Hiya guys, long time vaper here from UK.
A little background about me:
Like many here I was a smoker before becoming a vaper. I started working on a market stall when I was 15 (I'm 38 now). It was almost compulsary to smoke back then, and I recall my first cigg being a menthol because I thought minty = safer lol. I smoked menthols for about 2 week then switched to Berkley Red Superkings. I was a heavy smoker and in my early 20's switched to Marlboro Lights which I smoked exclusively till I was around 24, at this stage money took a turn for the worse and I switched to Golden Virginia (roll ups). I smoked till being around 34 then quit for a year cold turkey. Anyone who has smoked knows full well your never truly clear of the habit and sure enough due to stress and such, I bought a small pouch of GV and started again, but hated myself for it, and instantly felt the negative effects come seeping back within a few days (coughing, phlegm etc).
A friend told me to try Vaping. I tried the throwaways from a store, and while it had potential, it tasted vile. I did some research into Vaping, and was amazed how much was on the market, flavours etc. Cutting a long story short, after trying several products, VIP Cartomizers got me completely off of analogues. I used those for about 6 months without a single analogue. Around this time VIP were having some issues with their cartomizers and were being forced to change them, the new ones sucked, and then the whole nicotine law came into effect for E-Ciggs, meaning if you wanted high nic (I was on 18mg) then you needed to mix! With some amazing help and advice on the forums I discovered The Alchemist Cupboard and his RY4 mix, on emailing these guys I was aided in how to mix and where to buy Nic from in 72mg bottles. I have used the same mix exclusively up until last week. TFA RY4 Double, it was a beautiful vape, and whilst I became desensitized to the taste pretty fast, I continued to vape 50/50 PG/VG mix at 18mg on a Coolfire 4+ setup with Aspire Nautilus Mini Tank. Just like many here, the mod became a 2nd limb as I chain vaped. I loved vaping, but recently stopped last week.
I'm not one to be scaremongered and in truth missed all these news stories initially. I know Vaping had a negative effect on me, and many vapers I have spoke to had shown similar symptoms, nothing extremely bad, but short of breath, post nasal drip, coughing up phlegm etc. When you find a replacement for ciggs, you want that replacement to be risk free, and I think the issue with a lot of vapers is they are convincing themselves their E-Cigg is safe because they want it to be. I feel the news is taking things too far, but is there any truth in it? Whilst we want Vaping to be safe, truth is nobody knows for sure what the long term effects are of inhaling un-natural chemicals into your lungs. I've seen people swear blind their mod is safe, when fact is, they don't know.
So why did I stop? if I loved it so much? About 6 months ago I noticed my eye-sight was getting pretty squiffy, had an eye test, no issues. Couple of months later I developed pins and needles in both feet and hands (constantly) after a week or so this spread to my upper arms and face! Went to the doctors for a full MOT and thorough blood tests and ECG. Heart is fine, bloods perfect, doctors baffled. Went back to the Opticians, and while I drink a ton of water, they eventually discovered I had severe Dry-Eye, causing blurred vision. I upped my water in-take and used drops nothing changed. Last week worry got the better of me and I quit vaping. It IS just as hard as quitting Ciggs, I'm using patches and mist spray from Nicorette, but within 3 days the pins and needles have completely vanished. A few more days and my vision is improving massively.
This is just my observations, and is by no means another scaremonger post, I am interested if any fellow Vapers have experienced similar? I have been chain vaping over 3 years and these symptoms only appeared in the 3rd year, whats crazy is quitting vaping has totally cleared everything up (eyes still not 100%). I was convinced I had diabetes as many of those symptoms reflect that issue, but tests came back clean. My ingredients never changed during vaping, same Nic, same PG/VG direct from TAC store online, same flavour. Same mod same tank, I used 1.8ohm coils and they were always genuine as bought direct from Aspire.
I'm interested in hearing if anyone else has experienced any negatives to vaping, and if you feel there's any merit in these news stories. The USA stories seem blown up as users were taking part in dodgy CBD oil vaping, and the lad in the UK had a rare Lung Disorder, but it makes you wonder right? My issues alone have made me question the hobby I love.
A little background about me:
Like many here I was a smoker before becoming a vaper. I started working on a market stall when I was 15 (I'm 38 now). It was almost compulsary to smoke back then, and I recall my first cigg being a menthol because I thought minty = safer lol. I smoked menthols for about 2 week then switched to Berkley Red Superkings. I was a heavy smoker and in my early 20's switched to Marlboro Lights which I smoked exclusively till I was around 24, at this stage money took a turn for the worse and I switched to Golden Virginia (roll ups). I smoked till being around 34 then quit for a year cold turkey. Anyone who has smoked knows full well your never truly clear of the habit and sure enough due to stress and such, I bought a small pouch of GV and started again, but hated myself for it, and instantly felt the negative effects come seeping back within a few days (coughing, phlegm etc).
A friend told me to try Vaping. I tried the throwaways from a store, and while it had potential, it tasted vile. I did some research into Vaping, and was amazed how much was on the market, flavours etc. Cutting a long story short, after trying several products, VIP Cartomizers got me completely off of analogues. I used those for about 6 months without a single analogue. Around this time VIP were having some issues with their cartomizers and were being forced to change them, the new ones sucked, and then the whole nicotine law came into effect for E-Ciggs, meaning if you wanted high nic (I was on 18mg) then you needed to mix! With some amazing help and advice on the forums I discovered The Alchemist Cupboard and his RY4 mix, on emailing these guys I was aided in how to mix and where to buy Nic from in 72mg bottles. I have used the same mix exclusively up until last week. TFA RY4 Double, it was a beautiful vape, and whilst I became desensitized to the taste pretty fast, I continued to vape 50/50 PG/VG mix at 18mg on a Coolfire 4+ setup with Aspire Nautilus Mini Tank. Just like many here, the mod became a 2nd limb as I chain vaped. I loved vaping, but recently stopped last week.
I'm not one to be scaremongered and in truth missed all these news stories initially. I know Vaping had a negative effect on me, and many vapers I have spoke to had shown similar symptoms, nothing extremely bad, but short of breath, post nasal drip, coughing up phlegm etc. When you find a replacement for ciggs, you want that replacement to be risk free, and I think the issue with a lot of vapers is they are convincing themselves their E-Cigg is safe because they want it to be. I feel the news is taking things too far, but is there any truth in it? Whilst we want Vaping to be safe, truth is nobody knows for sure what the long term effects are of inhaling un-natural chemicals into your lungs. I've seen people swear blind their mod is safe, when fact is, they don't know.
So why did I stop? if I loved it so much? About 6 months ago I noticed my eye-sight was getting pretty squiffy, had an eye test, no issues. Couple of months later I developed pins and needles in both feet and hands (constantly) after a week or so this spread to my upper arms and face! Went to the doctors for a full MOT and thorough blood tests and ECG. Heart is fine, bloods perfect, doctors baffled. Went back to the Opticians, and while I drink a ton of water, they eventually discovered I had severe Dry-Eye, causing blurred vision. I upped my water in-take and used drops nothing changed. Last week worry got the better of me and I quit vaping. It IS just as hard as quitting Ciggs, I'm using patches and mist spray from Nicorette, but within 3 days the pins and needles have completely vanished. A few more days and my vision is improving massively.
This is just my observations, and is by no means another scaremonger post, I am interested if any fellow Vapers have experienced similar? I have been chain vaping over 3 years and these symptoms only appeared in the 3rd year, whats crazy is quitting vaping has totally cleared everything up (eyes still not 100%). I was convinced I had diabetes as many of those symptoms reflect that issue, but tests came back clean. My ingredients never changed during vaping, same Nic, same PG/VG direct from TAC store online, same flavour. Same mod same tank, I used 1.8ohm coils and they were always genuine as bought direct from Aspire.
I'm interested in hearing if anyone else has experienced any negatives to vaping, and if you feel there's any merit in these news stories. The USA stories seem blown up as users were taking part in dodgy CBD oil vaping, and the lad in the UK had a rare Lung Disorder, but it makes you wonder right? My issues alone have made me question the hobby I love.
