Long time vapers - how do you feel physically and mentally?

Dony

I went back on cigarettes in July 2015 and have been on them mostly ever since. I think I dropped the nicotine level too low too quickly (3mg). Ever since, I've just put off buying higher strength juice. I must sort that out as I want a few toys before holidays and a couple of months back vaping would enable that.

NewfieDrool

I still have the odd cig but I'm a sucker for cigars given the chance

PumpingtonSteel

give vaping another try, but speak to people about personalising your option. the machine, the juice (most importantly VG/PG or PG/VG)* and of course the strength.
I had FOUR attempts (e-lites, pathetic. cheap ego clearimisers - wrong mix of juice, cheap machines. amazon's top seller - went out of business; wrong juice. attempt #4 via an hour  in a shop did the trick). It was only when I got good advice that I was able to make the transition. 4 weeks in, I've managed to occasionally drop the juice strength sometimes (through a freebie and order error), and not been overly bothered. Not touched a rollie/really/stinky for 2 weeks now and the cravings are a fraction of their normal level
I went on holiday shortly after starting vaping, and my casual non-smoker friends were smoking more than me.....as an 18 year smoker, I was already seriously put off by their casual habit! find what works for you (speak to friends, post here, visit a shop) and give it another shot. could just be your approach from last time needs modifying


*(FYI the PG/VG thing is the two types of liquid that make up the bulk of the e-juice. PG gives more flavour (almost too much, VG gives bigger clouds. They're generally sold in 70:30 ratio of one or the other. PG irritates the throat (dry throat at night especially) way more than VG. So try the VG option - this is what made the difference for me. Buy premium juices (i.e. brand name) if you're going for a basic (pen) option (about 30ml of ~£10-£15) and when you move on to juice guzzlers (box-mods, the bulky machines you see committed vapers use), look at DIY juices or ebay (e.g. £20 for 300ml).)


maybe start a thread about your likes/dislikes/habits etc on here and get the ball rolling? my only regret is dismissing it after those attempts and not getting a machine for my needs earlier

PumpingtonSteel

been doing a bit of research

lung capacity improves after a month
Stoptober: What Happens To Your Body When You Quit Smoking | The Huffington Post
i'm also doing the bleep test on the treadmill (message me for details or use these times and speeds Multi-stage fitness test - Wikipedia) which i've done in the past to improve my cardio performance. I've always seen huge benefits when going from couchy potato to reasonable intensity training, however this time without the smoking (and hopefully higher intensity), I hope the improvements will be greater.

I'll be consulting my PT friend and researching techniques and will post back my progress in due course

Paul.B2

Wondering how long peoples senses of smell and taste took to return to something like how they should be. I've been vaping for 2 months now, not had a single cig and I don't think my senses have improved much if at all. I can't distinguish individual flavours in some eliquids i.e. I had a mint choc chip and could just barely taste a little mint, nothing else. The main way I seem to get flavours is from the residue on my lips after exhaling. Really hope at some point I can experience the different flavour on inhale to the one on exhale. I suppose it will take a while after 31 years smoking [emoji26]

NewfieDrool

What device and atty are you using?
It could be the liquid, your setup that may be letting you down a little with flavours and we all suffer the numb taste at some point which is a pain but that soon passes.

Paul.B2

Smok G-priv with big baby and baby beast tanks. Some flavours are great but others (same brand) nothing hardly there.

NewfieDrool

If you have the right power that suits your vape then it's the eliquid.
What can muck it up is if you try different flavours in with the same coil. It's always best to either replace coils or if it's a rebuild then the cotton needs changing and coil cleaned as some eliquid can really muck up the atty quicker than others.
I tend to like cold minty flavours which work well for me.
It's also worth pointing out that on a new coil it needs bedding in and you can get a bit of the cotton flavour to start with, it's also worth noting that you lose flavour once the coil and cotton gunk up.
There's some pretty good eliquids and some awful ones. It's finding the best that can be hard.

PumpingtonSteel

i'm sure taste and smell declined gradually as a result of smoking in a manner that we didn't notice. long term smokers probably can't remember how strong those senses once were. apparently it returns 'within days' (many sources suggest within days....have a read of Ex-smokers how long till your taste buds returned? • r/electronic_cigarette) but maybe not for everyone? just how not everyone coughs (I didn't) or get breathless (I certainly did!), maybe this was an effect that didn't affect everyone?
I would expect a better way to gauge it is farts and kale rather than eliquid flavours - we don't always know the strength of flavour of different juices, but if you use the reference point of smells and tastes you know over the years, compare how they used to be during your smoking days to now. maybe aftershave might be a good way of testing your smell sense? or a soap/bodywash you've used for a long time? and a meal you're very used to?
the smell that's most obvious to me now is the smell of others after they've smoked. i was almost blown away by a returning smoker whilst propping up the bar tonight....I have never smelt something so strong and so foul. and this seems to tally with the experiences on that reddit thread.

the downside of the return of senses is the reported increase in appetite. if food tastes better, you want more......if this is a concern for you, a bit of training may help - if you've beasted yourself in the gym for just 270-420 calories, you'd be less inclined to pig out on junk. I've lost weight this month whilst quitting (although at a slower rate given I've been quite controlled with the diet and have resumed training)

i have the same set-up as you, and use ebay homebrew juices. I taste the flavour just as much with this as I did with my pen vape, but people 10m away in a different room comment on the strength of the flavour now. maybe it's vaper's tongue - a known phenomenon where vapers become desensitised to the liquid's taste Vaper's Tongue: What It Is and How to Fix It - Vaping360

2 months after 31 years is awesome, well done....i know how i feel (roughly half your time in both categories) so you must be so happy/proud

Bebop4

I smoked for the last 30 years -filters tips for the first 20, roll-ups for the last 10.

About 10 years (or more) ago, i tried vaping when pen style, cigarette sized things were state of the art. Had myself a Janty doo-dah and it never quite got there. I was vaping more in tandem with cigs and couldn't see my setup ever replacing them. In the end the Janty just gathered dust.

About 4 years ago i got myself another mouth to lung setup. This time with a beefier mod in terms of power. At that time, trying to be a mock cigarette had been forgotten and the power was starting to get there, at least in terms of longevity (the Janty wouldn't last more than a few hours). But, it still wasn't there in terms of coming anywhere close to replacing the coffin nails for me.

About a year ago, my daughter came round with her setup - a direct to lung mod and tank. She persuaded us to have a go and we ended up getting similar setups. This was like night and day compared to the mouth to lung setup. This was really scratching the itch. The clouds were there which made you feel more like you were smoking, the flavour was on point most of the time. I felt i was getting something out of it, rather than just using it as a 'shield' to save me from the analogs.

So, i vaped in tandem with my roll-ups - i bought my tobacco in  bulk. Once the tobacco was getting near the end, i vaped more and more, until i was only lighting up twice a day - once in the morning, and once in the evening. Then the tobacco went, and i moved onto the vapes alone. It wasn't a walk in the park, nor was it a herculean task. Probably the best way to sum it up was that i felt i was 'missing' something - probably that huge dump of nicotine you get with a ciggy rather than seemingly more measured dose of the vape. It may also have been the lack of the 'extra' stuff they put in the tobacco also, although i don't think that roll-up baccy is anywhere near as bad as filter tips.

And now, i've been almost smoke free since the start of 2017 - i had 2 rollups from the missus (she still vapes and smoked) - smoked them both and didn't really enjoy them to be honest. I've had a few thoughts about having one now and again but i immediately think of the yummy flavour of my vape and go for that instead. My sense of smell is coming back - haven't noticed anything in terms of lung capacity or fitness - probably since it's been a short time and also probably it will be a teensy bit each day and thus not very noticable.

I'd recommend anyone who finds the mouth to lung isn't cutting it (although these have gotten better) try the direct to lung to get that 'itch scratched'

I also now roll my own coils, make my own wire and also make my own juice. I'd recommend doing all of these to everyone. Coils   cotton work out as pennies per week. Juice will be 60-95% cheaper for you - i just made a litre (yup 1000ml) of my daughters fav ejuice, a Grape and Menthol concoction. Grape Juice Flavour was £21, Menthol was a fiver, Nicotine was 9 quid, and the base PG/VG was under a fiver - so around 40 quid for that litre. There is a place, OnePoundElquid, where it's £1 per 10 ml, but normally you end up paying £5 per 10ml here in the UK. So, at worst, i've just saved myself 60 quid, and at best i've saved £460 - win (and if you vape a menthol only juice, its practically for nothing)