Do e-cigarettes help people give up smoking?

Rocker

Giving up smoking seems to be a fairly difficult thing.  The explosion in the marketplace for patches etc. also e-cigarettes, some or all of which claim to help the smoker give up on the cigs.  When I played in bands I smoked.  Generally around 10 per day.  Until I was hospitalized with an inner ear virus infection where I decided to give up the smoking there and then.  AFAIK there is no connection between inner ear problems and smoking but I gave the cigs up anyway.  Slap bang stop.  And never since.  I did miss the reassuring packet in my pocket and for years afterwards was always slightly intoxicated by the smell of a freshly lit cigarette but I never went back on them.

So, do these thing work or are e-cigarettes a con, a way of getting people to part with their cash.....

CabbageCat

https://smokefree.gov/understanding-smoking/e-cigs-menthol-dip-more/what-we-know-about-e-cigarettes

Happy to help.

BigBearKris

I used to smoke too. About 15-20 a day, for nearly 10 years. I've tried to quit few times but unsuccessfully. About 5 years ago I just quit. Cold turkey. I do like to smoke cigars, but that's on rare occasion and only summer/holiday.
My missus uses the vape thing, but I never really found it that nice. You have some great flavours, you get your nicotine too, but to me it probably wouldn't work as a replacement for cigarette. She uses it and it helps her apparently so I guess it's individual thing.

Chewing gum, patches, vape- it's all helpful but at the end of the day it's all down to string will.

Dave_Vader

I vaped for a year, then quit completely.
It was much easier to give up than Cigs were. So yes.

Rocker

CabbageCat said:

https://smokefree.gov/understanding-smoking/e-cigs-menthol-dip-more/what-we-know-about-e-cigarettes

Happy to help.

Thanks but I was hoping for your opinion and not Government propaganda....

speshul91

Ive gone from almost 100g of tobacco a week to just vaping, i haven't got any links but there was a study done that proved its not the nicotine you get addicted to but the numerous other chemicals, they tried getting mice addicted to plain nicotine and failed. 

Bidley

CabbageCat said:

https://smokefree.gov/understanding-smoking/e-cigs-menthol-dip-more/what-we-know-about-e-cigarettes

Happy to help.

They might as well come out and say "don't use e-cigs, we don't make nearly as much tax off them". There's no actual information whatsoever in that article.

I've been off the fags for a year thanks solely to vaping. I feel 100 times better than I did when I was smoking.

ennspek

Definitely helped me.

Strangefan

And me, theirs two types of vaping,  one where you use it to get off the cigs, and the other as a full replacement, the latter is just as expensive but a lot better for you than tobacco,  as  its turning the liquid in to a vapour and no combustion is occurring, obviously it's not as healthy as smoking nothing, but I have seen so many improvements compared to tobacco. 

Nitefly

Is there such a thing as "passive vaping"?

I ask because I have noted, in some circumstances, vast clouds of second-hand "vape" being exhaled in premises where smoking is prohibited, and I wonder what might be in it.

(I speak as an ex-smoker, 30 a day, gave up cold turkey 25 years ago).

starwarsnosebleed

I tried the patches, but they wont stay lit.

Gassage

Ali smokes and also vapes. I say no. He just vapes more and smokes my cigs.

littlegreenman

Give up smoking cigarettes? Definitely, I haven't had a cigarette since switching.

Giving up the nicotine addiction? That's a whole other question.

roundthebend

My missus used to smoke around 10 per day. She tried various things to quit but ultimately couldn't. Even after a 5 month break when using Champix she eventually cracked during a stressful time and went back to 10 per day.
Last year she invested in a reasonable decent eCig and shortly after quit the real things completely. She said recently that she couldn't even imagine putting a real one in her mouth.
The eCigs are way more sociable, I even like the smell on her breath from it now. She feels much healthier, has a more positive and confident attitude about her, and she hasn't put on weight like she expected.
I think a lot of things have contributed to her new self, but the eCigs are a definite winner in my eyes.

Teetonetal

Giving up appears to now be a huge money making machine. I tried the patches, gum and the Alan Carr book. All useless.

Eventually went cold turkey. Stayed away from pubs and mates for a couple of weeks. Wife was supportive / demanded I quit. 

No smoked since 2009.

Anything that substitutes doesn't work IMO as the habit part doesn't get broken.

lamf68

Teetonetal said:

I tried the Alan Carr book

There's your answer, That Chatty Man is a knob - was never gonna work.
Seriously though, the book worked for me, I'd smoked from the age of 13 till 35, I finished reading it on a night shift in work, never looked at a fag for 4 years, then went out, got pissed had one, had another, bought ten, remained pissed...Stayed off them after that night for a fortnight but the craving was back so bad I thought I'd go mental, have now been back on the fags since that stupid night...always regret going back on them as I can't see a way out. I do feel the 4 years off them may have saved my life in the interim, I know I'll die with a fag in my mouth though. Tried vaping, was more painful than smoking.

axisus

I know a few people who have swapped to vaping and given up smoking. Worth doing as vaping is a lot less harmful.  

monquixote

speshul91 said:

Ive gone from almost 100g of tobacco a week to just vaping, i haven't got any links but there was a study done that proved its not the nicotine you get addicted to but the numerous other chemicals, they tried getting mice addicted to plain nicotine and failed. 

If that were true vaping wouldn't be a substitute for smoking.

Jalapeno

Anecdotal, but I chap I worked with quit smoking for vaping and his smoker's cough went, and he could walk upstairs again without a coughing fit.  

(I went cold turkey 30+ years ago - a good dose of bronchitis made it pretty easy)

starwarsnosebleed

I smoked for 22 years, and just started vaping on New years day.

i know its early days, but im not missing the fags at all. And im also only using the vape about 3-4 times a day.

Tip: dont use tobacco flavoured juice, its bloody disgusting and way too harsh.
Im using Vanilla custard cream at the moment.
Although it sounded ridiculous to me at first, its actually pretty tasty!

Handsome_Chris

I've stopped buying cigarettes and haven't smoked since October.  I've meant to buy a vaping machine, but I just haven't got around to it yet.  I suppose that I should be a bit more serious about quitting.