OMG, my life has been changed! E-Cigs..

BrokenArrows

I could see that becoming an actual drug to replace cigs.

I dont smoke but temped to buy one to get a buzz. lol.

Calibos

Thats the thing. Smoking was never a buzz, not even my first one. Light headed on the first few at best or when I hadn't had one for a few hours. Almost from the getgo, the satisfaction from a cigarette was pretty much just making the craving go away if you get me. That edgy feeling of the craving being replaced by a calmness. That edgy feeling preventing me concentrate fully being replaced by an ability to focus fully again (until the cravings hit again.)

Nicotine doesn't make me feel better than normal or perform tasks better than normal. The addiction to nicotine and the withdrawls makes me feel worse than normal and perform tasks worse than normal and ingestion of nicotine merely makes me feel normal and perform normal. Had I never taken up smoking I wouldn't need anything to make me feel normal, I'd always feel normal!

It truly is the most pointless addiction ever.

That said, it has me in its grip. I've tried everything. All NRT's and pharmacuticals. Nothing worked. I am under no illusions that I have beaten this addiction. When we say we have given up cigarettes, we mean, that particular delivery mechanism. We are all as addicted to nicotine as we ever were. E-cigs have enabled me to reduce the health risks of that pointless but vice like addictive grip to virtually zero and have massively reduced the harm to my bank balance to boot.

I have utmost respect for anyone who has given up nicotine cold turkey but they lose most of that respect if they are the obnoxious type that belittle those that couldn't.

xzanti

Tony Soprano

How the HELL did that username go unclaimed until August 2012??? :eek:

Anyone

+1 for the ecigs. Off smokes 2 months and 9 days(not keeping track honest!). Cant see anything that hasn't already been said about them. They worked for me, and I'm seeing the benefit in my pocket and health.

emsie80

CarMe wrote: »

Thanks so much for this thread OP, I've been promising myself id give up by/on my birthday because my mam died from lung cancer. My birthday will be over in ten mins and here i am puffing away

Can anybody advice we where i can get a good starter pack around Clarehall or Clontarf/Fairview?

Theres a stand in Omni shopping centre that sells them. starter pack 50e (approx). includes refills, charger etc. OH bought one a couple of months ago

Mansized Wreath

Replacing nicotine with nicotine, yup logic in that! Get the Allen Carr book,got me off the damned things without any cravings,side-effects or feelings of loss. Highly recommend his method above patches,pills and nicotine replacement therapy (which mostly doesn't work long term).

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Mansized Wreath wrote: »

Replacing nicotine with nicotine, yup logic in that! Get the Allen Carr book,got me off the damned things without any cravings,side-effects or feelings of loss. Highly recommend his method above patches,pills and nicotine replacement therapy (which mostly doesn't work long term).

if you had a choice between taking caffeine in a cup of coffee or injecting it with a dirty needle, which would you prefer?

Anyone

Mansized Wreath wrote: »

Replacing nicotine with nicotine, yup logic in that! Get the Allen Carr book,got me off the damned things without any cravings,side-effects or feelings of loss. Highly recommend his method above patches,pills and nicotine replacement therapy (which mostly doesn't work long term).

Ecigs are a safer way of getting nicotine. They are not sold,marketed or designed as a way to stop nicotine usage.

Lenin Skynard

Mansized Wreath wrote: »

Replacing nicotine with nicotine, yup logic in that!

Surely that's the very definition of logic

Calibos

Interesting observation - Loads have people have recommended the Allen Carr book to me. When I ask them how long they are off the cigarettes now, 8 out of 10 reply, "Well, em, I'm back on them now......but but but, I was off for X amount of time and I didn't have any cravings......"

:rolleyes:

I know the Allen Carr book would not work for me because I looked it up on Wikipedia just now. It explains the basic theory behind it. Basically its what I posted in my last post!!! Didn't need any book to tell me that!! (ie. Cigarettes don't make you feel better than normal, they just take away the less than normal edgy feeling and make you feel normal again till the next craving. If you didn't smoke you'd always feel normal) So despite this fact being self evident to me since I started smoking, the realisation did not help me quit and thus the Allen Carr book which basically says what I already knew will be a waste of time for me.

Tony Soprano.

Mansized Wreath wrote: »

Replacing nicotine with nicotine, yup logic in that! Get the Allen Carr book,got me off the damned things without any cravings,side-effects or feelings of loss. Highly recommend his method above patches,pills and nicotine replacement therapy (which mostly doesn't work long term).

Yes there is total logic in it actually.

Why would I want to be consuming the following cancer-causing chemicals like Tar (a mixture of dangerous chemicals), Arsenic (used in wood preservatives), Benzene (an industrial solvent, refined from crude oil), Cadmium (used in batteries), Formaldehyde (used in mortuaries and paint manufacturing), Polonium-210 (a highly radioactive element), Chromium (used to manufacture dye, paints and alloys), 1,3-Butadiene (used in rubber manufacturing), Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (a group of dangerous DNA-damaging chemicals), Nitrosamines (another group of DNA-damaging chemicals), Acrolein (formerly used as a chemical weapon) andHydrazine (a very toxic chemical used mainly in rocket fuel).

Or poisons like Hydrogen cyanide (used as an industrial pesticide), Carbon monoxide (found in car exhausts and used in chemicals manufacturing), Nitrogen oxides (a major component of smog), Ammonia (used to make fertilisers and explosives) and a few more..

Nicotine doesn't even make the list, although it's one of the most additive substances known to mankind. Any medical professional will struggle to find a danger with nicotine.

While I vaping on my e-cig, all I'm doing is consuming Nicotine, and none of the nasty chemicals and poisons that cause cancer, heart disease, strokes etc. It works for me.

Tony Soprano.

xzanti wrote: »

How the HELL did that username go unclaimed until August 2012??? :eek:

I was shocked too. I guess the full stop at the end helped.

dj jarvis

FFS - the pop up ad in the bottom right hand corner IS FOR CHEAP CIGARETTES

the UK government a few months ago were talking about buying free vaps for smokers - no idea what happened with this , no doubt the smoking lobby had the civil servant shot in the face

all i can say is that out of the now 10 people i have recommended my vape to, have stopped smoking , and about half of them stopped using the vape altogether

now that is some hit rate
problem with that is this - the revenue lost will cause these things to be banned , mark my words - they dont give a flying f2ck about your health , they want your money to stay living in the lifestyle they are accustomed 2

Fr_Dougal

Just a quick update, e-cig arrived yesterday and I haven't smoked since. Was a 20-a-day smoker.

DEFTLEFTHAND

I'm a bit confused by the e-cigarette, is it used as an aid to quit smoking or is it to enable a person to continue without the fear of health issues.

The nicotine itself does increase heart rate and blood pressure so I suppose there's no such thing as safe usage. The highly addictive nature of the drug means its difficult to practice in moderation with tobacco. Have people found they smoke less with the e cig than they would have when they were using tobacco?

Stained Class

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

I'm a bit confused by the e-cigarette, is it used as an aid to quit smoking or is it to enable a person to continue without the fear of health issues.

It's a bit of both really.

Most go onto them simply as an aid to quit smoking.
Nicotine, in itself is relatively harmless. No more harmful than Caffene really.

Personally,I'm not fussed about it.
I'm off cigarettes 2 months using e-cigs & intend to continue Vaping for the medium term.

I know some that get really into it, buying the latest equipment, trying out diffrent flavours & trying to achieve the 'perfect vape'.

Whichever, I think it's a much better idea than Smoking ever was.

Enjoy nicotine, without the health risks of smoking & save a lot of money along the way.:)

--Kaiser--

I was chatting to my cousin a while ago and he used e-cigs. He said that in 5-10 years the only people still smoking cigarettes will be the same people who smoke pipes. It indulges the manual and oral fixation of smokers as well as providing a smoke substitute ('steam') and (obviously) nicotine.

So my question is, why aren't these more popular?

Stained Class

--Kaiser-- wrote: »

So my question is, why aren't these more popular?

Honestly don't know. They're a brilliant idea.

I smoked for 23 years & made the switch instantly.

I spose e-cigs of yore were more gimmicky & less reliable than they are now.

The kit has come on in leaps & bounds in recent times.

Godsentme

Tony Soprano. wrote: »

Pity they didn't work for you. Maybe try them again? Working a treat for me, and I was a hardcore smoker.

Worked for me too. 40 a day man. 10 weeks off now. No effort required. I would never have stopped otherwise.

Gotta go now - off to buy e1200 bed with some of the money I've saved:D

Tony Soprano.

Fr_Dougal wrote: »

Just a quick update, e-cig arrived yesterday and I haven't smoked since. Was a 20-a-day smoker.

Excellent Stuff!

Calibos

Godsentme wrote: »

Worked for me too. 40 a day man. 10 weeks off now. No effort required. I would never have stopped otherwise.

Gotta go now - off to buy e1200 bed with some of the money I've saved:D

The savings both in health terms and financial terms are exponentially greater for us ex-heavy smokers. The people smoking 5 or 6 rollies every day seem to break even while enjoying the health benefits. The 10 or 15 a day cigarette smokers save 50 or 60%. The likes of us 40 a day smokers save 80%. I'm off them just over 3 months and have saved 1500 euro. (See my sig for the exact figure) I think I've spent about 300 euro on e-cigs gear in that time and 100 of that was once off hardware costs. I think a lot of us 40 a day chain smokers were actually only smoking 25 or 30 full cigarettes but were letting cigs burn out and thats why our savings are more than expected.

While not specifically designed as a quitting aid they can and are used by many as such. One can get juices with nicotine levels down to zero%. Now of course one can switch brands of cigarettes and wean ones self down onto lower doses of nicotine until one gets to Silk Cut Ultra. However, there is no 0% nicotine real cigarette afaik and each step of the way down one gets less and less of a throat hit until one is sucking air from a Silk Cut Ultra. However, in the case of e-cigs only part of the throathit component is derived from the nicotine level. Most of the throathit component comes from the percentage of Propylene Glycol in the e-liquid/juice. (e-Liquids are based on ratio's of Propylene Glycol and Vegetable Glycerine + Nicotine + Flavouring. PG gives the throathit and VG gives the clouds of vapour. A juice with a ratio that has more VG than PG will produce more vapour but less throathit whereas a juice with more PG than VG will produce a stronger throathit and less vapour) So with e-cigs one can have weaned oneself to a 0% nicotine juice but still be enjoying the flavours they like and still be getting the throathit they like. With real cigs one is losing something every step of the way as one moves down nicotine levels while the things are still just as harmfull. Most people give up giving up before the reach Silk Cut Ultra ie. those that are trying to wean themselves off nicotine this way rarely succeed because they are giving up too many components of smoking that they are addicted to in one go.

Think of it this way. Not only is a smoker addicted to the nicotine physically, they are addicted to the act of smoking, the hand to mouth actions, the inhalation, the throathit, the reward after completing a task etc. With patches you give up everything about smoking except the nicotine on one go. You can't even stick another patch on to reward yourself for mowing the lawn:D With Lozenges or gum, you give up everything except the nicotine but at least you get to suck or chew on something to keep your mouth occupied. That first lozenge or stick of gum in the morning with your coffee just isn't the same though is it. Still loads missing. With nicorette inhalators one has a hand to mouth thing going on but the inhale is nothing like a cigarette and they burn the throat off ye and taste horrible.

With e-cigs they are close enough to a real cig for 50% of people to make the transition instantaneously and the rest usually have moved over fully after a week of having the odd real cig. Get a nicotine strength that fully deals with your cravings and spend a few weeks finding flavours that you like. You'll have put weeks and weeks between you and your last real cigarette. Even after a week or two the switch in your mind has already happened. E-cigs go from being a substitute for real cigs to real cigs being a poor substitute for e-cigs. (I bought a pack when I ran out of juice over a weekend and they were rotten and I couldn't wait till my juice arrived)

Step one complete. You hate the thoughts of a real cigarette, you can smell and taste again, your lungs are clearing of crap and you feel healthier and you are saving a fortune. So far you've lost nothing because you arguably enjoy vaping more than you ever enjoyed cigarettes and yet you've gained all the benefits I listed above. You can also start smelling people still smoking real cigarettes. I won't go so far and say it smells rotten but jaysus its a powerful smell coming off smokers.

Step two, you deal with one component of 'smoking' at a time till you have eliminated them all. Its easier to give one component up at a time than all together. Over the next few months you work your way down to 0% nicotine.

Step 3. Start buying juices with a higher ratio of VG to PG to wean yourself off your psychological addiction to the throathit.

Step 4. Vape the **** out of one particular flavour of 0% juice until your tastebuds are desensitised to it. You've now weened yourself off a flavourfull inhale.

Step 5. Shouldn't be too hard to deal with the remaining hand to mouth and inhale habit with all the other components already dealt with.

Stained Class

Godsentme wrote: »

Worked for me too. 40 a day man. 10 weeks off now. No effort required. I would never have stopped otherwise.

Gotta go now - off to buy e1200 bed with some of the money I've saved:D

40 a day. That's a fair amount by today's standards.

I was on 20 a day myself.

Funnily enough, I know smokers on 10 a day who are unable to give up.

You'd think they'd hardly notice if they did.

Fair play to you anyway.

Tony Soprano.

Stained Class wrote: »

40 a day. That's a fair amount by today's standards.

I was also a 35-40 a day smoker. Crazy stuff, for both health and financial reasons.

Was mostly getting smokes from friends coming and going from Eastern Europe at half price, and that was still a financial burden.

There's talk of cigarettes going up again in the budget. Close to €10 a box now. Mental. E-cigs have to be the best invention ever.

Stained Class

Tony Soprano. wrote: »

I was also a 35-40 a day smoker. Crazy stuff, for both health and financial reasons.

Was mostly getting smokes from friends coming and going from Eastern Europe at half price, and that was still a financial burden.

There's talk of cigarettes going up again in the budget. Close to €10 a box now. Mental. E-cigs have to be the best invention ever.

Thanks for starting this thread Tony.

I was already aware of the benefits of e-cigs/vaping & thru it have tried in my own small way to get people onto it.

It's alright on the vaping forum, but on AH we get a much bigger audience.

I stopped smoking on Oct 1 & haven't looked back since.

If it worked for me it will work for anybody!

I don't sell these things BTW.

Wibbs

Stained Class wrote: »

40 a day. That's a fair amount by today's standards.

I was on 20 a day myself.

Funnily enough, I know smokers on 10 a day who are unable to give up.

You'd think they'd hardly notice if they did.

I reckon there are a few categories of nicotine addicts going on SC. Some are "social: or habitual smokers, even if that be 60 a day. They're usually the alan carr/hypnosis/acupuncture I gave up on the spot quitting success stories. Then you have the "maybe nicotine is self medicating" types. They're number per day varies, but so long as they get their "meds" they're OK. I remember trying to give up with patches and I smoked with the first bunch of patches I got. Much less than normal but... Turned out I was balancing the hit to equate with my usual fags only hit. Moved up to a higher dose patch and stopped on the fags.

PS great post Calibos. +1000

admiralofthefleet

they wont replace my bensons

Stained Class

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

they wont replace my bensons

They don't have to. Each to their own.

I won't come down on anybody who smokes. I did it for 23 years & was hardcore.

E-cigs can be a way out for people who want to quit smoking, but don't want to give up Nicotine.

OneArt

I really need to get one of these. I thought a fiver for a pack was cheap when I first moved to Germany, but now even that's expensive to me! I had a go of a friend's e-cig and it was more or less the same. Something I could get used to.

Also, I don't want to quit smoking. I f*cking love smoking. So if there's less health issues involved, all the better.

Stained Class

OneArt wrote: »

I really need to get one of these. I thought a fiver for a pack was cheap when I first moved to Germany, but now even that's expensive to me! I had a go of a friend's e-cig and it was more or less the same. Something I could get used to.

Also, I don't want to quit smoking. I f*cking love smoking. So if there's less health issues involved, all the better.

You can use them to cut down on smoking or to quit atogether.

Each way, every cigeratte avoided is a good thing really.:)

DEFTLEFTHAND

I think I'm sold on the e-cig from reading all your experiences. With another expected increase in cigarettes coming up in the budget it might be a good time to start. I've a friend who already uses one but he smokes lights, I'm sure they come with a selection of different blends though right?

Also of course the health benefits, my hobbies are hill walking and mountaineering and the god dam smokes are starting to make the experience that more difficult. I don't know how Edmund Hillary became the first to conquer Mount Everest when at the time he was a heavy smoker. :pac:

Stained Class

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

]

Also of course the health benefits, my hobbies are hill walking and mountaineering and the god dam smokes are starting to make the experience that more difficult. I don't know how Edmund Hillary became the first to conquer Mount Everest when at the time he was a heavy smoker. :pac:

To be honest, aside from getting one's taste & smell back, I've not felt any better from giving up.

God's truth.

I spose thats cos I started smoking late.

Tayla

I've been using an e-cigarette for nearly 2 years now, I could give it up if I wanted to but I enjoy using it so have no inclination to give it up just yet!

metaxaaa

Few years ago I was try e-cig but I didnt like becouse is diferent taste... I smoking malboro , is any chance get e-cig with the same taste?

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Stained Class wrote: »

To be honest, aside from getting one's taste & smell back, I've not felt any better from giving up.

God's truth.

I spose thats cos I started smoking late.

i noticed my lungs and general "healthy feelingness" improving after a few weeks with the e-cig, but i'd only been smoking for about ten years and I was really only measuring it by how less difficult it was to climb the stairs to the floor my apartment was on whenever the lift was broken (which was quite often).

metaxaaa wrote: »

Few years ago I was try e-cig but I didnt like becouse is diferent taste... I smoking malboro , is any chance get e-cig with the same taste?

never understood smokers saying they prefer the "taste" of their own particular brand.. they all tasted the same to me. well, except for american spirit.. but even they were 99% the same as the rest i'd tried, just felt a little cleaner.

anyway no, you wont find a juice that tastes like a particular brand. the best you can hope for is a general tobacco flavour but even then since you're not setting fire to the leaf and inhaling the smoke it'll still taste quite different from an acctual cigarette. There are juices that are made with tobacco leaves steeped in the juice to get as close as possible to that cigarette like experience but even they are really nothing like an actual cigarette.

Wibbs

Stained Class wrote: »

To be honest, aside from getting one's taste & smell back, I've not felt any better from giving up.

God's truth.

I spose thats cos I started smoking late.

Some don't feel much benefit alright. I reckon because it takes time to start to come back. When I gave up for a year I didn't notice either, however I did notice a loss when I went back on them.

OldGoat

E-Vangelicalism.

It's still no cigar.

Tony Soprano.

metaxaaa wrote: »

Few years ago I was try e-cig but I didnt like becouse is diferent taste... I smoking malboro , is any chance get e-cig with the same taste?

You won't get a juice that tastes the same as Marlboro, even though you can buy a Marlboro flavour juice (and every other brand). I've know idea why they sell juices like Marlboro, B&H, John player flavour to be honest.

El Toro is the closet I've got to a real cigarette.

Just because it doesn't take exactly like a real cig, is not to say it's any less satisfying. Some people prefer an e-cig to the analog cigarette.

CarMe

Well OP, because of your post I've been smoke free for four full days, totally easy and hassle free!!
Im so glad you started this thread because it was always in the back of my head but wonder when i actually would have bitten the bullet!
Hearing of everyone's success is amazing, I feel great, Im not waking up all stuffy with a heavy chest, Im waking up much brighter eyed, earlier and happier!

scullersky

Stained Class wrote: »

Well, it's better that all those Gay threads that's been popping up here.

E-Cigs can save lives.

I'm well impressed by them.

Whats wrong with all the Gay threads? Im gay, of course they should be allowed, jist because im gay it doesnt make me and you any difference!

previous user

Trying to get me ma on these, she's in her sixties and smokes alot,
I don't want her to succumb to cancer or anything like that, it would break my heart.

Smidge

previous user wrote: »

Trying to get me ma on these, she's in her sixties and smokes alot,
I don't want her to succumb to cancer or anything like that, it would break my heart.

My father gave up last year after 47 years of smoking :eek:

AnonoBoy

Vapo-Heroin for me please.

Calibos

If she tries to use the arguement that theres no history of cancer or lung cancer specifically in her family as an excuse not to at least switch to these, then remind her that genetics won't prevent her getting COPD.

ie there is an arguement to be made that smoking only increases the risk of cancer in those genetically predisposed to it in the first place.

COPD on the other hand will eventually affect every smoker to a lesser or greater degree unless they stop.

CarMe

previous user wrote: »

Trying to get me ma on these, she's in her sixties and smokes alot,
I don't want her to succumb to cancer or anything like that, it would break my heart.

Aw please do, my mam was so fit and healthy other than her smoking and died at only 58 from lung cancer-directly from smoking. I wish I had tried harder over the years to get her to stop!

Call Me Jimmy

Guys I tried something like this, but I know it wasn't the type of vaping you's are talking about. What I'm wondering is, this cig I tried was same shape as a cigerette, I *think* it has vapour of some form in it but ye can't really tell if it's in your mouth or not (the vapour I mean). It also doesn't have a taste.

Can anyone give a comparison of these maybe older types of 'fake cigerettes' and this relatively new vaping phenomenon? I'm thinking of getting one for christmas but I want to know if it's much better than this previous thing my mam has. Not the best description but it just felt very hallow.

I assume with the taste ones ye get a better sensation, is there enough vapour that you can really feel it physically?

Stained Class

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

Guys I tried something like this, but I know it wasn't the type of vaping you's are talking about. What I'm wondering is, this cig I tried was same shape as a cigerette, I *think* it has vapour of some form in it but ye can't really tell if it's in your mouth or not (the vapour I mean). It also doesn't have a taste.

Can anyone give a comparison of these maybe older types of 'fake cigerettes' and this relatively new vaping phenomenon? I'm thinking of getting one for christmas but I want to know if it's much better than this previous thing my mam has. Not the best description but it just felt very hallow.

I assume with the taste ones ye get a better sensation, is there enough vapour that you can really feel it physically?

You're prob thinking of the 'mini cigs.

If so,it's the same technology as the newer kit that's been mentioned here.

They work on the same principal.

Of course, you could be takling about the Nicorette job either.

These are diffrent, as there is no Vapour involved. Theyre just an inhaler.

Call Me Jimmy

Yea I googled mini-cigs and it is one of them, a mini-cigerette atomizor.

So there's not much difference except for taste then?

Stained Class

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

Yea I googled mini-cigs and it is one of them, a mini-cigerette atomizor.

So there's not much difference except for taste then?

So, it uses a rechargable battery and all that?

They're okay, to see if vaping is for you.

The battery life is only about 3 hours with them & the reliability is variable.

Also, it's too easy to lose the little bastids

Once you've tried the newer types, you wouldn't go back to one of those.

The kit's come a long way, even in the last couple of years.

Call Me Jimmy

Well maybe the battery was out of whack or something because I could barely tell if anything was happening except for the cool 'ash light' that is produced from suction.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

alot of the disposable types come with pretty high resistance atomisers so they don't drain the battery in half an hour but because of this the vape can be pretty anemic