Lurker saying hello and thanks

[Tykess]

Hello Everybody   

Thought it was about time I said hello as I've been lurking for 2 or 3 weeks and picked up so much useful information and guidance from you lovely people - so a big thank you!

A bit about me: been smoking for 50 years, the last 20 of them on roll-ups. However, just over a year ago I was diagnosed with COPD and told I MUST give up smoking.  I gave it a go.  Made it to day 10 Cold Turkey.  Then took up vaping.  A week of vaping and somehow, I don't know how it happened, there I was with a lit rollie in my fingers and I inhaled and it was, I have to be honest, sheer bliss.  Just the one, I told myself.  Well, we all know what that means.  Within a week I was back up to 12-15 a day, the vaping gear put away in a drawer and here I am 12 months later.  It took a severe bout of bronchitis this January to bring me to my senses again.  Out with the baccy, in with the vaping.  (No way was I going cold turkey this time.  Besides, now vaping has been 'approved' as 95% safer than smoking it seemed a no-brainer.)

And then, pdq, I developed a severe case of Shinyitis.  I still have, and love, the Halo cigalikes I started with last time, especially now I've learned how to refill the cartridges.  And I still had a couple of eGo batteries so I got some atomisers to go with them.  And then I discovered that eGos come in different colours and there are also pretty blingy ones, and different sizes... and the tiny little Eleaf iCare is so cute and perfect for stealth vaping cos it fits so nicely hidden in my hand.  (Did that! In a restaurant! After the meal. And NOBODY NOTICED!!!  Teeheehee.)

Then I discovered that my town has 3 B&M vape shops. One I haven't visited yet, one was cloud-chaser orientated and not much interested in helping this ordinary looking 'lady of a certain age'. The third was lovely.  Three young men, all long hair and tats - and they were absolutely delightful and really helpful.  So yes, I'll be going back there again. I came out with a red Eleaf istick and bits to go with it, plus more juice.

Speaking of juice - I'm still searching for the elusive rollie-like All Day Vape. Closest I've come is an unflavoured 50/50 PG/VG in 12 and 18 mgs. Actually very pleasant and perfect for stealth because there's no aroma.

And then... I got waylaid by your Mixology boards.  Ok. 2 litres of 72% nic decanted into little brown glass bottles now reside in the bottom of my freezer.  I'm still exploring flavour concentrates.  Come Vapocolypse I'll be well sorted.  However...

finally, here is my question: I hang my head in shame, I'm still smoking, 2-3 rollies a day, and I can't seem to get rid of those last ones.  How do I do it?  Yes, I count all the ones I did not smoke and that helps a bit, but I still feel really disappointed in myself that the baccy still has me in its grip.      I have to stop.  Any hints as to how to get rid of those last 2-3 a day?  

Sorry for the long post, thanks for reading and I'm looking forward to becoming an active participant in this wonderfully friendly and helpful forum.  

[Perpetua]

A warm welcome to you Tykess!

Delighted you've found the forum a good source of helpful information . . . . as for kicking those last few ciggies into touch, don't beat yourself up about them.

Not everyone makes an immediate switch, it took me a good couple of weeks to be ciggy free - that first one of the morning was my stumbling block. Until finally I woke up one morning and didn't want to spark up the moment my feet touched the floor. I knew then I could do it.

If having a couple a day helps to keep you vaping the rest of the time . . . . then that's a great result for now. 

[lobeydosser]

Well done Tykess
I continued to smoke the odd fag for about a month after I started vaping. That was right up until the evening when I ran out of fags about 9pm and although I could see that the local shop still had its lights on at the other side of the village green, between me and the shop it was blowing a gale, complete with horizontal rain and I thought to myself, well I'm dammed if I'm going out in that. Vaping would just have to get me through the rest of the night!!

That was 4+ years ago and it is till "getting me through".

Eventually you'll find a flavour that imitates the taste of your roll-ups and you'll change to vaping entirely.
I found that Royal Tobacco flavour by FlavourArt was pretty darned close to the Mayfair fags I used to smoke.

[Postmodern Smoking]

Tykess

No need to hang your head in shame.... but worth trying to get rid of those stubborn and most difficult few that you still have.
Back in the days of cigalikes (and about 6 years ago), I also found that nicotine mint lozenges gave me that extra stronger boost to supplement those hard to shift, first in the morning, cravings.
Things have come a long way since then... but it worked for me, back then.

Remember that nicotine in itself is not that bad for you.... so maybe also try some stronger eliquid for the times when 12/18 mg/ml doesn't cut it?

FlavourArt also sell a eliquid and concentrate called Golden Rollie which you might want to try at some stage.

Anyways..... welcome again...

[lesley1]

Hello and welcome @ tykes 🙂
Well done you!
You should be proud of how you're doing.
Bit random but how about making your rollies smaller to start with if you still need to have them.
@postmodern smoking is right with the lozenges or gum, whatever gets you through.
Get some use out of another of your shinies, keep it topped up with a 24 (or higher) mg liquid for those tough moments

[Get Off My Cloud]

I should imagine most of us dual fuelled to begin with i know i did.
The thing that knocked the roll ups completely out for me was finding flavours i really enjoyed so rather than just vaping to get that nic fix i was vaping because i liked it.
I tried a rolly after about 6 months without just out of curiosity and i have to say it tasted pretty damned manky and i could really smell the odour of tobacco floating around the room for hours.
I never was able to find that cigarette like taste from an ejuice and believe me i tried a lot of flavours and brands, maybe it's because nothing is actually combusted i dunno but it was never quite right so i gave up looking for a fag substitute and branched out into fruits and desert flavours and that did it for me.

[Tykess]

Wow! Thanks all of you for your quick and helpful, encouraging replies. I don't feel quite so bad now about the last rogue rollies. For me, it's not the first in the morning that gets to me, in fact I vape at 0.6 with my first morning cuppa, then the strength gradually increases through the morning. The cig craving hits hard just after lunch. I shall do as suggested and make the rollie a little smaller. Also shall mix up a 24mg liquid and vape that before (instead of?) the rollie. I already make myself work hard for the rollie in that I live in a house with a loft conversion which has no heating and I keep my baccy up there, and make myself smoke it up there, so I have to get myself up 2 flights of stairs and put on an extra cardi! That's how much I crave that rollie.

I've taken your advice and just got back from FlavourArts where I put in an order for 6 concentrates including the Golden Rollie so I expect my mixing experiments will go into overdrive around the middle of this week. Yay, what fun!

It's really helpful to know that some confirmed non-smoking vapers also took a while to completely break free from the cigs at first. So thanks for the encouragement all of you, and I shall now go to bed a much happier bunny than I was earlier this evening. And with more vape mail to look forward to as well

[sydsut]

A very warm and hearty AAE-C Tykess to the friendliest and best vaping forum on the internet. And as already stated don't worry about the odd stinky here and there, it's the fact that your cutting down a lot that matters. Don't be afraid to experiment either on different flavours and VG/PG ratios and nic content, rather than hunt for the exact same taste as your GV. I smoked for 46years, 40 of them on Golden Virginia and latterly on Amber Leaf and never found anything in an e-liquid remotely comparable. I now try lots of different juices, sweet dessert flavours, drink flavours, doughnut flavours, fruit flavours and aromatic flavours etc. and I've been fag free for nearly 3 years. Why?, because I love the flavours that are out there, and I love trying new ones.

[Perpetua]

Feb 27, 2017 0:47:20 GMT Tykess said:

It's really helpful to know that some confirmed non-smoking vapers also took a while to completely break free from the cigs at first. So thanks for the encouragement all of you, and I shall now go to bed a much happier bunny than I was earlier this evening. And with more vape mail to look forward to as well

Good!

We're all behind you Tykess and and anyone else going through the same transition time, we've all been there ourselves.

[jtc]

Welcome to a great place Tykess
I too dual fueled for about a year and it was about 2 or 3 cigs per day. Then I fell off the wagon for a couple of months and went back to 30 b&h a day. One morning I smoked 10 cigs by 10am and it was then I decided I was going to get a decent vape setup and kick cigs into touch. I got myself a provari and a carto tank and that seemed to do the trick for a while. Then I found myself needing more and I started buying lots of gear to try and find what really made me satisfied. Over 5 years later I'm now on 130 watts dual coils and vaping 30ml a day. This may sound a lot to some but this type of vaping suits me and I can 100% say I'll never smoke again. You should keep at it as you're doing really well and you will find your best way of vaping.If that's sticking at 10 watts or 100 then it does not not matter where you get to. Contrary to belief, not all us sub ohmers are silly kids who annoy people and don't care.
Anyway, best of luck and I hope to see you here on your journey and your definitely on the best forum on the net for good advice and a friendly culture

[gill2009]

    to AAEC Tykess...you will get there...& we will all help in any way we can 



  P.S.  I also have COPD...& my respiratory results improve every visit to the Consultant.

[Chrissie]

Hello & welcome Tykess - brilliant opening post BTW

I used to smoke, on average, 50 a day When I bought my first ciggie lookalike (only things available at the time) I managed to cut down drastically, but it took me a long time to give up the final 2 a day.

BTW, even though I've got quite a collection of various mods, the main thing I use is my iSticks & an Aerotank mega

[joeten]

Don't sweat it the last thing you need is to put pressure on yourself, take the time you need and you will get there, in the meantime enjoy vaping.

[Richard46]

Yes great 1st post Tykess . I smoked roll ups for over forty years. Carried on smoking every day for a very long time after I started vaping. Wish I knew precisely what finally made it work 100%.
May have been that I finally put together some kit that was really effective;
may have been that I mixed some really strong juice (36mg I think it was!);
may have been that I quietly planned an eventful day when baccy would be out of reach;
may have been that I spent a lot of money on kit (to motivate myself);
may have been a few weeks doing a lot of posting on a vaping forum getting advice and support (like you are) again to motivate myself;
may have been finally hearing myself wheezing once too often;
may have been that I slowly realised I actually preferred vaping;
may have been that I just made my mind up that enough was enough.

Anyway once I made that first day without a fag (June 25th 2014!) I knew I had done it for good. Fingers twitched for the feel of those OBI and Rizlas for a few weeks but it soon passed. (Making coils and wicks and mixing juice helped a lot there to keep the itch at bay). I had a very shaky start but I still got there. Good luck.

[charliehorse]

Hello Tykess and welcome to the forum

you can give up the last of the rollies eventually

Sounds as if you've done brilliantly so far though.