I first heard about e-cigarettes in 2012
my boss at the restaurant I worked at
her and her husband used them
and I remember thinking how cool they looked
all steampunky and glass tanks
which for me was really appealing
From the first puff
I thought this is something that might work for me
I had an e-cig that the stop smoking nurse
had given me, I tried it a couple of times
and thought yeah this is alright
I think it was more the habit of the smoke, and doing that
that I needed so I thought I'm going to get
a real good go.
I think for me transitioning from smoking to vaping was a kind of a natural thing
and it happened really without any
effort on my part at all and the reason
for that I think is because it's
actually a perfect replacement for smoking
It felt like I was smoking
I was getting the nicotine that I was so
used to all along, but of course now
I didn't have the negative health aspects
of it, it's just it seems to work
The first lungful it worked
it just made sense the sensation was similar
but the exhale was there
so I could see something coming out of my mouth
and it was cool, and it was geeky
and I literally went back in the house and
threw all my tobacco stuff in the bin
I literally picked it up started using it
thinking ah, yeah, yeah, I'll cut down by half with this
and got to the end of the day
and thought hang on a minute I haven't smoked
It wasn't an intentional I'm going to stop smoking
it was a this thing is going to help me
reduce, but actually it turned into a
switch it was I don't need that anymore
You get the benefits of smoking so
you get the action of smoking you get the
inhalation and exhalation you can choose
what nicotine level that you want
you can choose what flavours you want
And after a while it's actually better than smoking
it tastes better
I mean at the time, I think I was vaping
juicy peach – why wouldn't it be?
You'll get a device you get a liquid you
get a combination that kind of makes you
go oh hang on a minute, I quite like that.
The e-cig juice I'm using today is
three milligrams of nicotine
strawberries and cream.
There are so many different types of
e-juices, and strengths of e-juices
anybody that's quitting smoking can get
an e-cigarette, find a juice that
makes them happy and stick with it
I started on tobacco of flavour and when I
first I stopped smoking, and then it started
to get a bit sickly the taste it was not
very nice, but it helped at first when
I'd just stopped smoking, it was that tobacco
it was like fag taste
You've got people making these really complex flavours
it's not just banana or just blueberry
It's like a whole pudding, with custard and things
once you start getting in to that and seeing how
much there is out there, it keeps your
interest going
You can get everything from chicken flavor, custard cream, to
papaya and melon
and everything inbetween
The one that I've got in here is actually
rhubarb crumble
you couldn't actually pay me to eat rhubarb
but this is one of my favorite flavours
And you don't have to be expensive
some of the liquids are £1 a bottle
– cheap as chips.
I only have one flavour.
I love that flavour – lemon and lime – but love it
I don't like any other flavour
As I've continued to use e-cigarettes I
find that I don't need the strength of
nicotine that I started with
it gradually gets lower and lower
Most smokers now start at 18 milligrams per
milliliter, a lot of people find that
goes down, and then you end up using less
nicotine, I don't know if you don't need it so
much anymore but it's really quite
common to find yourself reducing your nicotine
without even realising that
you actually are.
I don't get nicotine withdrawals now
I could go 12 hours without my e-cig
whereas before when I was smoking
I couldn't go an hour without
I'd be pulling my hair out, you know what I mean?
With vaping I don't have that same
sense of anxiousness and fear about
not having it
it's not a major panic if I leave the
house without it
I don't have to turn back, and I'm not
gonna buy something else while I'm out
I enjoy it as much, I probably enjoy it more, in
terms of habit, but in terms of needing
it in the same way? I don't need it in the same way.
If I could give some advice to smokers
what it would be to
try vaping, and find vapers - they're
all over the place, they're online they're
everywhere and if there's one thing that
they like to do, it is to talk about vaping
don't be scared off by the stuff that
you read in the media
don't be scared off by your other quit
attempts which are stressful and
upsetting and all of that stuff.
Vaping is fun, and it's meant to be fun
and you can enjoy it.
e-cigs are the best thing that I've ever discovered
if you've struggled quitting with patches and tablets
try e-cigs
because I tried them, it changed my life.
I'm a non-smoker now, and I'll never turn back
I feel quite proud of myself now I'm not beating myself up
because I don't smoke anymore
and I'm very confident about the future now
If you can switch you've beaten it.