Manabush

Quitting with Ecigs

Posted 11th January 2016 by Mawsley
Many smokers look to quit the habit at the beginning of the year but those considering trying vaping can find it very confusing. There are many different devices – how do you know which one is best? As a forum for vapers, we are almost entirely made up of ex-smokers so you couldn’t be looking in a better place.

As of today, Planet of the Vapes has 28,616 members – that’s almost thirty thousand people who have used ecigs to quit smoking. For any aspect that isn’t covered here, the forum members are a friendly bunch who will bend over backwards to offer advice.

Smoking

You won’t find anyone condemning people for smoking here and there’s a huge level of emotional support for those who relapse during their attempts. Some members drift off for a bit only to be welcomed back with encouragement and advice when they return. We enjoy vaping – and it really worked for us. Data produced by Professor Robert West demonstrates that vaping offers the most successful route out of smoking too.

You wont be on your own, almost 40% of smokers try to quit every year as they seek to escape from smoking-related respiratory and cardio-vascular disease. It’s important to remember that we all smoked for the nicotine but the tar causes the disease.

The addiction

We all struggled to quit not just because we were hooked to the nicotine but there was also the habit of handling a cigarette; the times we resorted to using one and the sensation of smoking is a powerful habit.

Where vaping works over traditional nicotine replacement products (NRT) is that it is similar to the act of smoking. There is something to sit in your hand, you inhale and then the pleasure of the exhale. Vaping delivers nicotine in a way that is so pleasurable that the people who do it join forums and meet up all across the country. Try and see if nicotine gum or patches have a similar fan base.

Location

There are times and places where you are more likely to smoke. Friends and family can help you to avoid these key moments – but meeting up with other vapers offers the chance to transfer them into pleasurable social moments. Forum members will know of vape-friendly pubs, bars, cafes and tearooms.

Are they safe?

Sadly there is a lot of misinformation out there and you or someone you know will probably have come across some of it. Public Health England declared vaping to be at least 95% safer than smoking and it’s important to remember that fact. Vaping is not “safe”, it’s substantially safer than continuing to smoke. The risks have been overplayed by people who receive their funding from tobacco or pharmaceutical companies because of the damage it did to their sales figures.

The best kit to buy

You have a number of options beginning with the type that looks like a cigarette. Freely available in stores and petrol stations, these ‘cigalikes’ are the worst performing devices and deliver nicotine poorly. When people say they tried vaping and it didn’t work it tends to be these that they bought. While this article won’t give you brands, if you join the forum then members can share with you what worked well for them.

It is worth considering that the sooner you make the choice to try it the better – the law is changing and will limit the types of devices available in future. At the moment it looks like they will be inferior to the many options currently available.

Professional advice

Doctors and Quit centres will tell you that for the best results you should attempt to quit in conjunction with support from the Quit centres. A number of them have become vape-friendly and will welcome you even if you aren’t using the traditional NRT products. Few forum members followed this route as it didn’t exist when we ceased smoking but it is something to consider.

 Dave Cross
Article by Dave Cross
Freelance writer, salad destroyer and live culture convert.