Ciggy Cravings.

[lobeydosser]

A lot of the stuff I have learned on this Forum, have come about from other members answers to yet other members questions.
I read something about a completely unrelated problem and bang, the penny drops and I get the answer to something that has been puzzling me.

That happened last night with the problem I was having with my Aspire BFT, but that is another story.

Anyways, as some of you know, for a few months now I have been vaping at a lower strength (for me) and at a lower wattage.
Well a couple of weeks back I started getting dreams during which I was back smoking. Oh nothing like before but one or two and it was a good feeling (in the dream). Ofcourse when I woke up and realised what I had been doing I was shocked.

These carried on for a few nights and then during the day the thoughts of having a cigarette would come to me at the oddest moments.
Gradually it was developing into a craving. Oh not all the time but more frequently.

Then, 3 evenings ago I was reading and unrelated topic when it dawned on me that these dreams and thoughts were exactly the same as those back in the days when I had been off the fags for a while and was building up to going back on them again.  

I immediately returned my wattage on all my MODs to the 7w that I had been using before reducing it and since then all thoughts and dreams have gone. Apart from thinking about what happened to me as I write this.

Clearly, for me, I can go below a certain level of nicotine for a wee while, but eventually something kicks in and demands more.

There is a lot spouted by "eminent people"(???) about how the cravings for nicotine leaves the body after so many hours/days, but, for me they are talking through a hole in their botty.


My brain/body tells me what I need and I will pay a lot more attention to it from now on with regard to vaping.

I most sincerely hope that my experience will help someone else before they go too far and lift a cigarette.  

[Jaguar7777]

Sensible Post.

If you were a medium to heavy smoker, say twenty to forty a day, then you are going to need that nicotine fix for quite a while. Cutting it down too quickly does start the body to crave more of it, but of course the mind associates this with real smoking, hence your dreams. I think it is better not to worry about the nicotine level until you are perfectly sure you have kicked the real habit into touch. Then, and only then is it perhaps an idea to start cutting the nic level, bit by bit. Give the body at least a minimum of a month for each downward step, personally I would say two months, so that you have fully adjusted to the new level, and take the downward steps gradually. Say, from 18mg to 15mg, from 15mg to 11mg.

I think that is probably the best way to go about it, but remember that giving up is the priority, not the lowering of your nic level.

Does that make sense? I hope so ....


Jag. (Quit for almost a year now, no cravings, still using 11mg to 18mg nic ...)

[lobeydosser]

Hi Jaguar7777, I smoked 40 super king a day and by that time I had been smoking for 49 years.

I have now been on the 7w setting using 24mg for over a year, so cutting it down to 22mg for a few months and then starting to cut down the wattage, seemed like the right thing to do. As you say, easy steps over a period of time.

However, clearly what works for some, will not work for others.

I mistakenly thought that by now I was a contented vaper, but this had shown me that, for me, it is too early to start experimenting and I will keep to those levels that I know I feel safe with.

[Jaguar7777]

Nov 11, 2013 1:02:27 GMT lobeydosser said:

Hi Jaguar7777, I smoked 40 super king a day and by that time I had been smoking for 49 years.

I have now been on the 7w setting using 24mg for over a year, so cutting it down to 22mg for a few months and then starting to cut down the wattage, seemed like the right thing to do. As you say, easy steps over a period of time.

However, clearly what works for some, will not work for others.

I mistakenly thought that by now I was a contented vaper, but this had shown me that, for me, it is too early to start experimenting and I will keep to those levels that I know I feel safe with.

Quite right! It IS different for each individual, which is why advice can be very difficult to give unless you know that person extremely well.

As a long time smoker, certainly at the level you were at, it is going to be very hard because you have set yourself up a big habit. However, wisely you saw the warning signs and used your common sense.

I applaud you Sir!

Anything has got to be better than the real thing.


Jag. (Common sense is such a wonderful gift ......)

[padiho]

Nov 11, 2013 1:02:27 GMT lobeydosser said:

Hi Jaguar7777, I smoked 40 super king a day and by that time I had been smoking for 49 years.

I have now been on the 7w setting using 24mg for over a year, so cutting it down to 22mg for a few months and then starting to cut down the wattage, seemed like the right thing to do. As you say, easy steps over a period of time.

However, clearly what works for some, will not work for others.

I mistakenly thought that by now I was a contented vaper, but this had shown me that, for me, it is too early to start experimenting and I will keep to those levels that I know I feel safe with.

Lobbydoser whether you can cut down the nic or not is irrelevant , you have given up the stinkies and are now a non smoker. After 49 years of the stinkies you have achieved a mammoth task so be proud of yourself. I'm also a long term smoker of about 45 years and I bet like me ...you never thought you would be capable of being able to say " no thank you..I don't smoke " You deserve nothing but praise for your achievement

[Deleted]

Before I started vaping, I had been off the cigarettes for 5 years. I had previously smoked for over 40 years, up to 40 a day but had quit when I was diagnosed with COPD. Having failed on previous occasions using various NRT methods, I went cold turkey and after a few weeks of sheer hell it got easier.

HOWEVER, during the 5 years that I was off them there wasn't a single day when I didn't crave a cigarette. The craving for nicotine never seems to leave you no matter how strong your willpower. My life is so much more more bearable since I discovered vaping as I can satisfy the needs of the nicotine devil without the health dangers of smoking. Since starting vaping, my breathing has become a lot easier, believe it or not, despite having been smoke free in the previous 5 years.

[Perpetua]

I smoked for 36years, by the time I found vaping my consumption was a mind boggling and very expensive, 40/50 a day.


What keeps me off the ciggys some 3 years 7 months on, is not only having large variety of flavours on the go, but a variety of strengths  . . . . anything from 12 to 24mg, so I can flit between them to feel nicotine sated, depending on the situation.

I know I'm a nicotine addict, it bothers me not in the slightest as now I'm getting that ' fix ' in a far healthier way.

If it's not broken, don't fix it is my thinking.

[charon]

I used to be a pipe smoker with the odd hand rolled whilst out and about. ( not saying for how long, it scares the smelly stuff out of me to think about it)
can truly say never dreamt about tobacco ever (flying bicycles yes, swimming in Honey yes, but never tobbaco). I do admit that I use my PV to get my fix of the demon Nicotine and shall continue to for the forseeable future.

lobeydosser This lark is all about freedom of choice and it simply don't matter if you need high Mgs or low, as long as what you do use suits you.

[Deleted]

I am trying to get off the nic but am in no rush. I tried to get off the nic x2 this year way too fast and like it made me unwell. I figure a slow steady reduction is fine. Like folk have said in the teens 2-3mg every month to two months after that even slower reduction. There is a thread where we discuss this in blogs if you'd like to join us

[lobeydosser]

Thanks all for the comments.

I suppose, at the back of my mind and with the uncertainty of future supply, I was veering towards the idea of the lower the MG level, the longer my supplies would last, however being content with what I have and what I'm using is way more important to me now than whatever may happen in the future.

Perpetua, Unlike your good self, I rarely vape more than 2 different flavours a day and just now just the same ol' flavour up to that final half hour before bed when I change to me "Minth" flavour.
And no I don't get bored with it. Indeed I don't even think about it. Its the way it is.

Very occasionally I will have a "flavoursome evening" and bulldoze my way through 5 or 6 flavours from the collection, but I doubt if that happens more than once a month.

Oh well, onwards and upwards.
SWIMBO has been away on a Hen Break for the last 4 days and is due home shortly, so I had better go and wash a dish or 5 before I am back in the dog house.

[lobeydosser]

Thanks for the offer @johanino, but, at the moment, there will be no further thoughts of reduction either in strength or power for the foreseeable future.

[Deleted]

No worries lobeydosser....have a stomach bug so feeling pretty pants today but happy on my 8mg/ml and my iclear 30 tank

[plot69]

Nov 11, 2013 0:36:46 GMT lobeydosser said:

Well a couple of weeks back I started getting dreams during which I was back smoking. Oh nothing like before but one or two and it was a good feeling (in the dream). Ofcourse when I woke up and realised what I had been doing I was shocked.

These carried on for a few nights and then during the day the thoughts of having a cigarette would come to me at the oddest moments.
Gradually it was developing into a craving. Oh not all the time but more frequently.

Same thing happens to me all the time. Not with smoking though, with Kate Beckinsale.

[lobeydosser]

Nov 11, 2013 13:44:34 GMT plot69 said:

Nov 11, 2013 0:36:46 GMT lobeydosser said:

Well a couple of weeks back I started getting dreams during which I was back smoking. Oh nothing like before but one or two and it was a good feeling (in the dream). Ofcourse when I woke up and realised what I had been doing I was shocked.

These carried on for a few nights and then during the day the thoughts of having a cigarette would come to me at the oddest moments.
Gradually it was developing into a craving. Oh not all the time but more frequently.

Same thing happens to me all the time. Not with smoking though, with Kate Beckinsale.

At least mine are "dry dreams"!!!!!

[mybad]

Your not on your own Lobey, Only one day last week I was at work on my morning break , just finished my sandwich ( butty ) picked up my pot of tea , then reached into my pocket for my FAGS when I realized what I had just done I thought WTF , strange thing to do without even thinking about it after nearly a yr , and the war goes on but I am winning the battle slowly but surely.


And so will YOU.