Trying to quit smoking can be really hard. Vaping is a way to still get nicotine without the toxins that come with burning tobacco. Vaping provides a much more approachable way to quit as it allows you to remain social and spend less money. Vaping can be a path to quitting smoking altogether and feeling better about your habits.
While vaping is much less harmful than smoking, it’s important to stay informed about the health consequences and make a plan to quit vaping too.
Vaping vs other ways of quitting
There are many different approaches to quit smoking: cold turkey, purchasing nicotine replacement therapies, and vaping. Currently, the FDA hasn’t approved vaping devices as an official medicine to stop smoking. However, countless people have had success with vaping and here’s why.
Cold turkey is when you decide to suddenly stop smoking. Some people have had success with this method, however most of the time the physical withdrawal symptoms from cutting out nicotine immediately are too overwhelming. It’s easy to be tempted back into smoking for social reasons. Cold turkey has pretty low success rates; almost half of people who try to quit cold turkey will not manage to stop for more than a week.
Nicotine replacement therapies are over the counter products designed to provide you with quantified nicotine dosage minus the toxins. These are products such as nicotine patches, mouth spray, inhalers, or gum. The challenge with these products is that they do not address the habit of smoking. Often the hardest thing about quitting smoking isn’t the nicotine withdrawal, but missing the act of holding a cigarette, socializing, and ciggie breaks.
Vaping allows you to keep your routine like taking ciggie breaks and socializing. When you have been smoking for a long time, it becomes a part of your life. Other treatments don’t address the behavioural and social aspects that smokers enjoy such as taking a puff, and feeling part of a group. E-cigarettes may offer a way to overcome these limitations.
Switching successfully from smoking to vaping
The first week of transitioning to vaping can be difficult. Like any change, vaping will take some getting used to. Though users report that the similarity of motions and ease of use make vaping very appealing. Knowing what to expect can help make the process a little easier.
Here are a few tips for success:
Pick the right store. Going into a specialist vape store and talking with a knowledgeable person can take much of the guesswork out of the process and answer all your questions.
Find the right starter vape. When you are trying to quit smoking you don’t necessarily need large cloud production or advanced heating elements. There are many options for discreet pod style devices that allow you to adjust nicotine content to your needs. Learning to use these types of devices takes less than five minutes.
Use a quality e-juice. There are thousands of e-juices to choose from. For someone switching from cigarettes, tobacco flavored e-juices may be a great place to start. Vermillion River has a reputation for its Kentucky Premium Tobacco Blends - clean smooth tobacco flavor that matches the quality of a premium cigar. Using an e-juice that you actually enjoy will help reduce the temptation to purchase another pack of cigarettes.
Set realistic goals for yourself. It’s good to know that it generally takes two to three months for someone to completely stop smoking and only use their vape. Once you reach this stage you can start setting new goals for yourself to quit vaping too. Don’t rush the process though. Be confident that you won’t pick up smokes again before reducing your nicotine content. Going into this process with realistic goals will give you a good plan to become smoke and vape free.
