I'm have cravings - Should I smoke a real cig or vape more?

[WayneH86]

Hi, I'm a new vapor using the e cig to try and quit smoking. I've run into a problem.

I started out vaping a few weeks ago and did so for about a week. I only quit because I accidentally burnt all my cartomizers. I was smoking 85% less. I was smoking 10-12 real cigs a day and with the e cig I was down to smoking 1-2 real cigs a day. This was easy for me to do. When my cartos were gone I went back to smoking for a week or two.

I ordered more cartomizers and haven't smoked a real cig for 4 1/2 days. I'm finding that I want to vape all the time. Is this because I haven't had a real cig for a couple days or because I'm vaping more than I used to smoke, thus furthering my nicotine addiction? Is it better to just take in more nicotine at first via vaping than smoking one or two real cigs a day (while vaping less)? I'm vaping mostly 24-nic, which I just learned is less than a medium real cig. Should I just stick with 24-nic for a few weeks and then work my way down? Any advice would be great. Thanks.

 

[IzzyD]

Don't get to hung up on reducing your nic level just let it happen naturally. I smoked for 31 years and started on 36mg e-juice and found after a few months I was vaping less! I've now dropped down to 24mg and though vaping a bit more but I can see that I will drop down further but I'm not going to force the issue. Remember your probably absorbing much less nicotine now than you ever did with cigarettes and the big plus you're not getting all the toxins.

Just keep vaping and stay off the smokes and let everything happen naturally. Give yourself some time to adapt.

 

[Vapoor eyes er]

Same here. I smoked 40+ yrs 1 PAD and started on 36 mg. Now 8+ months later am down to 8 mg. It's not a contest and if you need a smoke it's ok unlike patches. Some stop smoking immediately while others cut back on their analogs. One day they wake up and discover they enjoy vaping more than smoking. Myself I quit the 1st day but after 4 hrs smoked an analog- 2 puffs and it was sooo dry and yecky.

 

[beindeb]

Hey Wayne...although I am far from an "expert" I'll share what I've observed from my own experience.
I can't speak to the nic level...I was smoking 2 PAD when I started vaping, and chose to start at the reported "med" level of 11 -12 strength, which seemed to work fine. However after the initial, tenative start, I too, found myself vaping far more than what was comparable with the regular cigarettes. In hindsight, I suspect it was mostly a psychological thing. Human nature is a strange thing! Perhaps it was a combination of unconscious thoughts...ex. "This WILL make me quit. This is so cool, I can't believe it...some is good, more must be better!!! (Admit it, we are all greedy to an extent!) When I considered how much I was "using," I too became overly concerned! "What's wrong with me? Maybe I need more nic? Maybe I need a different PV?" You get the idea. After questioning, reading this form until my eyeballs almost fell out, and stressing so much it bordered on ridiculous, I stopped the whole runaway brain-train thing. If you read enough posts, you will soon come to know that everyone must find their own way and those ways differ considerably. You can by all means try what has worked for others, but the best advice I can give you, is to QUIT WORRYING! What we focus on, does indeed grow! Once I quit worrying about my consumption level, and just decided to have fun with this, I realized after a few days, that I wasn't vaping as much as I use to smoke!

 

[luvinit]

So what if you never get rid of the nicotine?? That's not what's gonna kill you anyway. Vape away, as much as you like... it's certainly WAY better than any ol analog.

 

[B2L]

I agree with all of the above. I smoked for over 25 years, about a PAD, had tried using every stop smoking method out there and quit after less than a week after starting vaping, I too started at 24mg then went to 36mg to reduce the cravings. From my understanding, particularly at first, your body will adsorb much less of the nic from vaping than it does from analogs. I have cut down to 12mg after 1.5 yrs of vaping. I knew when I was ready to cut down the nic when I could go to bed without clutching my PV like a pacifier while falling asleep. I started with the intention of cutting down to 0 nic but after much research into nic and its pitfalls vs benefits (yes, it does have some benefits) I am not concerned with cutting back anymore. I ordered some 6mg juice and after a week my wife suggested I might want to bump it back up before I drove her nuts. As far as smoking while vaping, if you feel you need to, dont beat yourself up about it.One day you will wake up and realize, like Vapoor eyes er said, that you dont even want to smoke anymore, at least thats what happened to me.

 

[AuBadge]

Listen to your body; if you need to vape more frequently, go for it. You could buy a few flavors you like with a higher Nic level for those times when you need more.

 

[SlightlyAmused]

I'm still really new so posting advice feels almost like a no no for me but here ya go:

Keep vaping. Nic has its own benefits, and getting them through the ecig is much healthier than getting them through a analog. Also I found to help combat cravings you can talk about it with other people kinda like this. It might seem a little counter productive but actually discussing your addiction (or former addiction) is a way for your brain to process the feelings of it all.

Like most have said, let this change happen naturally.

 

[yzer]

I used to smoke 1.5 packs of Camel Blue 99s per day. That works out to 24mg of nicotine from 30 cigarettes.

I used 24mg to wean myself off the smokes gradually. I could go a day or two vaping alone but most days I needed several cigarettes a day, especially the first thing in the morning.

After a few months of that I was ready to switch to vaping alone. The first three days without cigarettes was a little rough. I vaped 2ml per day of 24mg nicotine (48mg total per day) and felt a nicotine deficit. I was also not getting any of the addictive MAOIs from tobacco tar, either. After three days I felt much better and 90% of the nicotine cravings were gone. Vaping always made cravings go away.

Still doing fine with 2-3ml of 24mg juice per day. I'll cut down to 18mg juice in a few weeks.

While making the transition do what you have to do to stay off of cigarettes. It may mean using 36mg juice, it may mean vaping 5-6ml per day. Do what you have to do. You will feel sick if you start to OD on nicotine.

 

[WVvet]

Well, I was a 2 PAD 'ultra light' smoker for almost 30 years and never felt satisfied with that either. I have been vaping for 11 mos and have to admit, my PV rarely is not in my hand when I am not at work. I don't worry about it. When I switched to an EMDCC carto a few months ago I was getting too much nic at 24 mg (Your body will tell you - I get nauseaus myself). 'Watered' down to 21 mg for a month or so then just started ordering 18 without any pangs. So I am quite happy with that. Hope to get it down further eventually but not pushing myself. I am happy and I feel better than I have for YEARS. I'm not worrying about my new addiction at this point. Just go with the flow for now and reanalyze at six months or so. If you are off the stinkies pat yourself on the back!

 

[AttyPops]

I'm not sure where you guys are getting the "cig to juice mg" ratio figures... but I can say there is little to no absolute correlation. There may be "ballpark" figures to get you started, but it varies a lot. I know of some (?former?) members of this forum that smoked unfiltered camels and couldn't vape more than 12 mg liquid. Others feel they need 36mg. I use 24, and have all along (OK, maybe a bit lower now).

There is a 2-3 week withdrawal period from tobacco, even while using e-cigs and getting nicotine IMO. This varies by individual but is commonly reported. Some never give up the cigs completely. Others "tough it out" and/or use WTA liquids and they claim that that helps. Some use snus. It took 2-3 weeks for me with mild cravings. But e-cigs were enough to not go back to tobacco...for me.

Also, your hardware and the efficiency with which it vaporizes the juice makes a difference. I happen to like 5 volts and 3.1ish ohm atomizers... but that's me. LR stuff on standard voltage is similar. Both could kick my .... at 24mg if I let it.

Hang in there. Take it a step at a time. Get good with what you have so you aren't perpetually chasing some "dream e-cig" and getting frustrated. Also, read up a lot.

Good luck!

 

[wv2win]

If you are using an inferior PV that could also be part of the problem. Warmer vapor helps many kick the anlogs completely and as others mentioned, many of us started at 36mg and vaped that for a while. I vaped 24mg for a year before going down to 18mg and now 16mg. I doubt I will ever go lower as long as I vape because the throat hit disappears at lower nic levels.

I would look into a good 5 volt model and consider having some 36mg around for the more difficult times.

 

[VapRon]

Just wanted to add something. Not ure if it was mentioned yet.
At the begin I had some cravings. To get around that I used 1 flavor with higher nic then my all day vape. When I got an urge I vaped that a bit. That went on for about 2 months.