The Truth About Vaping
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Advice from a long term user
I smoked cigarettes for twelve years before I quit. I tried to quit thirteen times and each time, I failed. The methods I used: nicotine patches, inhalers, lozenges, gum, and even a medication called Champix. Unfortunately, none of these methods worked and then I found vaping.
Now, I can proudly say I haven’t had a cigarette in 3 years! Something I feel I never would’ve been able to do without my vape pen. The bad news? I have been using my vape pen for 3 years.
Vaping satisfies that craving for cigarettes and unlike cigarettes, it smells and tastes lovely. It doesn’t leave a smell on your clothes and it has fewer chemicals than cigarettes do. Unfortunately, these qualities make vaping very difficult to stop.
There has been some controversy surrounding vaping in the media lately. People (mainly teenagers) have been getting sick and even dying, from black market e-liquid. A lot of news headlines like to make it sound like every vape is going to kill every user. In my opinion, pure fear-mongering. I have been researching these cases, and I can assure you that the majority of them are involving black market or homemade e-liquid that contains vitamin-e.
I wonder if these news headlines and the subsequent banning of flavored e-liquid in some areas in North America , is due to our governments not being able to capitalize on them.
I believe there are risks with anything we put in our bodies, especially anything that is inhaled. For me, vaping was the definitive choice over cigarettes. Yes, it is not a healthy habit, but much better than smoking 5000 chemicals, several times daily. There are long term effects with vaping. However, I believe I would have died young if I had continued smoking cigarettes.
In regards to smoking cessation, I think vaping is an excellent way to quit. I have some tips for using a vape as a tool to quit smoking:
- If you are not of legal age, please refrain from vaping or smoking altogether.
- Buy from reputable sources.
- Ask what is in the liquid before purchasing. Most e-liquids only have vegetable glycerine/propylene glycol, flavoring, and nicotine.
- Be prepared to explain your smoking habits so the salesperson can recommend the right strength of e-liquid to use.
- Set a quit date for vaping. If you do not for this, you will end up vaping for a lot longer than planned. This is not a long term solution, this should be tapered once you have quit smoking cigarettes.
My husband, who used his vape to quit smoking, was a heavy smoker since his teen years. Vaping helped him stop also.
We are quitting vaping and it’s not easy. However, I know we can do it and I am very grateful to no longer be a cigarette smoker.
Now that we have quit our vapes, we are finally free of our vices..except drinking Pepsi, but I’ll save that discussion for another time.
