3 ms·

Define quitting smoking. Vaping hasn't helped me quit nicotine addiction, but I haven't breathed cigarette smoke in years.

by snarfy 11y ago

espadrine 11y ago
You must be the odd one out. Apparently, people that vape are less likely to stop breathing regular cigarette smoke than those that kept using regular cigarettes. > While there is no question that a puff on an e-cigarette is less dangerous than a puff on a conventional cigarette, the most dangerous thing about e-cigarettes is that they keep people smoking conventional cigarettes.
- jersully 11y ago
  I started using an e-cig 5 years ago and but for one relapse haven't smoked a cigarette since. They taste like licking an ashtray.
  - eknkc 11y ago
    Wow, 5 years is a long time. How much liquid do you consume? Had any chest x rays or something recently to see if it had any adverse effects on your lungs?
    - jersully 11y ago
      Yeah, I was an early adopter. As a geek who wanted to quit smoking, when I found there was a gadget that might help I was immediately interested. As a lifelong asthmatic it was easy for me to detect what cigarettes were doing to my health. I only smoked for about 5 years (I started smoking after a divorce) and easily transitioned to an e-cig. My lung health returned quickly when I quit analogs. Now my asthma is manageable with standard treatment (Advair). I don't even need a rescue inhaler anymore. I consume 5-10ml/day of 12mg nicotine e-juice.
- cthalupa 11y ago
  I only have data from what I've personally seen, but, this just seems... off to me. Sitting here and thinking, even without going to my facebook page and looking over my friends list, I can easily rattle of over 20 names of people who now vape primarily and rarely, if ever, smoke regular cigarettes, and the few that do have cut down from a pack+ a day to one or two. Yeah, it's anecdotal, but it's odd to me that my own personal experience has results that are a complete opposite.
- pizzeys 11y ago
  Personal experience/anecdote alert. I found that it took a few 'goes' at the vaping thing before I properly 'got it'. I enjoyed and saw the benefits of the vape from the first time I used it, but went through a few cycles of vaping-and-the-odd smoke, then a few weeks of only vaping, then back again, and almost gave up on the whole thing. Then for some reason last February, it clicked and I ditched the smokes completely. Not had one since then. No interest in smoking again, ever. I've described it to friends and family as being a bit like I imagine methadone is to junkies, though no personal experience there. It doesn't initially fill all the holes in quite the right ways (for me anyway, some love it immediately but I suspect those are the 'odd ones out') but is 'good enough' that it can work - it does however take a little effort to make work, it's not a magic silver bullet. It certainly was a lot more effective than any time I've tried to stop smoking using anything else, though.
ssharp 11y ago
This may be a really naive question (or I may be falsely inferring that you want to quit nicotine), but I'm curious: If you've cut out the behavioral addiction with cigarettes and are now addicted solely to nicotine, couldn't you slowly ween yourself from nicotine by gradually using liquids with less and less nicotine until you eventually end up using liquids without any nicotine?
- eknkc 11y ago
  You can. Liquids generally have a nicotine rating in mg per ml. I started with 18mg liquids, then 12, 6 and now 3mg (which is the lowest rating on most brands). I consume a little more liquid than before but it's probably due to my recent switch to 3mg from 6mg. As soon as I get used to 3mg, I'm finally gonna get some nicotine free liquids and start diluting 3mg to 2, 1 and then 0. Most people don't do this as far as I can tell though.
- nicwest 11y ago
  I did this a few years back, after about 9 months of vaping at decreasing nicotine levels. pretty much the day I swapped to 0 nicotine I started noticing people smoking in the street, within a couple of weeks I'd stopped vaping, and within a month I was smoking again. Up until this point I had not realised just how ingrained my nicotine addiction was (before this I assumed I was mainly just behaviourally addicted).
- snarfy 11y ago
  I could, but that's not my goal now. I've used nicotine for about 30 years. I've quit smoking/nicotine a couple times, for a few years each time. I was so much less productive and nearly failing at my job for those years that I went back to nicotine. I'd sure like to quit, but not sure my old brain can change at this point.

Define quitting smoking. Vaping hasn't helped me quit nicotine addiction, but I haven't breathed cigarette smoke in years.

by snarfy 11y ago

Define quitting smoking. Vaping hasn't helped me quit nicotine addiction, but I haven't breathed cigarette smoke in years.

espadrine 11y ago

You must be the odd one out. Apparently, people that vape are less likely to stop breathing regular cigarette smoke than those that kept using regular cigarettes. > While there is no question that a puff on an e-cigarette is less dangerous than a puff on a conventional cigarette, the most dangerous thing about e-cigarettes is that they keep people smoking conventional cigarettes.

jersully 11y ago
I started using an e-cig 5 years ago and but for one relapse haven't smoked a cigarette since. They taste like licking an ashtray.
- eknkc 11y ago
  Wow, 5 years is a long time. How much liquid do you consume? Had any chest x rays or something recently to see if it had any adverse effects on your lungs?
  - jersully 11y ago
    Yeah, I was an early adopter. As a geek who wanted to quit smoking, when I found there was a gadget that might help I was immediately interested. As a lifelong asthmatic it was easy for me to detect what cigarettes were doing to my health. I only smoked for about 5 years (I started smoking after a divorce) and easily transitioned to an e-cig. My lung health returned quickly when I quit analogs. Now my asthma is manageable with standard treatment (Advair). I don't even need a rescue inhaler anymore. I consume 5-10ml/day of 12mg nicotine e-juice.
cthalupa 11y ago
I only have data from what I've personally seen, but, this just seems... off to me. Sitting here and thinking, even without going to my facebook page and looking over my friends list, I can easily rattle of over 20 names of people who now vape primarily and rarely, if ever, smoke regular cigarettes, and the few that do have cut down from a pack+ a day to one or two. Yeah, it's anecdotal, but it's odd to me that my own personal experience has results that are a complete opposite.
pizzeys 11y ago
Personal experience/anecdote alert. I found that it took a few 'goes' at the vaping thing before I properly 'got it'. I enjoyed and saw the benefits of the vape from the first time I used it, but went through a few cycles of vaping-and-the-odd smoke, then a few weeks of only vaping, then back again, and almost gave up on the whole thing. Then for some reason last February, it clicked and I ditched the smokes completely. Not had one since then. No interest in smoking again, ever. I've described it to friends and family as being a bit like I imagine methadone is to junkies, though no personal experience there. It doesn't initially fill all the holes in quite the right ways (for me anyway, some love it immediately but I suspect those are the 'odd ones out') but is 'good enough' that it can work - it does however take a little effort to make work, it's not a magic silver bullet. It certainly was a lot more effective than any time I've tried to stop smoking using anything else, though.

ssharp 11y ago

This may be a really naive question (or I may be falsely inferring that you want to quit nicotine), but I'm curious: If you've cut out the behavioral addiction with cigarettes and are now addicted solely to nicotine, couldn't you slowly ween yourself from nicotine by gradually using liquids with less and less nicotine until you eventually end up using liquids without any nicotine?

eknkc 11y ago
You can. Liquids generally have a nicotine rating in mg per ml. I started with 18mg liquids, then 12, 6 and now 3mg (which is the lowest rating on most brands). I consume a little more liquid than before but it's probably due to my recent switch to 3mg from 6mg. As soon as I get used to 3mg, I'm finally gonna get some nicotine free liquids and start diluting 3mg to 2, 1 and then 0. Most people don't do this as far as I can tell though.
nicwest 11y ago
I did this a few years back, after about 9 months of vaping at decreasing nicotine levels. pretty much the day I swapped to 0 nicotine I started noticing people smoking in the street, within a couple of weeks I'd stopped vaping, and within a month I was smoking again. Up until this point I had not realised just how ingrained my nicotine addiction was (before this I assumed I was mainly just behaviourally addicted).
snarfy 11y ago
I could, but that's not my goal now. I've used nicotine for about 30 years. I've quit smoking/nicotine a couple times, for a few years each time. I was so much less productive and nearly failing at my job for those years that I went back to nicotine. I'd sure like to quit, but not sure my old brain can change at this point.