"You didn't really quit"

[bander68]

That's what I keep hearing from people when I share my good news. I quit smoking! I haven't had a tobacco cigarette (they don't know the usage of the word analog we use) in 8 weeks. But to them, it's no accomplishment. I didn't suffer enough, so it's not a big deal. I didn't chew nasty gum wear a patch, take pills to make me crazy or sweat out cold turkey, so it's not something you can even say congratulations about without it sounding half-hearted. Why can't you see that what I did was better? Why do you belittle my accomplishment? Why can't you be genuinely happy for me?

And even after all that, I feel so alive, so free. I'm not trapped anymore by cigarettes. No more planning my day around my smoke breaks. No more avoiding things at places that don't allow smoking. No more cologne baths. No more mint-chewing. I'm free. I'm not a slave anymore. So go ahead in your ignorance and think i'm no better off. I know what i've done and I feel damn proud of myself. If you can't share my joy, it's your loss.

 

[steven36]

nicely said.you know what you did and that's all that matters.

 

[ZooKansas]

Same situation with my peers("you didnt quit, it's still bad for you, it looks weird", yada yada yada). They just don't understand the concept of the e-cig and how different it is from smoking. I just tell them the basics of how I feel about it, and move on. People are going to come to their own conclusions regardless of how much positive press I have about my vaping experience.

 

[dokebilee]

I get this too from one of my friend who jokingly says, "you are still going to get cancer."

 

[Levitas]

"Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education." - Bertrand Russell

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." - Anonymous

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."- Dr. Martin Luther King

 

[Surf Monkey]

Here's the answer:

It's not the caffeine in a latte that makes you fat. It's the milk.

It's not the nicotine in a cigarette that gives you cancer. It's the smoke.

As far as "you didn't actually quit" goes, I've faced the same thing. My answer is this: my doctor agrees that I quit smoking and his opinion is the one that counts. My blood work shows that I quit. The fact that I'm using a different delivery method to get a much smaller amount of nicotine than I got with analogues is irrelevant. The relevant fact is that I'm no longer pumping carbon, CO2, fine particulate and a host of chemical additives into my lungs. No smoke is going in and therefore I'm no longer smoking.

On a related note, the body absorbs much less nicotine from a drag on a PV than it does from a drag on an analogue. The NRT aspect of PVs coupled with the lower absorption rate means that we've actually weaned ourselves down to a much more manageable addiction. I can only speak for myself, but now that I've been using a PV for over two years I find that I can go many hours and even days without taking a drag from one without any negative effects. I'm pretty convinced that my actual addiction to nicotine is broken at this point and I only continue to use a PV out of habit.

So, when someone tells you that you haven't quit, just brush them off as someone who doesn't really understand what they're talking about. You DID quit and the massive improvements in your health prove that fact.

 

[quittin4mykids]

I get the same thing from some people- I have a few differnt flippant answers I want to give- but at this point I am still just so proud that I am shocked when folks are so rude and condesending.

BUT, I know what you have went through in the past- how hard its been, how bad you have felt both mentally and physically because you couldnt walk away- Now you have- what you did do takes guts, its hard to change, and it takes determination, this is not rocket science, but it aint ditch diggin either-

So- I am proud of you!!

 

[DaveP]

Good points, Surf. I tell people that the Ecig gives me just enough nicotine to prevent me from bashing their head in when they get on my case. They wouldn't want to be around me if I was in cold turkey withdrawal.

 

[beachpuff]

Both my doctor and my 18 year old son say the same thing, that I'm still a smoker. I couldn't believe how not supportive my doctor was, and well, its to be expected from my son, lol. At least I know I've accomplished something

 

[ZooKansas]

On another note, get ready to observe the "nastiness" of smoking once you've vaped for awhile. I can smell smokers a good distance away and I stand back a few feet when I'm chatting with friends who are smoking because of the smell.

 

[WomanOfHeart]

Have your doctor do a Pulmonary Function Test and then decide if you've quit smoking or not.

 

[Secti0n31]

"But you're still on nicotine" is the response that I get. I'm half tempted to say "if I wasn't on nicotine I'd have gibbs-slapped you for saying that." or "Yeah well you still drink 5 coffee's between 9am and noon." Or something like that. Instead I just say that there's no tar residue, no carbon monoxide, no arsenic, no cyanide, no more "hack hack" every time I run more than 100 yds, and I haven't had any aches, pains, sinus problems, or coughs in the last 2.5 months.

 

[Levitas]

Yes, you did.

 

[AttyPops]

Tobacco, yes.
nicotine, no.

meh. forgetaboutit. Just feel better.

 

[cookiebun]

That's what I keep hearing from people when I share my good news. I quit smoking! I haven't had a tobacco cigarette (they don't know the usage of the word analog we use) in 8 weeks. But to them, it's no accomplishment. I didn't suffer enough, so it's not a big deal. I didn't chew nasty gum wear a patch, take pills to make me crazy or sweat out cold turkey, so it's not something you can even say congratulations about without it sounding half-hearted. Why can't you see that what I did was better? Why do you belittle my accomplishment? Why can't you be genuinely happy for me?

And even after all that, I feel so alive, so free. I'm not trapped anymore by cigarettes. No more planning my day around my smoke breaks. No more avoiding things at places that don't allow smoking. No more cologne baths. No more mint-chewing. I'm free. I'm not a slave anymore. So go ahead in your ignorance and think i'm no better off. I know what i've done and I feel damn proud of myself. If you can't share my joy, it's your loss.

I feel exactly the same way. I'm not enslaved anymore.

I get this too from one of my friend who jokingly says, "you are still going to get cancer."

Some friend!

"Men are born ignorant, not stupid. They are made stupid by education." - Bertrand Russell

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." - Anonymous

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."- Dr. Martin Luther King

Bravo!

We know you quit!

 

[sandiego]

I'm free. I'm not a slave anymore.

HA! You just THINK you're free..............wait! There's still the addiction of nicotine in whatever form it's delivered to you. You're not a slave to cigs but now you'll be a slave to ecigs. However!! - It's a better thing to be enslaved to - with tons of pluses and you mentioned many. Congrats to you! You did quit smoking as there is no "smoke" involved w/an ecig. I've got great friends that are all very supportive and very happy that I've quit. I do find when people ask if there's nicotine still involved and I tell them yes, there's a general sense of disappointment, but I explain to them, I'm thoroughly addicted to coffee and I haven't got a problem with that at all, then I see a pause as they are considering their own addiction in many instances to caffeine. Nicotine and caffeine are both stimulates so I suppose I could suffer from hypertension at some point, and perhaps I'll get down to zero nicotine one day, but until then...........

I still quit and so did you!

 

[Tracy211]

Here's the answer:

It's not the caffeine in a latte that makes you fat. It's the milk.

It's not the nicotine in a cigarette that gives you cancer. It's the smoke.

As far as "you didn't actually quit" goes, I've faced the same thing. My answer is this: my doctor agrees that I quit smoking and his opinion is the one that counts. My blood work shows that I quit. The fact that I'm using a different delivery method to get a much smaller amount of nicotine than I got with analogues is irrelevant. The relevant fact is that I'm no longer pumping carbon, CO2, fine particulate and a host of chemical additives into my lungs. No smoke is going in and therefore I'm no longer smoking.

On a related note, the body absorbs much less nicotine from a drag on a PV than it does from a drag on an analogue. The NRT aspect of PVs coupled with the lower absorption rate means that we've actually weaned ourselves down to a much more manageable addiction. I can only speak for myself, but now that I've been using a PV for over two years I find that I can go many hours and even days without taking a drag from one without any negative effects. I'm pretty convinced that my actual addiction to nicotine is broken at this point and I only continue to use a PV out of habit.

So, when someone tells you that you haven't quit, just brush them off as someone who doesn't really understand what they're talking about. You DID quit and the massive improvements in your health prove that fact.

RIGHT ON!!! I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING SURF MONKEY SAID!! (standing up clapping) WELL SAID!!!

 

[Winkos]

Congrats on quitting smoking- and you did quit smoking. Also it is stupid for people to say "Well it still has nicotine". Does anybody accuse people who wear the patch of still smoking? I think not.

 

[Rykk]

People have been so programmed by media and by groups who make a ton of money making smokers out to be the absolute scum of the earth that it's hard for them to grasp the magnitude of what is accomplished by noking (not smoking[/U]) a vaporette instead of smoking a cigarette. Because it "looks" like smoking. Populations always have needed to have other groups to hate on and treat spitefully. Well, just because it looks kinda like a duck - it doesn't waddle like a duck, doesn't quack like a duck, and doesn't smell like a duck. Ergo, Einstein, it's most surely NOT a duck!

As to the "well you're still breathing nicotine" bit, I just point them to the 3 year study done (ended in 1996 - google it) by the National Institutes of Health that showed that long-term breathing of the amount in cigarettes - or vaporettes for that matter - was, "harmless / possibly of marginal benefit" in terms of physical health. (The rats that were in the high nicotine environment either gained none or lost a small amount of weight. The nicotine free control group got fatter). Nicotine *is* very addictive but it's the tars and chemicals in and released by the combustion of tobacco that - eventually though God willing not - causes the diseases and loss of lung capacity.

As to you having not "suffered", I remember (been almost 2 years now!) it was still pretty rough for 2-3 months. That's because studies have shown you only get like 20% to 50% of the amount of nicotine per drag from a vaporette as you get from a cigarette of comparable/normalized nicotine density. So it's not as hard as out and out "quitting" but still pretty darn stressful. At least for a guy like me who chain-smoked 2 packs+ a day for forever... If you point that out, I'm sure they'll feel quite gratified and maybe even giddy enough to forget that sense of being robbed when there were no wrecks and no injuries at the last automobile race they attended. Yeah, I "quit" 2 years ago but, if anything, my distaste for radical, puritan anti-smokers has grown after seeing how they really weren't concerned about my health after all but just badly needed someone, anyone, to feel "superior" to and their little minds just couldn't accept I wasn't one of "those" anymore. Quitting tobacco was/is MY TAX CUT to the tune of around $50 - $65 a week. I noke m-series refillable carts and repair most of the atties that crap out and a good many batteries as well so I only spend, on average, around $12 a week give or take 2 or 3 bucks. And I've enjoyed providing "stimulus" to the economy with the savings quite a lot, thankyouverymuch!

Let 'em stick *that* in their e-pipe and noke it - lol
Rick

 

[popeye79]

I'm sure I'll get reemed for this, but...

YOU DID NOT REALLY QUIT!

You just gave up one crutch for another.

Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of you too. I'm a vaper too. I love e-cigs, vaping, and understand fully how much better vaping is than smoking.

But the ugly truth that no one here wants to admit, is that not doing either, is better.

Like I said, don't get me wrong; I'm proud of you too, and hope you continue doing what ever it takes to not smoke another analog ever again. Just don't kid yourself... you didn't "really" quit. None of us have.

just my