Newbie looking for advice/experiences with quitting analogues

[Roni_M]

That's wonderful pothole! Converting your surgeon and his nurses! I'm quitting smoking because I know I should... I'm doing it with vaping because I love smoking (if that makes sense). It's such a weird thing to know how bad and nasty a habit is but to still love it!

I would love to hear your experiences with the nic content (or anyone elses for that matter). Does the content just become too harsh and you know it's time to drop it lower, or do you have to make an effort to slowly reduce?

 

[PaulB]

Welcome Roni--

You've already gotten a lot of good advice, to which I have little to add. A couple things I might note: Don't decide on the first day whether 24 mg is too high or low, as there's bound to be some acclimation to this new form of nicotine delivery. For the same reason, don't be alarmed if you find inhaling uncomfortably harsh at first. Early on, I (like you, a full flavor smoker) found my lungs unwelcoming to the first few drags in the morning and actually had to smoke a cigarette to get things opened up, but this passes before too many days. I think you picked a really good starter kit. It's been a long time since I have looked to see what vendors are including in their kits and I was pretty amazed at the variety of clearos they're throwing in. Others may dispute, but I found the Vision clearos to be very leak-prone. I'd start with one of the Kangers they included; the T2 has been my all-the-time model for some months.

Mainly, though, enjoy!

 

[Hitmetwice]

That's wonderful pothole! Converting your surgeon and his nurses! I'm quitting smoking because I know I should... I'm doing it with vaping because I love smoking (if that makes sense). It's such a weird thing to know how bad and nasty a habit is but to still love it!

I would love to hear your experiences with the nic content (or anyone elses for that matter). Does the content just become too harsh and you know it's time to drop it lower, or do you have to make an effort to slowly reduce?[/QUOTE]

Everyone is different, when I started I got 16mg and 24mg liquids. They would both make me cough at times and would also give me shortness of breath after steady vaping, just like smoking did. Being much like smoking's effect on me helped make the experience more realistic and probably aided in my effort to vape and not smoke.

Nicotine isn't the big killer that it's made out to be. If you find yourself feeling the effects of too much(dizzy, nauseous)
slow down on vaping a bit and cut down the nic level of the liquid when you are able.
Some set-ups will just deliver more juice/flavour and nic. than other systems.
You may find that the more efficient the system, the less nic. you'll need in your liquids.

After much research in the DIY e-liquid forum here( DIY E-Liquid ) I got into DIY and make my own juice
tailored to my own exact wants and needs. Reading all those stickies can be more than a little overwhelming and DIY is certainly not for everyone(especially newbies) but the option is there none the less.

You've got a ton of great advice already but I'll re-inforce the suggestion to check utube(or do a search here) for tutorials on how to use the specific items that you have coming in your kit so you at least have an idea of where to start when it all arrives.

It sure is a lot to learn in the begining, take your time, you're gonna love vaping and not smoking as much a lot!

 

[Hello World]

Do the juices have a shelf life?

Many months, if not longer if they are vendor juices.

Does the content just become too harsh and you know it's time to drop it lower, or do you have to make an effort to slowly reduce?

There will be an inevitable reaction if something is wrong. You may not know what it is, so let someone know to troubleshoot. If you feel overly hyper, get mild headaches, feel nic-gluttoned and what not, this can be brought up and sorted out, very simple mostly. No worries, it's kinda self-intuitive anyways, you always know what you know.

I found the Vision clearos to be very leak-prone. I'd start with one of the Kangers they included; the T2 has been my all-the-time model for some months.

Good advices !!! Start with BCCs if possible as a new user.

 

[Roni_M]

It is a lot of information to take in for sure! I only ordered 24mg juice... I'm thinking I should have ordered a weaker one as well so I could combine to tweak it if I needed to. Luckily the place I ordered from is only about 45 mins from me, so if need be I may be able to go pick up more (not sure if they have a B&M location though). My reasoning was based off my brand of smokes (Export A Reg - Green pack). However now I'm seeing that a lot of different things can come into play. I'm really intrigued by the "sweet coffee" flavor I've got coming and possibly combining it with the "French vanilla" one I ordered. I drink French vanilla flavored coffee and love it so that may end up as my "staple" juice. I only ordered 10ml bottles of the flavors to try them so I'm sure if they are good I'll be putting another order in next week.

I'm pretty excited for my stuff to get here so I can get started. Just from reading these forums, I'm already starting to have negative feelings towards my "trusty smokes"... that's huge for me!

I'm so happy that I found you guys!

 

[DKM2]

I try and keep the same routine, smoke outside, vape outside.
So far only vaping about a quarter of the time though, so that may not be good advice!
I keep trying though., plus still getting used to the tech side of vaping.

 

[pothole]

Hi again Roni, sorry I forgot to mention the strength and flavours. I vape 24mg as I figure that is about the same as a regular cig, you will know soon enough as you will probably get headaches just as I do if I drink regular coffee ( too much caffeine) I only drink French Vanilla and have just ordered that flavour and also Vanilla cup cake. I can never get the same throat hit from 'plain' tobacco flavour so I mix it about 10% with candy cane flavour, result wicked throat hit. A 30ml bottle of juice is supposed to be the equivalent of a carton of cigs. I had no problem doing a carton in 5 or 6 days, yet a 30ml juice lasts me a couple of months. So besides the heath benefit, I'm saving a fortune which pays for a wicked vacation every year.

 

[Roni_M]

I try and keep the same routine, smoke outside, vape outside.
So far only vaping about a quarter of the time though, so that may not be good advice!
I keep trying though., plus still getting used to the tech side of vaping.

I'm thinking that vaping in the house is a good option for me. That way it will be far more convenient than going out to the porch for a smoke. I think if I went out to the porch, I would just end up having a smoke. I work from home (hubby owns a plumbing company and I do the books) so I can vape at the desk, but would have to get up to smoke. I'm hoping that I'm lazy enough that vaping will be easier. LOL

 

[Roni_M]

Hi again Roni, sorry I forgot to mention the strength and flavours. I vape 24mg as I figure that is about the same as a regular cig, you will know soon enough as you will probably get headaches just as I do if I drink regular coffee ( too much caffeine) I only drink French Vanilla and have just ordered that flavour and also Vanilla cup cake. I can never get the same throat hit from 'plain' tobacco flavour so I mix it about 10% with candy cane flavour, result wicked throat hit. A 30ml bottle of juice is supposed to be the equivalent of a carton of cigs. I had no problem doing a carton in 5 or 6 days, yet a 30ml juice lasts me a couple of months. So besides the heath benefit, I'm saving a fortune which pays for a wicked vacation every year.

Currently I'm buying 2 cartons a week (one for me and one for hubby). I started purchasing cartons from Costco because they are a little cheaper than buying individual packs. Cost didn't really hit me until I started doing that. Picking up a couple of packs every other day (hubby would pick up his own) doesn't make the cost sink in, but when you are dropping almost $200 ($184.08 to be exact) every Friday you realize how ridiculous it is!

I decided not to try the tabacco flavors (a lot of reviews said they didn't taste that good). I got menthol (seemed like a good choice because I don't mind menthol smokes), spearmint, sweet coffee, French vanilla & black cherry. I'm a pretty "boring" person, so once I find the right one I will probably just order that in bulk and use it exclusively. I ordered some flavors from Eastcoastvape.ca (which is in NB). The liquids are all "customizable" so if I find a mix of the coffee and French vanilla flavors that I like I can request they mix that combination for me (which is awesome!!). They also have a coffee (not "sweet") flavor, so if I find the French vanilla and sweet coffee too sweet when combined, I'll order some of the plain "coffee" flavor and try mixing those. I'm hoping my order from them comes today so I can get started (I ordered the eroll kit from them, but my ego twist kit is coming from canvape so it won't be in until Wednesday).

I'm not much of a traveller so will have to find something else to spend my savings on. I went to Dominican one year, did a caribean cruise another year and went to Florida a couple of times (my youngest daughter competed in the Worlds cheerleading competition at the ESPN sports complex in florida... so not really a "vacation" per say). So 4 trips to the "hot weather" places and truthfully... that was enough for me! LOL I'll probably be practical and put it into my RRSPs

 

[pothole]

I'll probably be practical and put it into my RRSPs


If your putting less than $5k a year into RSP's, you will be better off in retirement if you put it into a TFSA.

 

[Roni_M]

I'll probably be practical and put it into my RRSPs


If your putting less than $5k a year into RSP's, you will be better off in retirement if you put it into a TFSA.

I meant increase our contributions by the money I save (we already put money in to one for hubby and a spousal one for me... need to maximize his deductions because he runs a sole proprietor company). I think the goal is to retire at 60... so only 20 more years! LOL

 

[astounded]

I'm quitting smoking because I know I should... I'm doing it with vaping because I love smoking (if that makes sense). It's such a weird thing to know how bad and nasty a habit is but to still love it!

I know what you mean about loving the habit - for me vaping repolicates much of what I love about smoking. (I wasn't planning to quit but my smoking decreased so much when I got an ecig that for the first time in my life I seriously thought about quitting, as it now seems achieveable,)

 

[Roni_M]

I know what you mean about loving the habit - for me vaping repolicates much of what I love about smoking. (I wasn't planning to quit but my smoking decreased so much when I got an ecig that for the first time in my life I seriously thought about quitting, as it now seems achieveable,)

That's the biggest reason I have never tried to quit... I love smoking (such a sad statement but very true).

I contemplated trying Chantix but the side effects scare the crap out of me and I have a bleeding disorder which prevents me from taking a lot of different drugs so I'm not even sure if it is something I can take. Both my MIL & FIL quit using it and say they don't crave analogs at all. They didn't experience any side effects and had tried to quit for years (the usual... gum, patches, etc). The nasty side effects really seem to be hit or miss though. I only briefly contemplated it because they both said that after a little while smoking made them feel sick. I thought I needed something that would make me "not like" smoking anymore.

So that got me thinking about e-cigs (replace it with a similar but less nasty habit), which lead me here to all you super helpful folks!

 

[hotone]

My story is very similar. Started smoking at 13 in 80's and smoked for 27 years. I quit the day I got my ego kit in the mail and coming up on 3 years since my last smoke. I loved the act of smoking, the hand to mouth, smoke rings, etc. Vaping lets me still do all of that. I switched to menthol smokes as I hated them originally but started liking them so did not help me cut down. Menthol is a great vape And i highly recommend any fruit flavor and menthol. The only thing I might suggest is getting some 18 my liquid. I found it hard to chain vape the 24 when I first started though it did get me over some humps. Key is to take longer slower halls then you would with smokes or it will make you cough.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

 

[Roni_M]

I got my stuff all in today!! And I seriously haven't had a smoke since they came off the charger! Going on 5 hours and I haven't craved them at all (at least not yet). If this is so freaking good... why did it take me so long to figure it out?!?! People should be yelling from the roof tops. Currently working on the kanger t3 on the twist set to 4.3, French vanilla flavored juice and it is so satisfying! And I've got to say, the eRoll is sooooo cute, major points for form and surprisingly a really close experience to a real smoke right out of the box (followed instructions and primed it first). I'm going to love taking that out with me and it works so well.

 

[Roni_M]

My story is very similar. Started smoking at 13 in 80's and smoked for 27 years. I quit the day I got my ego kit in the mail and coming up on 3 years since my last smoke. I loved the act of smoking, the hand to mouth, smoke rings, etc. Vaping lets me still do all of that. I switched to menthol smokes as I hated them originally but started liking them so did not help me cut down. Menthol is a great vape And i highly recommend any fruit flavor and menthol. The only thing I might suggest is getting some 18 my liquid. I found it hard to chain vape the 24 when I first started though it did get me over some humps. Key is to take longer slower halls then you would with smokes or it will make you cough.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk 2

I'm the same way with the hand to mouth thing. Hubby and I have been together since I was 16 (he was 17) so it's not surprising that with us both being heavy smokers since before we met, how much that it is ingrained into our relationship. He is currently trying not to smoke around me, but it honestly doesn't bother me (not yet anyways!). When I got my stuff yesterday (purely by coincidence) I had just finished the last smoke in my pack (although there are 2 cartons in the cabinet). A couple of times I've reached for that pack without even realizing it. Had it of had anything in it, I probably would have smoked. But because it was empty, it reminded me to vape instead. I'm sure in a few days reaching for my PV will be more natural, but in the meantime I'm carrying around that empty pack to make me pause before smoking. LOL I have menthol in both 28mg and 18mg. The French vanilla I've been using is 28mg and the sweet coffee is 24mg and I haven't had any problems so far but I smoked very strong cigarettes. To be honest, I think the nic content is probably less important to me than the hand to mouth aspect. I keep going to the eRoll for that "smoke like" experience while primarily using the twist through out the day. Day 2... made it through my first cup of coffee with the eRoll in hand... so still no smokes!

 

[Hello World]

And I seriously haven't had a smoke since they came off the charger! Going on 5 hours and I haven't craved them at all (at least not yet).

Good indicators ...

 

[Lilkurty]

Roni,

Way to go!

Now use this calculator to decide what you want to do with your saved cash...be sure to show hubby too

KPOCU Quit Smoking Saving Calculator

 

[fourtytwo]

When I quit, I had one full (unopened) pack left. I kept it in the car for about a month as a safety blanket of sorts. It was comforting, in a way, to know it was there in case vaping did not work out. This relieved me of some of the stress of quitting.
After a month or so, I just handed the pack to a random homeless guy who was smoking on the street.

 

[Roni_M]

Thanks guys! Still haven't had a smoke and don't feel I need one. Kind of just feels like I've switched brands. I have a couple of cartons of smokes in the house (hubby and I smoke the same brand) so they are there if I wanted one, but I'm too lazy to go get them and I just vape for a bit and it completely gets rid of the urge. I ordered another eRoll today for my 19yo daughter (she fell in love with mine and tried to "borrow" it). So hopefully we'll be down to only one smoker left in the house.