To Vape or not to vape…….
I’ve been smoking tobacco in one form or another since I was 13yrs old. It wasn’t peer pressure that got me started, I can’t blame anyone else except myself! It was completely my choice…..and yet I chose to start on Marlboro Reds — they just happened to be the smoke of choice in the Lethal Weapon Mel Gibson character (no I’m not blaming him, the franchise or anything else to do with them before they sue me!). The decision was mine alone. Despite the fact that my Dad had smoked most of his life too & I used to pilfer his Benson & Hedges gold when I thought he wasn’t looking (I was wrong there!), only a couple — I shook the pack up to make it look like none were missing too!
Then I discovered that I could buy single cigarettes on the way home from school from little news-agencies — a dream come true for a kid going home after school, especially when she could blame the smoke smell on her friends (yes, I’m ashamed). But, I wasn’t fooling anyone at all. I’m not sure why my Dad let me pinch a couple of ciggies every couple of days, but I think he thought that if I was smoking his, it was under control. I can’t ask him though….he died of cancer this February. It wasn’t lung cancer either!
Now, before every thinks that I’m going into depth on lung cancer or death. I’m not. This is about the change to vaping. Over the years, I’ve tried every method to give up smoking. I’ve discovered that I have no willpower, patience & I will happily grab a baccy tin to feed the addiction!! But, about a month ago I decided to try again, but using vaping. I tried this once before a couple of years ago, but was doing it with a friend and when he came over one night he was dying for a ciggie and that triggered my cravings. He went straight to the shop and the vapourisers were shoved in the drawer whilst we inhaled that ‘wonderful’ tobacco flavour. Most of my friends now don’t smoke, in fact I don’t think I actually know anyone else who vapes either! This has helped tremendously in the switch to the mod and beast tank I laid out a lot of cash for, but rationalised that I wouldn’t be able to fund my tobacco habit as I ploughed it into starting up vaping.
About a month on, I have an addiction to a lemon meringue pie flavour e-liquid and I haven’t touched, noticed or smelt a cigarette or tobacco since. In fact I still have a roll up’s worth of baccy in my tin. Untouched and that’s exactly how it’s going to stay! I’ve noticed that I don’t have a raspy cough anymore, I’m not short tempered and grumpy until I’ve had the first cigarette of the day and I can drink my morning coffee quite happily without that first cigarette.
However, there have been health warnings about the whole vaping scene. About how it’s not been fully tested for long enough to know whether it does damage to your body or long term illnesses. But, my reasoning is that it has to be better than pumping the amount of chemicals held within cigarettes and tobacco into my body than vaping. Second hand smoke is limited. Long term use is of course not determined because it has taken a long time for companies and health professionals to realise that tobacco is hazardous to your health. I’d rather take my chances with vaping these days. No more filthy ashtrays, the house doesn’t smell disgusting anymore, no standing outside in the rain trying to light a sodden cigarette….as far as I’m concerned it’s a no-brainer — for me!
Vaping is the only method of not smoking tobacco that has worked for me, it might not be the solution for you or your friends, but I know that when I put perfume on, it;s the perfume that people smell rather than cigarette smoke. I don’t have ‘smoker’s breath’ which let;s face it — it’s great for a non smoker kissing me! I know that I’m not endangering my family as much as I was when I was a smoker….even my dog’s breathing is better! I wish that I could have stuck to vaping that time before, but when someone else offers to buy the baccy and give up giving up it makes it so much easier to fall off the wagon…..it’s like being given permission to quit quitting! Now all I need it something to replace that glass of wine in the evening!
