For the super-addicted: Is vaping really needed?

[eyeball kid]

Completely agree with this, but I would add that I’m definitely a lot less addicted to vaping than I was to fags. Although I would still struggle to stop vaping tomorrow, I can go much longer without it and never have that neurotic, climbing the walls, dread feeling I would get if I couldn’t smoke when I thought I needed one.

Very true. There's definitely a psychological change now. If I leave my vape at home when popping out I do think "bugger" but It's no big deal. If that had been when I smoked I wouldn't have settled until I'd gone to a shop and picked up some more.

 

[Leni]

The question:
Do you feel like the best chance you have is to just quit without vaping, or quitting after trying vaping, given the fact that the reason you ended up vaping is because you were too weak to give it ALL up in the first place?

Given the fact that vaping, your best chance, doesn't work for you - how are you going to stop? WILL you stop?

I find your post a bit confusing A couple of times you say you've failed and that vaping does not work for you, but then you also managed to quit smoking by vaping, at least for a certain amount of time. So it has worked for you to an extent.

Can you remember what it was that caused you to start smoking again? Being around smokers? Dropping the nic from your juice? Life stresses? Vaper's tongue? Getting too involved in the hobbyist side of it and then losing interest? Self-sabotage? A combination of factors maybe?

This is just my reading between the lines here - I may be totally off target. I would say the cold turkey approach might do you more harm than good. Your OP gives the impression you already feel that you're a failure and 'weak' for not being able to quit smoking. Imo it would become a self-fulfilling prophecy - you'd lapse and it would compound those beliefs further. The more (subjective) 'failures' you have, the more difficult it becomes to believe something is attainable.

 

[Sp3ckyh0td0g81]

I quit smoking middle of last year after 20 years on the stinkies I couldn't have done so without vaping and I'm now down to 3mg where I'll probably remain for good now, I have no intention or desire to try quitting as at the times I am really needing that nicotine fix vape gives me that where if it wasn't there I would have probably smoked
For me it's harm reduction and it has become more of a hobby for me
Interestingly when I smoked if I had to go extended periods without a cig for whatever reason I'd be a deranged on the edge mad man, with vaping I have had days where I'm incredibly busy at work and have went 6-7 hours without vaping and while I've been looking forward to getting a good vape i can manage without it easily enough
I have no issue knowing I'll not quit the vaping I enjoy it too much and while it is a replacement for the cigs I don't view it as such it's more of a hobby and something that brings me a lot of enjoyment something smoking never really did

 

[eyeball kid]

As leni said. Perhaps a shift in perspective is all that's required. Don't look at the vaping stage as a race to the quitting line, look at it as a step in the right direction that eventually may lead to you quiting. If it does then great if not you've still achieved a lot. If you should eventually vape less or stop. Keep a mod, tank and your favourite high nic juice in th cupboard for moment's of stress. It's not going to cost a lot to replace your juice every 18month's to keep an emergency set up fresh just in case and to stop you buying smokes.

 

[zouzounaki]

I find your post a bit confusing A couple of times you say you've failed and that vaping does not work for you, but then you also managed to quit smoking by vaping, at least for a certain amount of time. So it has worked for you to an extent.

Can you remember what it was that caused you to start smoking again? Being around smokers? Dropping the nic from your juice? Life stresses? Vaper's tongue? Getting too involved in the hobbyist side of it and then losing interest? Self-sabotage? A combination of factors maybe?

This is just my reading between the lines here - I may be totally off target. I would say the cold turkey approach might do you more harm than good. Your OP gives the impression you already feel that you're a failure and 'weak' for not being able to quit smoking. Imo it would become a self-fulfilling prophecy - you'd lapse and it would compound those beliefs further. The more (subjective) 'failures' you have, the more difficult it becomes to believe something is attainable.

Good post, Leni. Interestingly, for me being around smokers now totally reinforces my dislike of fags. Maybe right at the start for a week or so that was tricky, but not for long at all. It didn’t take me long to go right off them.

The one time I tried to stop cold turkey was very counter productive. It was a nightmare, I was climbing the walls and didn’t even last a day and a half. There’s no chance I could have given up cold turkey, and all that attempt did was reinforce the belief that I’d never be able to stop, and reinforced the idea that I didn’t want to stop, and liked smoking.

 

[CarbonBoy]

I'm a weird one. I dropped down to 0nic in the first two months of proper vaping. By that I mean I wasn't duel fuelling. I don't miss the nicotine at all.

What I am addicted to is the 'act' of smoking. The ritual. I've known this for quite some time. I'm not sure if this makes me even weaker or just plain stupid. With the exception of the fact that I do love a couple of the juices I vape, there is nothing I'm substituting.

This is why I do plan to stop vaping. I haven't set a hard and fast date, but I do think it needs to be this year, before I plough too much money into this hobby.

 

[andipandi]

@stevoknevo 's model is the classic cycle of change model, used very much by the old community alcohol teams, can work a treat because you can just keep starting over, there's always a starting point in there somewhere. I found the cycle of change really helpful for my gambling problem, less so (ironically) for the alcohol and never considered it for the fags.

Personally it took vaping and 36mg nic (at the start) for me to cut down (2012-2015) and then quit smoking altogether, nothing else ever worked, hence why I smoked for 28 years. Vaping is great, you can even have your dose of weed without combustion.

 

[zouzounaki]

@CarbonBoy , if you diy liquid and build coils, the way I see it is that once you have a really good set up you get on with, it costs very little. I still buy the odd tank here and there, but compared to what i spent on fags, even with it being roll ups, it’s still substantially less. Good luck bough, if you do decide to quit soon.

 

[Lord Grim]

I haven’t really got a lot to add that hasn’t already been said except:
I started vaping nearly seven years ago. I had my last cigarette nearly six years ago. I still honestly don’t know how I’d get on if vaping was taken away tomorrow.
Some people manage to use vaping as a tool to quit nicotine entirely, others of us, the ‘weaker’ ones use it to continue getting our fix. All we have done is swap one delivery method for another, safer alternative.
Don’t ever forget that you, I and many others here are addicts. Like any addiction, it only takes one slip to get back to where you don’t want to be. But if you do slip, remember that you’ve done it once, you can do it again.

Sorry, that didn’t start as a motivational post, put it down to stream of consciousness.

 

[Ment]

Like many, I'm a bit confused too.

You've used vaping to give up smoking, why do you want to give up vaping?