How do you see yourself ?

[PeteMcArthur]

I was wondering how people who have stopped analogue cigs see themselves. Do you consider yourself to be a non-smoker? I say I've stopped smoking but I still have the nicotine addiction. Am I fooling myself? I suspect one cigarette may be one too many for me, I don't have the desire for them, but I don't feel revolted by the smell as some ex-smokers do.

I'm trying to convince myself that I am managing a medical condition, I am a nicotine addict that has failed many times to stop, so I am feeding the habit in the least (I hope) harmful way I can.

How does everybody else feel?

 

[Tumbleweed4829]

It is very hard for me to announce that I've quit smoking even though I have because I feel like a lot of people would consider me still "smoking". When your doctor askes you.."Do you smoke?" I'm not sure how to deal with this question. I feel like I should be proud of myself but it is really hard for me to shout out that I've been quit for a month and a half.

Sometimes I am revolted by the smell of burning cigs and sometimes I think they smell SO gooood. One thing that doesn't change is the smell of smokers after they have smoked a cig and it is on their clothes...oh that smell is horrible! I can't say that there aren't times that I don't want a analog cig because lately I have had to really make myself not stop at the store and buy some. So yes I am still addicted to the nicotine and the thoughts of a analog cig. I guess I'm an ex-smoker?

 

[Mr.Darcy]

there isnt any smoke involved in esmoking...no burning plants...

yes theres nicotine,but theres nicotine in snuff,snuss,nicotine gum,patches etc...nicotine alone doesnt mean you are a smoker...

so of course if we dont smoke anything,we are non-smokers,ex-smokers,call it what you will...if you dont smoke,then you dont smoke..

and if tempted to smoke...think about your lungs,get some strong eliquid,and tough it out...

 

[Mommyshann]

Especially after my visit with my Dr. today I see myself as a non-smoker. I do not "smoke" anything. I am still a nicotine addict and will always be and I am now feeding that addiction through a different and, according to my Dr., much safer source. So, based on that, I am happy to shout to the world that I have, in fact, STOPPED SMOKING! Woohoo!

 

[tribalmasters]

Hehe mes got used to it but I have been at it for something like 5 months now, when I was on the NRT at the start before I discovered ecigs I loved the smell but ever since I started the ecig I don't like it!

The other night I was lighting filthy cigarettes for a friend on the toaster as she had no lighter and she and I were drunk, the first few times I just stuck it in the toaster but then I got a troublesome one that would require me to puff to get it to light properly! (cue Jaws theme) so there was nothing for it - I had to smoke the cigarette somehow so I mouthed it like a cigar and EWWWW!! Yucky! I immediately shoved the pink 901 ecig into my mouth and vaped to get rid of the taste! When she chain smoked the whole packet and ran out of filthy cigarettes, she ended up puffing my ecig!!! I am very happy now I can trust myself around smokers even when drunk tho next time i will go shop to buy a lighter, that toaster must stink!

 

[efaglil]

I consider myself a bit of a cheat. I'll smoke in the office at work but I also go outside with the smokers. Some of the "real" smokers have been sold on the idea of eSmoking, others think it's too dangerous (what.. more dangerous than real fags I ask? 8-o reply, "at least I know what I'm getting" , "yeah right... "says I

However, if the doc asked me I'd say I was on a form of NRT because at the end of the day all the official health tests I've ever submitted myself to have measured either lung capacity or carbon monoxide levels. The lung capacity is pretty good anyway (I was doing quite a bit of scuba diving at the time) but the CO levels were moderately off. I'll bet if I did the same CO test it'd be spot on now and that was their biggest anti-smoking selling point. They said that as you get older your organs need more oxygen and the cigs effectively hijack that oxygen so your organs start failing earlier.

Anyways, I would never hurt or insult anyone by saying so directly but I can't abide the smell of cig smoke anymore and I can smell it a mile away! Fresh smoke isn't too bad, stale smoke yuckkkk

In the month or so since I've had a real cig I can count on one hand the number of times I've felt like a real one since and that was in the mornings of the early days.

I've decided I'm most definitely a nicotine addict and my new habit suits me down to the ground. No matter how much my relatives watch me with sheer horror when I'm eSmoking in my own living room - I WILL CONTINUE TO DO IT!

 

[Kate]

I told the nurse at my GP's practice about quitting with my ecig and she put 'non smoker' on my medical notes.

Since I don't burn anything and only maintain my nicotine habit I consider myself to have quit smoking. I guess I could stay on a low level of nicotine for the rest of my life but that's ok, as long as I'm not smoking.

 

[e-pipeman]

The joy of esmoking for me is that, although I no longer smoke tobacco, I still feel the pleasure of smoking. If anything I find vaping even more enjoyable - so it's a case of having my cake and eating it, I suppose. I can't believe the difference in my lungs now - deep breaths are easily achievable. I've also noticed that I walk a lot more quickly and with a spring in my step. To me, esmoking is simply a better way of smoking. Not even an Upmann havana would tempt me back to combustibles

 

[apachedug]

I'm really glad someone brought this up, as I question myself a bit about it.

I tried, off & on to quit real smoking so many times--and never lasted A SINGLE DAY--that when I began e-puffing, and went without a cigarette for 2 days in a row (for the first time in 29 years) I was shocked and told myself "Doug you ARE a non-smoker now."

But that was back at the end of June, and after nearly 4 months of using this thing, I consider myself as not really achieving anything. I've never went back to real smoking; not once, I didn't cheat a single time.

But I can't deny that I'm hooked on these things now, and puff on them all the time. And the fact is, burned smoke or not, I'm STILL inhaling something into my lungs.

When family or friends say "Wow Doug, 4 months without a real cigarette!" I feel guilty. It really wasn't hard to switch from those cancer-sticks to these...I'm not a smoker, but I'm a puffer alright...

 

[tribalmasters]

Same here Doug, feel guilty about it a little tho I tell myself I enjoyed smoking but now I can enjoy my habbit better and safer with the ecig!

 

[Marvelbeast]

The weird thing is that people are congratulating me on giving up smoking and I feel like a bit of a cheat I don't really feel like I've given much up at all.

Occasionally I think I miss real fags but when I have one it tastes disgusting. Hard to believe after nearly 30 years of 20-40 a day!

I can taste food better and my sense of smell has improved. I know I'm not a smoker but I was one of the worst quitters in the past. I never lasted more then a few hours with most nicotine replacement therapies and the e-cig was something I thought would be worth a try. It is changing my life for the better.

I'm not as short of breath anymore either.

One other BIG benefit I've found is that I don't put things off as much as I used to. I don't know if anyone else recognises what I'm about to say? I used to say "I'll do (insert activity) after this ..." or "I'll get ready after one more ciggie". There used to be a set time I could put something off by about 5 minutes. Now I don't have that option as my ... has no time frame set to it! So I tend to do what I was going to do straight away or after one or two drags on the e-cig at most. I'm getting so much more done!

Anyone else noticed this change? Or was I a particularly lazy sod?

 

[Mr.Darcy]

the fact that we are able to completely get off cigarettes after 10,20,30 + years of hopeless slavery to them should not be underestimated...

i feel after a certain time exclusively esmoking,we tend to take it too much for granted...

many people fail to stay off cigarettes even with the ecigs help...so we that manage to should really be happy,proud and thankful about it,not feel guilty because we arent suffering enough...i mean come on...

i still need nicotine...but so what...i feel better,and i dont smoke anymore...

i dont feel at all guilty about that--why should i?

if anything im just grateful ecigs exist...

 

[m1sterlurk]

For "official" purposes, I would figure that as soon as I manage to get completely off real cigs I would be a non-smoker. I still smoke the occasional real cig, but I can easily forsee that coming to an end in the not-too-distant future.

However, I think that internally I'll always classify myself as a "smoker"...Even with the e-cig I still go out to the "smoking pavilion" during breaks at work, as I enjoy the company. For some reasons smokers have always struck me as people who have more conviction about whatever's on their minds, but then again that could just be an Alabama thing.

 

[Shining Wit]

there isnt any smoke involved in esmoking...no burning plants...

yes theres nicotine,but theres nicotine in snuff,snuss,nicotine gum,patches etc...nicotine alone doesnt mean you are a smoker...

so of course if we dont smoke anything,we are non-smokers,ex-smokers,call it what you will...if you dont smoke,then you dont smoke..

and if tempted to smoke...think about your lungs,get some strong eliquid,and tough it out...

I've quit tobacco, I accept I am still smoking in the sense that I like to have something I can inhale and feel like a cig. My next step is to reduce the nicotine content down to zero, partly for health but mainly to test my theory that it's not the nicotine that really has us hooked, but the hit to the throat on inhalation, it's become a part of our physiology, just as we need to feel liquid when we drink.
John.

 

[TropicalBob]

I see myself as "not smoking." Nothing further. But here's a fact: More and more businesses -- and the county just north of me -- will no longer employ smokers. They won't hire them; and anyone presently a smoker must quit smoking or quit the job. Are e-smokers smokers? Yes. How can that be? Because the official test is for cotinine in urine. We have it. So do those on NRT. No cotinine? Okay. Cotinine from nicotine in e-vapor? Goodbye employment.

 

[Nosmo King]

Hi TB,
That sounds very discriminatory to me, can they really get away with that kind of 'social engineering' over there ? What are their reasons for believing they can force their opinions and lifestyle choices upon anyone who has the misfortune to be hired by these fascists to utilise their skills to carry out a job for them ?
I am at present employing a joiner to carry out some work at my house, this does not give me the right to censor, and/or take away his right to independent thought or have any say in what he does, or does not do in his PRIVATE and PERSONAL life. In fact I would fully deserve the smashed mouth that would indubitably result from my efforts to do so !
I would be within my rights to request that he refrains from smoking in my house, if that concerned me, but because I employ him to do some work for me, it does not follow that therefore I own him body, mind and soul !
Sorry if this seems like a bit of a rant, but that kind of abuse by small-minded, narrow thinking, power mad egocentrics is the main reason I have come to be regarded as a bit of a bolshevik !
' And they wonder why i take a small sherry and light a cigar at christmas-time ! '

 

[ApOsTle51]

I see myself as "not smoking." Nothing further. But here's a fact: More and more businesses -- and the county just north of me -- will no longer employ smokers. They won't hire them; and anyone presently a smoker must quit smoking or quit the job. Are e-smokers smokers? Yes. How can that be? Because the official test is for cotinine in urine. We have it. So do those on NRT. No cotinine? Okay. Cotinine from nicotine in e-vapor? Goodbye employment.

it all depends on how they define 'smokers'

Tobacco smokers or nicotine users...then we get into the void that is Discrimination

edit : i consider myself to be a non-smoker now. technically no smoke enters my body, but if someone was to define a smoker as a nicotine addict then i would be a nicotine addict , i'm still not a smoker.

 

[PeteMcArthur]

Good grief, don't you have a constition that enshrines basic human rights? I seem to recall every time someone suggests that perhaps some sort of gun control might just be worth thinking about, all hell breaks loose. Is nicotine now a controlled substance?
I really hope some sanity prevails, are smokers now so rejected that they are seen as unemployable criminals?

Good luck Bob, it sounds as if you might need it.

I see myself as "not smoking." Nothing further. But here's a fact: More and more businesses -- and the county just north of me -- will no longer employ smokers. They won't hire them; and anyone presently a smoker must quit smoking or quit the job. Are e-smokers smokers? Yes. How can that be? Because the official test is for cotinine in urine. We have it. So do those on NRT. No cotinine? Okay. Cotinine from nicotine in e-vapor? Goodbye employment.

 

[dnakr]

Several months ago we had a discussion on the forum about this.

My question was: After you have been e-smoking exclusively for one year and you decide to apply for, say, life insurance or health insurance and as we all know, one of the questions on the application is “Have you used any tobacco products within the last year”?

http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...sion/1037-insurance-question-tobacco-use.html

Even though I haven't had a real cig in over 10 months, I too, still consider myself a smoker and am still not sure how I would answer.

 

[TropicalBob]

It is all done in the name of health. Companies get lower insurance rates for employees if they 1. Ban smoking on the premises; 2. Ban employee smoking at any time, including off-hours. The test for cotinine is the killer. It's really a test for nicotine residuals -- and e-smokers would be nailed. It's blatantly discriminatory, I agree, and smokers are the last large group of people who can be discriminated against seemingly without consequence.

This ban that uses cotinine testing is being done, as I noted, not only by private companies -- whose owners have broad powers over employees -- but by a county government!