Vaping as a smoking cessation tool

[YeOldeOke]

Very few things in life are absolutes.

Vaping works as a smoking cessation tool.

Ja well, it does. Sometimes. For some folks. With varying degrees of ease, pain and/or commitment.

Some relapse quickly, some relapse after a while, some never relapse.

Vaping is the best cessation tool since some fool decided to roll up some dried leaves, stick it into (undoubtedly) his mouth and set it alight to enjoy the pleasure of inhaling raw smoke into his protesting lungs.

You gotta be a MAN to do that eh? Go Texan!


I have smoked since the dawn of time, well, soon after. I quit for 9 years after my first marriage, but it was a tough six months. Before that I tried quitting numerous times – the cartons of Lucky Strikes lining the road from Middelburg to the power station are all mine. Just to start scrounging stompies halfway through night shift.

It’s a long and boring story. After 9 years I started again, etc.

Everybody’s not like me, so my experience may not be useful to you, or it may be, which is why I will air my observations. Helping just one person and all that jazz.


Lately I started smoking again, for 2 weeks. By design. I was trying to make sure I have not developed a PG allergy, and I knew I could now stop and start at will, with absolute ease.

My lungs revolted, quickly developed a cough, but no, it wasn’t the PG that was causing my problem. So back to vaping.


Why do I find it so easy to switch from cigs with narry a desire nor thought of them?



Vaping is seen as a nic delivery system in the context of smoking cessation. I have long maintained that yes, it is a reasonably important factor, but not the most important.

Nic ain’t heroin. Withdrawal is relatively quick and it certainly won’t make you stare at babies crawling across the ceiling. Given a reasonable amount of nic in your vape, it isn’t a factor at all.

Then why do so many struggle, and many fail, to make the switch successfully?

Mental satisfaction, and the hole left by the missing ritual. The same reason gum and patches don’t have a high success rate.

You still have the urge to light up, fiddle, blow smoke.

So you have to replace it with the vaping experience. But just like replacing an old flame with a new one, the new one has to be more interesting else you’ll pine for the old one.

And this is where I see so many struggle and fall. They buy a small vaping device (don’t want to spend too much if it ain’t gonna work – well if it ain’t gonna work the couple of grand ‘wasted’ on decent vaping equipment is going to be the least of your problems.

At least if you are going to try it, give it a full go. You owe it to yourself and your family.

I have many vaping devices, I have to in order to test juices. If after this past two weeks I grabbed a pod or something, I’d be out buying cigs in no time flat. The nic may be there, but the ritual is like a cold, dead fish.

You want to replace the ex with a better model, not just for the sex but the whole experience. Else you won’t forget the ex.


Get something that you can grab a cup of coffee, blow amazing clouds, be amazed by the nuances of the flavour, improve your coils, the experience. Maybe keep the pod for the office, but if you want an easy, seamless transition from smoking you need something better.


Sure, you can quit with a pod or something. If it’s working for you that’s just great and dandy. But if you are struggling and thinking about that cig in the morning, go get yourself a mod and DTL RTA, make it a hobby. It’s worth the money spent – save on cigs, health, your families happiness.

I’ve seen too many fail, and every time it is the same. The replacement is a cold, dead fish.

 

[Paul33]

Very very well said.

my wife was a heavy smoker and I FINALLY got her to quit with a dual battery mod and a nice tank. Pods etc just didn’t quite do it for her.

she went from 2 boxes a day to nothing overnight with a relapse for one weekend in between.

2 months and going strong and smoke free. Her health has improved exponentially. She used to be in hospital at least once a month/once every 3 weeks due to her chronic illnesses. Now no hospitals visits in the last 2 months.

plus we had corona over December and she recovered on her own.

I truly believe vaping saved her life.

 

[Puff the Magic Dragon]

I was a heavy smoker for 35 years and gave up very easily when I started vaping.

I can fully relate to what @YeOldeOke has said about the rituals associated with smoking. I can still recall the familiar click of a lighter or the crank and hiss of a match. There is also the tapping or flicking of the ash and the quick pat of the pocket to check that your cigarettes are there before you go out. Many people on the forum have said that smoking was never a hobby like vaping can be, and yet I collected many lighters and developed preferences for one over another.

When I started vaping I had no other option but to buy a pen-type device. I went through tons of Ego vapes with the CE cartridges. I was only able to move forward after joining the forum and was made aware of other options. Having said this, there were very few options. The Nautilus and then the Subtank Mini. Sub-ohming at 0.5Ohms was considered to be radical cutting edge vaping.

If vaping hadn't developed further I firmly believe that I would still be using Ego vapes today.

I have some sympathy for today's noob vapers. They are faced with so much choice that it must be truly daunting. They have to rely on a friend who is an experienced vaper, or a shop assistant at a vape shop. If they are prepared to do internet research where do you start? Our forum can be useful, but you have to find it, and be prepared to ask for help.

If I owned a vape shop (and truly wanted to help people stop smoking) I would offer a try before you buy system. For a set fee, you could try a pod, an AIO, and a RTA on a single battery mod. After having everything explained to the smoker he/she could take the vapes home for a month and experiment with the different kits. The shop should also offer to be available to give advice on the phone if the new vaper has any questions....and there will be questions. If the smoker converts to vaping the shop will have a customer for life.

 

[Room Fogger]

Bought my vape the evening on the way home after +- 33 ish years of smoking, couldn’t climb 14 stairs in a row without resting, 60 average per day, had last 3 smokes while driving as I needed to go charge the battery, got up next morning and started with the Pico and 6 mg Menthol juice. Haven’t touched a smoke again since then. BUT, if it wasn’t for the hand to mouth ritual, I honestly believe I would be smoking again. I tried everything else under the sun, including having a major allergic reaction to a pill.

It’s not the same, and I think that is why some people don’t succeed, the expect it to be, but once you see get over the initial it’s not the same, more difficult, not easy, pain in the but, same cost, etc, and you suddenly can climb stairs, and taste and smell you realize it’s all worth it. It’s not about the nic for me anymore, it’s the ritual of building, filling, playing, tasting.

In the same breath, there is such a huge selection available now that for someone wanting to switch it can be a daunting task, what to choose? I’ve heard of people being sold setups that don’t suit them imho, because it’s the newest available, they fail, they relapse, some never try again. I was fortunate in meeting guys who, a, listened to me and my needs, b, explained as much as possible to help me make up my own mind with that info supplied, c, convinced me through their knowledge and experience to spend the extra 150 bucks to get something that would be easy to use and suit me best, and made sure to spend the time needed with me in my initial stages to keep me going, slowly adapting the info to help me on my journey. I can never thank them enough.

With the quality of pod systems, I do believe that this should be the starting point for most newbies wanting to quit, and transition into a bigger setup if needed when the time is right. But only after carefully listening to their needs, it not a one size fits all solution, and they must be made aware of that. But anything is a good start if the motivation to really actually transition is there.

I am no longer a smoker, I’m a vaper and will in all probability be until I go to the happy hunting grounds one day, it’s not 100% safe but safer and better than what I was doing, so I’ll take my chances with those odds. Will some quit totally, yes, we have seen it happen here, have some of them come back, yes, but to vaping, not smoking. To each his own, do what works for you, don’t be scared to ask questions and many happy flavourfull clouds to all.

 

[YeOldeOke]

I can still recall the familiar click of a lighter or the crank and hiss of a match. There is also the tapping or flicking of the ash and the quick pat of the pocket to check that your cigarettes are there before you go out. Many people on the forum have said that smoking was never a hobby like vaping can be, and yet I collected many lighters and developed preferences for one over another.

Simple little things you've done for many years. In fact, the little smoking rituals are more ingrained in you than ANYTHING else you do. I can think of NO action or habit that anyone does more than the things associated with smoking. Correct me if I am wrong.

The average smoker of 30/day over 30 years has:
Smoked ~ 330 000 cigarettes
Taken a cigarette from its packet 330 000 times
Clicked his lighter (apart from playing with it) 330 000 times
Flicked his ash ~ 3,3 million times
Stubbed out his cig (closure) 330 000 times
Blown that first (and final) smoke 330 000 times
etc etc etc.

The ritual is more ingrained in you than absolutely anything else you ever do.

It's not the nic.
A moment of stress is associated with the ritual. A quiet moment also. As is a drink, food, sex, satisfaction, the list is endless.

The nic is simple. The ingrained ritual can be overcome with sheer willpower and much stress, but it can be replaced with another, more pleasant ritual easily. The little pod does not provide any of that.

I disagree vehemently that a pod is a good starting point for someone trying to quit smoking, quite the opposite. The first period is the hardest, that is when they should immerse themselves into something much more interesting and deeper in order to up the success rate. The pod may be OK later.

The boilerplate advice in the industry of starting with something simple until you are familiar before moving up to more complex equipment is outdated at best, it may have been true years ago when unprotected and unregulated mech mods were the thing. It persists only because of elitism today. A basic 15 min instruction in a vape shop should be fine for the average newbie to get them started.

I know I'm going against conventional wisdom here, and will probably be vehemently opposed. So be it, I am not new to that.

Sure you can do the pod thing, but why torture yourself unless it is absolutely necessary?

Self-flagellation has never been my thing.

 

[Room Fogger]

Simple little things you've done for many years. In fact, the little smoking rituals are more ingrained in you than ANYTHING else you do. I can think of NO action or habit that anyone does more than the things associated with smoking. Correct me if I am wrong.

The average smoker of 30/day over 30 years has:
Smoked ~ 330 000 cigarettes
Taken a cigarette from its packet 330 000 times
Clicked his lighter (apart from playing with it) 330 000 times
Flicked his ash ~ 3,3 million times
Stubbed out his cig (closure) 330 000 times
Blown that first (and final) smoke 330 000 times
etc etc etc.

The ritual is more ingrained in you than absolutely anything else you ever do.

It's not the nic.
A moment of stress is associated with the ritual. A quiet moment also. As is a drink, food, sex, satisfaction, the list is endless.

The nic is simple. The ingrained ritual can be overcome with sheer willpower and much stress, but it can be replaced with another, more pleasant ritual easily. The little pod does not provide any of that.

I disagree vehemently that a pod is a good starting point for someone trying to quit smoking, quite the opposite. The first period is the hardest, that is when they should immerse themselves into something much more interesting and deeper in order to up the success rate. The pod may be OK later.

The boilerplate advice in the industry of starting with something simple until you are familiar before moving up to more complex equipment is outdated at best, it may have been true years ago when unprotected and unregulated mech mods were the thing. It persists only because of elitism today. A basic 15 min instruction in a vape shop should be fine for the average newbie to get them started.

I know I'm going against conventional wisdom here, and will probably be vehemently opposed. So be it, I am not new to that.

Sure you can do the pod thing, but why torture yourself unless it is absolutely necessary?

Self-flagellation has never been my thing.

I’m vehemently disagreeing with you @YeOldeOke , not, but agree in some ways, but I am still borrowing your stats to indicate my 33 years prior to vaping, please don’t sue and hope my stupidity will give you a laugh, and hopefully you haven’t filed a patent yet, I’m broke.

This smoker:
Average build up to 60/day over 33 years has:
Smoked ~ +- 722,700 + cigarettes, excluding partying, heaven knows what happened there!
Taken a cigarette from its packet ****times
Clicked his lighter (apart from playing with it) **** times, Zippo is the company I kept in business with a hell of a lot of flints, satisfying.
Flicked his ash ~ 7,2 odd million + times, quite sure it would be a sizable heap,
Stubbed out his cig (closure) 722, 700 + times
Blown that first (and final) smoke 722, 700times
etc etc etc.
Equates spread over time to +- 36,136 packets or 3,613 cartons.
I could fill a warehouse!
If looking at inflation excluded, over time and work on el cheapo at ave of R10 per packet over time it’s R 361,361 + at least outlay. Could have paid my first house off. But I enjoyed it. But I was reluctant to spend an extra 150 odd bucks for a device, roughly equal to one days smoking! Mindset comes onto play, you have to want to stop, and the cheaper one may or may not have gotten me where I needed to go.

If you look at starter kits they are all pods in one way or another, commercial coil, receptacle and battery. Some for MTL, some for DL. Easy operation to make sure they don’t have to stress too much, just fill, vape and get over stinkies. Then you graduate to rta and rba and 40 V stacked mechs etc. eventually. But my claim of giving them ongoing info and support is imho even more important that the device, and the correct nic level juice for their consumption, I was lucky, I insisted on mix of 6 and 9 and down to 6 within a week or so and it worked, would 9 or higher been more appropriate, maybe, it needs to work for you, but that throat hit was just too much for me.

Biggest gripe I got from people I have helped is it takes too much time, and it’s difficult, hence the suggestion of ease of use. Pods make sense, in any “configuration “ but it’s the end result I think we are all most interested in. Not smoking any more. Break the bad ritual and get the good one going.

Ps, I bought my first rebuildable within a month, spent every night for an hour a week learning to build under carefull supervision of Carlos and Olly, and their time was free! Where else do you get something for free, not once did I feel belittled or were they not willing to help and the advice kept flowing, because they got to know me and their experience led us to the correct tool, OBS Nano rta on Pico was my new heaven in stopping. But the commitment was there from both sides, and that kept me going. They cared and I could not disappoint them for all they have put in and shared.

Pods have evolved, some big and some not big clouds but throat hit if you want and satisfactory nic to manage the craving, and they have their place in any arsenal. And they usually make good fidget toys, just don’t twirl or drop.

Many happy clouds to all!

 

[Stranger]

I am not going to agree or disagree, but I can relate my own and others experiences. I never wanted to stop smoking, each time I did I lied to myself and everyone around me, I was such a fraud.

Then I saw this vaping thing on bid or buy. An Eciggie lookalike. OK lets order and give it a try. Around the same time I discovered Twisp and that was me off and running. I got it into my head to be stubborn and make this thing work and stopped the smokes and went directly into "vaping"
Hell this was tough man, I wish they had pods then and I did not have the frustration of dripping juice onto a piece of cotton or constantly buying packs of cartridges for the eciggie. I hated it.

Except for, the support of my wife who saw that I was genuinely giving it a true shot this time. The facts that, I did not stink of smoke anymore, I could now smell and taste stuff and I could vape in the house which had been banned for me for more years than I can remember and a host of other benefits.

At that time I was getting menthol Hell high from Walter at eciggies and before too long he was bringing in the pen type and clearo's. This over time led to spinners and small Eleaf batteries. Then the mighty PICO. What a game changer that turned out to be. I cannot agree to it not being about the nic. I NEEDED my nic, both physically and mentally. I stuck stubbornly to high nic MTL for many years. Having found something that kept me off the smokes, that stubborn streak again prevented me from deviating too much. Fear, yes fear, was the factor here. If I try something new and stuff up my so far winning formula, then I might end up back on the smokes.

My daughter three years ago kindly bought me a Twisp Vega kit. Cool intelligent battery and a tank that could do both MTL and DTL. That was the transition, that was the push that conquered the fear and allowed the experimentation. It was also the start of the transition from the high nic MTL to the low nic DTL and the DIY juices.

After joining this forum a while ago, I have learned more than at any time previous, in fact researching has become a huge fun factor for me. I have developed my style of vaping, have solidified my like and dislikes and have become in Puff the Magic Dragon's words, A hobbyist. I don't have much and buy budget and bargains as I am in the last phase of providing for retirement and any spare money goes there. I find it cheaper to build my own coils and DIY my juice, but there is a satisfaction in that.

So, that's me. Now my mates. I have bought and given as presents vape kits to my smoker mates to no avail whatsoever. I have shown my gear to mates that have gone to vaping and most often am laughed at and asked why do I bother with all of that, as they casually screw on a disposable to an Aegis rechargeable. I have other mates, mostly ladies who will have nothing other than a pod and treat them like the latest fashion accessory and buy them as much on their looks as performance and if you cannot plug it in to recharge then it is rubbish. They care not about ohms and amps or even wattage, they just want plug and play. The latest flavour to discuss at book club is more important.

I have empathy with the new vapour, sympathy, not a jot

Do the homework the same way you would for that new phone or smart TV. Make your own decisions and not bow to peer pressure. Stop listening to the shit on the internet.

Vaping is the future but big tobacco is not going down without a fight.

 

[grouter]

I smoked a pack a day for over forty years. Tried giving it up many times. Never made it past a week.

Nine months ago, thanks to Doek-Kop and "the ban", I picked up my first vape (a caliburn pod) and some 25 mg salt nic, cigar flavour.

Still on the Caliburn, still on the 25mg, still enjoying it.

In all those nine months I have never even glanced at a cigarette, never even thought about "What might it be like to have just one puff?".

Vaping saves money. Vaping saves lives. Vaping as a smoking cessation tool works. It just works.
Long may we all be able to vape!

 

[Stranger]

"What might it be like to have just one puff?".

Ever tasted a turd ?

Great post, well said.

 

[Puff the Magic Dragon]

Ever tasted a turd ?

They just don't taste like they did in the good old days.

 

[DarthBranMuffin]

They just don't taste like they did in the good old days.

Stinkies or Turds?....

 

[Puff the Magic Dragon]

Stinkies or Turds?....

The latter

 

[DarthBranMuffin]

The latter

I am pretty sure they both taste like k*k....