Vape as smoking cessation

This was a dramatic week as "the worlds worst ever storm event" loomed off the coast of my part of America. Nail biting suspense was reduced to ho-hum as folks discussed the needs to create a category 6 for the impending doom that awaited the people living along the coast. Last weekend the end was near.

This weekend folks in NC and SC are feeling the effects of a nasty rain event. I'm feeling very blessed to still have electricity after what was predicted a week ago.

The event got me booted outta town where I work as mandatory evacuations took place. At home we had stocked up on non perishable foods and batteries. But by the time I was sent away from the project, the storm was taking a better path for my area, so we relaxed and paused long enough to pray for those less fortunate.

We stocked up on cigarettes but knew that wouldn't be necessary since our vape devices were charged up. Having a few to choose from meant in the event of extended darkness we were good to go for several days. We also have a multitude of power packs to use and full tanks of gas if car charges were needed. We also have power sipping e-cig pods when all else fails. My Geek Vape Aegis Legend uses a 26mm battery that lasts 2 weeks between charges. My Kroma's last at least a week. The wife's pen devices are the weak link as they last a couple of days.

In the old days a hurricane meant keep matches and lighters handy. But this was the first time my thoughts turned to available vape devices in times like Thomas Jefferson lived in.
 
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When I heard about the Storm I thought about you and said "What a week to give up smoking". It was meant as sympathy not sarcasm, before anyone is moved to shout.
P
 
Pete,

Years ago we had one called Isabell travel right across the town I was staying in. A few months before my brother had stopped smoking after a mild heart attack.

No power and being it was after dark when the worst part hit we were standing on his front porch watching giant trees sway back and forth. Being inland about 100 miles the gusts were only in the 60's and sustained was in the 40's. Then a sudden gust that seemed like 100+ shook the entire house. He and I were like "dam, we lived to tell about it"... He says "give me a cigarette, please". He smoked a couple while we continued watching the storm (or at least what we could see) and next day he was still a non smoker. He resumed sometime later.

I had stopped for 6 months once. My 7 year old son disappeared one day. Turns out he had ventured next street over into a back yard with a privacy fence following a kitten that had been in our yard. After I found him I started smoking again. Have stopped twice since, (once for two years) and made it through tragedy. Divorce, job loss, family crisis etc.
Yet when things settled down I resumed smoking.

I'm still at 15-20 a day. Crazy part is I smoke more at work out of habit. I walk a while, go back to my truck and smoke one. Walk some more, repeat. I've noticed it's more before lunch. Then from 1pm to quitting time I vape.

The last 5 or so are in the evening while I do stuff like post in this thread. I've had two. But only took a drag or two from each one. Another habit from vaping.

See a vape doesn't burn between puffs. I take 2 or 3 puffs per session. Sessions are 8-10 minutes. Now whenever I light a cigarette I take 2-3 puffs at first then when it's nearly burned all the way 2 or 3 more. So even though my consumption number-wise has not changed lately my puff count is way down. Even my coworkers have noticed they rarely see me smoking anymore.
 
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No huge reduction to report. Matter of fact my smoking per day was creeping back up and vaping going down. One day I found myself walking around at work with a device in one hand and lit cigarette in the other.
Yikes!

This past weekend I resolved to stop that nonsense. Saturday was nearly all tobacco smoke. Sunday was nearly all flavored steam.

Todays commute involved an unlit one in my hand with a puff off a vape device each time I felt the urge to light up. That actually worked pretty good. Once I arrived at work all the typical call for action made old habits second nature.
Tomorrow the unlit cigarette trick will be tried at work too. Mondays are pretty hectic, but Tuesday typically allows me to think more and a lot less instant decisions required.

I up'd my nicotine level a smidge with one device I keep nearby for stressful times. Heck, during stress I hardly smoke at all. It's those unconcious times I need to focus on.

Today for example, I instinctively lit one, set it in the ashtray and began to brush my teeth. I thought "whythehell do I do that?"

Tomorrow I'll set a little vape device on the bathroom sink instead of an ashtray.
 
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A few weeks have passed and I still smoke. Little by little times I smoke are replaced by vaping. Some days are better than others.

Triggers have been mostly solved. But will power can be as rare as an honest politician at times. That first smoke of the day leads to more.

Now as a rule the decaf coffee, no chocolate and getting more excersize is paying off. I don't smoke before 8am and not after 6pm. Used to be by 6:30am I'd have lit up. Now my first nicotine is from a vaper and not before 7:00am. After work I smoke 1 more before supper and none after that.

Stress as a rule does not trigger smoking. Lack of will power does. The one issue that daunts me is hands-free vaping. Say I'm installing a household thermostat. Tooth hold of a cigarette is just too easy. A cig-a-like can work but as a rule they suck. So I tooth hold an unlit cigarette.

Another issue is that taste you get after a while with no drink or cigarettes. 40 years of drowning that out has been replaced by mouth watering candy or sipping on a tastey beverage.

A recent event at work got me rattled. I don't mean an instant stress that is over after a bit. It was the kind you end up thinking about the rest of the day and into the next day. A great time to excersize your will power. Me? I got lazy. Old habits. But instead of carrying enough cigarettes for a week I ran out of the days supply and did not stop at a store or bum from anybody. Nor did I chain vape.

My boss ordinarily relies on me to be the calm in the storm. He noticed I was quirky and blathering. He said "you're jumpy, go have a smoke". I said "I'm out, I've smoked my Tuesday supply". He said to go buy more. lol.
I went into my George Herbert Bush voice and did his famous 'not gonna raise your taxes' quote "not gonna do it, no sir". I told him I was rattled.

I work on a project where government agency 1 is mad at agency 2 who is mad at agency 3. Agency 3 needed us to straighten up some issues. For months all was well. Then one day agency 3 visited our project and wrote a list of minor infractions. Lots of them. Agency 2 said "what's with the big list?" "Thought you guys had gotten that project straight." They set up a surprise inspection in case agency 1 caught wind that agency 2 had not gotten agency 3 straight, who had not gotten us straight. Agency 1 is the American government. And they too were coming the next day.

Visiting day. My role was to walk along with the bearucrats and laugh at their jokes. I couldn't. The contractor I oversee pulled a bone head move at a very bad time. So upon arrival of the parade of bearucrats I was baby sitting a ticking bomb so to speak. They arrived where I was and all gasped... "holy crap, why are they doing that" the crowd said in unison. I explained how the contractor was taking advantage of a loop hole in their rules and I was monitoring the deal in case the worse happened.

The boss sent in a replacement and said for me to walk with the crowd. Not one minute after we were out of site from the area I received a text that the perverbeal bomb had exploded. I secretly texted my boss who smiled and walked away long enough to make a phone call. The parade moved forward, not knowing what had taken place one minute after they had left.

Basically it was where the contractor was sucking muddy water out a hole and into a bag shaped filter. The filter was getting clogged so the bag was swelling like a hot air balloon. We had asked them to use a new bag before the crowd arrived. According to specs they did not have to. When the bag burst it sent muddy water flying 50 feet in every direction. The bearucrats would've been covered with mud had it burst two minutes before it did. Instead cool conduct kept them from knowing it happened.

At the end of the parade, where they painstakingly evaluated our project without prior notice agency 1 said to agency 2 "well done". Agency 2 said to agency 3 "those inspectors have done a fantastic job, why do you keep picking on them?" Agency 3 said "if we don't pick on somebody we'd be out of a job and you guys would be back in trouble with agency one". Fair enough.

Next day in a meeting the big boss says "holy crap, that bag really exploded one minute after you guys left?" "And they never knew it?" "Holeeeeeee crap". "Well done guys".

My boss pulled me aside to say he regretted that I had become so rattled but he could see why. And he said how freaking cool it was that the bag had not burst any sooner. He said "I doubt we would've gotten a passing score if we had murdered one of the bearucrats". lol. He said "dang, I needed a cigarette after that and I don't smoke". lol
 
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:laughing: luckily i dont get that much excitement in work! Great read as always.

Rach is more back smoking(lights maybe 5- 10 a day), but i did tell her, having 1 or 2 a day just does not work. Been there tried that, always end up moving to 3 or 4 or 5 or or . Only way is to stop full stop which of course is the hard part. Maybe one of the hardest things to do....................ever! I found having the vape in hand the only way, that way you dont get cravings as often or as intense. Rach often left to one side, too late then. Craving hits hard and need a cig, but with a vape, even when not needing it, kind of keeps you topped up enough to combat the cravings. They still happen at 1st, but not as intense if makes sense.

Stick with it Mike, any reduction is a reduction:thumbsup: Maybe next time you have a vacation(or just off work for a week) would be a better time. Having a week or more behind you before thrown in the deep end, the work related cravings start may help the battle a little. Either way good luck, stick with it, you can give up anytime you want😎
 
Mrs Fixer has been smoking more than I do lately. She is typically 5-10 a day but lately it's been 15-20. She uses a Vappresso Armour Pro and a JAC Vapour Sandstorm. Typically the Armour gets charged half way through the week. This week it was still at 50% battery I put in it last week.

She is learning a new role at work (involving possible promotion) while a good friend is days from succuming to cancer. She has also taken on a second job training dogs for crazy rich people.

So my little drama is nothing compared to hers lately.

Man, last evening I bought one of those cig-a-like style devices. It uses nic salt and the pre-filled pods use 50ml nicotine. And man does it hit!!!! I coughed and coughed and coughed after the first drag. Holy head-rush. I found myself driving like 12mph while everyone else was going 40+. The wife says "the speed limit is way faster than you are going." I said "I'm soooooo high right now". It reminded me of a device I used 10 years ago. Back then I'd take a hit or two and go hours without a cigarette. It also reminded me how awful those things were back then.

It fits in my shirt pocket like a carpenter pencil. Yet 50mg? It's like trying to stop an oxycodone habit by smoking heroin. So I'll probably give it to a youngster at work who has trouble carrying their automobile battery sized device. It was worth a try and I wasn't out much money in the grand scheme of things.

It made me appreciate my Zenith tanks and devices. So smooth, so tastey.
 
There was a thing on the radio about Ecigs the size of a USB stick. Apparently they're very popular in schools.
I thought of you then, perhaps, after that post I'd better not mention it.
P
 
My mod uses(eats!) 2x 18650 cells, usually vtc6 3000mah. Today i am on my 3rd cell/s swap .....................and thats playing red dead redemption 2 lol(that means my hands are on the controller not the ecig more). Typical day, i start ready to go fresh, i swap out mid/late afternoon and charge up. Then i swap out near bed time ready for morning, ones that are taken out get put on charge as soon as i get in from work................repeat 5 days/week.
 
peter yetman said:
There was a thing on the radio about Ecigs the size of a USB stick. Apparently they're very popular in schools.
I thought of you then, perhaps, after that post I'd better not mention it.
P
Click to expand...

It is unfortunate that so many youth are able to acquire nic vapes. If it's to stop smoking, great. But they're kids...they just started smoking a few weeks ago.

IMG-20181030-075224.jpg

L to R:
My flashdrive vape, my credit card vape, a business card and my carpenter pencil vape.
Top is an iPhone 5s.

I just started using those minis this week and they are very relevent for smoking cessation. They 'smoke' just like a cigarette and disappear in your pocket.
 
My brother in law and his wife are about a year into trying to quit. Both are/ were a pack a day, give or take. They both carry and use your carpenter pencil sized e-cigs, Mr. Fixer. When we get together, I really don't see them smoking less, just puffing on these more. I think the small size and convenience makes it easier to smoke more. Had a friend who was trying to quit, he started rolling his own. Didn't pre-roll any, but carried everything with him to "make" a smoke when he wanted one. Made it somewhat inconvenient and time consuming to smoke, which helped him cut down.Hang in there, stick with it. It's worth the effort.
 
Some say "oh, second puff from a nicotine vape and I was done smoking". Perhaps some could stop that easy. Most?
No... Freakin'.... Way!!

You've gotta say no. Be it cold turkey, using a nicotine vape crutch, losenges, gum, chantix.... You still at some point have to say no.

My brother told me today that tonight was his daughters first night of fall dance class. This is her 4th year. He stopped smoking about the time I started this thread. He told me that he times when to go get her eight minutes early so he could smoke one cigarette. He said this year he instinctively left 8 minutes early and discovered "oops, I don't smoke anymore".

I just started trying out the micro nic vapes. So far the carpenter pencil is out. Super strong juice reminds me of smoking pencil shavings and makes my heart race.

The credit card one takes away my urge to smoke but requires priming each time I use it to get a drag. Then the next one is a choker.

The flashdrive one seems like a Goldilox. Juuuuust right.

But to be honest, if I have cigarettes and a vape in my pocket, the cigarette still wins. So the idea is to not carry cigarettes around the construction site and vape instead. It covers all kinds of habits like hand to mouth, something to hold and even teeth hold is not an issue for me, personally. So far so good.

Tonight I'm having an after sundown cigarette. First one in October. I love being outside on a crisp evening and enjoying just one cigarette is bringing back all kinds of fond memories.

I sense I'm nearly done smoking cigarettes as the other morning when I first woke up my first thought is no longer about cigarettes. I got in the kitchen with the Mrs who asked if I wanted some coffee and a cigarette. I said "no thanx".... I had slept in that day and just didn't care for a cigarette until much later. And even then I was just going through the 40 year habit of motions.
 
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