Is E-Smoking a Way to Quit Smoking?

Post Under 7 Things You Need to Know Before Buying an Electric Cigarette

I’ve tried to quit myself in the past. Cold turkey worked for about 2 weeks until a night out on the town surrounded by my friends who smoke (and maybe some martini's) put an end to that attempt. This was all long before the smoking bans in restaurants and public buildings began.

A few years later when the smoking bans started, I was a bit annoyed that what I was allowed to do in the past would now be off limits. I realized my habits were going to have to change, so reluctantly I decided it was time to try quitting again. I was one of those people who enjoyed having a cigarette at the end of my meal with some coffee, and I didn’t want to feel like I had to rush myself out the door immediately after I was done.

I decided I’d try to quit smoking with the patch. The first day didn’t seem so bad other than being a bit fidgety. About 3 days into using them the problems began. I realized I was having nightmares and noticed I wasn’t sleeping well at all. There were red blotches all over my skin where I had put the patches. I also realized I couldn’t seem to shake the urge to just hold something in my hand and see smoke.

I was sadly missing the rhythmic inhale that accompanies smoking. With the patch, I felt there was no way to control the amount of nicotine being absorbed into my system even though those patches come in regulated amounts. You put one on, and it can take hours before the nicotine is really felt in your system. Then when you least expect it, you may get really high and jittery as the dose suddenly surges through your system in what is like a plateau.

In total, I tried quitting by using the patch on two separate occasions. Both times led to throwing hundreds of dollars of patches in the trash. A few months later I was in the local pharmacy getting cigarettes, and looking behind the attendant at the counter I discovered the nicotine lozenges. Thinking these might give me a bit more control over how much nicotine I consumed – and when, I decided to give them a try.

About 3 minutes after putting one in my mouth, I literally felt like I was going to lose my lunch. The initial flavor was bearable, but then after a couple of minutes I found myself salivating and nauseous. I will never put one of those in my mouth again. It was that repulsive.

Finally, I tried the gum. That was slightly better than the lozenge, but still was just not going to work. It too left a bit of a nasty flavor in my mouth, and I was really uneasy over the tingle effect it had on my gums. I found myself putting more and more money in the trash. I was going to have to wait for a better solution. But at the time, I had given up on giving up.

I have known for some time now the hazards of traditional smoking (those pesky 4000 elements found in cigarette smoke). And yet I was not ready to let go — at least not by any of the ways formerly suggested. I was surfing the web one day, and happened to come across a tech show video where someone was explaining this new device that you could smoke anywhere. There were no promises made that this would help me quit smoking, but I wound up ordering one out of curiosity. I just thought it looked cool.

When it first arrived I was very excited to test out my new device. I plugged it into the wall to charge up the batteries, and waited a few hours. When all seemed to be charged up, I put it all together and was ready to give it a go. From the first inhale, I was pleasantly shocked that not only did it look cool, but the flavor was nice and I got an immediate hit of nicotine – just as if I were actually smoking a cigarette.

Realizing how much cheaper this was going to be than smoking cigarettes, I decided to experiment, and see if I could just switch over completely. I was quite skeptical as I had tried using other things before and there was always some offending issue.

For the first 3 days I flipped back and forth with my last pack of cigarettes and the device. Smoking with the e-cig is a little different. It doesn’t just burn out and you know you are done. It also can make a slight gurgly noise when you inhale – but that is part of its magic. Other than that, I didn’t really notice anything much different from just smoking.

By day 3 I had just a few cigarettes left, and actually found the taste left in my mouth after smoking a normal cigarette a bit “dirty.” This was really exciting, as it seemed I was beginning to get my taste buds back.

By the end of the week, I really didn’t see the need to continue with regular cigarettes as I was enjoying my new e-cigarette. It was just like smoking, and it was quite amazing how quickly everything began to smell and taste so much better.

So did I quit smoking? I do believe I have quit smoking traditional cigarettes. The smoke that appears to come off of the e-cigarette is actually just a vapor. So technically yes. I have quit smoking.

The real question might be having I quit nicotine? Not entirely yet – but it looks promising.

After 19 years of smoking, this was by far the easiest thing to switch to and not feel like I was battling multiple demons. The device delivers immediate nicotine – and this has been truly the closest thing to what my body was familiar with.

Can I promise or tell others this will definitely make them quit? Unfortunately, e-smoking devices have not been around long enough to provide any solid studies that they are in any way a smoking cessation device. There are however studies to confirm that not all smokers are addicted to just the nicotine in smoking. I now believe I fall into this particular category.

For many, there are physical habits which can be just as hard to overcome as the chemical. There is the feel of warmth on the back of the throat, flavors of tobacco and the vision of the smoke itself. Many smokers may find themselves holding something stick like in their hand (like a pen) when they are not smoking.

Case studies on e-smoking are now being collected, and personally I think the results will be very promising. Within one week I personally went from a pack (sometimes a pack and a half) a day habit to purely using the ecigarette. Presently I use cartridges in my e-smoking device which contain the lowest amount of nicotine. I am considering alternating with a second e-cigarette in a different color and mixing up some low and no nicotine cartridges.

While it is not officially deemed a quit smoking device, the e-cigarette is definitely not to be discarded as a possible solution to helping a lot of people who want to quit. I have quit cigarettes, and I will soon be testing the ability to quit the nicotine as well.