So that's what I did. I took my carton money for the month and invested in a proper setup after doing my research. I spent time trying different juices until I found one I could use all day, every day.
That was 2 years ago. Everyone around me still smokes, but I've never even been tempted to go back. I smoked for 10 years as well.
I always make a point of sticking at each level for at least 2-3 months. This way I can be sure I've grown fully accustomed to one step before taking the next. In my view, reducing the nicotine content too quickly would increase chances of a relapse.
Congratulations!
But being a non-smoker, I don't understand. Can you explain why you couldn't have cut down on nicotine by just smoking fewer cigarettes per day?
E-cig nicotine delivery happens slower and you avoid both the highs and the crashing lows. That makes it a lot easier to cut down to insignificant amounts of nicotine over a few months.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024320506... http://jneurosci.org/content/25/38/8593.long http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0091305703...
Cigarettes do give a more immediate and intense nicotine 'hit'. Ammonia compounds are added to cigarette tobacco, which increase the proportion of freebase nicotine to nicotine salts. Cigarettes are, in a very literal sense, the crack cocaine of nicotine delivery.
[1] http://www.dddmag.com/article/2009/07/question-opioid-euphor...
PLUS To change your dose you have to change your habit. With Ecig, to change the dose you just buy a different product, but your day to day (hour to hour) habits are the same as always.
you can get a good setup for ~$50 then the heaviest users will spend like $30/month on juice (most users will spend a fraction of that)
If you mix your own juice you're approaching savings that are better on an order of magnitude.
Three 120ml bottles last me close to an entire month. Local stores around here are also a rip-off (near Austin, Texas).
Vaping is something I do A LOT of while post-processing photos! Do you perhaps have a photographic interest?
That's more than 10ml a day! I know you're going to disagree and try to convince me otherwise, but that is an INSANE amount of liquid.
I should try and cut back some and reduce my nicotine dosage of 1.5mg down to 0mg but I don't mind the nicotine.
I'm also addicted to coffee so about 2-3 full Yeti cups a day. Woe is me!
once i found some diy recipes that i enjoyed, i made a pair of 120ml, and the cost savings from those two bottles alone covered all the ingredients and equipment (beakers, stirring rods, scale, bottles, etc). diy is especially worthwhile if your device guzzles juice like my geekvape griffin tank does.
diy or die on youtube is a great resource, here's one of the recipes i make regularly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlI8CvT8SCA
If you're buying domestic juice you pay a premium for nothing special, from what I can tell. Also, the chances of it being made in a proper factory are basically nil. It's often someone else's DIY garage juice at a 10000% markup.
I haven't kept up with the new FDA guidelines since starting DIY about a year ago, but from what I remember a lot of the little garage brands are going to be in trouble. My buddy used to work at Apollo out in Concord and I know they take their juice seriously. I think it's shitty, but it's not because the line is dirty haha. Molecule Labs out in Benicia has a pretty cool facility as well.
Sigelei 50W Watt Box Mod Kanger-subtank with OCC Vertical coil. 0.5 ohm
liquids: Ultimate Kringle (every day juice) Castle Long (every now and then)
As others have replied and as might know, the world of ecigs is rather large, poorly detailed (mostly), and can be expensive to start. That equipment worked really well for me at the time. But the "go to" gear may be different by now - I would stress that you research before you buy.
I have learned everything i know about ecigs from friends, ecigforums, youtube rewviews, and buying a lot of crappy equipment.
best of luck.
It was easy because of how gradual it was and that I was still able to satisfy the oral habit of smoking while kicking the chemical dependency. Smoking while driving was a huge hangup.
As a side note - if you buy good hardware and good quality liquid, the whole experiene is better than smoking as well. Forget the vape "culture". IMO ecigs are more convenient, taste better, feel better, and so on.