vape during those intervals.
I'm amazed that some in this thread are so floored at the idea of 36mg liquids, as I've heard from quite a few here who vape 36mg from sun to sun. Good chance, though, from what you say, that it's too harsh for you, and that going down a bit--maybe to 24-ish-- would make it easier for you to vape enough to end-run your cravings. (I vaped 36mg exclusively for the better part of a year, but found that chain-vaping at that level made me feel a bit wired. I've lately cut back to about 27mg.)
Best of luck, and as the others say, let yourself feel good about whatever decrease in your smoking that you achieve. And enjoy!
