Quit smoking in 8 days thanks to vaping.

I started smoking cigarettes when I was 15. By the time I was 18 and in the military I stopped smoking for three months. How? The United States Marine Corps does not allow recruits to smoke. I had no way of smoking, getting hold of a cigarette or really even the time to think about it. If you want to quit smoking, stop drinking, learn to swear, loss weight, cut yourself off from phones and other electronics, then go join the USMC. For most of us, that is no longer an option, we are too old or already set in our career choices. The day that I graduated from boot camp and freed back in the “real world” the first thing I did was go buy a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. I smoke three cigarettes in just the few blocks to get to McDonald’s. I really wanted a Big Mac hamburger, fries and a Coke. And yes, I did get the nicotine “head rush” and it was great! I was smoking a pack or pack and a half a day. By the time I was 30 I was smoking 2 packs a day and occasionally switching to my pipe in the evenings. I had tried several times after the age of 30 to stop smoking “cold turkey” and the “taper off” method of smoking one less cigarette each days until I was done with smoking (none were successful). I had cut back down to a pack and a half by the time I was 40 and again had a few more unsuccessful attempts to quit smoking. During the these last years I have tried generic eCigs, less generic eCigs (such as BLU), nicotine gum, the nicotine patch and the nicotine lozenges, including the Prescription Strength of each of these as prescribed by my doctor. None of them helped me to quit smoking. I attended one group support session (court ordered) after I stopped drinking. What a joke! Everyone there was full of $%^& and did not really want to be there, but they were saying “this, that and the other thing” to impress the counselors. I did not speak. I waited for the end of the meeting, got my papers signed and I was done with group therapy. I did not want to hear the stories, I really could not relate and I just did not care. I had been a functioning alcoholic for many years. I was a functioning alcoholic in the Marine Corps and the Arizona Department of Corrections. Lunch time, meant go have a few before going back to work. That way I got a “head start” on my evening drinking. It took a DUI motorcycle solo accident to wake me up and get me to sober up. That was in 2005. I have now been sober for 10 years, but I am still an alcoholic. I have read up on “Quitting Smoking” or “Smoking Cessation” in the past. I would actually laugh at the “Guides”, the people writing these things just have no idea about all the various aspects of how smoking grabs you and will never let go. Nothing has worked for me, until I started vaping. My son introduced me to real vaping. He took me down to a local smoke shop and showed me a few things. I talked with the gal working that day and she was very helpful and even let me sample a few flavors. How that was great. So I picked out a Cherry Bomber (clone), Aspire Triton (top fill) tank and some Apple Pie eJuice. Of course, I just called “some of that Apple Pie liquid stuff” at the time. Vaping has given me the “inhale, exhale (looks like smoke) and hold something in my hand” sensation. It has also allowed me to continue nicotine at a variable amount that I control. So I have quit smoking tobacco, paper, filtering and all the other chemicals that are in commercial tobacco. So does this mean it was easy? NO. I tried to replace smoking with vaping (with nicotine) but I still had 3-5 cigarettes a day. To my amazement the dual use (smoking and vaping) only lasted about 8 days. I had actually cut down my cigarette smoking each day from that 3-5 a day during those 8 days. I have now been an Ex-Smoker for 10 days now. I have my mod box sitting where my cigarettes used to sit. My wife smokes, so there is still an ashtray and a pack of smokes on the table (next to her seat). It was not easy and sometimes still is not. I have had a few urges to reach over and grab a cigarette. Instead I grabbed my vape. The first day without a cigarette was not as bad as I thought it would be. I have been there (trying to quit smoking) before and was dreading the thought of doing it again. Surprisingly, I just vaped all day instead of smoking all day. A lot of people are surprised and amazed (myself included) at how fast I could stop smoking after being a smoker for 35 years. Every day is getting better and exhaling those big clouds is great. I am not a Cloud Chaser, but a Flavor Chaser. I so inhale directly to my lungs. The first few days of vaping had me coughing, as my body was used to smoke, not vaporized/atomized eJuice. Now, I am taking big hits, enjoying the flavor and enjoying the clouds. [b]Every time I bellow out a big cloud from my vape, is a reminder that I’m not exhaling a little bit of smoke from a cigarette.[/b] Maybe that seems funny or odd to some, but each cloud is a reminder that I am not smoking anymore. Vaping is great! Regardless if I am using 6mg of nicotine or make it down to 0mg, I am sure that I will be a vaper for life! [b]It has been three weeks now and I am still not smoking[/b]. Although, I will say I caught myself just reaching for a smoke during that first week. My wife still smokes, so there is a pack setting next to the ashtray. Like I said I had caught myself reaching, but I had been able to not pull out a cigarette and light it up. Vaping is still working for me. Yes, I have the nicotine in my eJuice and probably will for some time. Still, I am not smoking and that is a VICTORY!