Quitting Smoking and Electronic Cigarettes

Cigarettes are highly addictive, and for smokers it can take several failed attempts to quit before they finally give up the habit for good. There have been so many different aids to help one quit smoking, but they require effort and enthusiasm. If you don't want to quit, the gum, patches, and pills will not work. What if we try smoking without all of the harsh chemicals? Smoking without the horrible smell, the yellow teeth and fingers and smoking without all of the risks. Electronic cigarettes!

As someone that has been smoking for the last 10 years, I have to say I find it incredibly difficult to quit smoking. Cigarettes are not just a habit, but a part of who I am. It seems that everything revolved around lighting that cigarette and taking a nice, long puff off of it. On numerous occasions, I have tried to quit; however it was not the nicotine that kept making me come right back into it, it was the habit!

When I am driving, I tend to light a cigarette, crack the windows and use it to pass the time on long road trips, at red lights, or when someone has managed to really irritate me. After a nice big meal, smoking is the way to really let it all set in, relax, and really wind down. When stress finally kicks in and you feel like you have had enough that cigarette is there to calm you down. When drinking with your friends a few "social smokes" might really be what you are looking for, etc.

Its not just the craving of the nicotine that makes it hard to kick that habit, it is the oral fixation that we all have. Of course, we can try to fill this void with gritty, stop smoking gum, but where's the fun in that? You can't hold the gum in between your fingers and release the smoke from your parted lips.

When I first saw my friend smoking one of those electronic cigarettes my first thought was how pretentious they looked! Aren't you cool smoking that little fake cigarette! Its funny now that I think about it, as I sit here writing this and puffing on my electronic smoke... I had gotten pretty used to smoking a pack in two days, the cost was high - both cash and health wise. I had tried to quit smoking before, but between the anxiety attacks and stress it was really hard to stick to my guns!

When you are quitting you promise yourself that you'll only smoke when you really need one, that after this pack it will be the last...but these are things that are hard to stick to. One puff leads to another and one pack leads to the next and so on and so forth! Since my fiance does not smoke, it makes me feel as a burden to want to smoke when he is around. The smoke always seems to follow him and of course the smell replaces any perfume or lotions, so what's the point?

I can safely say that every single attempt to quit smoking was failed within the first day. Finally, a few weeks ago I decided that I was going to buy a cheap, generic brand of stop smoking gum. The first couple of chews were not that bad, then the sandy, gritty-ness went right to the back of my throat. The urge to smoke was not satisfied at all, it just left me wanting a cigarette and a huge swig of water. I did try to stick to chewing a few pieces when I felt like I wanted to smoke.

Finally, I allowed the electronic cigarettes to pique my interest. Why not get my nicotine and oral fixation without all of the smoke and chemicals?! The first puff was horrible. This was no cigarette! How could anyone smoke this stuff? I wanted my 27's back, that was a real cigarette! I had just bought the started kit of NJoy; complete with two batteries (the cigarette looking part), the vaporizer, battery charger, and 5 cartridges, though much to my chagrin, NJoy quit selling flavored cartridges, so this left me with nothing but the regular, nicotine cartridges.

Luckily, I like to take things apart, I removed the cartridge from the vaporizer and added a couple drops of Spearmint flavored Tasty Puff into the cartridge, allowed enough time for it to dry and put it all back together. The nice cool Spearmint flavor made it like menthol without the sensation of menthol. Ever since that little experiment, it has made it easier to smoke these electronic cigarettes!

The battery on this thing tends to last for three days, the cartridges tend to get about 200 puffs off of them, though some have around 500 puffs. With my Njoy, I have managed to get down to 2 cigarettes a day, whereas I was normally smoking about 10 a day. I still get pretty bad cravings for a real cigarette, but even on a bad day I tend to only smoke 3 real cigarettes, which is a significant improvement! Not only have I really cut back on smoking, but I am saving a ton of money. Thank god, for once I don't walk around smelling like an ashtray! The electronic cigarettes do not emit the same odor that a normal cigarette does, it is a light odor that is almost undetectable. I can go anywhere and smoke my NJoy, whereas a normal smoke will have you kicked out of many establishments!

It might look funny to have a fake cigarette in your mouth, but ultimately its a safe alternative to smoking a real cigarette. You'll smell better, look better, feel better, have less burns on your clothes and car, and save a fortune!