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What got you into vaping?

Rooster Cogburn

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I needed a cheaper way to get nicotine into my system. Cigarettes were just too expensive so I figured what money I had left, at that time, I’d spend On a kit. After another crap purchase and finding these e-cig forums, I made a better choice and the rest, as they say, is history
 

JuicyLucy

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A crazy artist I know was riding his bike as I was walking down the street, and he saw me smoking and stopped to show me his vape. He was so happy about vaping that he was out looking for smokers and passing out cards for a online store called Smokeless Image

I'd seen vape kits before - but they looked to me like something akin to a candy cigarette with an app or something weird like that, and ungodly expensive

I didn't bite right away, but a few months later bought an ecigattes with cartos - and could sometimes go up to three weeks without a smoke, but always caved in to smoking. So I dual used for three years and one month, lol

I joined a different forum, got myself an REO squonker and RM2 atomizer based on some advice from other posters and haven't had a single cigarette since Jan 12, 2016
 

KingPin!

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Hated the tight chest feeling in the morning

Tried the cigalikes and they didn’t satisfy my cravings one bit didn’t like the synthetic tastes from all the flavours in particular either which didn’t help

I was against vaping at the start same as some of the noobies we see because I had the seeds of doubt sown by misinformation out there (it’s for this reason I try not to get the pitchforks out with them cause I was in that place once)

Mate at work had the TFV4 from Smok and he talked me into trying it ...different ball game ...I had clouds! and for the first time getting over that initial hump was much easier ...I started DIY juice almost immediately found this site and was a lurker for ages, joined and never looked back

we have more vapers at work now than smokers talked many into switching myself as well as giving them gear to get started ...every single one of them bar one has enjoyed the switch after the initial transition...still working on that one trying different products
 

OhmzRaw

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I started of with pen device back in 2012 or so. I used to use 18mg juice in it and it didn't take me long to quit cigarettes completely. The pen device I used had its problems though so I moved on to a proper kit and I have found it to be so much better.
 

DogMan

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i used to smoke chop chop tobacco

in 2013, customs lucked out and intercepted most of the incoming, so i couldn't get it a while

i tried to get by with commercial rollies, but it just didn't feel right

i had chatted online with a few vapers, so googled it

ordered an evod and juice online. Made sure i left enough in my wallet for 2 weeks tobacco, because i assumed it would fail like patches etc

a few days later, i spent that money on a mod and charger
 

Teresa P

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For me, it was watching my Mom lay in the ER turning grey and struggling for air. She'd been a hardcore smoker for over 50 years and it finally caught up with her and was taking its toll. The inevitable diagnosis of COPD and emphysema came shortly thereafter, along with inhalers, oxygen, the nebulizer, and other meds, and a complete change in her lifestyle. I had wanted to quit for a few years before that and had tried patches and pills, along with cold turkey abstinence, but all had failed. Quitting was easy, I'd done that four times. It was the staying quit I had a problem with. So watching her lay there in agony lit the fire under my butt to stop for good. I had no help, I knew no one else who vaped, hadn't a clue as to where to direct questions, so I took a shot in the dark and ordered an eGo battery kit with a ce4 from eBay. I was a dual user for about a month until I got the necessary nicotine level for myself figured out, and haven't had a cigarette since November 13, 2014. I stumbled on this forum in February the following year and learned how to do it right and will never look back.
 

SteveS45

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For me it was losing loved ones and watching them die from Cancer. At 1st 4 of us started with the eCigs Brand Cig-A-Likes and my GF quit while I was Dual Using for years. Today one more of the 1st 4 is gradually returning to vaping after a Heart Problem scare which thank goodness was just a scare. I constantly have to fill Portable Oxygen Tanks for my Dad and maintain the Oxygen lines in the house because he is on O2 24/7/365.
 

f1r3b1rd

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Was going into the hospital for a major surgery and long in-patient stay. I knew I wouldn’t be able to leave the hospital room for at least a week. I started the translation to vaping a few weeks ahead of time to make sure I knew how the gear worked. I went in and had my last cigarette on the way to the hospital, By the time I was in recovery I was happily enjoying vaping. (Maybe the enjoyments was the aftereffects of the pain meds)
 

DonBaldy

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I'd started with an ego pen back in 2013 and it was an utter fail. I coughed worse than smoking. In 2015 my best friend was in a motorcycle accident and was laid up in the hospital for several weeks. He was also a heavy smoker and one of his friends set him up with a mod and Kanger sub tank. He came to visit when he got out of the hospital. I tried his set up and it was a different world. from the ego pens and I went went a bought a Kanger sub kit that day. A few weeks later I was taught me DL inhale as I was still having trouble with MTL. Once I learned DL it changed everything for me.

I'm ashamed to admit that I'm still a dual user. It's reduced to a couple in the morning and before bed and if I'm highly stressed.
 

Droogbc

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Back in 1989, when I was in the 8th grade, our health teacher handed out an article discussing what was as far as I know the first "heat not burn" type of cigarette.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_(cigarette)

At the time they were not available in our area, though at the time it sounded like "the next big thing" combining technology with tobacco to make smoking a safer endeavor. It wasn't until just now that I realized it had already been out for a decade by that time and was a complete flop, being discontinued that very year. No wonder I was never able to find them in stores.

But that article stuck with me for years and years, and throughout all of those years I wondered what happened to it and why it never seemed to come to fruition. Also throughout those years I watched as cigarettes killed various family members, and my own addiction became ever stronger, frequently wishing for a way out that just didn't seem to exist for me.

Being someone who has always had an affinity for technology, when I first learned of e-cigs it was like my prayers had been answered. You didn't have to ask me twice, I was in. Took a while for the tech to actually get to the point where it was a complete replacement for me, but I'm so forever grateful that it has. I might just get to see my son grow up to become a man, and spend just a little bit longer with my wife before I have to say goodbye.
 

Carambrda

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It was the troll face logo that's on on the Wotofo 25mm Troll RDA 2 that drew my real attention. My nephew was using this same RDA on his Wismec Reuleaux RX2/3 so one day (it was Friday 13th that day, no joke) I just decided to go to the same vape shop he did, as that's what he had been recommending to me a few times over the course of several many months before I finally took the plunge in January last year so basically I'm very late to the party seeing as others have already been vaping for years upon years... I just couldn't figure it into my smoking head how people could inhale so much fruity antifreeze and shit combined, which basically means that I may be an idiot, but I'm a serious idiot!

I walked into the vape shop and I told the shopkeeper I want this and that. He looked at me and I watched him think things like "oh no... please don't start on an RDA before you've even learned how to walk yet" and "are you sure an RDA is what you want? geez..." so to date I'm the only customer there who picked up vaping by picking it up on an RDA. I love bacon a lot, but burned cotton bacon tastes nasty... nasty 2.0 is how I remember calling it. All this time during my first months of vaping I had a pack of cigarettes standing upright at about 1 foot distance from my vape to force myself to notice cigarettes each time when I picked up my vape. Ever since I started vaping I never felt the urge to smoke again so I never did smoke again excepting only one time, 3 days after the first day of my vaping life when I assumed my mod was broken until 1 hour later it turned out not to be. So at that particular moment I had already not smoked for 3 whole days, and I'm sure that's why this 1 last cigarette tasted like nasty 10.0 so about 5 times nastier than nasty 2.0 (probably worse).

After 4 weeks of not smoking I threw out the fused clapton coils that the shopkeeper had built for my RDA. That's because I had already taught myself how to build excellent coils, from scratch so no premade wire that all you have to do is wrap it around your screwdriver to be all set, but this very real, terribly goodlooking work of genuine crafstmanship and art that I myself, personally, as in, there's just me myself and I, had created like this:

build1.jpg
It vaped OK, but it wasn't until I bought a new mod (the Wismec Reuleaux RX300 that you can see in the picture) that the flavor upgrade became noticeable to me. Once it did it was not just noticeable, but truly fucking stellar. I felt like I had made an achievement that was miles beyond anything I had achieved for the past 2 whole decades. The size of the clouds were naturally insane, both in the membrane and out of the membrane (Cypress Hill reference for those who don't understand what I'm saying to them). I could chain vape this build at 140 watts and keep changing the weather from clear sky to no sky.

Now I own 50 mods, the vast majority of which are mechs, and half a suitcase full of RDAs. Some people on here talk about a rabbit hole and how deep it runs... I still haven't figured out what that means. Could be Rhosgobel rabbits or something like that... can't really be sure as vaping is causing me clouded vision, and, morning glory that was my story.
 

Theserialvapist

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I started off about 5/6 years ago with a pen type, about 18mg nic. Mainly so I could use it indoors at the bar is was running at the time and possibly as a bonus cut down how much I was smoking to save money eye etc. Tbh I didn't go much on it at the time and it fell out of use. I was also using tobacco flavours. My main theory was that I was trying to replace cigarettes so why change the flavour? Anywho, about a year after that I had to have a medical for a new job. My lung function was that of a 90 yr old apparently (I used to smoke bongs and cigarettes only way back in the day 24/7 from about 15-25 years old) I was 32 at the time. It was a wake up call for me and i went out the next day, found my local vape shop, and said I need a set up that isn't this shitty pen. I got lucky really as the people in there were awesome and as I later found out, every single employee is an ex smoker. The boss feels it's an essential experience, and I can see why. It was an unregulated tube with a built in 18650 made by aspire with an isub tank. I haven' looked back.

I remember coughing my ring piece up the first time I took a puff on that bad boy lol but i stuck at it and once id weened of the cigarettes the cough reduced significantly and disappeared. I say to those who try vape and complain about coughing, 'do you not remember when you started smoking'? Not much different really.

I've since had countless mods and tanks and started with RDA's about a year ago. Making my own juice I'm down now to just below 1mg nic. Can't quite get to zero. I tried once but I was so frustrated constantly and managed to go through nearly 100ml of juice in 24hours.

I love vaping now, and whilst some people say I've replaced one addiction with another, so what? I'm harming no one, especially myself and let alone those around me being made to breath in carcinogenic tobacco clouds, my clothes and house don't smell like an ashtray, I can taste soooo much more these days. I can breath in the mornings and I'm less susceptible to annual colds/flu and chest infections. All of these are benefits to me stopping but realistically I suppose the very real fear of dying a slow horrible death got me started.
 

Time

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Cigs were expensive and most of the money went to the government. I hate the government. I didn't want my money going to the government.

Now I get my nic fix sin tax free. And cheap. ;)
 

jwill

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I had already quit smoking then left and spent some time in Europe where everyone smokes, came back two packs a day again and at the time was racing bicycles. Cant smoke and race, but you can vape and race. True love story.
 

pulsevape

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I had already quit smoking then left and spent some time in Europe where everyone smokes, came back two packs a day again and at the time was racing bicycles. Cant smoke and race, but you can vape and race. True love story.
so as an athelete you noticed a marked differnce in lung function between the two?
 

Chainvapor

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My Brother introduced me to vaping. I started with a 510 kit ( for those of us who remember what that is ) and he created a monster! I now have over 30 mods (mechs and regulated) and 40-50 tanks and RDA's. I have a whole library of juice. Crazy actually but I enjoy it as a hobby. I make my own fused clapton coils and use them in everything I vape on.

Happy Vaping!
CV :)
 

jwill

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so as an athelete you noticed a marked differnce in lung function between the two?

Night a day. I have long quit racing but I still ride a 100+ miles weekly and no noticeable drop in performance. I vape while riding which in itself is pretty comical since others think Im smoking.
 

wildgypsy70

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My kids had been bugging/begging me for years to quit. I tried several times, but always went back due to stress, long hours, buying the restaurant, restaurants in general, etc.....my lung function had just started to get a touch dicey. Had a little whistle in my breath....

Then my son picked up vaping(as a non smoker) for the flavors. He got me to try it and I coughed and coughed. Thought it wasn’t for me at all. A few weeks went by and I started doing a little research. I went to the vape shop in town and picked up a Joyetech ego and Mothers Milk. That was it. I was done smoking. Vaped like crazy until the cravings went away. A few weeks later, I picked up my first sub tank and an Innokin C4. Within a year, I had dozens of mods, subtanks and had begun diy juice. Now I build coils, too. It’s been a great journey and very satisfying hobby for me. My breathing and energy are so much better and I smell like cupcakes!<3:ejuice::cloud:
 

Raymcconn

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Family wanted me to quit My son has been vaping for many many years. So I had it easy compared to some. I had the person with the knowledge a text away and gave me my first kit and a crap load of juice. Smoked my last smoke in oct 1st of 2016 and took up vaping and haven't looked back. I now reversed places with my son and he calls me when looking for something or needs something. He isn't so much of a hobbyist anymore and I am now, well as much as time lets me be.
 

jwill

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Back in 1989, when I was in the 8th grade, our health teacher handed out an article discussing what was as far as I know the first "heat not burn" type of cigarette.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Premier_(cigarette)

At the time they were not available in our area, though at the time it sounded like "the next big thing" combining technology with tobacco to make smoking a safer endeavor. It wasn't until just now that I realized it had already been out for a decade by that time and was a complete flop, being discontinued that very year. No wonder I was never able to find them in stores.

But that article stuck with me for years and years, and throughout all of those years I wondered what happened to it and why it never seemed to come to fruition. Also throughout those years I watched as cigarettes killed various family members, and my own addiction became ever stronger, frequently wishing for a way out that just didn't seem to exist for me.

Being someone who has always had an affinity for technology, when I first learned of e-cigs it was like my prayers had been answered. You didn't have to ask me twice, I was in. Took a while for the tech to actually get to the point where it was a complete replacement for me, but I'm so forever grateful that it has. I might just get to see my son grow up to become a man, and spend just a little bit longer with my wife before I have to say goodbye.

That wiki article is funny as hell.
 

Raymcconn

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That wiki article is funny as hell.
That was funny, I also wish if i were to get fired I would get what Wilson received. I would be lucky to get a box for the stuff in my office. :giggle:

In an effort to oust Wilson quickly, a pact was made between him and the board of directors: Wilson would be given a lump-sum of $3.25m, have continuation of his salary, and a bonus of $1.3m until his official retirement at the end of 1987 with retirement pay of $600,000 thereafter.[4]
 

Droogbc

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I guess I went a little dyslexic while reading it or something, because it was only out for a year, not 10 like I originally mentioned. Still comical though.
 

AndriaD

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I saw some form of vaping in a couple movies, TV shows, and Katherine Heigl on Letterman... then the winter of '13-'14 rolled around, colder than it had been in over 30 yrs -- I'd only been an outdoor smoker for 16 yrs! So I started yapping about it to my husband, but didn't really look into it. Then my husband saw a guy at his work with a cigalike, and mentioned that I was interested; the guy GAVE my husband a cigalike (a disposable, called Fin) for me to try. Tasted like shit. Then I bought an Njoy disposable... and that actually wasn't horrible. Didn't really care for the taste, which seemed a lot like eucalyptus to me, but it had a decent throat hit, nice tingle. I used it a couple times when I had to stay all day at the hospital with my mom, and that was a decent proof of concept... so I got a Blu. Tasted like shit, pissed me off because it was the most expensive yet.. so i went to google, then Asshat-Central (ECF), and learned all about real vaping. Then I got sick of their fascism and came here in Feb 2016. I was smoke-free for 4 yrs about 10 days ago. :)

Andria
 

Rossum

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For me, it was all the stories in various media during the second half of 2013 about how the FDA wasn't doing their job because they hadn't even proposed any regulations for e-cigs. That got me wondering: If the media is all up in arms over these things, maybe there's something to 'em? Maybe I oughta try 'em before the government ruins 'em?

So I did a bit of cursory research and ordered up an eGo style starter kit from Hal along with a sample pack of tobacco flavors. I had not intention to quit smoking; I just wanted to see if I could use 'em to cut back some. Well, cut back I did, from 40+ a day right down to zero in less than a week (but there was an upgrade to some Kanger Pro Tanks, bigger batteries, and some dragonfruit juice from a local shop involved as well).
 

Tom950

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I promised I'd quit smoking when my daughter was born. Took a couple extra yrs to do it but quit the same day I got my first 510 stick
 

VapinMoody

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Late November 2013 had walking pneumonia....couldn't breath and a half a puff off a cig made me cough up 1/2 a lung. Went to a local ma and pa vape shop got an ego battery and a CE4. A month later got a Kanger Pro tank and was rebuilding them with my own coils and cotton. Then January 2nd got a Provape mod and better Pro tanks, a few months later was making my own juice.....so almost dying saved me by getting into vaping.
 

Walter Ladd

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I love tobacco but couldn't smoke anymore. Vaping NET did the trick. (once I got through all the poorly thought out equipment, misinformation, crappy juice and bad advice).
 
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KingPin!

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I could breath in, but not out.

Should see someone about that ...holding your breath for too long could make you pass out :sad:
 

AndriaD

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Sounds like emphysema?

Or even asthma. In a really bad attack, I can breathe in (though it feels like it's not actually reaching my lungs)... and then I have to make a real effort to breathe out.

Asthma and emphysema probably feel about the same, but asthma is restrictive, while emphysema is obstructive.

Andria
 

Just Frank

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I seen Johnny Depp use a cig type vape in a movie. I was immediately curious about how that worked. I found a vape store and was intrigued with all the flavors they had. That's how I started.
 

jwill

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I seen Johnny Depp use a cig type vape in a movie. I was immediately curious about how that worked. I found a vape store and was intrigued with all the flavors they had. That's how I started.

Not every day you here of Johnny Depp helping someone (other than his dope man).
 

r055co

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It's been a journey for me. For over 36 years being a heavy smoker (pack and half at least) I had quit numerous times, longest was maybe a year if that. I tried the patch, gum, cold turkey, etc nothing ever lasted so I finally just accepted I'd smoke till the day I died. I became interested in Vaping around the time cigalikes came around, tried the Blu and other brands. It was like taking a bath in sand, just really shitty and those never satisfied the addiction. Maybe about a year later I was talking to a girl at work who was vaping and she filled me in. She also told me to stay Vape only for 2 weeks then try a Stinky if I needed to. So I read a bunch of reviews to find a good Vape Shop, I went there and they set me up with an iStick 30 and Nautilus Mini. Well that was the last day I had a smoke other than a few weeks later I bummed a smoke and couldn't even get through half of it for it was so ungodly nasty.

Well since then I've fallen deep into the Rabbit Hole, mostly due to Governments fuckery with Vaping. So for me Vaping not only got me off the Stinkies but has become a very enjoyable and rewarding Hobby. I've been free of the Stinkies for over 3 years now with absolutely zero desire to go back to them. If Big Pharma gets its way and screws the Vape Industry here I will do my part to fuck them any way that I can.
 

AndriaD

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I seen Johnny Depp use a cig type vape in a movie. I was immediately curious about how that worked. I found a vape store and was intrigued with all the flavors they had. That's how I started.

I saw that too, in The Tourist. Also in the FANDAMNTASTIC show called Justified -- Ava was vaping a cigalike in a hospital, and offered a hit to Boyd -- who said one of the most ignorant things about it I've ever heard: "I reckon if I'm gonna smoke, I'll just do it the old-fashioned way." :facepalm: I noticed the ignorance because I was already a vaper then. :D

Andria
 

sultan

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Obviously to quit smoking 2 packs a day after 30yrs. Started in the Army when they said “smoke em if ya got em”.. No more getting chosen for busy work on details as I was in the smoking pit with everyone else. Love gadgets, gadgetry and making stuff. Therefore I love building coils, polishing mods and making my own juice as well.
 

Grandpa

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Desperation... My health went sideways and I couldn't stay off the cigarettes. I quit smoking in Dec. of '14 when I went in the hospital for surgery. Then a week after I got home from that my surgery wound got infected and I had to go back under the knife. Then was all well for a while; I stayed smoke free for 6 months and even went back to work then had more leg problems so I ended up back in the hospital. Then after a week back home I had a pulmonary embolism which almost killed me. Then I had a bleeding ulcer that almost killed me. It took 12 pints of blood to pull me through that. I was bedridden for 6 months and stayed off cigarettes completely for the next year. Then I had a heart scare and incredibly started sneaking a smoke now and then and I got very frightened. It was literally a matter of life or death for me to stay off smoking. Got my first vape pen 2 years ago and the results have been good. I go whole hog on things I like and vaping is no different. I have some really good equipment and build my own coils and mix my own juice.

I now swim at the local YMCA and my wife and I do a mile each time we swim, which is 3 times a week. No way I would be able to swim a single lap, let alone 36 laps, if I was still smoking. I am very slow and walking and general mobility are hard for me but I consider myself lucky to be alive at this point.
 

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