Trying to switch to vaping...

Churrucaman said:

...still I would say that in commercial cigs there's more to it besides nicotine since I'm still craving for it, could be just psychological though.

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It's not just psychological: there are indeed other tobacco alkaloids besides nicotine that shape the "buzz" you get from a cigarette and contribute to the addictiveness of them. That's why many people can't get the same satisfaction from e-cigs as they do with traditional ones.

Here's a link to a short abstract that I found interesting: The addition of five minor tobacco alkaloids increases nicotine-induced hyperactivity, sensitization and intravenous self-administration in rats.

When I quit smoking using an ecig; I also would have cravings for the other alkaloids in tobacco. I used snus (ground favored tobacco in a pouch--I think) which satisfied these cravings. I used maybe one snus pouch a day for about a month or two (only when cravings were bad). After a month or two I just noticed I no longer needed the snus and continued with my ecig. I would recommend snus when your cravings get bad and cannot be satisfied with an ecig alone. Note: this was almost 6 years ago and I have not had snus or a cigarette since; although, I still use my ecig religiously. I enjoy nicotine and the act of smoking; physically I feel a thousand times better.

My two cents: try to put tobacco down until you are about 70 or 80 years old.

Day 20.

Last night I THINK the vaping knocked me out. Either that or I was so tired anyway. I actually think my crafty is hitting me harder than my plenty; I will have to experiment with that.

Tonight would normally be a perfect night for smoking. Going to avoid the temptation.

Each day you get through just adds more weight to the balance. If today was Day 1, I'd smoke. But I really don't want to destroy all of the hard work and what I went through on Days1-19

BongoBongo said:

Day 20.

Last night I THINK the vaping knocked me out. Either that or I was so tired anyway. I actually think my crafty is hitting me harder than my plenty; I will have to experiment with that.

Tonight would normally be a perfect night for smoking. Going to avoid the temptation.

Each day you get through just adds more weight to the balance. If today was Day 1, I'd smoke. But I really don't want to destroy all of the hard work and what I went through on Days1-19

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Good luck with your struggle to be combustion free. You are almost there!
Plenty of folks that have been where you are now. You have found a cleaner and more effective way to use our fav herb. Your life will be better for it.

Also a big welcome to FC.

Keep it up guys!!! It will get easier as time goes by. On the + side, It will reinforce your willpower, and the increased self-esteem and physical benefits you get in return will help you kick it.

Personally I've been clean for 3 months now! Although I must admit I still get psychological cravings, especially in these hot sping evenings!

Then again, as somebody points out in another thread, there is a combustion culture with an established history, etc. So it is hard to abstract from all that right away, I agree.

Although I tried a toke last week and the taste was incredibly bad , like licking/chewing a used cigarette filter, that old tar taste just stuck in my mouth for a very long time, I was amazed at how horrible it was, I mean, there wasn't any of that old enjoyment for tobacco that I used to have, especially when smoking after a few hours' abstinence...
It seriously made me wonder, as so many on this forum earlier, how could I have put that stuff in my body for so long.

Also, what made it for me was water filtration; reminded me of old bong-smoking rituals, etc, and the heavy hits got me medicated to a point I knew I wasn't normal anymore, it just took time to get attuned to the cleaner high, maybe having 1-2 beers (max ) in the evenings will help, especially to reveal taste whilst vaping, I find it very enjoyable with a nice import beer (remember to exercise regularly, since booze plus the munchies may see you grow a nice beer belly quite fast tho! ).

Finally, I combined it with nicotine chewing-gums once in a while; only needed about 8-10 tablets til I stopped completely, personally didn't wanna hang on to it, even if it may have had some beneficial effects, as a stimulant, etc.

BongoBongo said:

Day 20.

Last night I THINK the vaping knocked me out. Either that or I was so tired anyway. I actually think my crafty is hitting me harder than my plenty; I will have to experiment with that.

Tonight would normally be a perfect night for smoking. Going to avoid the temptation.

Each day you get through just adds more weight to the balance. If today was Day 1, I'd smoke. But I really don't want to destroy all of the hard work and what I went through on Days1-19

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Might be a good time to refresh your vaping experience to help you feel less like you'd lose out on effort spent by going back. As any dieter will tell you, the more you feel like you're depriving yourself, the more likely you are to lose your shit and eat all the things.

Anyway, try digging back through the threads for your vapes and see if anyone has any neat tips or suggestions. Every time I do that, I seem to find some fantastic gem that blows my mind all over again, lol. Or maybe you'd like to hit up The Ethnobotanical Thread and see if you might like to try vaping some other stuff. The more ways you find to get invested in your vaporizing, the less appealing combusting is.

I smoked newports for 20 years and never once mixed tobacco with my herb. I guess I just never understood why anyone would want to taint some wonderful MJ with some dirty tobacco. I feel like a lot of the problem is cigarette withdrawl. I can tell you after 5 years of no cigarettes I still crave them. Nicotine is a mofo! Stay away!!! So glad I never did the mixed doobs. Vape on

I smoked Kools and herb separately for 44 years, then quit cigarettes and took a few months off herb in 2010 to have a lung lobe taken out. A few cancer cells escaped and hid until 2013. Hopefully, removing the affected lymph node and follow up by chemo and radiation killed all the cancer. The oncologist still checks every 3 months.

I switched to vaping in March, 2014, and lost the desire to combust weed even though the first vaporizer I tried (before finding advice at this forum) turned out not to be best for me.

Strongly agree with what @Pjake and @Gunky said about staying away from tobacco in any context. Though no longer addicted, I still get major cravings. Once in awhile, I see someone smoking in public when my husband isn't with me and can't resist asking them to give me one cigarette from their pack in exchange for a couple of dollars. Worse (and more embarrassing), if I see a discarded butt in decent condition, I'll pick it up. Even though months pass between incidents, it's troubling they happen at all.

If what I said above helps just one person keep tobacco out of his/her future, it'll be so worth the discomfort of sharing.

Today will be day 22. Still here. Still on the wagon.

The last two days, my Plenty knocked me the #$(& out. I might have just been tired to begin with (true), I might be learning how to get myself to sleep (partly true), but part of it might be getting used to vaping. (This is a good thing. This is one of the benefits of 420 for me).

My girlfriend dumped me (by text message) on Tuesday.* I could have smoked. I thought about it. I would have been justified in it. But I stayed strong.

Getting my hair cut today, I told my hair guy (because he was surprised I didn't have a coffee with me, because vaping doesn't wipe me out for the next morning like smoking used to) and he is in the exact same boat as I was 22 days ago. He said he's going to try too!

Great advice in this thread. Thank you to everyone.

-Me

* (I'm totally okay. The relationship wasn't going anywhere anyway, women tend to like me, etc.) But it's never fun being dumped.)

13th day, still here

You're a hard rock @BongoBongo, I'm sure I would've at least stumbled a bit in your situation, keep rockin mate. Since about day 10 seems vapor is hitting me much harder than ever and haven't been able to vape a full volcano bowl without passing out so what you say about the Plenty makes total sense to me. Read about the vapor hitting hard after leaving combustion in this same forum but didn't believe it would be that much of a difference.

For me I'd say the worst part is over, skipping the wake and bake routine on weekends though is still my biggest issue. It seems my daily intake of both weed and nicotine are going down, feel vaped with a fraction of the charge and don't feel that much of nicotine urge out of some momentary cravings.

Been getting some vivid dreams this last nights in which I smoked joints, hate when I wake up and realize it's just my brain fucking with me.

I don't write every day but read the posts often, keep them coming folks they're a big help on those hard days, thank you everyone.

Churrucaman said:

... Been getting some vivid dreams this last nights in which I smoked joints, hate when I wake up and realize it's just my brain fucking with me. ...

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If you Google "using dreams" or "drug dreams" you'll find many relevant results. I've had them every time I quit anything. The dreams and sad wake-ups will fade with time. You're on the right path, IMO. Good luck!

That's funny! I've had a couple dreams about smoking too. When I smoked, I don't remember ever dreaming about it.

Some Day 25 observations:

- I think I vape less than I smoked because vaping isn't as fun. theres no immediate gratification. Ultimately, that might be a good thing for me. its probably also decreasing my tolerance which is also not a terrible thing.

- I don't rush home and avoid social activities like I sometimes used to. Theres no "smoke a joint and I'll feel great so what am I doing here?" feeling

- I'm starting to notice flavor more. from day 1 I noticed the flavor of the first couple hits. Last night I was finishing off some bud from the night before in my Plenty at high heat and the taste kind of sucked. I didn't mind it too much, but it was interesting to notice and I'd never noticed it before. I could have changed the bud (conserving bud isn't that important to me) but I didnt feel like it and just tried to go to bed instead. It was hard to get to sleep but I managed it. Score 1 point for the related project of learning to sleep without bud.

No regrets. I'm very proud of what I've done. I was thinking before I'd reward myself at a certain milestone with a smoke. I still might, but I'm losing my desire to.

BongoBongo said:

I was thinking before I'd reward myself at a certain milestone with a smoke

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Probably not the worst idea ever but right up there. All that will do is reset your timer. I've been guilty of it in the past and it just led to the daily habit again.

edit: sorry, thinking cigarette.

BongoBongo said:

That's funny! I've had a couple dreams about smoking too. When I smoked, I don't remember ever dreaming about it.

Some Day 25 observations:

- I think I vape less than I smoked because vaping isn't as fun. theres no immediate gratification. Ultimately, that might be a good thing for me. its probably also decreasing my tolerance which is also not a terrible thing.

- I don't rush home and avoid social activities like I sometimes used to. Theres no "smoke a joint and I'll feel great so what am I doing here?" feeling

- I'm starting to notice flavor more. from day 1 I noticed the flavor of the first couple hits. Last night I was finishing off some bud from the night before in my Plenty at high heat and the taste kind of sucked. I didn't mind it too much, but it was interesting to notice and I'd never noticed it before. I could have changed the bud (conserving bud isn't that important to me) but I didnt feel like it and just tried to go to bed instead. It was hard to get to sleep but I managed it. Score 1 point for the related project of learning to sleep without bud.

No regrets. I'm very proud of what I've done. I was thinking before I'd reward myself at a certain milestone with a smoke. I still might, but I'm losing my desire to.

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You may find that the actual act of smoking may not interest you any longer if you tried it. It might taste awful to you. If it does then you know you are over the hump. Of course you don't want to take any chances and go back to the habit.

Most of us after we have stopped combusting (month or so) and try to smoke a joint, it doesn't even appeal to us any longer.

it will taste like lush rimjob's used cigar butt, not that i have ever tasted one lol
oh i meant rush limbaugh

Yeah, I still combust on rare occasions when I'm with other people who aren't into vaporizing. Mostly, the taste of ass just reaffirms my decision to vaporize.

But even if I liked the smoking high better -- which I don't -- I wouldn't go back to combusting because the smoke was slowly killing my lungs. I quit smoking the herb and cigarettes at almost the exact same time and my lungs (not to mention my senses of smell and taste!) have been thanking me ever since. When you add the other benefits of vaping (increased efficiency, reduced smell, much improved taste, recycling ABV into edibles, etc) to the equation, it becomes a win-win situation. And a no-brainer, in my opinion!

Anyway, I'm just preaching to the choir for most of us here...

Been very busy this last days, just checking in to say I'm still rockin'

24 days without smoke so far, out of the occasional dr dabber hit which counts like half vaping .

Thinking about rewarding myself with a joint when I make the month but will probably hold for a bit longer, I fear I may go back to the starting line if I did that too soon. It'd be nice being able to have one on weekend afternoons without turning it to routine again.

Anybody which does like this and hasn't gone back to the habit?

Churrucaman said:

Been very busy this last days, just checking in to say I'm still rockin'

24 days without smoke so far, out of the occasional dr dabber hit which counts like half vaping .

Thinking about rewarding myself with a joint when I make the month but will probably hold for a bit longer, I fear I may go back to the starting line if I did that too soon. It'd be nice being able to have one on weekend afternoons without turning it to routine again.

Anybody which does like this and hasn't gone back to the habit?

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When you exercise self control for a given timeframe and then reward yourself with the same thing you withheld, you have a much bigger appreciation for it and also increase your will power by exercising self control. I think the biggest mistake one can make is trying to quit cold turkey. It might work for some, but for many it doesnt, especially for me. Best thing is to reduce it little by little until its non existent. You might even get to the point where you just light up a joint on new years every year, I dont see anything wrong with that. The constant pounding of huffing and puffin toxins is the issue. You might also get to the point where you give up smoking all together, because youve realized that its no longer worth it.

Now, people vape because of different reasons, they want to invest in their future health, smoking makes them feel sick or ill, they probably cannot smoke anymore because of health issues. Everyone has a different reason as to why. My reason is that smoking raises my blood pressure and makes my heart pound out of this world. Years from abusive smoking and drinking? Maybe, but vaping has allowed me to continue using my medicine without any ill side effects. maybe you will see the light. I wished vaping was invented when I first started smoking 20 years ago, or it was I wish I would have known about it. Now if I can only find a time machine.

Churrucaman said:

Been very busy this last days, just checking in to say I'm still rockin'

24 days without smoke so far, out of the occasional dr dabber hit which counts like half vaping .

Thinking about rewarding myself with a joint when I make the month but will probably hold for a bit longer, I fear I may go back to the starting line if I did that too soon. It'd be nice being able to have one on weekend afternoons without turning it to routine again.

Anybody which does like this and hasn't gone back to the habit?

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You will know if you are over the combusting hump when you take a drag from a joint and it is revolting to you. You may decide you don't like it any longer.

CarolKing said:

You will know if you are over the combusting hump when you take a drag from a joint and it is revolting to you. You may decide you don't like it any longer.

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You know, that also happens when people take up healthy eating and after some time they switch back to reckless eating. When people go back to eating dirty, alot of the times their body tells them the food is not doing them well and their body starts trying to get rid of all the bad stuff, making them feel sick and even throwing up.

*Edit

You probably won't like it unless the mental thing is really a big deal to you. My husband has taken to using the pipe while gaming because we only have 1 vape. He asked me to refill it and I almost puked when I went to blow it out.

Great thread. Never used cigs but smoked a lot of weed.1.5-2 grams a day!

I have been doing dabs for a while now but still smoking bong loads to start my day cause dabs can be a bit much at 6am. I went for a couple weeks without weed and just doing dabs then when I went back to smoking a b load it tasted like ass.

I decided a couple weeks ago to give up combusting herb. I just got my LSV yesterday and I have absolutely no desire to go back to combustion it seems so caveman like now! It hits hard and makes huge clouds which for me is important as I like to see vapor being exhaled. I just hope the Haze V2.5 I ordered hits as good so I have a good portable vape.

Likes2vape said:

Great thread. Never used cigs but smoked a lot of weed.1.5-2 grams a day!

I have been doing dabs for a while now but still smoking bong loads to start my day cause dabs can be a bit much at 6am. I went for a couple weeks without weed and just doing dabs then when I went back to smoking a b load it tasted like ass.

I decided a couple weeks ago to give up combusting herb. I just got my LSV yesterday and I have absolutely no desire to go back to combustion it seems so caveman like now! It hits hard and makes huge clouds which for me is important as I like to see vapor being exhaled. I just hope the Haze V2.5 I ordered hits as good so I have a good portable vape.

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Haha yes, combustion is very caveman like indeed.

So it has been almost a week since I quit combusting. I have had the urge to smoke a few times but mainly it's been because of a time issue. I've held strong though and have only vaped.

Vaping is definitely not as quick as smoking I have to allow myself more time if I'm going somewhere and want to do sesh.