My quest to quit vaping

[Scoper50]

Some of you might recognize me. I haven't been very active on the forum lately. I started vaping in December 2012, and completely quit cigarettes in January 2013. At first I didn't want to quit vaping. I was vaping 18mg liquid and I had no plans to quit. I was using it as a substitute for cigarettes and I figured I could do it indefinitely.

Then in April I want to mexico. On the flight back from mexico the flight went unusually long because we had to fly around some storms somewhere in the midwest. The flight took over 5 hours, and I spent a combined 4 hours in both airports without any nicotine. By the time the whole ordeal was over I was going though the worst nicotine withdrawal I had ever gone though in my life. It was absolutely horrible. I decided I didn't want to be addicted anymore.

I started to slowly ween myself off nicotine using the ecig. The local vape shop that I buy my liquid from offers liquid in any nicotine strength. I don't have to choose form 18, 12, or 6. I can get it in any strength from 0-36mg. I decided to step down 2mg at a time. Every time I went in to buy more liquid, I'd get it 2mg less than the previous visit.
The transition has been smooth as silk. I've dropped from 18mg to 10mg since June, and I honestly haven't noticed at all when I've stepped down. Zero withdrawal. In fact, I've noticed that I don't go through withdrawal anymore. Even at 10mg, I can go half a day without vaping at all, and I experience zero physical cravings.

I'm ready to quit. I'm going to finish up the juice I have (About 40ml) And then I'm done. I'm not buying anymore. Ecigs are becoming really popular and the government has noticed. It's only a matter of time and it will be just as expensive to vape as it will to smoke. That is unless you want to go through the extreme measures of DIY'ing juice and building your own coils. Thats fine for some. But I'd rather quit before the crap hits the fan. I will not give the government a single dime of my money in the form of a sin tax for something that is not a sin.

If it wasn't for ecigs I would still be pounding down 20 cigarettes a day to the tune of $8 a pack. I guarantee it. Ecigs allowed me to ween myself off nicotine without discomfort, and I think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. But it's time for me to stop. The liquid I have will last me about another 2 1/2 weeks I'm guessing. After that, I'm done. I'm walking away with no regrets.

 

[Racehorse]

Your story is so similar to mine. I started vaping a little over a year ago. I quit analogs completely during the first 2 weeks.

I started with 18mg and am now down to 9mg.

I had a similar airport experience, but mine was 11 hours. I could have gone outside but did not want to go thru TSA screening again, as there were some appliques on my jean pockets, as well as numerous vaping mods that seemed to give TSA machnes a fit, and I had had to go thru pat downs and chemical testing on my hands, etc. So I just stayed in the gate area.

That combined with caring for an elderly sick Mom (which is why I was flying in the first place) where I literally had little time to vape, made me realize...........it was TIME to quit vaping. There have just been too many times lately where i do not have the time to "fiddle with it."

So, I expect to quit by year's end, at the latest, if I don't meet that scheudle, by my birthday in March 2014.

I DIY now, to be honest, I never found a LOT of ejuices out there that I loved a whole lot, and while I enjoy vaping I'm not ga-ga over it. I vape very high VG and it has some attendant problems like clogging, etc.

Just want to get up every day, go walking, or to horse races, and not have to think about packing vape gear. I guess you could say I just want FREEDOM in general, simplest life is best for me.

GL in your quit vaping journey, Im right behind you.


I am so happy I quit smoking though, that was the best thing that I did in decades.

 

[goonie]

Vaping is more of a *hobby* than smoking - and for that reason alone it can be hard to give it up. Good luck.

 

[alisa1970]

Best of luck to you, I have no doubt you'll meet your goal. I think I might like to eventually stop vaping myself; the "hobby" aspect has never really taken root with me. I do it so I don't smoke. The thought of dropping nic sounds good to me, although I'm not sure I'll be able to; in 6 months I've relapsed twice due to health issues brought on by just quitting smoking. Who knows if in a year I'll still be smoke free; I'd like to think so. It sounds like it's been fairly easy for you. Good job!

 

[KjAthena]

congrats and best wishes to both of you. I may quit vapeing someday...for now I am just happy I quit smoking

 

[Scoper50]

I DIY now, to be honest, I never found a LOT of ejuices out there that I loved a whole lot, and while I enjoy vaping I'm not ga-ga over it. I vape very high VG and it has some attendant problems like clogging, etc.

Just want to get up every day, go walking, or to horse races, and not have to think about packing vape gear. I guess you could say I just want FREEDOM in general, simplest life is best for me.

I completely agree. Every day before I leave for work, I have this mental checklist of things I need to bring with me. Provari, carto tank, sometimes a backup carto tank, and extra batteries. I'm tired of charging batteries, I'm tired of punching and priming cartos. It's not that it's too much work, but I'm looking forward to not having to deal with any of it. I just want to wake up in the morning, grab my coffee, and not even think about preparing and setting up all this stuff.

The hobby aspect of it all got ahold of me early in my vaping journey. I had to try everything. All the clearo's, different carto tanks, I messed around with RBA's, I even spent a bunch of money on a silver bullet and a kick that I rarely ever use. I just bought it because I was bored. The hobby aspect has left my mind. I haven't bought anything vape related other than juice in months. I have enough ikenvape cartomizers to last me a year if I wanted it to. I'm done buying stuff. I'm just ready to be done. I'm also tired of explaining it to people that I encounter. (friends, co workers, etc..) But like I said earlier. I have no regrets. Yes I spent a lot of money on this whole vaping thing. I estimate that I've spent around $1200. But if I was still smoking cigarettes, I would have spent much more in this time period. I'm grateful for vaping. And I'm not trying to put anybody down that doesn't want to stop. I just feel like this is the right path for myself.

If it weren't for you guys I wouldn't have made it past my blucigs. I remember trying to buy my first ego setup, and I was so confused about it. If it weren't for the people on this site, I would have given up and just kept sucking down my camel lights. It's been a hell of a journey, and I plan to update this thread in a few weeks when I actually kick the vapor all together.

 

[Racehorse]

The hobby aspect of it all got ahold of me early in my vaping journey. I had to try everything. All the clearo's, different carto tanks, I messed around with RBA's, I even spent a bunch of money on a silver bullet and a kick that I rarely ever use. I just bought it because I was bored. The hobby aspect has left my mind.

I went thru that. Curiosity streak, I am kinda a techie geek to begin with so I had to play and test. I wasn't bored, and I think this hobby aspect also kept my mind *occupied* while I was getting off analogs, which was good!

And yeah, never never would have made it over a year smoke free if it hadn't been for all the peeps here.

 

[otrpu]

When I started vaping in May 2010 I intended to switch my 2.5 PAD tobacco habit over to solo vaping. Having accomplished this, then next goal was to wean myself off vaping. Took me 6 month to get to solo vaping. After 6 months of solo vaping I became concerned I might be inhaling too much Cinnamon. I DIY my liquid so, next batch I left the Cinnamon out. 24 hours later I discovered that I had also ACCIDENTLY left the nicotine out of that batch. Decided who needs it. Continued on vaping 50/50 PG/VG till Feb 6 this year. Emergency trip to hospital, not vape related. Kept me there 10 days, out for 2, then back in for 12 more. Since I went in emergency I didn't take an ecig with me. After 24 days without vaping I decided to give everything to family members that were still smoking. My original intent was to quit smoking, then quit vaping. I smoked tobacco more than 52 years. Now, I don't miss either. Vaping was never a hobby for me. . .just a means to the quitting tobacco end. Things worked out great. Didn't happen exactly like I had planned, but worked out fine just the same.

Cheers,
otrpu

 

[Talyon]

Congrats OP and to anyone else who can do the same. Woohoo!

 

[DC2]

I smoked 7 cigarettes per day, on average, for 27 years.
I never wanted to quit smoking, except my wife was always complaining about the smell.

Now I have been vaping 12mg juice for over four years.
And I have no intention of ever stopping that.

But to ANYONE who quits smoking, nicotine, and/or vaping....
Sincere congratulations to you for accomplishing what you want to accomplish.

 

[Rickajho]

Do keep in mind that if for any reason you become "un-done" this time around you have better choices. You don't have to go back to cigarettes. As obvious as that may sound, this is the only time that option has occurred. Good luck with it, but you know what to do if you need to - that doesn't have to involve a relapse into smoking.

 

[Rickajho]

congrats and best wishes to both of you. I may quit vapeing someday...for now I am just happy I quit smoking

^^^ That. After quitting a 30 year 2 PAD smoking habit with zero relapse for the first time, I have no problem with the fact that I've only been vaping for barely 2.5 years. All things being relative... I see myself vaping instead of smoking and I'm happy with that.

 

[7sixtwo]

I enjoy vaping, but Big Gubmint will inevitably decide to crack down on the remarkably free vaping market we enjoy, because they simply can't abide it. Everything needs heavy-handed regulation; for "our own good", don't ya know. Gubmint always knows best.

When they destroy what we have now, I will quit. I am not going to participate in whatever limited, over-taxed system they dictate.

I'm just thankful that I found e-cigs when I did, in what's looking like the twilight of their golden age. They allowed me to quit smoking nearly effortlessly, with a huge variety of choices, (in both hardware and liquid), and without hassle or high cost.

The vapers of the future will not enjoy the freedom that we've had... not for any objective reason, of course, but "for their own good".

 

[Racehorse]

I'm just thankful that I found e-cigs when I did, in what's looking like the twilight of their golden age. They allowed me to quit smoking nearly effortlessly, with a huge variety of choices, (in both hardware and liquid), and without hassle or high cost.

The vapers of the future will not enjoy the freedom that we've had... not for any objective reason, of course, but "for their own good".

the vapers of the future will have access to better stuff than people in 2008 did.

I add the cost of all the crummy stuff that didn't work to the cost of vaping, and there has been a lot of it....the choices were A that didn''t work or leaked, and B, stuff that leaked worse or gave a bad vape LOL.

I'm tired of the anti government screeds on ECF......yet everyone keeps telling us to buy american. You can't be both, I love my country, and am glad I"m not living someplace where they don't even HAVE a government. I take the good with the bad, and our government actually does a lot of great stuff for us (as I walked in national forest today and drank clean water and was able to "flush" and not catch a terrible disease today etc. )

Issues over vaping is not going to make me hate the US government, they do too many other things that are good. If you're concerned about your rights, go visit the many many places on the globe where you don't have any.....and no due process or trial, either.

 

[7sixtwo]

...You can't be both...

What do you mean? Are you saying that you can't love your country but distrust the Gubmint?

As a constitutional conservative; I couldn't disagree more.

 

[Racehorse]

What do you mean? Are you saying that you can't love your country but distrust the Gubmint?

As a constitutional conservative; I couldn't disagree more.

I should not have taken the bait to engage in a political discussion here. I adressed the complaining because it was (again), injected into a conversation that is not political but is about sharing stories about quitting vaping.

There is a subforum OUTSIDE! where we can talk about this......but anti government screeds do not have to be placed into every post about vaping.

that's what I meant when I said "I'm tired........"

I aplogize to everyone for picking up on the political reference and running with it, since I am essentially doing what I was complaining about by even addressing your political remark.

 

[7sixtwo]

Not gonna engage here in political discussion, I adressed the complaining because it was (again), injected into a conversation that is not political but is about sharing stories about quitting vaping.

There is a subforum OUTSIDE! where we can talk about this......but anti government screeds do not have to be placed into every post about vaping.

that's what I meant when I said "I'm tired........"

While, so far, politics and Gubmint regulation have had little effect on vaping.. that's going to change, and soon, so I don't believe that it's irrelevant.

However, you're right in that it's pointless to argue about it here. Neither one of us is going to change the other's mind. That said, I couldn't let your implied "you can't love your country unless you love the Gubmint" assertion go completely unchallenged.

 

[CommaHolly]

Do keep in mind that if for any reason you become "un-done" this time around you have better choices. You don't have to go back to cigarettes. As obvious as that may sound, this is the only time that option has occurred. Good luck with it, but you know what to do if you need to - that doesn't have to involve a relapse into smoking.

THIS!

I once quit smoking for seven years,,,,,,,,,a very stressful time and a glass of wine with a friend had me smoking again in no time,,,,,,,,

I'm very very happy for you! It's amazing that you were able to give it all up I wish you total and complete success

but if you need us,,,,,,we're here

 

[CommaHolly]

the vapers of the future will have access to better stuff than people in 2008 did.

I add the cost of all the crummy stuff that didn't work to the cost of vaping, and there has been a lot of it....the choices were A that didn''t work or leaked, and B, stuff that leaked worse or gave a bad vape LOL.

I'm tired of the anti government screeds on ECF......yet everyone keeps telling us to buy american. You can't be both, I love my country, and am glad I"m not living someplace where they don't even HAVE a government. I take the good with the bad, and our government actually does a lot of great stuff for us (as I walked in national forest today and drank clean water and was able to "flush" and not catch a terrible disease today etc. )

Issues over vaping is not going to make me hate the US government, they do too many other things that are good. If you're concerned about your rights, go visit the many many places on the globe where you don't have any.....and no due process or trial, either.

Amen, amen, AMEN SISTAH!!!!!!!! SING IT!

damm, that was well said!

 

[retired1]

As has been stated, there's a place for this on ECF. I'll also add that attempting to derail threads with political discussions is getting rather old and it needs to stop. Now.

Keep it on topic.