E Cigs

Originally Posted by SuzukiNess

i've also been reading/watching this thread and bought myself a SKYCIG - i got a discount code which gave you £38 off a £50 kit. the code, QUIT38 may still work if anyone else interested.

I have cut down my normal cig smoking but just wondering i seem to be "smoking" the e-cig constantly (when not having a normal cig). how is everybody else using theirs? are you have a puff when you crave a cig or when you would normally have a cig? (ever hour or whatever it is?)

Hmm, good pont Ness.

Reading earlier posts I appreciate the 'you really need to have the I don't want to smoke anymore' moment, but if my will power was that good I wouldn't have smoked for the last 30 years .

In my mind the e-cigs would be a crutch, so to speak, to help me along. But, will I just be replacing one habit with another and have there been any withdrawal/ other side effects with using the e-cigs?

teejay - i'm not sure. I know people who have quit completely using the e-cig (not just peeps off here, or the reviews you read on the e-cigs website) and have given up the e-cig as well in the end. Maybe their WILL to stop is greater than mine at the moment. I enjoy smoking - its just the cost at the moment and as I spend most of my days home, its easy to just reach for a cig, so had upped my daily smoking from +-20 a day quite considerably. The e-cig is helping in i have cut down a lot, and maybe my EUREKA i wanna quit moment will come - i'm not that concerned at this stage of the replacing one "bad" habit with another and moving on to e-cig permanently may not be such a bad thing.... healthwise and financially. (the nhs will soon be spending thousands on us e-cig addicts

I cant say i have had any withdrawal or side affects - only been using it for 4 days now. i normally cannot leave the house without my cigs, and yesterday popped out for just over an hour, e-cig in pocket and didnt even need it... it was comforting just knowing it was their whereas I probably would have had a proper smoke had i had cigs on me.

oh the mind is a funny thing


(i watched a documentary some time ago about a rocker dude who had been thru rehab for drug addiction - conquered it; alcohol addiction - conquered it and been clean for years and the only thing he was not able to give up was cigs.. cant remember it all but he said something along the lines of conquering drugs and alcohol was easy compared to giving up cigs...) i guess for some its a massive mountain and others pack it in "just like that" - i do fit into the former

[TamSV]

I've just been using the e-cig when I have the biggest craving - and that's the times I associate heavily with smoking - getting in the car, going for lunch, 5 o'clock, certain cups of coffee etc. I just have a couple of draws on it.

Every time I have a go on the e-cig I think, did I REALLY need to do that. As a result I've done away with some of those moments. I don't use the e-cig where I wouldn't have been able to have a cigarette, so I'm not toking away in the office all day. I don't want a new habit.

If you do want to be a non-smoker then stop thinking about the reasons for NOT smoking - i.e. health and money. You're not smoking because you think it's good for you, it's saving you money and it makes your teeth white and clothes smell nice. You know it's the opposite, but you're still doing it.

Think about the reasons you ARE smoking and then decide if those reasons actually hold up to scrutiny.

1. I enjoy it...really? When I was approaching 30 a day I probably enjoyed 2 or 3 of them. Some of them I didn't even know I was having - just pure habit. The ones I enjoyed were when I hadn't had one for a while. That's not real enjoyment - it's an illusion. Smoking is just bringing you back to normal after the damage of your last cig. Non-smokers feel like that all the time.

2. It helps me relax... See above. It's the previous cigarette that contributed to your unease. Non-smokers aren't all gibbering wrecks.

3. It helps me concentrate... Must be magic indeed. It helps you relax AND wakes you up. Not possible. You're distracted by your need to smoke.Non-smokers manage fine.

etc. etc. As none of us are 14, we're probably no longer doing it to fit in with our mates or to look cool but that was always ******** too. Any positive reason you can come up with for continuing to smoke is ********. That doesn't mean it's easy to stop. We've spent so long believing our own propoganda it's not easy to change your mind.

Stop having those unconscious cigarettes where you're thinking about something else. While you're smoking think only about smoking. What are you really getting out of it? After the first 2 draws have satisfied the nicotine craving are you just smoking the rest for the sake of it?

Deep down our fear is that life will be worse without smoking in it. There are no non-smokers looking on jealously wishing they had your peace of mind. I've tried both, and life as a non-smoker is infinitely better - it has no downsides.

The above is very preachy and arrogant, I know, but it's where my mind was when I last gave up - and I did it easily that time. I've had to go through the process again this time and get myself quite angry that I've taken a huge backwards step. I've had to get ****ed off about smoking - the whole psychology of will power doesn't work for me. Forcing myself not to do something I want to do is difficult. Not doing something I don't want to do is much easier. IYSWIM .

I've been avoiding NRT etc as I wanted to do what I did last time and just stop, but it ain't been that easy. The e-cig was just one more wee thing to get the ball rolling for me.

Don't think about giving anything up - it's a negative way of looking at it. I'm a non-smoker so I don't need to buy cigarettes. Logically, non-smokers also don't use e-cigs so that will go soon too.

[gruntygiggles]

TamSV - those have to be the two best written posts I have ever seen on the subject.

I do think that there is a time when everyone can suddenly see through the fog and realise that their life is being dictated by a little white stick.

I look back on it now and feel a little bit ashamed that I allowed an inanimate object, one that WAS harming me and others around me, to affect my mood, state of mind etc.

I look back to when I had run out of cigarettes and got anxious and a moody cow to be around until I had had one and think how pathetic it was that a stupid cigarette meant that I was snappy and not nice to be around to my friends. They didn't deserve that.

I think about times when I would have had a bath early in the evening, got into my PJ's and settled in front of a film and then realised that I didn't have any cigarettes. So, I would go and get dressed, put a coat on and go out in all sorts of weather to get a pack. First shop closed, never mind, drive to petrol station. Petrol station closed...ok, it's only 18 miles to the motorway services so I would end up doing a 40mile trip in the end, just to get some cigarettes so I could have one before bed. WTF??? Any smoker will have done similar at some time or another and I think about it now and think I must have been crazy!

That is what I think is the catalyst in helping people give up. It has worked for friends of mine. Not thinking about the bad sides of smoking or the benefits of giving up, but the realisation that you are allowing yourself to be controlled by an inanimate object. No matter how proud of yourself you are fro achievements in your life, no matter how strong you think you are as a person...you still allow this little white stick to rule over you.

I think if e-cigs help you kick real cigs, then bl00dy well done and good on ya. But if e-cigs then become a permanent fixture...you are still at the mercy of something man made...and making someone else a fortune at your expense!

Originally Posted by Bluefish

15 days without now and my e-cig supplies are building up

15 days, good man! Yep, my ecigs supplies are growing as well. I bought a few different ejuices last week. Some different tobaco ones and a few other flavors from oksmokey. Pretty decent from them as the 5x10ml selection comes in a really nifty storage box.

Best one so far is this one. El torro cigarrillos naturales. It gets rave reviews and I can see why. Bought a 10ml sample bottle and rekon I'll be getting a 50ml bottle.

I have just been to the smoking clinic and my carbon monoxide levels is down to three after 12 days abstinence. Yes I am struggling but do these E-Cigs still put pollutants in to your lungs or are they COMPLETELY safe,okay you do not have the nicotine or tar levels and I ask out of ignorance

[TamSV]

Originally Posted by Dicky Ticker

do these E-Cigs still put pollutants in to your lungs or are they COMPLETELY safe

I looked into that and I think the answer is we don't really know. I don't think there's any long-term studies (maybe ecigs haven't been around long enough for that). What research I could find had the whiff of vested interest about it.

I took the view that it was worth it, balanced against the known disadvantages of smoking.

It probably sits somewhere between breathing smoke and breathing fresh air, but I don't know where.

[gruntygiggles]

Originally Posted by TamSV

I looked into that and I think the answer is we don't really know. I don't think there's any long-term studies (maybe ecigs haven't been around long enough for that). What research I could find had the whiff of vested interest about it.

I took the view that it was worth it, balanced against the known disadvantages of smoking.

It probably sits somewhere between breathing smoke and breathing fresh air, but I don't know where.

But as you say...got to be better than actually smoking, so as long as you don't just replace one for the other and permanently smoke e cigs, I can't see it being much of a problem.

[Drew Carey]

Tam very good post....and evryone else starting out on stopping smoking....its the best thing you will ever do.

I smoked 15-20 a day, tried gum, patches, cold turkey etc.....I never tried ECigs but last sept had Hypnotherapy.....havent had a cig since and not had cravings either.

Good luck to everyone and hope you all do well.

Originally Posted by Dicky Ticker

I have just been to the smoking clinic and my carbon monoxide levels is down to three after 12 days abstinence. Yes I am struggling but do these E-Cigs still put pollutants in to your lungs or are they COMPLETELY safe,okay you do not have the nicotine or tar levels and I ask out of ignorance

http://www.ecigarettedirect.co.uk/ex...te-safety.html http://www.zeecigs.com/electronic-ci...ern-review.htm And the answer is DT, it depends on who you talk to or believe, are they safer than real cigs, of course, the one's saying they are not safe, governments are saying it so they can all get tested and approved, and who can afford that, well the big ciggarette companys, and then the gov can slap a big tax on them just like real fags, it's coming, only the whingers w'ont be able to use the excuse of the cost of treating smokers on the nhs, i'm sure they will think of something.