Almost 3 weeks a non smker now. Loving it!

After the stroke, I had to make a real life decision. It's time to quit smoking. After all of the tests, pokes and prods, it was not the smoking that caused my stroke, but it very well may be the cause for my next one or the big one.

I have been a 2 + pack a day smoker for a very long time. I was not quite ready when I got released from the hospital, even though it would have been the best time to quit. I made up my mind though. The day I was released, I swore myself to 1 pack a day and I would diminish the quantity as much or as soon as I could.

It was hard, but after a week I limited myself to 18. My plan was to drop down gradually. This was working. I went another week at 18 cancer sticks per day.

Wifey was ready to quit as well and we visited the local e-smoke shop. E-smokes have come a very long way and I was really impressed. We both bought units.

In the mean time, I still had 6 packs of smokes that I was determined to smoke because I had paid for them and gosh darn it, I was going to smoke them.

I tried this new fangled contraption and I really liked it. Wifey did too. 2 days later she was out of smokes and swore them off for the e-cig. I still had 4 packs left when I went out to play cards that night.

I got home and said to heck with it! I gave the rest of my packs to the wife to give to one of my residents at work that needed them and I was done.

NO turning back! Best thing I ever did switching to vaping.

We are now vapers and loving it. It has been almost 3 weeks now and the difference is fantastic!

My breathing has improved more than I could have imagined, my sense of smell has increased so much it is ridiculous. Taste is coming around as well.

Do we have any other "vapers" out there?

Congrats on quitting! I know its a very tough addiction to kick, I never smoked myself but many family members do, as well as my girlfriend. She quit for 6 months but stress with college made her crack. She's trying again and has high hopes of qutting for good.

Congrats and keep it up!

Congrats parrot

Parrothead, that is fantastic! Congratulations, and to the wife too.

I cold turkey'ed a little over 7 years ago... no dipping, chewing, vaping... no nothing.

Definitely do not miss those stinky things!!

Congrats to you and the wife Parrot. Still smoking here but the wife and kids are after me lately to quit. I have tried everything else so maybe trying the e-cigs will do it.

Nice work Parrot!

Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Parrothead! You have done yourselves a really big favor.
When I gave up smoking, I just kept reminding myself of all the things I had always disliked about smoking. I also ate about a thousand pounds of sugarless candy. :)
Keep it up. It's great that the two of you are doing it together. You have a buddy system.

Good for you Parrot! Out of all the things in my checkered past I have given up, I think smoking was the most difficult. Although I quit smoking about 15 years ago I am intrigued by vaping, just too cheap to buy the setup.

KUDOS to ya PH!! quit for 10 yrs and picked the things back up. Older kids are trying to get me into vaping. Guess I need to breakdown and get it. and just ... do it.

we may need to start a 12step meeting and vapors club ;-)

Awesome! I wish you continued success and hopefully at some point you will even be able to stop vaping. As you can probably tell from my screen name and avatar I have a "special" hatred toward smoking. This is because it claimed the life of perhaps the most influential person in my life, my grandfather. I watched his health deteriorate with COPD and ultimately lung cancer and he was never able to kick the habit.

Well played sir. Are you guys using the cig looking ones? or the small pipeish ones? There is a store that just opened by my favorite pizza spot, called teh vapor shack an they do a good business. Every time I see someone with the pipe looking one, I have to do a double take as they look like metal pot pipes! Ha ha.

I smoke, not much but some. I've always said one can't quit a bad habit, till they are ready to, no matter how much *****ing, yelling, cajoling, etc someone does to them. Whether it be smoking, drinking, drugs, etc.. One has to want to quit. Good for you buddy for doing so. My Nana is a smoker, an it amazes me she can just stop cold turkey whenever she wants.

Anyhow, my congrats to you an Mrs parrothead. ;) Keep it up!

Sirscrapalot - No quotes for this morning, sorry.

Congrats, one of the best things you can do with your life, I also quit years ago.

My best advise to those who are still smoking, dipping, is practice makes perfect; the more times you quit the better your are at it. No joke it takes some many attempts before they succeed so if you haven't made it yet keep trying. Mike.

Don't bother with those cig looking ones. They are garbage. I got the real deal. Don't be afraid to try flavors either.

Thanks for all of the well wishes and support.

awesome Parrot. I know the lady who owns an runs the Vapor Shack here. She tells me the same for the cig looking ones. Glad to have it confirmed by another. An yes the flavors seem to be a big hit. she is always busy an the only place that sells something other then the e cig looking ones. I've got a standing invite with her to come try them anytime. I still get a chuckle when I see someone with the pipe ones. I'm not the only one who has to do a double take.

Stay strong!

Sirscrapalot -

Congrats Parrothead! I've been using mine, on and off, for the past week or so. The tobacco "juice" flavor I got is horrible, so I'm going to try the Marlboro flavor and see if that is any better. My girlfriend has been using hers since October and loves it. She quit smoking for me, so I figured It was time I did the same. Best of luck to you with keeping at it. Not sure what flavors you would be into, but a friend of mine got one called "papa smurf", I know its an amusing name of a flavor, but its actually really good. Reminds me of the berries in captain crunch cereal.

I was left with a choice of quit or not be able to breathe, (COPD- emphysema) and had to get off cig's, salt and caffeine all at the same time(a hospital stay will do that). For about a week or two, I was like a bear with a sore butt. That was back in '08. You guys can do it, your body will thank you. I think I ate everything in sight for about the first couple of weeks. Wonder I didn't weigh 300 lbs.

Good job Parrot! My grandmother died of lung cancer, her last words to me - "please don't ever smoke". She had a great sense of humor, told me also it will "stunt your growth". She told me this in the hospital and died two days later. I grew to be known as "BIGBURT". Not smoking is good for all us, even better if you can influence our younger ones not to ever start!

Congrats parrot! I myself quit three years ago and it was the best decision I ever made concerning my health.
The first week just sucked but then it gets better and you notice how things greatly improve with sense of taste and smell.

I'm happy for you man. For every cig you and wifey don't smoke, you are adding 30 minutes to your life expectancy. So one pack represents 12 hours of life, you can do the rest of the math. Keep it up bro, you can do this.

When that day comes when you are only going to have one, DON'T just jog to the end of the block and back, every time that urg hits you. I Hope it never does. CONGRATS:))

Your tobacco flavor that you did not like may be good in a month if it is freshly made. Some freshly made flavors require steeping before they taste good.

There is a ton of info on the ecig forums. I have been ordering from a company called mt. Baker. My juice that I got was rather nasty. I checked on the forums and found that many juices need to steep for a while.

I contacted mt baker and they reaffirmed.

They told me that my irish cream needs to age for a month and my 555 coffee flavor needs to age for 6 weeks.

Apparently fruity flavors are much better right out of the mail. Anything purchased from a brick and mortar has been already steeping or will have instructions that it needs to be steeped.

SOOOOOOOOOO much to learn.

From Mt. Baker, everything comes made to order from scratch. I pick a flavor, then pick the nicotine content I want and then pick the PG/vg ratio. After that it can be tweaked more by adding a flavor shot. The website is very smooth and you can even make your own mix down to the percentages of each flavor.

One last tip. I already have a pile of gear, most of it being e-go t type gear. You can get a set of 10 atomizers/heads from e-bay for $15 shipped. If you burn one, just throw it away. I have not burned one yet, but the wifey has burned 2 already. These cheap heads also allow me to have them laying around with different flavors in them and I can swap them out at will.

I currently have at my fingertips, Marlboro, banana, cherry (tastes like a swisher sweet) , cookies and cream, orange and finally clove.

Yes I have dived head first into this. I actually ended up just ordering a pack of 20 atomizers for these things because the wife keeps burning them and I intend on trying more flavors.

Puff on, just not the real cigarettes.

Congrats parrot!

I tried quitting once cold turkey about climbed the walls! lol. Seriously though, good for you :)

I bet quitting is a lot easier if your in Co or Wa. ha ha! Everytime the urge strikes...eat a brownie! (well part of one..just saying.)

I'm going to ask the lady I know who owns her vapor store, if her stuff has been steeped. It's hugely popular.

Seeing some of those pipes, for the juice..or whatever you all call them. i wonder what a cop thinks the first time he see's someone hitting one. At lest the ones here look an awful lot like a metal pipe for smoking pot. Only difference I saw was the chamber in the middle that holds the "juice". I'm going to have to look closer next time I'm in her store.

Glad it's working for you an the mrs.

Sirscrapalot - Riding the rails on the crazy train.

OK...soooooooooooooo imma on da train here. One of the older boys gave me a setup the other night. Do not like his choice of flavors.

Just went to a shop, got edjamacated, a better setup and a few flavors. Kinna likin the clove.

Soooo I will be 59 in August. Not going to say that I will have this licked in a week. BUTTTTTTT will take all the encouragement from friends, family, and my brothers and sisters here, to have this beat by then!

NOW...how can we make some $$$ on the millions of units, that need to be recycled? ;-)

PS.. CORYYYYYYYYYYY ifin i got the reallllllllllllllllllllllllllllll munchies at Lamberts....we may end up washing dishes!

Congratulations! I'm still young, and smoked for about 12 or so years, I finally dropped the smoking and I'm trying e-cigs. I don't know if it's any healthier, BUT I do know I'm saving myself $700 a month.

One thing I do know, though, is the more people tell that you quit, the more they hold you accountable when you pickup another cig. We'll be watching! :D

Oh and.. I've been on the e-cig for about 3 months (lovin' it).

$700 a month? I really hope that is a typo.

Grats to all those that are doing it as well.

It is healthier by far. It is relatively new, but there are some studies coming out from countries that have had it longer. Reports are looking good.

He's in HI Parrot, likely much higher prices.

Congrats Brojer, I'll be pulling for ya buddy. I can see it now with you an Cory. Text from Brojer"Sirscrapdappy do0, can't talk now, washing dishes with Cory..munchies..all I need to say!" ha ha!

The store here, lets you try the flavors, even have a little 'vape' bar. I thought that was pretty cool. I might just have to take her up on her offer to try some. I had a question for you Parrot but...I forgot it. I'll ask it when I remember tho! lol.

Sirscrapalot - ZZzzZZzzz..*SPLAT* - a fly

I found a couple of new flavors this week. Choco-mint is fantastic and apple pie is pretty good too.

At $700 a month, I would have quit a long time ago. I was 2 pack plus smoker. The cost was $210 a month. I switched to little cigars that were $8.99 a carton based on legal logistics and the taxes were not there for the cigars. They were pretty much cigarettes. The difference was that the wrappers were made from tobacco and not paper.

After buying the both of us plenty of units and batteries to keep our nicotine habit in check, our weekly expense is much lower because she was still on $40 carton cigs.

After getting all of the proper gear, the 2 of us are at about $15 a week for our addiction. That price will come down as I find the best sealers of juice.

Funny thing, Parrothead, I've never met you, never had a private conversation with you, but I feel like I know you after all this time of being a member on SMF. And I credit you for making me think about quitting smoking. Two days now, no vaping yet, my wife is ready to kill me, I'm ready to go crazy on the world; but I think I can do it. Never thought a person I've never met would actually be my inspiration to quit a habit I never planned on quitting! Thanks for the inspiration! My Lord, I just want "one more smoke", but I'm gonna fight it as hard as I can.

You guys are doing great. Keep it up!

Nope! Not a typo, ciggs in Hawaii are very expensive.

Not to mention, every time I went to the gas station to pickup a pack or two I'd also buy all my caffeine beverages, etc. Now I don't have a reason to stop, since I bring my coffee in a thermos.

Very happy I did though, I'm a lot happier now and I don't spend tons of money on all the junk. I'm 100x more productive at work too, since I'm not stopping to smoke every 15 minutes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by parrothead

$700 a month? I really hope that is a typo.

Grats to all those that are doing it as well.

It is healthier by far. It is relatively new, but there are some studies coming out from countries that have had it longer. Reports are looking good.

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