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Planet of the Vapes forum members share their success stories of how vaping helped them to quit smoking tobacco – 5/5
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by Dave Cross
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Let’s start with an emphatic statement by Sam’s Saucy Juice Reviews: “I quit smoking thanks to vaping.”
No ifs, no buts – it works. It might not click first time because the quitter needs to identify what kind of equipment and liquid match their needs. Sometimes life just gets in the way, as Sam writes: “I first tried vaping in 2015 and successfully switched for a few months. Then life got very stressful so I ended up back on the smokes.”
He did what some do, Sam returned to the old habit: “Fast forward to January 2017, I was a 40-a-day rollie smoker and decided it was time to do something about it. I was quite unfit and would get out of breath very easily.”
“On January the 17th 2017 I was given a set up, I switched overnight. About 4 days in I was desperate for a smoke. So, rather than torturing myself, I rolled a smoke and went to the front door. I lit it and it was the most disgusting thing ever. I didn't even take a draw on it before I threw it away. I was making my own juice and building coils by May. Best move I ever made.”
“Due to some personal issues I stopped vaping altogether in March 2018. I managed just fine but I missed it. Vaping to me had become a hobby. So, in June I started vaping again and that is when I became a reviewer. If just one of my reviews helps just one person to make the switch to vaping then I am happy.”
ObiWanVaponi was a heavy smoker for around 38 years. As a pub landlord, he could smoke whenever he wanted by wandering off to do something out the back or in the office away from the bar.
A “40 roll-ups a day” habit wasn’t going to be beaten by a cheap cig-a-like five years ago. “To be honest, I never thought about giving up again. But, in the weeks before I stopped, I was incredibly short of breath and having weird heart palpitations.”
“I bought myself an Innokin Kroma-A and a Zenith tank and more or less stopped immediately. I have no doubt in my mind that I would be in hospital or worse by now if I hadn't given up smoking and POTV has played a big part in that.”
“After a few weeks I signed up and was warmly welcomed with equal amounts of friendliness and solid advice from day one. Everyone was genuinely happy to help even though they must have answered the same newbie questions over and over again. I must say that attitude is infectious because it really makes everyone eager to help.”
“I been vaping for 9 months now.”
Lord Grim, as the name suggests, is the forum’s best Goth. While standing around a graveyard or something, in 2010, he thought about how all the traditional quit methods (including Zyban) simply didn’t work for him. He tried a vape starter kit in 2011 but was unconvinced – Goth’s are hard to impress.
“About 6 months later I bumped into a mate using a Totally Wicked cartomiser tank, and that was when I realised that vaping had the potential to get me off the fags. Pretty soon after that, I discovered POTV.”
“Those early days were pretty hit and miss as far as kit went, but we helped each other out and muddled through. There has never been a better time to use vape to get off the fags, the choice is phenomenal and I defy anyone to not find a kit and a juice that works for them with a bit of research and advice.”
My smoking life began in the early 80s with a 20p pack of Embassy No.6. I didn’t plan on the next thirty years of up to 40-a-day. Unlike all of the other stories this week, I was already a quitter. I haven’t touched a cigarette since a sore throat in 2005. My journey to vaping comes from the opposite direction.
I suffered from a mental health crisis at the start of 2012. Rendered unable to work and with bills mounting, I was the closest I’d ever come to needing a cigarette again. Not ‘want’, I needed one. On a scale of things likely to happen, from 10 down to playing football in space with Britt Ekland, buying a pack and a box of matches was a solid 10.
A friend offered me a go on his starter kit. I was utterly sated, it delivered everything I needed, but I needed to do research before I accepted from him that it was safer than smoking.
This wasn’t about quitting; vaping has been a successful intervention tool for me, to help me avoid a more dangerous alternative. It’s prevented me from relapsing back to smoking. I made an informed choice to do something that (while not safe) is far safer than burning tobacco.
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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