I QUIT Smoking by VAPING. The DATE, My STORY

General Health and advocacy
1

Continuing the discussion from VaperVersaries ! Let's celebrate your quit date. :slight_smile::

Guys, Gals, @Alisa 's VaperVersary ( Congrats !! ) Gave me a idea. A week ago I realized that ELR content does show up in google searches. I would very much like to see “QUIT SMOKING” search on google to bring up this thread so others will read our stories. Alisa, not to steal your thunder girl. Just like you, I want to spread the word and want the best keywords for a Google search. Sooooooo…

Let’s use this thread to tell the world that we have completely quit smoking because we Vape. When we quit, and what is our story…

94 Likes
2

Great idea!

I dont remember the date anymore. I smoked for 30+ years and the day i got my starter kit was the last day i had a smoke, this was somewhere around 3.5 years ago. Since then i have gotten everyone in my immediate family to switch to vaping too. It hasnt been so easy for everyone but they did it and i couldnt be more proud.

Just to throw this out there. I tried many cigalikes, they just didnt cut it for me and i dual used during that year and a half period. Ego batt/ Ego-T was my first then some evod tanks, this is what got my to quit.

44 Likes
3

I was thinking I was now smoke free for over two years.Glad I checked, I wrote down my last cigarette was 12-30-2012.I smoked a pack to a pack and a half per day for almost 30 years.
I was celebrating Thanksgiving with the family in 2012.My Brother in law and I was watching football after enjoying the meal.I lit my cigarette as usual and I noticed my BIL has this ecig.I asked him about it and he informed me that he had quit smoking after my nephew (his son) bought him this.
Then the next month I am at his house celebrating Christmas.My nephew and I was talking and I lit up a cig.He told me I should try vaping , I explained I honestly didn’t want to quit smoking.I haven’t had any medical problems and I enjoyed it.He explained that vaping to many wasn’t simply a way to quit smoking.He told me about how flavors and the nicotine delivery was way better than smoking.
I went home and the next day I was running errands and noticed my nephews car at the local vape shop.I decided to stop and came out with about 5 bottles of juice and a ego starter kit.I finished the last of my smokes about 3 days later and I have never lit another cigarette.
I honestly believe if I can quit anyone can.

60 Likes
4

I started smoking when I was 13 years old. I smoked for 47 years and in my last days of smoking I averaged 2 packs a day. At that point I was having trouble taking a puff on a cigarette without coughing my butt off. I had been told probably a decade ago that I had the beginnings of COPD. Kept smoking cause nothing worked to help me quit. The Patch, Nicotine Gums, Anti Depressants they said would help, the works. I then discovered Cigalikes. These too were failures due to the way they operated. Cigalikes operate by releasing the vapor once user suction is great enough. This needed suction, and sudden release is enough to cause a person who has COPD to cough their @ss off. The lack of control made Cigalikes ineffective. THEN, my daughter bought a vaporizer and showed it to me. Suddenly I realized "Hey, there’s actually Vapes you can control due to the fire button. On November 8, 2013 instead of buying my normal carton of cigarettes, I bought a cheap vape. It was a challenge due to my HEAVY nicotine addiction and quite frankly the junk available just slightly over 2 years ago. I managed to stay off the cigarettes from day one. Now it starts getting real interesting…

Ever see the Vape Meme where the guy takes a puff on a E-Cigarette and the next day opens a Vape Shop. Well, not exactly me but within 3 months time I opened my shop. I realized Vaping really works and I want to sell them. Next month I will have been open for 2 years and I have helped numerous people completely quit smoking with Vapor Cigarettes. Some even asked me to special blend and wean them completely off of nicotine. Some even quit smoking and then even quit vaping. I wish I could help everyone but let’s face facts. You have to truly WANT to quit smoking for it to be effective. Truth be told Vaping is the ABSOLUTE MOST EFFECTIVE means of quitting smoking available at this moment IF you truly want to quit smoking…

To date I have been smoke free for 2 years, 2 months and 2 days. I estimate I did not smoke 35640 cigarettes approximately. How much money did I save, A WHOLE LOT !!! Thanks to Vaping I can today breath better, Smell better, Taste better, and quite frankly feel better than I had just over 2 years ago. I can only thank Vaping for this improvement…

OH, @JoJo would you please pin this thread?

56 Likes
5

Been around cigarettes all my life. I started sneaking them when I was 12 or 13 and by 17, I was smoking just under a pack a day. 33 years later not much had changed except the increase in daily cigarettes.
I tried everything in between to quit, Hypnosis, pills, cold turkey…nothing lasted more than a couple of weeks and I was not fun to be around. In 2014 a co-worker gave me a cigalike which I used for a couple of days but that just increased my craving for a real cigarette. That went into the junk drawer. My co-worker had graduated to RBAs and mech mods and gave his vivi nova tank and spinner. This changed everything and on 12/24/14 I had my last cigarette.
I started buying smoke-shop eliquid and combining the awful flavors hoping to come up with something better tasting and decided to look online for any tips. I found e-liquid-recipes.com and again, the game changed. With the education I received from others just like me, I lowered my nicotine level, learned what was safe/unsafe and found that I had the power to make the biggest positive difference in extending my life.
My father died of lung cancer and smoked up to his last week of life. I didn’t want that.
I now breathe easier, my skin has cleared up, taste buds have gotten better as well as my sense of smell (can’t stand the smell of stale cigarettes now!) and I’m sleeping easier. Vaping has given me a brighter shame free outlook and I’m grateful for it.

42 Likes
7

Great idea, @ringling . I do hope this finds someone, somewhere that needs it…

I smoked for over 40 years and hated my addiction. I always felt like an outcast, especially with many family members. A leper of society. Having to go outside in bad weather, etc… I hated myself for the last 30 years because of the addiction. I tried everything to stop smoking. I quit cold turkey, was put on prescription Wellbutrin (which caused me to be suicidal), used the patch, Nicorette gum, even did Hypnosis treatments. Nothing worked for more than two weeks. I was miserable as a slave to analog cigarettes.

In 2009, I first noticed these ‘e-cigarettes’ on the market and picked one of these ‘cigalikes’ up from a convenience store. I thought ‘what an awesome invention’. It had 18mg of nicotine and tasted nasty, but I KNEW this could be the answer for me, if it was improved in taste and vapor production. I started researching online and found newer models. Bought several different ones and used them irregularly, but cutting my smoking down.

January 8, 2015… my husband (who never smoked), took me to a ‘Vape Shop’ here in my town to see if they had a device and some eliquid that would help me finally quit smoking completely. The wonderful people there spent about 40 minutes with me, helping me to decide what would work best and set me up with a new mech mod and tank with some Watermelon-Mint ejuice at only 4mg nicotine. I no longer need high nicotine, as the greater vapor in this device satifies me. THAT did it. I only smoked 3 cigarettes that next day and the next.

On January 10, 2015, I became smoke-free!!

:joy:
It was the beginning of a new life.

Today, I am still smoke-free. I feel WONDERFUL. I breathe so much better, everything tastes better, and I no longer STINK. My husband is also extremely happy and grateful for this new Vaping technology and we tell everyone we know how important Vaping is to public health and to save people from the effects of analog cigarettes.
.#vapingsavedmylife, #casaa

39 Likes
8

This is my story of how I QUIT SMOKING BY VAPING just as I posted it on August 25 2015 on CASAA.ORG

I started smoking at the age of 12 and continued for 46 years. At the age of 45 I was diagnosed with COPD but still continued my 2 to 3 pack a day habit. Christmas Day 2015 my daughter that is a college student studying nursing gave me a triple e-cigarette starter kit and 2 bottles of e-juice as a present. I had been talking about trying one for several months. That was by far the best Christmas present I have ever received. Truly life changing.

Over the past 15 years or so I had tried everything that was available both over the counter and by prescription with no success in stopping smoking. Christmas day 2015 I started using my new e-cigarette and very quickly realized that if I could get accustomed to the vapor instead of the smoke that this could really work. It took me about 3 weeks to get accustomed to the vapor but what a difference this has made in my life. About a month into this I was able to cut back to less than 1 pack per day and 2 months in I was able to give up my life long addiction to cigarettes.

Now as I am writing this I am 8 months cigarette free. As for the difference in my health all I can say is I am amazed at what a difference there is. While my COPD will never go away I have managed to reduce my blood pressure medicine by 50% and my breathing medications (abuterol rescue inhaler and by nebulizer) by more than 75%. At my last doctors appointment I was told by the doctor that while he was not ready to condone the use of e-cigarettes as safe that in my case he agrees that I should continue doing what I am doing. I started at 18mg nicotine and am currently down to 3mg of nicotine. I honestly feel better than I have felt for many years.

It is my belief that the use of e-cigarettes has undoubtedly changed my life for the better.

39 Likes
9

Upadated version of my entry at Vape Stories - Real Consumer Testimonials - CASAA
Y’all should copy and paste these up there too, if you haven’t already done one!

I had been a smoker since 1994.

I’d never seriously tried to quit, even though I kept thinking I really needed to quit, often rationalizing that “at least I wasn’t smoking that much” at just 2 or 3 packs a week.

One day I went into a tobacco store to buy a couple packs of cigarettes. I noticed their ecigs, asked the clerk to tell me about them and ended up buying an Ego style battery and CE4 clearomizer in a blister pack, a bottle of 18mg e-juice, as well as a pack of cigarettes.

I had no intention to quit smoking.

This was just me satisfying my curiosity about these devices.

Over the next 3 days, I “vaped” quite a bit and my cigarette usage dwindled until the 3rd day I realized I had gone all day without a smoke.

So I went outside, lit one up, and was shocked by the unpleasant taste and feeling.

I just didn’t want it anymore.

I put it out without finishing it, and haven’t had one since. That was well over 2 years ago.

I’ve had occasional cravings which I am able to ignore thanks to vaping.

I know other people who are using ecigs to try to quit who have not had as easy a time with it as I have, but for me this just works, and I wasn’t even setting out to quit!

33 Likes
10

I started smoking at 14 and by 17 was a pack a day smoker. I’m 47 now and over the years have tried everything except for antidepressants to try to quit the smoking habit. Told the Doc no chance on the antidepressants I’d rather smoke than run the risk of the side effects on the bottle.

Best attempt I had to quit smoking in all those years was for 6 months going cold turkey. Each time I started back though I binged. At times I was up to three packs a day.

September 25, 2015 I had just finished a stressful day at work where we had just launched a new product and customer traffic was extremely heavy. I work in a younger environment and many of my coworkers vape. I had been talking with one of them at lunch about vaping and the gear he was using. After work I drove straight to a vape shop near my house. I spent about 20 minutes with one of the guys there discussing starter mods and what would be good as a means to help quit smoking. I walked out a few minutes later with a Kanger Subox Mini starter kit, a charger, extra batteries, and three 30ml bottles of juice. I haven’t picked up a single cigarette since. I’ve had many of my ex-smoker friends offer them, sometimes in jest, sometimes playing Satan to see if they can tempt me.

The sensation of vaping using modern equipment and with the variety of juices now readily available made it easy for me to walk away from a several decade long habit. The same habit that nothing the doctor prescribed for me even put a dent in. Soon after, I found this forum and it’s been a great haven both as a community support group and as a living knowledge-base for all things vape related.

Thanks to you all for helping me and many others have a chance to become smoke-free!

28 Likes
11

Guys, Gals, I have been noticing something as I read everyone’s story. Our stories are different BUT they are so the same. I honestly feel like I could take a line from each of your stories and tell my story. Am I the only one? And for those who haven’t told their story, we’re all eager to hear them…

27 Likes
12

Hello my friends, lets see here. I started smoking when i was 10 years old. Just stealing one here and there. By the time i was 15 i was at a pack a day. 21 i was up to 2 packs a day ,plus a shit load of marryjane lol. I’ve tried using the patches , gum , even a pill. I’ve tried to quit hell 6 or 7 times.
Nothing ever worked. I got into vaping several years ago. But back then all they had was them little vape pens lmao. The little atamizer with the little silaca wick in them. Tried that a while. And i really wasn’t getting anything out of them. So here we go back to 2 packs a day.
About a year or so rolled by. And i started noticing the new stuff that came out. I was like a kid in a candy store. All the new flavors. The DIY liquids in our local vape shops. About 6 months went by and i was rocking with a brass monkey macanical mod, and atty. I was doing great. Then one day a lady hit me head on while i was riding my motorcycle. Crash bang. ICU i went.
They asked me if i smoked. I told them no. I was a vapper. So they put 21mg nicotine patches on me. No matter how many times i told them they still put them on me.
At this time 14 days latter. I had one og republic mod and one atty. My atty broke in the wreck. So right back to smoking i went. 3 packs a day. One day i went to see a friend at work. He was like damn that cigarette stinks lol. I went home got me a bottle of mothers milk and a new atty. I went from 3 packs a day to like 10 a day then 5 a day then 2 a day. Well its right at 6 months now I’ve not smoked one. My wife still smokes and no it really don’t bother me. Yes a still get that craving out of no where. But it don’t last long. Its like a sudden earge. I now have a lab set up for making all my DIY. Have i saved any money so to speak. NO. But thats ok.
I feel so much better. I don’t wake up haking my lungs out. This is the best thing i could have ever ever did in my life besides merrying my wife.
If anyone is thinking of vaping instead of smoking. Don’t buy none of them cheap starter kits. Get you a good mod and atty. Find you some good juice and away you go. But you have to want to quit.
I hope this little story will inspire someone out there.
Word of advice. Get on this sight and use this sight for support. Everyone on here will always be there to help. I find just being part of this sight has inspired me. Im now 49 be 50 on the 14th of feb. So your never to old to try.
Good luck and god bless

28 Likes
13

Thank you for the extra push to write mine. I’m usually the shy quiet one and have spent most of my time here reading how to’s and looking for answers to my current problem. But I have enjoyed reading everyone’s quit story so here is mine…
I started smoking when I was 12, getting my cigarettes from stealing them from others. When I was 15 I got my first job and could then buy them myself, and by the time I was 17 I was a full time smoker. I smoked three quarters to a pack a day. I continued this for 20 years. I had tried several times to quit with patches and gum. My most successful attempt was cold turkey and that was two weeks, and that was only because it was too cold outside to get more. I had horrid dreams when I used the patch and the gum tasted terrible. I’m only 38 and I really enjoyed smoking, but knew that I should quit. I am lucky that I hadn’t had any health issues from the cigarettes, besides the smokers cough and crackly chest and throat while lying down. One day when I was shopping I noticed the vape pens in the grocery store, so I bought one. The flavor was like a maple tobacco and it was pretty good, unfortunately it had ZERO nicotine. I continued to use it off and on for about 2 days before it died. One week later I went to my local vape shop and spent about an hour with them. I walked out with my Aspire starter kit and 30ml of a strawberry juice and 10ml of a tobacco. It cost me about two week’s work of cigarettes, but I had enough juice to last me a month. I think my original plan was to just use my vape for the two weeks and then go back to cigarettes. I used the vape for the first day and then realized I could do this, I could quit. The first week was good, the second was a little bumpy. But I did it, I haven’t had one cigarette since I walked out of that vape store 4 months ago.
I still go outside on my breaks at work to vape, and the smell of other smokers doesn’t bother me at all. What I don’t like is the smell of stale smoke and I smell it everywhere. Since I’ve quit I too have gotten my sense of taste back, and have become the picky eater I always was. But what I am eating tastes so much better.
Thank you to everyone here at ELR for playing your roll in my support to stay off cigarettes. You don’t hear from me much, but I have been an active reader for 3 months now.

28 Likes
14

Say it loud and proud! Glad you shared with us.

16 Likes
15

I first started vaping about 2 years ago. Cig-a-likes, pens with clearomizers, later the egos. I did this along with smoking as they just didn’t quite fill the total need.
This went on until April 20, 2015. April 16th there was a head cold that swept through my workplace. It lasted a day for everybody and then immediately turned into bronchitis. Everybody was suffering. I was miserable. The smoking was aggravating the heck out of it. After 4 days of hacking, little sleep and too many decongestants, i went to a local urgent medical clinic to get some relief. The nurse took my vitals, left the exam room. A minute later the Doc came in and told me he wasn’t going to treat me and that I needed to go to the emergency room. My blood pressure was very very high. 215 over 148 to be exact. I went to the E.R., the Doc at the clinic must have called ahead, they had a wheel chair waiting for me at the entrance. They wheeled me to a room…with a crash cart outside the door. I was thinking to myself “these folks think I am about to die”. It was a horrifying experience and one hell of a wake up call. They managed to get my BP down and me out of stroke risk and hypertensive emergency and sent me home with a script for BP meds.
April 21st, (the day after my ER visit) I went to a local vape shop. I HAD to quit smoking and I was totally determined to do just that.
I walked out of that vape shop with several hundred dollars worth of mech mods, drippers, an iStick 50 and an Atlantis tank along with about 180 ml of some juice.
The last smoke I had was the one I had before I walked in that vape shop and I haven’t looked back. Smoke free since April 21 2015.
I started getting more exercise, because I felt like being more active. I could breathe better and much easier. When I went to the E.R. I weighed 262 lbs. I now weigh 225. I’m 6’4" so now I look more like the bean pole that I resembled in my youth. LOL
I just checked my BP. 140 over 84. Not perfect, but not too bad. :slightly_smiling:
VAPING SAVED MY LIFE! and made it very easy for me to quit smoking.

28 Likes
16

I started vaping 4 years ago because my daughter got very sick. I had to get her to stop smoking. I bought her some gear and started vaping myself. For her it worked immediately. She also got her husband off the cigarettes with vaping. Her health started to improve! At first - it didn’t work that great for me. The old equipment did not pack enough of a punch so I vaped and smoked for about 2 years. It cut way down on the cigarettes because I really liked being able to vape indoors. This year the sub ohm gear got a lot easier to use and this was the year everything changed for me. Once I got a higher power mod and sub ohm tank regular cigarettes tasted horrible to me. I’m not coughing anymore and have not had a single chest cold since I started vaping full time (and I have terrible seasonal allergies). Every now and then I still get a craving but the minute I vape it’s gone.

25 Likes
17

I’m going to try a two part post. I’m a 61 yr old former 1 to 2 pack a day smoker. I smoked for over 45 years. I’m proud to say ‘former’. There is no way I’d be able to say that, if it weren’t for vaping. I was able to go from 1 to 2 packs a day, down to no cigs at all, in less than a week, because of vaping. I haven’t had a cigarette in almost 6 months. I don’t even get the craving any more. I feel so much better, health-wise.

Now for part two. This is for those that have discovered this site for the first time, and were attracted by the desire to quit smoking.

Yeah, yeah, I know…your situation is unique. Your triggers, that cause you to light up, are unique. Well guess what? YOU’RE RIGHT!! That’s exactly why vaping can, and will work for you.

No one knows what triggers your need to light it up, better than you do. After eating… having a coffee or a beer, when you wake up, socializing with your friends, getting on the phone, etc. Your triggers are unique to you. No doctor, therapist, acupuncturist, pharmacist, or drug company knows your triggers like you do. They cannot treat you with a general remedy, designed by statistics.

With vaping, YOU design your own, specific program, that fits your unique, individual needs. You find the nicotine level that suits your need. You decide what it tastes like, and it can really taste good. You decide to pull it out, hit the button, and get your specific ‘dose’ exactly when your ‘light it up’ trigger strikes. Believe me, it works.

You were smart enough to find this site. You are smart enough to ‘design’ your own unique program to accomplish this goal, if you really want to. We will help you here. We’re not selling anything here. We deal one product here. A desire to help others. You will not find a community that wants to share assistance, support, and knowledge anywhere else, like this wonderful group of people on this site.

You’re at the doorstep. Just do it. Come on in.

32 Likes
18

Well said dude…

17 Likes
19

I agree with you on the goggle search. If I could get just 1 person to successfully quit smoking by sharing my story I certainly will.

There’s so many things in our different stories I can identify with or have done. I started smoking when I was 12 years old , stealing them from my mom when she wasn’t looking. This kept up for years off and on. I started to really be consistent and have my own pack everyday by 17 and smoked a pack a day for around 10 years. I slightly dropped off over the years wanting so badly to quit. I never was successful on my own , cold turkey was just torture.

I tried the gum ( it was so gross and spicy took my breath away.) Then tried the patch and it was so strong even the lower mg patch was too much and made me have low blood pressure. Lightheaded and nausea made me return to smoking again. This continued on for years. I was so ashamed of smoking I hated myself for continuing but was so addicted I continued anyway , even after I lost my mom to lung cancer. Talk about addicted and ashamed. All the while me being a nurse, I was giving advice that inside I knew I couldn’t even take much less giving it on a professional basis I was living a lie and hating every minute of the nagging yoyo emotions of the love / hate I had for cigarettes.

So, Jan. 28th will be 2 years no cigarettes , I can not tell you how much better I feel and smell. I tried several cigalikes over the years and kept failing until I went to a vape shop and sat down and tried a ego e cig. I left the shop with 2 650 mah ego ecigs with a whole bunch of flavors mainly at that time all tobaccos because it was all I wanted to know about, But there was a grape in there that hooked me and it changed me forever with my new found love for flavors. If I could say one thing to someone that would encourage them to quit it would be Do it for yourself, Do it for 30 days and keep at it. I started and never smoked another cigarette after I bought my set up and never have looked back. It is my promise to myself and to my family because I deserve better and so does everyone else that’s struggling with the addiction.

I now vape 3mg nicotine I started at 16mg and landed around 12mg for quite awhile. I stepped my nic usage down week by week. I would have to say the hardest nic level was leaving 6 for 5 mg IDK y but it was.

I encourage anyone who wants to quit to at least try an ecig, I honestly believe you have to want to quit. I actually researched and did a lot of reading when I was gearing up to quit and I did whatever I could to keep triggers down I even said goodbye to my last cigarette I told my last pack you will not control me ever again, I am over you and we are going to permanently break up as soon as I finish this pack and we have and my life is so much better because of it.

22 Likes
20

Yea I’d say vaping saved your life alright. You were headed for a stroke that night. I’ve been a nurse for almost 11 years and the highest bp I have seen has been 230/120ish
You were in hypertensive crisis easily could of stroked or had a massive heart attack or aneurysm. Thank God you found vaping and stuck w/ it. I would take 140 SBP any day over 215. Keep being active and vaping I bet you will be normotensive w/ in this year. Since technically 140 is pre hypertensive.

I had pharyngitis the 2 weeks b4 I finally took the plung. Smoking the last few cigs out of my pack b4 I had gotten so sick and then was cold turkey the whole time being sick and 3 days after feeling better then started vaping.

The withdrawls were so strong I was literally drenched in sweat ( gross ) but after 3 days the headache sleeplessness and mood swings subsided and vaping took over and I have been good to go since !

18 Likes