Vaping - more addictive?!

[Michael Perry]

Aye, there may be unconscious psychological factors too. I wonder what freud would say...

I guess he would say that a guy got stuck at oral stage )

 

[Michael Perry]

If I'm awake, I'm vaping. I'm vaping now. Like a helpless baby on it's mother's teat. I want it. I need it. I HAVE to have it. I chain vape. I'd chain smoke too but only when drinking booze.
But I can definitely go for longer periods without it than I could the old fags. Which seems to be something a lot of people experience. Nicotine staying longer in the bloodstream maybe, as someone already mentioned. I'd say addiction wise it's about the same, just easier to do all the time (I work outdoors, on a bike, and regularly vape just riding around, so I don't have to nip out of the office...).
Buying vape gear is just hobby stuff / obsession.

You described the psychological aspect of addiction so vividly, just like psychoanalytics do. I understand what you feel, I often experience the same. It used to be with cigarettes but after I realized how harmful it is for my health (according to Addiction Resource 90% of all lung cancer is caused by cigarette smoke) I replaced it with vaping. Hope my psychotherapist will help me quit it because it makes me feel weak.

 

[Biochemist]

I have thought about this a lot. I can't decide if it is more addictive but I certainly vape far more than I smoked because it is available to me more or less all the time, and in more places than cigarettes were (I can stealth vape in my office at work, nobody minds; indoors in my house; in public buildings; in other people's houses; in the car etc). My mods are attached to my hands from the moment I wake up to the moment I go to bed. I really never put them down.

The one point of difference I noticed was that I can go without vaping for a while, while I couldn't without cigarettes. Would I prefer to be vaping? Absolutely, but when I smoked I couldn't go more than 4-5 hours without a cigarette. Case in point is business trips: I often leave my vapes at home and am fine for 2-3 days without a vape, while when I smoked I used to have a few quick drags between the airport and the taxi, and then between meetings - I couldn't get through stressful/busy situations without a fag.

 

[IcarusB]

Does anyone else find that they feel more addicted to vaping than they did cigarettes? I love my e cig and the different flavours and I can't get enough! It feels a stronger pull but I don't know if that's in my head?!

I don't know if studies have determined whether the amount of nicotine is less or more than a cigarette. It's a difficult comparison to make. e.g. how many vapes are equivalent to a cigarette. The habit is slightly different. Whereas a cigarette needs to be completed in a single sitting, vaping is often more sporadic. (Ok, roll-ups can be re-lit). Probably such a test would need to determine amount of nicotine intake over the course of one day. If anyone knows of such a study I'd be interested to see it (I'll post if I find one).

From personal experience there's no real difference (biologically speaking). Last week I left my device at home for the first time in 7 years - and damn was I antsy! It felt no different to when I was craving a cigarette back in the day. But certainly no more so.

I moved to vaping about 7 years ago from a 20 a day habit and have been vaping steadily ever since.I reduced the nicotine content to 3mg after progressing to sub-ohm devices (from sub-ohm atomisers I eventually switched to RDA's and finally to RDA + mech squonker set-up) - because higher Nic content is virtually unvapeable on these devices. However, the amount of vapour I inhale (and therefore Nic quantity per hit) with these devices is greater. In effect I think all I'm doing is maintaining my level of nicotine addiction.

Arguments for vaping have never really claimed it addresses nicotine addiction, or reduces nicotine intake - merely that the damage caused by nicotine addiction alone is negligible. In other words - if you want (or need) a puffing habit - it's a far better and safer puffing habit to have. But I would argue that if your final objective is to rid yourself of a nicotine habit then it's equally hard - whether vaping or smoking cigarettes. Slowly reducing nicotine content, vaping less often (not using hefty vape devices like mine) would all be necessary steps in achieving that objective. But without doubt - vaping is an excellent first step!

For some like myself - ridding myself of nicotine addiction isn't really in my plans. Having the tastiest lung banging hit possible is.
Unless it's discovered that nicotine is in fact more harmful than it's currently evidenced to be, I'm perfectly content. As I said - any damage is negligible - the pleasure I get outweighs the harm (the same cannot perhaps be said of my father's processed meat and fried food 'addiction' - y'see, I think everyone has their curious addictions and vices - once vaping came along I decided that my addiction was one I can live with).

In the end it depends on the vaper. For some people the ultimate objective is not only to replace a cigarette addiction, but also to rid themselves of that nicotine addiction entirely. For many it's preferable to patches (etc.) because the habit is similar enough to their old habit - so it's an easier/smoother transition.

There is possibly an argument around a device addiction complementing a nicotine addiction. That seemingly endless quest for the perfect vape (or, for some, the coolest looking vape) is always a temptation - but this isn't a physiological addiction. It's an additional, but separate (associated) addiction to the nicotine addiction. So it could be argued that, if the vaper's ultimate objective is to quit vaping, this endless temptation of swanky new devices may make that objective harder for them to achieve.
"I was going to quit this month but ooh, those new Signature Mods are so beautiful - I want one!."

Truthfully I think I've found my perfect vape. An RDA who's airflow/flavour/ease of build is a vast improvement may come along to tempt me - or a mech mod which accommodates the latest battery. But I'm pretty much at vaping nirvana.

The bottom line is - whether vaping or smoking, it appears there's only so much nicotine I can inhale before I feel nauseous. And it seems I always inhale shy of that limit. I don't think anything has changed in that respect.