My First Week off Cigarettes

So, It’s actually been about six days since I put out my last cigarette.  In smoker’s years that’s more like six months (that’s a tongue and cheek estimate, not a medical fact), so I don’t feel too bad about rounding up – but I digress.  The point is, I’ve made the switch to eCigs or Vaping and I feel exponentially better as a result.  In this first week alone I’ve stumbled into a vast world of hope, innovation, and controversy.   Most importantly, I’ve taken a step toward dramatically improving my health and the health of those around me.

I’d like to use this space to share my experience moving forward.  I’m not a seasoned blogger, so expect some growing pains and awkward moments in print.  Above all, you can expect honesty.  Be it product reviews, research, or general opinion, I feel all Vapers share a responsibility to be clear, objective, and thorough about the information being put forth.  Our friends, family, and the public at large should be empowered to make an informed decision on Vaping free of Industry, Political, and Moral Bias.  As a critical consumer it didn’t take long for me to see that there is an uphill battle in the works for the Vaping Community.  The established Tobacco and Pharma Companies have prematurely identified eCigs as a threat to their bottom line.  The lobbyists have been unleashed on Washington and the result has been a small but relatively effective wave of misinformation.  We can nip this in the bud.

There are loads of resources out there for the inquisitive vaper, but I’ll get to that later.  For now I’d like to share how I got started.

♦ ♦ ♦

I’d seen eCigs at Truck Stops for several years.  I don’t know why my curiosity wasn’t piqued, but I basically ignored them.  I’d never seen a trucker purchase one nor had I seen anyone actually use one.  However, over the past year I’ve seen a grand total of Two people enjoying an eCig.  It was my second exposure that prompted me to give them a try.  I figured if that guy, a relatively heavy smoker, can make the switch so can I.  So, on my next visit to the gas station, I purchased a Logic eCig for $10.00.

Make no mistake about it, there is a learning curve with these things.  They don’t “hit” like a normal cigarette.  There is a longer draw, some prefer a “priming draw”.  At first it felt like I was inhaling a peppery mist laced with mint.  Having chewed Nicotine gum for several years, I’m familiar with the pepper “taste”, so I knew instantly that I was getting the nicotine.  My first exhale was unsatisfying, but still, I knew I was getting pretty much what I’d paid for, Nicotine.

I also went to a different gas station and picked up an “NJoy King”.  If you haven’t seen one of these, they’re styled to look exactly like a real cigarette.  They’re wrapped in paper and have a tip that resembles the glowing orange cherry of a real smoke.  The packaging is nice as well.  Again, the NJoy King retails for $10.00 in my area (Bergen / Hudson County, NJ).

Now, both of these products (among many others) make a suspicious claim that some in the vaping community have taken issue with – and rightfully so.  This is the claim that “One eCig is the equivalent of Two packs of Regular Cigarettes”.  I have to admit, I was drawn in by this as it suggests an obvious savings right out of the gate.  That’s right, I’d be spending HALF of what I was spending on regular cigarettes.  Unfortunately, this claim is not necessarily true.  I’d purchased my Logic in the morning and by dinner time the battery had lost its juice, I was in the early stages of acute nicotine withdrawal, and experiencing a level of aggravation that was completely new to me.  There was no way in hell I’d just consumed the equivalent of Two Packs.  The fact of the matter is this: there is a notable difference between Smoke and Vapor when it comes to Nicotine Dosage.  Additionally, we all draw differently.  This has a direct effect on the life of a battery, the contents of the cartomizer, and the nicotine dose.  There’s some more science-y stuff to throw in here, but we’ll get to that down the line.

Fortunately, in my quest for variety, I’d inadvertently learned an early lesson in vaping: Always have a back-up and back-ups for your back-up.  Enter the NJoy King (Menthol).  As I stated earlier, NJoy has produced an eCig that more closely resembles and actual (or analogue) cigarette.  Additionally, the flavor of the NJoy and the “throat hit” seemed to more closely resemble my analogue experience.  Unfortunately, the NJoy battery also ran out of juice by the end of the day.  And again, there was no way I’d consumed the equivalent of 2 Packs.

So, that was that.  I’d purchased my first two eCigs on a Friday morning and by end of business Saturday they were both “consumed”.  I have to say, I was a little bummed.  Mostly because the flavor of both products was not only appealing, it was Preferable to my analogue brand of choice.  Additionally, I didn’t see how this was going to work out.  I mean, if I had to spend $10.00/day just to have a mediocre experience I might as well stick with the gum and my Kools.  Remember, instant gratification often erroneously trumps our desire for lasting and meaningful satisfaction especially when one is in the grips of addiction.

Having cashed my eCigs so quickly, I turned to the interwebs for insight.  In other words, I wanted to make sure I was doing it right.  Unlike my first drags off of a Marlboro when I was 13, I didn’t have one of the bad kids next to me showing me how to do it.  So, I needed help.

Enter The Wide World Of Vaping:

Purely by accident I kept to the eCig tack and landed on “The Volt” by Smokeless Image.  I’ll save the review for another post, but for now it’ll suffice to say “The Volt” is a significant step up from just about anything I can find in a gas station.  I ordered the “Pro Starter Kit” on a Saturday and received it by Monday after work.  Again, I’ll have some flowery words about the service in a later post.

Unsatisfied by not having what I wanted right away, my research continued.  I turned to YouTube and happened upon the eCig Reviewer Community.  I’m sure that in the near future we might refer to it as a movement, but for now it’s a healthy scene.  In particular, I spent the rest of my weekend watching reviews from GrimmGreen.  If you’re looking for a good place to start, give this a shot → “Taking the Next Vaping Step” .  (I’ll have some kind words for the reviewers listed at the end of this later on but, for now, I’m trying to keep it simple).

I quickly realized I required more in order to optimize my Vaping experience and headed straight for the online retail.  I went to Clouds of Vapor and ordered up an eGo-C Twist, a pack of Boge XL 2.8ohm Cartos, and a couple of Juices.  There’s a newbie mistake in this first order, but we’ll get into that later.  Also, I have some more research to do on ordering the Twist, so bear with me while I take the time to finish my story and come back to edit after some more investigation. (As promised, here’s the edit: SmartVapes has put together an eGo Twist Starter kit.  The referral comes from VaporJoes)

Monday:

I actually went to work dreading the fact that I was going to smoke.  I knew for certain I would be consuming ½ a pack of cigarettes or more.  The flavor of the Logic continued to haunt me and the closest I could come to my Vape experience without spending another $10.00 was to tell my staff what I’d done over the weekend.  In the recovery world we refer to this as “euphoric recall”.  It’s a cheap high and, in some cases, a slippery slope.  But I digress.  The point is, I was excited to start vaping.

As the day wore on I became increasingly curious about a local source for Vape gear.  I’d found One shop in South Jersey (9southvapes) that advertised supplies and that was it.  Given our proximity to NYC, there had to be something further up the Parkway.  I shared my frustration with a couple of folks on my staff and they pointed me to the head shop up the road (Wonderland Smoke Shop).

And so, I swung by Wonderland while out on an errand.  The young woman behind the counter was very helpful and pointed me to the “Eon Smoke” starter kit.  At $12.00 I got a black battery (with a cool lookin logo on it) and two 18mg menthol cartridges.  Having experienced the nicotine withdrawal on Friday I decided to up the dosage and pick up some 24mg cartridges just to be safe.  All told, I spent about $29.00.  I smoked my last cigarette on that ride back to the office.  And that’s that.

After 21 Years of Faithful, Unwavering Devotion to a product that was slowly, but surely, Killing Me, I QUIT!

Moving Forward:

The first time I saw an eCig was probably about five years ago at a Pilot Truck-Stop along I-78 in New Jersey.  My initial reaction was skeptical cynicism and an uninformed opinion that these things were intended for desperate truckers that had been forbidden from smoking in the cabs of their company owned rigs.  Today, I know better.  The target market is Every Smoker Everywhere All The Time.

I am now one of those ex-smokers turned vaper.  In the past 6 days I’ve noticed an increase in energy and focus.  There’s been a bit of an adjustment while I get the nicotine dosage right, but that’s part of the adventure.  My taste buds are coming back to life as well as my sense of smell.  I can breathe better and I’m sure my body’s increased access to oxygen is having other benefits I’m not aware of yet.  I’ve also read in forum posts that several people have managed to stave off the “quitters cough” by switching to the Vapes (again, anecdotal evidence, not medical fact).

I still have the six cigarettes left in my pack of Kools from last Monday.  I’ve decided to turn them into an art.  In the interim, I’ve gained a wealth of knowledge about the Vaping World that I can’t wait to share.  Which brings me back around to something I mentioned earlier.  Sharing.

The purpose of this blog is to add my voice to a growing chorus of former smokers/current vapers and I hope to encourage others to do the same.  There is certainly a great deal of “stuff” out there on the internets.  Some of it is helpful, some of it is overwhelming, and some of it is misleading.  That last bit is the most concerning.

Having worked in customer service for most of my adult life I know the impact of a “bad review” or a “misrepresentation” of a product or service.  Although in some cases it’s a warranted criticism, it seems most of the time it is a poorly articulated attack motivated by petty revenge and self-righteous indignation.  One poor review needs something like Ten positives to negate it (again, not a medical fact).  We are a crisis oriented species, therefore, we are easily impacted by fireballs of negativity and frothy emotional appeal.  This is a relatively common observation, so I’ll get to the point.  The same concept is applicable to the dissemination of information.

For example:  There is currently a vendor representing their cartomizers as Low Resistance when in fact they are Standard.  It’s a nit-picky observation (and one of many I’m sure), but it will serve to illustrate a couple of points.  First, I haven’t gotten a hold of their product yet, so I’ll probably be adding to this later but, for now, I can only speculate that it is unintentionally designed to under-perform.  As a result, the first timer off the street is likely to have an underwhelming introduction to eCigs.  Consequently, they may be reluctant seek out an alternate eCig and promptly return to the clutches of cigarettes.  It’s a “worst-case-speculation” but its a valid concern.  Second, when consumers find out that one vendor has been misrepresenting their product it casts doubt on the rest.  Just like the “one bad comment” scenario, in an emerging industry with a controversial product, a poor light on one can set back the advancement of the rest.  Again, I’m nit-picking, and I’ll leave names out of it until I’ve had an opportunity to try their goods.  But, hopefully, I’ve made my point here.  That having been said, if at any point I write something here that qualifies as misleading or ill-researched, please, kindly tap me on the shoulder and help me correct the problem.  I’m comfortable with being imperfect.  In fact, I publicly celebrate it.

I’ve had a lot of fun researching eCigs and Vaping over this past week and I’m confident there will be plenty of innovation to keep us all interested for years to come.  If anything I’ve written here resonates with you in any way I strongly urge you to check out the links below as well as the ones embedded in the text above.

Thanks for Reading.   More to Come…

♦ ♦ ♦

Great Reviews, Information, and Entertainment:

Nick “GrimmGreen” Green: http://www.youtube.com/user/GrimmGreen

Phil Busardo: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbusardo

BasilRay: http://www.youtube.com/user/basilray

SteelJan: http://www.youtube.com/user/steeljan

The VP Live Vape Team: http://www.youtube.com/user/vapeteam

http://www.reddit.com/r/electronic_cigarette/wiki/pages/

Get Involved & Informed:

Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA): http://casaa.org/

-Keep Signing this WH Petition: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/prevent-fda-regulating-or-banning-sale-and-use-electronic-cigarettes-accessories-and-associated/RQLBYRsd

E-Cigarette Forum: http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/forum/

Anti-THR Lie of the Day: http://antithrlies.com/

Vendors I’ve Purchased From This Week:

Smokeless Image (Hoboken Storefront NOW OPEN!)

Clouds of Vapor

AltSmoke

Currently Vaping:

Bocca Breeze 24mg in a Boge 2.8ohm XL Stainless Steel Carto on an eGo-C Twist at 4.2volts (all from Clouds of Vapor)

Menthol Burst on a Volt Battery from Smokeless Image.

♦ ♦ ♦

Be Well, Take Care, and Happy Vaping!

-Alex