Hi all, this is my first and probably last post, as down under in the land of Oz, our masters are slamming the gates shut. My saviour is demonised and become a bland, inferior substitute sitting on a chemists shelf and guarded by the white coats. I pity the hundreds of thousands of smokers denied the same opportunity as myself, and detest the politicians whose hands now wear their blood. But governments fall and something will evolve from change, and I’m confident we"ll be back one day, but for now, I have to observe from the fringes. It could be worse though, and I consider myself one of the lucky ones, as I experienced vaping for what it could be before it became a roadkill. A ‘good ol’ days’ story for the grandchildren I may now live to see.
Many of you realise the toll of years of miserable failed quitting attempts. Some of my attempts were genuine, and some were pathetic, half-hearted offerings to appease a guilty conscience. Waking and the first conscious feelings being guilt and shame for what you desire the most, to surrender to an addiction that you know is killing you. To rob yourself, and those who you love, of your life, and to become intimate with hopelessness and helplessness. Sarcastically, I used to call tobacco my ‘life support system’ as there was no living without it. The chemist’s remedies took only the edge off the withdrawal madness, and the doctors poison introduced it own debilitating curse. Bed ridden depression didn’t seem like a smart solution. At least, that’s what a concerned loved one thought as they took my pills from me and said, “No more.” There were no more futile attempts as I was defeated. Self-loathing and accepting my fate was to die from something that I wasn’t strong enough to prevent. I gave up giving up.
May of 2019, the tide would turn. Whilst visiting a friend who was in hospital for lung cancer, as I sat and talked to the withered man and witnessed what I believed to be my own terrifying fate, he gave me my first vape. Sceptical to say the least, but upon first puff, the planets aligned, and something fell into place. For the first time in decades, I felt something not defined and something I struggled to remember. I felt hope.
The transition wasn’t instant, my juice wasn’t strong enough, and I was going through coils like lollies at a childs birthday party. 50mg salts burst onto the scene with a vengeance, as it would literally drop me in a euphoric dizzy mess. The elusive mythical nicotine demon I had been chasing for all these years could suddenly be caught, and it was grabbed by the tail, and we wrestled until exhaustion set in. Nicotine and I needed to come to an agreement, and the limits had to be learned. Whilst in the process of this, my smoking dwindled to a single habitual morning cigarette.
Two weeks into my journey, the unpalatable morning smoke was stubbed out after two puffs. Decades of a toxic dependence syndrome became transparent, and smoking was laid to rest that day. After an eternity of failures, there was no pain or struggle, and I hadn’t even tried. It felt as though I had given up quite by accident. My tobacco sat going stale, and sometimes I’d think ‘I beat you’. But in reality, I never stood a chance. My vape was the triumphant one.
That was five years ago, and there’s not the slightest urge to smoke again. Nostalgia surfaces when tobacco drifts on the wind as it reminds me of some good times, but there’s no desire to relive a past. It had taken a few years to find my happy place, but eventually, the code was cracked. The journey’s not over, I’m still vaping nicotine, and it is as yet to wave a white flag, but that doesn’t bother me. After 25 years of smoking, I’ve tasted freedom from tobacco, and now I’m not afraid to have hope for the future. And that is truly priceless.
@gone_bush, wow. That is one HELL of a first (hopefully not last), post.
I’m actually impressed, and hope that you are wrong, and NOT your last.
A tragic situation with barely any other way to describe it.
Wow great story and writing
Wow, sounds like a peaceful transition 
It’s stories like yours that just make me want to cry about the Australia situation. But you are right, empires fall and time changes all. Wishing you and your Aussie friends the best outcome possible ASAP 
I’ve been vaping and using nic for 10 yrs now and I’m doing fine and my doctor is happy. It’s probably the least of our concerns. Congratulations!
For the first month i was really worried that the products i bought wouldn‘t work for me and i would go back to smoking.
But every week without smoking gave me more confidence that vaping works for me.
I‘ve seen a lot of my friends starting to vape and then go back after a short time… just because they didn‘t understand what their addiction was…it‘s a mind game. Vaping just breaks your habit to light up a cig.
I’m very happy for you. Everyone has a different journey and much of that also depends on what was available at the time. The only thing near me was cig-a-likes at the gas stations and I didn’t like them that much but I tried to use them while I was still smoking, hoping it would help me cut down. It really didn’t so when I went on vacation I planned to take my last pack of cigs and a bunch of blu ecigs. After my last cig I was jonesing but the ecigs got me through the first rough days. Luckily, soon after that I saw someone vaping on an ego. She told me where I could buy one and that was the final nail in the coffin for cigarettes.
@Echodub you reminded me of how I made the transition. Back in the way back, the equipment, was kind of shit (not all, but a lot of it). Very limited selection, hell I even remember kiosks in malls pushing kinda “Ehhhh” equipment.
Somehow I found out about dripping on Ego atomizers, and somehow, I have NO CLUE, I was able to kick OFF of the cigs, over to dripping. Granted it was pretty high mg, maybe 24mg or higher, but somehow it worked.
Yup, yup, and more yup. Most of the “fails” I saw, were due to too low NIC levels, really bad equipment, and they just gave up.
30+ years smoking with no intention of quitting. I just didn’t think I could. I did think about it often and knew I needed to.
I saw an old friend walk into the local vape shop and followed them in just to say hi. They told me about the store and introduced me to the people inside. We hung out for a while, as I listened to them tell stories of friends and family who quit with vaping. They had my full attention.
They recommended a 65w mod with tank and explained the importance of finding a flavor I truly enjoyed. Just like that, I was vaping.
A few days later, I thought “oh no what have I done? I’m smoking and vaping.” For about a week I did both. One day I woke up, lit a cigarette and found it less satisfying than my vape. Actually, smoking wasn’t very good at all. I put it out after one drag and never went back.
I have been messing about making recipes for a while now and after a few weeks of experimenting, I came up with pb and jj and it’s been my every day vape ever since.
Welcome. Like you I was a solid pack a day smoker, and now I’m less than a month away from 9 years vaping.
A freshly opened pack smelled glorious, but while smoking all I got was a burn at the back of my throat. Vaping changed all that.
Fantastic to hear your story. Amazing how vaping can be a sufficient substitute for smoking when you find the right gear and juices that tickle your taste buds. Congrats and glad you joined the forum. Lots of great folks here who’ve been incredibly helpful to so many.
@big_vape Congrats on your upcoming 9 year smoke free anniversary. That is huge. I think I’ll have 11 years smoke free on September 30th.
I lit my first cigarette when I was around 15 or 16. With both my parents smoking, it didn’t take much peer pressure to get me to try it. What started as the occasional puff quickly turned into a full pack a day by the time I left high school. That later became two packs. By my late 30s, I switched to rolling tobacco and discovered flavoured blends, which I absolutely loved.
Then COVID hit. Lockdowns, bans, and desperation led me to a tobacco farmer, and I started making my own flavoured blends from raw tobacco. I knew it wasn’t doing me any favours, but at that point, smoking was just part of my life.
That December, after the lockdown was lifted, I was introduced to my first vape. I’d seen them around but believed the usual scaremongering—“they’re worse than cigarettes,” “they’ll kill you faster,” and so on. But after everything I’d been rolling and smoking, I figured I’d at least try one. Curiosity, more than anything, got me to take that first puff.
I started with disposables, drawn in by their rich fruity flavours. But then I got my hands on a PX80 and discovered dessert flavours. That was it. Hooked. I can’t pinpoint the exact moment I quit smoking because it wasn’t a conscious decision—it just happened. As my love for vaping grew, cigarettes faded into the background.
Then I got my first mech mod and RDA, and there was no turning back. I started making my own coils, mixing my own juice, and before I knew it, vaping wasn’t just a replacement for smoking—it was a hobby, a passion, and a way of life.
Today, I’m deeply involved in the vaping community, sharing my experiences, doing reviews, and helping others find better alternatives to smoking. I went from rolling my own cigarettes to crafting my own e-liquids, and if you told 16-year-old me that one day I’d be advocating for vaping, I’d have laughed through a cloud of cheap cigarette smoke.
But here I am. Smoke-free. Healthier. And loving every flavourful moment of it.
Thanks for sharing your story with us. Congrats on giving up smoking and finding that vaping is a sufficient substitute. I’m grateful for all of us who have quit smoking, whatever way it happened.
Almost 10 years into vaping, still loving the smell of a freshly opened pack, and still can’t stand the smell of burning tobacco or the stale smell still lingering on clothes…
Yes!!!
Instead of telling an awfully long ass story, I’ll just say that i did go back and forth over the past 8 years. It was mostly due to stressful life situations. Then I wanted to quit smoking again in 2023. Successfully went from chain-smoking to 3mg liquid, and now I just mix my own at 1.5mg. This time its for good. I very confidently feel I will never go back to cigarettes. I have too much enjoyment fiddling around with my vape, tanks and juices. My life is a lot better now too.
I think vape mods now are kind of like the new way of how the older generation people used tobacco pipes, you see the older generation that smokes tobacco pipes would have collections of them. My grandpa had a pipe collection. Now in this era, people have mod collections. Tobacco pipes needed to be cleaned and fiddled with, I think vape mods kind of give that same sort of activity, just in a different way. Not saying they’re the same thing, it just seems like they’re similar but different.
My story is i smoked “poppers” in highschool which is basically mixing tobacco with marijuana in a bong. I started doing straight tobacco unfiltered in a bong i got so hooked
this was so much worse than just smoking, I only started Cigs because i can’t always be doing poppers i would smoke and entire cigarette in about 4 massive puffs
thankfully i only did this for a couple of years and quit smoking entirely.
Thanks vaping