Have I really stopped smoking?

[smudge]

Nov 29, 2012 19:55:57 GMT Blownupdolly said:

I have found that my overwhelming success has been 100% due to the fact I have convinced myself i am STILL smoking! I don't really care what the official take on it is. Thinking this way just works for me, with all the added bonuses of being able to do it indoors and even in the hospital!
I think if I started to think about it differently, in that I was denying myself something I wanted I would be on a slippery road.

This is exactly how I think of it as well and this is the only time I've ever quit and felt happy about it. In the past I think I convinced myself I was depriving myself of something I needed - and that was never going to work. As far as I'm concerned I'm still "smoking" - just doing it in a much safer way.

[Pam O]

I have stopped smoking, I no longer set fire to a paper tube full of leaves and inhale the SMOKE. I could have stuck on patches or got mouth spray or used lozenges or gum or an inhalator, but instead of all of these I now get my nicotine through an inhaled vapour and to me none of the above are smoking

[lobeydosser]

Thanks for these answers.

I didn't start smoking so that I could inhale tar or carcinogenic chemicals, indeed I was a smoker for well over 40 years before I even realised that these things were in cigarettes.
No, I started smoking because I liked the effects that Nicotine had on my system.

So, apart from the bad publicity, my health and the price, I would probably still be a smoker.
The fact that I can now still satisfy my Nicotine craving without compromising my health and my bank balance (much ), is all to the good.

However the word Smoking has come to encompass a number of actions around the use of tobacco just as the word Vaping encompasses a number of actions that does not necessarily involve only using e-cigs.

Unfortunately there is not a word I have yet come across that defines a person who is simply addicted to nicotine.
A NICOHIC perhaps.

If I go through a certain set of motions that ends with me inhaling a substance that includes the chemical Nicotine and other people choose to call that "smoking" and I then go through much the same set of motions that end with me inhaling a substance that includes Nicotine, the mere fact that Vaping has many advantages over Smoking, does not, in my opinion, make it all that different from smoking.

Different Yes, but not so dissimilar that I would dare to class myself as a non smoker.

[suede]

I see it both ways and can't make my mind up either way ???

[yorkcitytom]

It's clear to me that I'm still a smoker as vaping doesn't even begin to help you leave behind the action of inhaling something to obtain nicotine- if e-cigs were banned tomorrow, the first thing I'd do is buy a packet of fags.

BUT, having tried every quitting method including Champix, anything that stops me smoking cigarettes and not feeling depressed about it is some sort of miracle.

I'm a smoker who has chosen a much healthier alternative to cigarettes.

[djs]

Nov 29, 2012 18:08:02 GMT ChillerVapes said:

Anyone who thinks they could easily light up a fag after at least a month of constant vaping I challenge you to try it. You will soon think "what the hell was I thinking?!"

Red rags and Bulls?

[giles]

I don't think of myself as a smoker any more. I think of myself as a vaper, which is another sort of nicotine addict. I have more in common with other nicotine addicts than I do with those not addicted, but less in common with smokers than I do with vapers.

Nicotine addiction seems to me to be more significant than how you take it. I'll always be a nicotine addict, even if I succeed in giving up nicotine.

[andym]

Nov 29, 2012 20:18:25 GMT lobeydosser said:

Unfortunately there is not a word I have yet come across that defines a person who is simply addicted to nicotine.

Yes there is and you have used it...............it is ADDICT!Simple,no ifs or buts.Nicotine is one of the most highly addictive substances know to man.Like most things we do,drink alcohol,smoke tobacco,use enough of it and you WILL become PHYSICALLY and to some extent Psychologicaly dependant on the Nicotine or Alcohol.Thats when you HAVE to get your nicotine fix or dose of alcohol and if you dont then your body lets you know it and you get the DT's and Nicotine withdrawl symptoms.

[alanfinal]

I consider it the best way to stop smoking,I work with another guy who has successfully stopped smoking,after a health scare he used patches,which probably just psychologically helped,but he has the one problem I had before when I stopped,he has a food intake that is a lot higher than when he smoked and if anyone is honest for years he will have this little voice in his head that says ciggy ciggy,for that reason I consider myself an x smoker and a vaper and much better off

[djs]

As mad as it sounds, I've been using an E-Lite today.

Trouble with all these mini e-cigs is that if you do indeed manage to get 40 cigarettes-worth out of a carto, each of those "cigarettes" is basically 0.1mg of nicotine. I smoked 1.2mg fags, so where does that leave me?

Arghhh.....climbing walls, biting my nails, suffering withdrawal......

I'd need to vape one of these 12x for one fag.

I hate being chained to nicotine. :-[

[Clutter]

Nov 29, 2012 16:43:02 GMT lobeydosser said:

This is just my observation, but have I really stopped smoking?

Yes, you have.

Like is my vaping just another way of smoking?

I would describe your vaping as an alternative nicotine delivery system.

Okay, I'm not taking in any harmful chemicals other than nicotine, which was the purpose of smoking in the first place.
I'm not bothering those around me when I am vaping, so vaping is a less intrusive way of getting my nic fix.

But I am not trying to stop smoking by vaping.

Nevertheless you are vaping & not smoking

I will continue to vape, probably for the rest of my life and possibly at the same (24mg) strength that I use now.

You're still vaping, not smoking

So while I have stopped smoking cigarettes, I really do not consider myself as having "stopped smoking". I have simply changed the way I smoke to the safer and not so annoying habit of Vaping.

Nope. You've simply changed the way you get your nicotine hit.

[OneDay]

I consider myself a non-smoker now. But my vaping is so much more than a replacement for fags (I never smoked rollies, only tailor-mades). What do I mean by "so much more"? Well - when I smoked I popped into the shop, bought a packet and... erm... smoked them. Nothing more, nothing less.
Now I'm vaping I:
spend time reading about and considering new kit
spend time reading about and considering new juices
spend time reading about and considering new flavourings
spend time pricing and purchasing all the above
spend time stalking my postie
mix my own juices
make my own vaping furniture
spend time every day on this forum, discussing vaping topics and a host of others
run spreadsheets tracking spen vs savings
etc etc etc

It certainly beats being a smoker and just stopping at the shop

[pedaldog]

I consider myself an "Ex Smoker" for the simple reason that there is "Baggage" associated with smoking. The NO SMOKING signs all over the place make me want to KEEP IT DIFFERENT so that I am not given the disadvantage of having to go outside and be a "Snoutcast" every time I want my addiction to be satisfied.

[Banky]

To my understanding smoking had a lot to do with habit you know if you can find something
to do with your hands when you stop smoking then you have more chance of stopping.
I'm still in two minds about that one, whether nicotine is addictive or not i don't know i tried every other form
of trying to stop. Nicotine patch, gum, inhaling nicotine, medication all prescribed by my doctor,
and nothing worked until i tried vaping.

[alvoram]

Nov 29, 2012 21:05:03 GMT yorkcitytom said:

It's clear to me that I'm still a smoker as vaping doesn't even begin to help you leave behind the action of inhaling something to obtain nicotine- if e-cigs were banned tomorrow, the first thing I'd do is buy a packet of fags.

BUT, having tried every quitting method including Champix, anything that stops me smoking cigarettes and not feeling depressed about it is some sort of miracle.

I'm a smoker who has chosen a much healthier alternative to cigarettes.

that's irrelevant, the act of vaping is not smoking, you do not inhale smoke, and so you're not a smoker. You may well be happy to become a smoker again should vaping be banned, but whilst your not inhaling smoke, you're not smoking. Although, if you still choose to see yourself as a smoker, because you would so easily have a cigarette in the right circumstances, then that's fair enough. But I do wish people would not infer that vaping is smoking.

This isn't a matter of opinion, it's logical fact, unless you're inhaling smoke, you're not smoking.