I can make myself stop killing people and storing the tastiest morsels in my freezer, but quit smoking? Too hard!
I highly recommend the vaping side-step. Bit the bullet and got a proper “mod” a couple of years ago, after a particularly nasty winter feeling like I was at death’s door (I’m 59 years old).
After a couple of weeks I could breathe properly and exercise became pleasurable again .
Started on 12 mg nicotine, now down to 6mg, I mildly anticipate one day cutting down to 0mg and then stopping altogether, but it’s no biggie if I don’t. Who cares about nicotine addiction in and of itself? (Moderate nicotine intake is actually quite good for you anyway.)
Best thing I’ve ever done for my health.
Nicotine has cardiac implications on its own. Also while it sounds like the ingredients in most vape juices aren’t carcinogenic (but note that isn’t conclusive either), breathing in hot vapor can cause lung damage which is carcinogenic.
My general feeling from all the various coverage is that while vaping is absolutely harm reduction, it is probably not harmless.
The vapor is not ‘hot’. If it is, you’re doing something terribly wrong.
Trivial google says vaping temps are 200-250C. That is extremely hot, although much cooler than combustion, linking it to the harm reduction thing.
The vape is cooled down before being inhaled. It feels like 40C maximum.
Obviously. Burning tobacco is 900C, if you inhaled 900C vapor you would die.
Point is it’s harm reduction, not harm elimination.
Then don’t say ‘breathing in hot vapor can cause lung damage[…]’ when you’re not actually ‘breathing in hot vapor’.
From what I’ve read it probably does, and you are. Do your own research, believe what you want.
That doesn’t magically make the vape hot though. Ca. 40C is not HOT. There is also no scientific evidence that vaping is damaging your lungs. It is probably not healthy I give you that.
That cardiac effect is the same as a cup of coffee or watching a sports event. It’s acute and means basically nothing.
I have to assume vaping is not harmless full stop, but it’s amazing as a harm reduction option and helped me stop my 20+ year habit in literally less than a week.
The random hysteria of the general media and soccer moms makes me furious. I personally could give it up now even if I still find it pleasant, but the idea of big money and media taking away from the options for others to benefit pisses me off.
I’ve tried vaping but it makes me cough and choke more than a cigarette does.
Sounds like you used it wrong and burned out the plastic. It’s very different from smoking and you won’t get a “kick”, and it’s easy to mess up when you start with it trying to mimick the cigarette sensation.
If you mix your own liquid, it can be a potential (although very unlikely) danger. Even when using only a relatively highly concentrated liquid (mine was 18mg) and that liquid pours from some reason, it can lead to some tachycardia and then decompensation, but while it is a very impressive momentary effect, it never caused real harm to anybody as far as I know— all it’s done is that it’s got me off the e-cig earlier than if it had had no issues at all ;)
To me, claiming e-cigs are a health hazard while there are absolutely zero proof of it is about as smart as asking people to stop breathing oxygen because it ages your cells.
That’s pretty much my feeling as well. The studies aren’t in yet, but it’s certainly less harmful than smoking tobacco and likely not harmless.
I suppose I’ve been quit now longer (11 years) than I smoked (10). Never once been tempted to go back to it. Ew.
For me, the biggest thing was recasting my mental model around the benefits of not smoking rather than the detriments and dangers of smoking.
Then I lost my sense of smell again to the fucking cancer anyway, but what can you do.
I’m to where I really want to quit and use vaping products to do it, but I can’t even fathom where one begins.
There isn’t much local as far as vape shops, so I’m pretty much relying on the internet, where everything is hard to buy because buying nicotine or alcohol on the internet is hard for obvious reasons.
My brain leans towards some sort of pen, to replicate the hand/mouth motion of smoking versus the big block of electronic hardware that I see a lot of people use. But again… no clue where to start. It’s a lot easier to go to a gas station and drop $6.50 on a pack then drop potentially hundreds on something I don’t even understand what I’m getting or what I want.
I think most people go to the gas station and buy a Juul or something, they’re cheap. Then if you like it you get into the super-deluxe steampunk inspired pieces of art. Certainly worthwhile to do it as harm reduction.
I’ve tried Blu systems, but they mostly fell apart on me. The disposable ones were actually decent, but then they stopped selling them. If I could get something like a reusable Blu disposable, I think I’d be a happy camper.
So I know in concept it something I like, it’s just the details after that. Seeing random tubes and things and reading Ohms and whatnot. Salts?! What? I’m lost at this point and sinking fast.
So I came here since I know some people here know what they’re talking about and can probably offer intelligent suggestions/advice/experiences.
I did the vaping route to quit smoking, and it works in that five years later I only vape and cigarettes don’t tempt me. So I haven’t shaken the addiction, but I’ve transferred the mental fixation to vapes instead.
With vaping there’s really two ways to go. You can get the big outlandish equipment that lets you blow huge clouds. I did that for a year or two because I didn’t know better and then gave it up. Or you can get a Juul. Nowadays I just use a Juul.
Juuls are good equipment but the business model is sort of like disposable razors. Starter kit is cheap, replacement pods are expensive. Luckily for the thriftily minded there is a workaround. Empty Juul pods can in fact be refilled and re-used with generic nicotine e-liquids. This is nice as it also allows weaning down to a lower nicotine level as regular Juul pods are pretty potent.
My advice for someone trying to get off cigarettes is to just go to a gas station and buy a juul starter kit plus a four pack of refill pods. Try that for a few days before investing anything further to be sure it works. It won’t be as good as smoking at first, but it will keep you going from nuts from nicotine withdrawl while you adjust.
If you like the Juul stuff, then go to a local vape shop and get a small bottle of e-liquid at a roughly equivalent nicotine level. I think, if memory serves, Juul pods that advertise as “5%” are 24mg/ml. So get something that strength. Start using that to refill your existing pods cheaply. Re-filling a Juul pod is a bit of an art as the things are hard to disassemble. Though with practice you’ll be able to do it in seconds without even paying particular attention. Don’t feel bad if you mangle a few learning how to do it. Just pop off the black cap, remove the black rubbery seal underneath that, refill, and reassemble.
That second bottle ought to last you a few weeks, and if you think you are sticking to the vaping then
order a cheap bottle of bulk e-liquid online. I use perfectvape.com and have been satisfied with their prices and service for the past few years. Their largest bulk bottles, the 32oz ones, cost like $75 and last me nearly six months. So I still have a nicotine addiction but I pay next to nothing for it compared to what cigarettes or actual juul pods cost.
Be very careful with the nico-juice if you decide to refill yourself and have kids or animals around, they can easily overdose and go into cardiac arrest.