ando68

Hey all,
I stopped smoking those dirty rotten life taking smokes on August 1. I had been building up to that quit date for a number of weeks. I had decided to switch to the electronic gizmo for a three or four week period ( no exact quit date made ) & then just do without the nicotine from then on. There's the plan or half plan, anyway the problem is I seem to be taking in more nicotine since I started the ecig, I am constantly puffing on it & never really feel fully satisfied or something. Either my appetite for nicotine has increased or else these electric smokes just don't cut it. Either way I am going to have to look at complete nicotine abstinence pretty soon,, feels like I'm only putting off the inevitable at the moment.
Has anyone else had e-cig experience?
Ando

upandup

Hi Ando. Never had experience with them myself, but just yesterday was talking with someone who was having trouble figuring out how much to use or something. Personally I wonder if they're not just a racket to keep people hooked. Anywhere! Anytime! Flavors! But yea, I think that you'll have to bite the bullet at some point, no two ways around it I'm afraid. Best of luck!

ando68

Hey upandup,
I do think your right,, to make matters worse it seems to be very difficult to purchase the cartridges for them,, only some shops sell them. Was contemplating buying the real ones tonight as my cartridge ran out,, decided against it,, ill be back when I'm nic free altogether really soon.

AllieB

They just did a bit on NPR about them and the guest (I missed the beginning of the show, so I didn't catch his credentials, but, given the program, I'm sure they were decent) confirmed that the majority of people using e-cigs used them as supplements....something to smoke when real cigarettes were unavailable or disallowed. That could all change pretty quickly, of course. In the USA, the manufacturers won't advertise e-cigs as smoking cessation devices because that would give the FDA license to regulate e-cigs as drugs. Right now, e-cigs can be regulated as tobacco products, but not as drugs.

ando68

It's pretty much just harm reduction,, I'm not breathing in the toxins in the cigarettes but sure as the sun shines I'm still hooked on the nicotine. Allen Carr was right when he said,, don't bother with the nicotine replacement,, just quit. Cold turkey is the way to go me thinks!

Pete55

I recently had e-cig "experience".
At first it was new thing stuff, but the novelty wore off.
On test, I think they are gimiki, because anyone serious about quitting, they are not really interested in rasberry or vanilla flavoured e-cig refill. I know I wasn't.

So when I got into it, I think one of the e-cigs messed up, I had to have one on charge while smoking the other. It would last 20-30 minutes, but I'd be dragging it constantly.
So I go buy a packet of cigs and think about it.

Now I am p***sd off at cigs all together, as I type, I'm out of cigs, don't like e-cigs and I don't want to smoke cigs.

See how long I last, but this is it, try to get off the cigs.

Using a bit of Allan Carr ideas, and some other ideas tailored to suit.

DG0409

+1

Mountainmanbob

ando68

Plan has moved to quit the e cig on oct 1. Typical of the addict in me,, push it out to the last. My consumption has levelled out on them though & they are costing me 20% of the price of cigarettes. Not sure about the health benefits,, the jury seems to be out on them at the moment.
Looking forward to ,,, although with a little anxiety ,,,, a full quit.

MemphisBlues

Sorry to chime in late, but I've not touched tobacco in three years and vape constantly. You are right that vapor is not as efficient in delivering nicotine as burning tobacco. From my understanding, the nicotine particles are much larger in a vapor form than smoke form so the nicotine is absorbed slowly in the lungs and more through the membranes in the mouth and nose.

It takes about 10 to 15 minutes of vaping to get the same dose of nicotine in one cigarette. And there are many tobacco flavor liquids to chose from. I personally don't get vaping Skittles flavors or bubble gum, and it's thoe flavors that has caused the FDA to not want to approve electronic cigarettes as a nicotine replacement system because of a fear of attraction to children. That's a big shame because FDA control would increase e-cig safety and control over what goes into the liquids.

If you are just buying an electronic cigarette that looks like a cigarette, the disposable form, you won't have much success with them, in my opinion. By spending about $100 you can get two pass-through rechargeable batteries (they plug into a usb port on your laptop or computer to charge and can be used while they are charging) and and several atomizers. I direct drip my liquid into an atomizer, about four or five drops to get a dozen of so full-flavored hits.

I advise anyone interested in switching to research them on the internet, talk to other vapers about which equipment to purchase, how to use them and maintenance, replacement information. My lungs have improved amazingly. I had chronic bronchitis from smoking tobacco and that has completely disappeared.

Another thing to me aware of is that smokers are addicted to many of the chemicals in cigarettes, not just the most potent one, nicotine. You will still go through withdrawals. Also, may of the symptoms of smoking cessation -- coughing, sore throat, etc -- are incorrectly associated with using an e-cig. Those symptoms eventually disappear.

Switching to e-ecigs is not a painless way to eliminate smoking. It takes commitment, just not near as much as actually quitting nicotine. And they are cheaper. I was smoking American Spirits, which are about $7 a pack, and smoking more than one a day. My complete monthly vaping expense is about $75 a month for juice, replacing batteries (they will eventually die over a few months time) and atomizers (they burn out, sometimes in days, sometimes in weeks.)

I have studied a lot on the safety of e-cigs. Bottom line, the best evidence I can find is that they are a thousand times safer than inhaling tobacco smoke. The ultimate healthy thing to do is to quit smoking, period. But if you're an addict like me, vaping delivers the nicotine if inhaled properly (long, slow drags, hold in mouth and exhale through nose), fixes that craving for the oral fixation, don't leave any odor, help restore lung function, restore taste buds, etc. I have gained 20 pounds since going off tobacco. Tones of problems with e-cigs, but by far they outweigh the consequences of smoking tobacco.

ando68

Memphisblues,
Thanks for your post. I did purchase the rechargeable batteries myself. It comes in a kit,, USB plug in like you said & 2 rechargeable batteries. Cartridges are sold separately & each one contains equivalent of 20 smokes ( at least that's what they claim). The kit costs about €50 over here and then the cartridges cost an extra €10 per pack of 5,,, (100 smokes) . Great to hear your chest problems have cleared up ,, I'm probably not off the smokes long enough yet to feel any real positive change.
Ill hold onto my oct 1 full quit date and I've already promised my brother the kit when I quit,,
So quit I will.

MemphisBlues

Yeah, I never had any luck with the disposable cartridges. I use what is called a 510 atomizer. It's just a metal housing with an exposed medal wick. I drop three to six drops directly onto the wick and vape away. I get solid, flavorful vapor that way. Many people here use cartomizers, basically a tank that you fill with juice and vape away. I would look into one of those and then buy your own juice.

In California, I buy a 120ml bottle of juice for about $40 and it lasts me most of the month.

Again, if you are stiff smoking tobacco, it will be harder to just commit to vaping. And if you do decide to just vape, the first week or so will be tough. You will still go through withdrawals, you will hack and cough a lot as your lungs clear out, you will probably get a sore throat. Those are tobacco withdrawal symptoms. And you are bathing your throat in vapor, almost steam, which is moist so when you stop at night your throat dries out and exacerbates the sore throat associated with quitting smoking.

And you will feel the withdrawal from a host of other chemicals in cigarettes other than nicotine.

I just committed to not smoking, telling myself that I would get the nicotine from the vapor, and basically vaped constantly for the first few days. It helped with cravings, fixed my oral fixation, and got me through.

foolsgold66

I'd never seen this thread before. I'm a vaper too, have been for almost 3 years now. The cig-alike things are kinda worthless, I generally use variable voltage mods with cartomizer tanks. I don't crave nicotine or cigarettes anymore, I can actually go 8 hours without vaping. Don't know if I'll ever quit vaping but I'm ok with that.

CharlieNoogan

ando68, your observation about lack of satisfaction with nicotine e-liquid is almost universal among vapers. MemphisBlues is absolutely correct when he states the following:

I felt the same way as you when I first picked up the e-cig. I would chain-vape and the only thing that would happen is I would get wired on nicotine. The problem is that the other psychoactive compounds in tobacco are a large component of what gives you that calming effect when you smoke a cigarette. The alkaloid breakdown is about 95% nicotine and 5% other alkaloids such as nornicotine and anabasine. Oddly, it is that 5% proportion of alkaloids that you feel missing when you vape regular e-juice. In other words, you are not simply addicted to nicotine as a smoker but rather the entire mix of alkaloids present in tobacco.

I encourage you to Google "Whole Tobacco Alkaloid" e-juice. There are several manufacturers that are now producing e-juice that contains the missing components. From personal experience, I can attest that WTA juices feel virtually identical to real cigarettes. Realize that WTA e-juice does not contain the dangerous carcinogenic compounds found in cigarette smoke and are believed at this point to be no more harmful that nicotine-only liquid.

I was about to trash my ecig and go back to regular smokes. Then I found WTAs and now I won't look back. Best of luck in your quitting efforts!

Mirage74

Just ordered an e- cig online, waiting for it to arrive. I alternate between smoking and dipping now, so curious to see how it pans out.

I just quit drinking so I'm not going to try to quit nicotine for a while. Hopefully the vape will work out.

Drummer

I just came off pain meds and i am now doing the patch with the e-cig. I tried cold turkey (like I did with the pain meds, but it would bring out opiate withdrawal symptoms. So I think my best chance is tapering off nicotine maybe over a few weeks/month.

Using a 21mg patch. Was smoking over a pack a day. Last time I smoked was friday afternoon. So about 2 days ago.

Realizing the e-cig is just another delay. And it makes measuring the taper more difficult. Which pretty much defeats the point of tapering down.

So this e-cig is on borrowed time.