Temporarily smoking while on holiday.

[Garrett_gotu]

I'm going travelling shortly, for a month around Eastern Europe, and there are some obstacles that may prevent me from vaping.

I've been vaping for about 16 months now, and I don't want to go back to smoking, however I'm not going to let anything get in the way of my trip being (nearly) completely uninhibited and a mind blowing experience. (Not watching what I eat / drinking all I want / Smoking all the smokes / staying up all night / not shaving / loud music, just having a fucking blast of a time)

How many people have vaped for quite a while, resumed smoking for whatever reason and then returned to vaping.

I found it relatively easy to switch to electronic cigarettes, I had a Protank 2 initially and started on 12MG, now I’m using a Subox mini (0.5 Ohm, 3 MG, Max VG) so I imagine if I come back to a better tank than my initial switch, and went to a higher nicotine level for a little while it should be ok.

If anyone has had luck with doing this I’d be really keen to hear from you, also, If you have done something similar and reverted back to smoking I’d also like to hear from you.

Thanks heaps!

 

[James]

No . Dont do it please .

 

[AndriaD]

I was smoke-free for almost 4 months; had an emergency appendectomy, and afterward was too sick to vape for 4 days... when I finally was able to vape again, it tasted like CRAP... and then the cravings hit, so I went back to smoking for a while, dual-use, I never did stop vaping, just took it kinda easy to try and get back the taste for it. That lasted a month, then I quit smoking again, but, and this is something you should definitely be aware of, it was a lot harder the 2nd time, than the first time. The first time, it was just a gradual replacement of smoking by something I liked better; the 2nd time was a real effort of will, and I also had to start using WTA to totally wipe out the cigarette cravings. Others who've relapsed said they found it harder the 2nd time, too.

Andria

 

[Garrett_gotu]

No . Dont do it please .

Thanks for your reply

 

[Garrett_gotu]

I was smoke-free for almost 4 months; had an emergency appendectomy, and afterward was too sick to vape for 4 days... when I finally was able to vape again, it tasted like CRAP... and then the cravings hit, so I went back to smoking for a while, dual-use, I never did stop vaping, just took it kinda easy to try and get back the taste for it. That lasted a month, then I quit smoking again, but, and this is something you should definitely be aware of, it was a lot harder the 2nd time, than the first time. The first time, it was just a gradual replacement of smoking by something I liked better; the 2nd time was a real effort of will, and I also had to start using WTA to totally wipe out the cigarette cravings. Others who've relapsed said they found it harder the 2nd time, too.

Andria

Thank you for your reply, and what is WTA?

 

[Ello110]

Maybe you could look at the vacation as a time to celebrate your freedom from cigarettes instead?

 

[AmandaD]

I wouldn't - it's so very hard to give up smoking that you'll just be back to square one, and it may not be as easy to switch back to vaping a second time.

I was able to give up smoking after 40 years once I discovered vaping. I'd never risk going back to smoking!

 

[robot zombie]

After a year of vaping, I caved and bought a pack. I was going through some shit that I wasn't coping with too well and my curiosity got the better of me. I thought that turning back to my old ways might take the edge off better. Couldn't get through the first one. That first puff tasted amazing. After that, it quickly became very unpleasant. I gave the pack to a co-worker the very next day.

On the flip-side, I have a buddy who's now dual-using. He's been a vaper exclusively for about 3 years. Some very stressful things are happening in his life (dad had a stroke, grandfather in and out of the hospital - recently transferred to an out of state hospital that he can't get to because he has to get his work/living situation in order so that he can adequately provide for his new family, no car and no license, his second unplanned child was just born, he has no money and no steady income, he has a serious drug problem, and seems to really be struggling with his bipolar disorder.)

Just... ...the dude's life is a mess. It's just been an awful chain of one terrible misfortune after another. One day, his vape setup failed on him at work and he started bumming smokes. Since then, he says that there are times when he needs a cig to get that satisfaction. I see him vaping more than I see him smoking, but he still smokes with the same frequency of a PAD smoker.

And all it took was that one slip-up. He's clearly trying to get back into just vaping and enjoying it, but he's having trouble. He hates that he's smoking. I feel really bad for him.

Obviously your situation is night and day to that, but I still wouldn't risk it. If you go out and have a lot of positive experiences while smoking, then you run the risk of programming yourself to associate smoking with pleasure more than you do vaping. You'd be setting yourself up to prefer smoking when you're having a good time. It's easier to justify it after the first time and on a lower-order psychological level, it feels better.

Why can't you vape throughout this little excursion? Camping out in the woods with no way to charge a battery or something? I dunno man, whatever you've got planned, there's gotta be a way to make it work.

 

[Garrett_gotu]

Thanks for all the replies so far.

It's not a great idea for me, but I know with this trip I will be unable to charge a e-cig for a good portion of my trip. (And I can't take one through Singapore, so I'd have to buy one in Turkey/Bulgaria)

I found it really easy to switch, not even ween off analogues, I just changed over without issue. (Protank 2 initially)

I'll certainly try to avoid them, but I'm 99% sure I'll probably have a few (Although I have heeded your guys advice )

 

[AmandaD]

Thanks for all the replies so far.

It's not a great idea for me, but I know with this trip I will be unable to charge a e-cig for a good portion of my trip. (And I can't take one through Singapore, so I'd have to buy one in Turkey/Bulgaria)

I found it really easy to switch, not even ween off analogues, I just changed over without issue. (Protank 2 initially)

I'll certainly try to avoid them, but I'm 99% sure I'll probably have a few (Although I have heeded your guys advice )

I think it's @gopher_byrd that's travelled to Singapore with his vape gear - let's see if he replies to this.

 

[gopher_byrd]

Singapore just recently made their bad laws even worse with heavy fines and possible jail time. I was there 2 years ago and technically ecigs were illegal, but nobody seemed to care much. I was just using the Halo Triton (ego clearo type). I didn't have any problems vaping in public, now who knows. If I was sent back there now I'm not sure what I would do since there is no way I could go back to ego clearos and survive. If you do try it make sure your juice is in unmarked opaque containers and any batteries and gear are jumbled up with other electronic gear. After you clear customs they want to x-ray your bags, just say nothing to declare and walk through the door. Just stay away from the smokes my friend.

 

[AndriaD]

Thank you for your reply, and what is WTA?

Whole tobacco alkaloids. They're nearly as hard to get free of, as actual cigarettes, but fortunately not as harmful nor as expensive.

Andria

 

[pulsevape]

don't do it smuggle something in, contact vapers by internet in the countries you're going to to tell you how to score there under the radar whatever it takes.

 

[OBDave]

Not only would I be worried about going back to smoking, I don't even know if I could - 3 weeks into "full quit" mode I lit up and snubbed the butt out before I was halfway through - it just sucked.

I'd seriously consider traveling light, with a couple eGo twists and cheap tanks, or a cheap mod it wouldn't hurt your feelings too bad if you were forced to pitch it, but I'd still try to keep vaping.

 

[Mythical_OD]

Its probably gonna be an unpopular opinion, but I say do what you gotta do. Youre an adult, you can do what you want. If you cant vape where youre going and you cant cold turkey it, then smoke if you really feel the need. Like people said, itll probably be harder to quit it a second time because the vaping is no longer new and exciting to you giving you that little added incentive. And who knows what could end up happening, you could just end up smoking full time again.

One thing though, after vaping so long on 3mg, you might just find cigarettes way too unpleasant to even make it through one. Id been off cigarettes for a month and on 3mg (and 6mg here and there) juice when I took a half a cigarette my sister left layin around my apartment. Lit it and smoked it, and enjoyed it...until about 10 minutes later when I was feeling so dizzy and sick I had to lay down and fall asleep just to make it stop. It was terrible, and it was the nail in the cigarette coffin for me.

 

[Garrett_gotu]

Whole tobacco alkaloids. They're nearly as hard to get free of, as actual cigarettes, but fortunately not as harmful nor as expensive.

Andria

Thank you for explaining that

 

[Garrett_gotu]

Hi Guys, Thanks for all the advice and comments, I'll make an effort to get a mod in Turkey, I'm sure I can go without it for a few days, and by the sounds of it I'll probably end up hating the taste of cigarettes anyway. But if I fall off the wagon, I'll try not to feel too bad. I'd still like to keep hearing what people have to say, so keep posting!

 

[AndriaD]

Its probably gonna be an unpopular opinion, but I say do what you gotta do. Youre an adult, you can do what you want. If you cant vape where youre going and you cant cold turkey it, then smoke if you really feel the need. Like people said, itll probably be harder to quit it a second time because the vaping is no longer new and exciting to you giving you that little added incentive. And who knows what could end up happening, you could just end up smoking full time again.

One thing though, after vaping so long on 3mg, you might just find cigarettes way too unpleasant to even make it through one. Id been off cigarettes for a month and on 3mg (and 6mg here and there) juice when I took a half a cigarette my sister left layin around my apartment. Lit it and smoked it, and enjoyed it...until about 10 minutes later when I was feeling so dizzy and sick I had to lay down and fall asleep just to make it stop. It was terrible, and it was the nail in the cigarette coffin for me.

I'd go along with all this -- if you can't vape and just can't stand it, you're an adult; do what you have to, to stay sane, with the full knowledge that it might be harder to get free of it a 2nd time.

And also, yeah, that's a low nic level; if you're forced to get cigs and smoke, go for ultra-lights, or they almost certainly will make you ill. If you can't find ultra-lights wherever you are, stick pinholes in the filters -- ultra-lights have those -- or even at the very top part of the cig next to the filter; it will keep so much of the smoke from getting to you, maybe help prevent illness. You may find the taste and sensation so unpleasant that you choose to do without, rather than smoke -- OTOH, you might find it so familiarly seductive, it scares the hell out of you.

Andria

ETA -- also -- trying one and finding it nasty, I wouldn't consider that "falling off the wagon"; it's more like a slip that you catch yourself from falling. It's only if you continue smoking that it would constitute "falling off the wagon" -- like my relapse, that lasted a month. I had to restart my quit-counter, and that really sucked.

 

[mikeyboy74]

Whole tobacco alkaloids. They're nearly as hard to get free of, as actual cigarettes, but fortunately not as harmful nor as expensive.

Andria

Andria, what are a few brands of WTA that are worth trying, that won't break the bank? Also, my experience with regular tobacco juice is this lower the power, the better the vape, and visa versa. Even vaping it in a mid-range tank, like my old Arctic, and the flavor gets pretty nasty (not nasty like an analog, but just acrid, hot and bitter).

Right now I am mixing a non-WTA tobacco with some menthol and using it with a MTL coil in the kanger for at work, so I don't get in trouble with clouds. It's ok, but it's no Marlb Red. Though I love my TFV4, there's almost nowhere I can vape it while on the road for work. Last night I had it in my car, parked in the hotel lot, and it attracted attention of the local PD, who interrogated me, but had nothing and left it at that. What a hassle, just to enjoy a vape. I think someone saw that clouds and assumed something ridiculous.

 

[AndriaD]

As far as I know, there are now only two brands of WTA available online -- aromaejuice.com and mothersmilkwta.com. Wholecig.com no longer sells online to consumers; they started selling wholesale only online just a month or so ago, which is really too bad, as they were my own choice -- just as clear and pure as aroma's, and lots cheaper.

Mothersmilkwta works as well as the others, but it's very cloudy, very smoky-smelling; to mix with a tobacco vape, that'd be fine, but not so much for a sweet vape. But it's a whole lot cheaper than aroma's.

Andria

ETA: with the aroma, if you order anything other than their very expensive unflavored, you're not getting "pure WTA" -- you're getting nicotine ejuice that is "WTA infused," whatever that means -- they supplement whatever small amount of WTA they add, with nicotine. Mothersmilkwta is "pure WTA" -- whatever the mg level, which I think is 24mg with MMWTA, is all WTA -- which is 95% nicotine anyway. Unless you really, seriously need WTA in order to prevent going back to smoking, I highly recommend against using it, because it really is hard to withdraw from; almost as hard as cigarettes themselves.

 

[Kinser]

I'm going travelling shortly, for a month around Eastern Europe, and there are some obstacles that may prevent me from vaping.

I've been vaping for about 16 months now, and I don't want to go back to smoking, however I'm not going to let anything get in the way of my trip being (nearly) completely uninhibited and a mind blowing experience. (Not watching what I eat / drinking all I want / Smoking all the smokes / staying up all night / not shaving / loud music, just having a fucking blast of a time)

How many people have vaped for quite a while, resumed smoking for whatever reason and then returned to vaping.

I found it relatively easy to switch to electronic cigarettes, I had a Protank 2 initially and started on 12MG, now I’m using a Subox mini (0.5 Ohm, 3 MG, Max VG) so I imagine if I come back to a better tank than my initial switch, and went to a higher nicotine level for a little while it should be ok.

If anyone has had luck with doing this I’d be really keen to hear from you, also, If you have done something similar and reverted back to smoking I’d also like to hear from you.

Thanks heaps!

Last year I had a brief spell of taking back up smoking, though I could only stand to smoke one particular brand of cigarette and they were super uber menthol at that (I did bum a non-menthol off a co-worker once, and I used to be a non-menthol smoker, but I found the taste unpleasant). I was working 70+ hours during the time and was majorly stressed out due to other issues. I was able to go back to vaping with increasing the nicotine (up to 15mg from 12mg at the time), I merely had to mix up a very high potency menthol juice and lower the resistance of my coil build a smidgen. That said I think going back to normal hours and not being majorly stressed out helped me the most.

Tobacco smoke contains SSRI compounds in it and compounds simlar to those are often used in anti-depressant medications.

That being said, if you really don't have to go back to smoking temporarily (depending on whatever restrictions or what not they have in those countries--E-cigs are Banned in Russia I think) I wouldn't. A great deal of this depends on how heavily you can become addicted to the other alkaloids found in tobacco. For me I was never majorly addicted to them but am quite dependent on nicotine.

As for it being harder to quit the second time...for me it wasn't really. I think a lot of my relapse was due to being stressed out. Working overnight 5 days a week is brutal, working overnights 7 days a week for months on end is borderline insane. Now though I don't think I could handle a cigarette, even an ultra-light one, I've been vaping at around 5mg pretty consistantly.

All of that being said I didn't take up vaping to quit smoking--that just sort of happened on its own when I found I liked vaping better. As a pipe smoker of many years I'm pleased to say that when I vape peach melba it tastes like peach melba, can't say that of the aromatic tobaccos I used to smoke.

 

[always9988]

Unpopular opinion, I would totally smoke. At least in the areas it's illegal to vape. But I'm not willing to chance being detained in a foreign country... Then again I still occasionally smoke so am not the one to ask probably

 

[UncleRJ]

After about three months of vaping full time, I found an unopened pack of smokes and decided to try one.

I thought I was going to lose my lunch!

And by the way, a lot of European countries are on the non smoking bandwagon now.

I remember visiting France a few years back when their new no smoking rules went into effect and boy were they pissed!

No more sitting in an outdoor cafe with coffee and a pastry and your beloved smoke.

 

[AndriaD]

Tobacco smoke contains SSRI compounds in it and compounds simlar to those are often used in anti-depressant medications.

That being said, if you really don't have to go back to smoking temporarily (depending on whatever restrictions or what not they have in those countries--E-cigs are Banned in Russia I think) I wouldn't. A great deal of this depends on how heavily you can become addicted to the other alkaloids found in tobacco. For me I was never majorly addicted to them but am quite dependent on nicotine.

They're not SSRIs; they MAOIs, which have a similar beneficial affect on neurotransmitters, but aren't quite the same thing.

But the MAOIs are precisely why I had to use WTA to recover from my dual-use relapse -- I've never needed much nicotine, and had a very low tolerance to it even when I first quit, thx to ultra-light cigarettes, so I couldn't just go crazy on the nic level -- 10mg was all I could ever handle. Apparently my septic-then-operated-on colon needed the WTA's anabatine, and my stressed out brain needed the MAOIs; as soon as I started vaping WTA, the cravings vanished and never returned. But I've been weaning down off the WTA since Jan 2015, and just now vaping the very last, at .1% -- 15 months to wean from it. That's why I don't recommend anyone try it unless it's already at the point of "if these cravings don't go away NOW I'm going to smoke".

Andria

 

[Kinser]

I was mistaken then as to the exact nature of the compounds then. However, it still stands that some people will have problems getting off of those compounds even if nicotine is not the main reason that they smoked (or used other forms of tobacco). For me it was always the nicotine but I was also addicted to those compounds as well just not as strongly--probably due to being a pipe smoker where direct inhalation is discouraged.

I will say this though my father doesn't really understand when I tell him that I do have nicotine withdraw symptoms just like when I smoked but no where near as bad as when I smoked. When I smoked I would get moody, and in the right conditions out right hostile from not smoking (probably the MAOIs) but if I go several hours without vaping, I may at most get a headache and "not feel normal". Much like if I try to function without drinking a cup of coffee. I can do it, but I don't like it very much.

I've never used WTAs myself, but if that is what someone needs to quit smoking then I say they should use them. It was just never an issue for me. It seems from what I've read over the years that there are basically four groups of people who smoke.

Those that are highly addicted to nicotine but not the other compounds.
Those that are highly addicted to the other compounds but not the nicotine
Those that are highly addicted to both.
Those that are addicted to the behavior of smoking but not so much the nicotine or the compounds.

Strangely as I've developed as a vapor wanting more flavor and more cloud (but mostly flavor) I've found that I've needed to reduce the nicotine levels.

 

[AndriaD]

I was mistaken then as to the exact nature of the compounds then. However, it still stands that some people will have problems getting off of those compounds even if nicotine is not the main reason that they smoked (or used other forms of tobacco). For me it was always the nicotine but I was also addicted to those compounds as well just not as strongly--probably due to being a pipe smoker where direct inhalation is discouraged.

I will say this though my father doesn't really understand when I tell him that I do have nicotine withdraw symptoms just like when I smoked but no where near as bad as when I smoked. When I smoked I would get moody, and in the right conditions out right hostile from not smoking (probably the MAOIs) but if I go several hours without vaping, I may at most get a headache and "not feel normal". Much like if I try to function without drinking a cup of coffee. I can do it, but I don't like it very much.

I think everyone varies on the degree of their addiction to the other alkaloids, just as they do to smoking as a whole -- I think it's the fact that I smoked ultra-lights that gave me such a low tolerance for nicotine, Virginia Slims silver were only .5mg per cigarette -- but of course, they do have the full complement of tobacco alkaloids, and having suffered terribly from both depression and anxiety my whole life, clearly I was one of those "self-medicating" with smoking, to help alleviate some of my emotional-problem symptoms. I guess my brain just never has worked exactly right, in its neurochemistry.

It's funny though, that I didn't suffer any cravings whatever, the first time I quit, and really very little withdrawal, other than some insomnia -- I think the sheer novelty of vaping helped carry me thru that, but after the appendectomy and relapse to dual-use, I no longer had the novelty factor, so I needed something more. Plus, I do think the inflammation in my colon was a big part of why I had those godawful cravings; I suffer from IBS, and my surgeon opined that that was why I had such a horrible recuperation from the appendectomy; my colon can't take any "fiddling," and cutting off a chunk of it is like fiddling to the power of 1,000,000 -- plus the sepsis that required the appendectomy!

Andria