Our Stories
Planet of the Vapes forum members share their success stories of how vaping helped them to quit smoking tobacco - 4/5
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by Dave Cross
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Like a lot of us, forum member and creator of superlative vape mods Vapesmarter loved smoking. It’s something that is often overlooked by tobacco control, all too quick to harp on about addiction – but many smokers actually enjoy what they are doing.
“I worked in many industries where smoking was the norm, I also knew how deadly it was. I watched people die horribly from smoking, treated and attended people with COPD and cancer. I counselled people and families who lost loved ones from smoking. I still carried on, I became a secret smoker.”
“Until one day I picked up a small e-lite thing; from that day on I didn’t smoke. Bang, overnight. But for me it was just a start, I found POTV and made a leather case or two…then an oak box…then the big one, I started making mods. Then I made more mods and ploughed my life savings into mod making machinery.”
“Could you do the same? Yes, of course.”
MavicP started smoking at 12, hated it, got onto Old Holborn at 14 and received a sore backside for his trouble. It wasn’t until he was 18yrs-old and “tanned a pack of Embassy Regal” in a pub that Mavic began regularly smoking.
“You kid yourself on that you can go on forever, you use every excuse under the sun to justify smoking, 'I don't smoke that many', but you do.”
“I became a Health & Safety professional in 2008 and going out to the smoke shack didn't go un-noticed and, I suppose, that was the start of the rot for me. It is surprising how many high level H&S people smoke. It's a stressful job, it's always your fault.”
Things were coming to a head by 2014: “I was having serious thoughts about stopping smoking. I had the cough, which was terrible if you had to sit through a meeting, I was back to mountain biking and was struggling with easy runs. I was still getting through two 2oz pouches of GV in a bad week and it had to stop.”
“It was as easy as saying ‘Nah, keep the tobacco and give me one of those ecigs’. I have never looked back since. I noticed after four weeks that I could cycle all the way up a local hill without stopping halfway, the coughing eventually stopped, and I didn't stink any more.”
Mutley1 used to be a 40-a-day “rollie” smoker. Mutts quit smoking in March 2013, after having a heart attack and having a stent fitted. “I took up vaping using a CE4 and dual-fuelled for about a month, and have been smoke free ever since.”
Like all-too many of us, this wasn’t a first attempt at quitting: “Previously I had tried and failed miserably with patches - even hypnosis. For me vaping has been a life saver otherwise I would have been back to the smokes, which I don’t miss one bit.”
“When I gave up and visited a specialist about my breathing it turned out I have mild COPD and my lungs are only working at 70%. I struggled doing simple things like walking my dog or playing with the grand kids. Now I’m as fit as I’m ever likely to be and don’t get out breath. I’m enjoying life!”
AJT had been wanting to stop smoking for about 5 years. Again, there had been “many, many unsuccessful attempts to do so.”
There was plenty of motivation: “The main reason was really from a health point of view but I feel the biggest driver was the cost of cigarettes and how much I would save if I did quit cigarettes.”
AJT first tried vaping in 2017, but it didn’t work despite buying lots of expensive vaping equipment and eliquids. Because of the myriad number of ways vaping can be tailored to suit a person’s tastes this can often be the way – an on-going hunt until something clicks.
“It was not until I stumbled across Planet of the Vapes in a random internet search, and reading a few threads noting the amount of information available the type of things being asked about vaping, I decided to become a member and to give quitting another go.”
Roll on New Year’s Day 2018.
“I have to admit I felt different about this attempt to quit more energised and more upbeat. I kept thinking of all the money I would save if I gave up for just a week, and that’s how I did it really - I went week by week.”
“I can honestly say I only managed to stay off the cigarettes thanks to all the help and advice and support received here at POTV: Advice about the correct vaping equipment that would suit me and my budget, about the type of liquid that would suit me and flavour I wanted, and about the correct nicotine strength of eliquid I required to match the strength and amount of cigarettes I smoked.”
“I’m so chuffed that I’ve quit smoking and can safely say it’s a hell of an achievement after 30 years of smoking a packet to a pack and a half of cigarettes everyday of my life - like all things in life it gets easier and better with practice and education. Although I really enjoyed smoking, I can now say (hand on my heart) I really do prefer vaping.”
Dave Cross
Journalist at POTVDave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.
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