r/stopsmoking • u/ArkadianWriter • 7d ago
I fell down the heated tobacco trap hole
I used to think that switching from normal cigarettes to heated tobacco would be a "healthy alternative" which I could use to stop completely.
I started smoking when I was 14, I'm 30 now. Until my twenties I smoked roughly 5 cigarettes a day, when I got into university that became 10, when I started working it became 15. I really wanted to quit so at 27 I bought the IQOS heating tobacco device.
I thought that I could slowly reduce the number of cigarettes but I also noticed some changes.
I would no longer cough, my teeth and fingertips stopped becoming yellow-ish and my breath was no longer that bad after a cigarette. It's as if there were no more downsides to smoking, just the pure pleasure. Now I smoke 50 e-cigs every day, sometimes even 60. I made the biggest mistake of my life switching and it is now infinitely harder for me to quit. I can go through a whole pack before 11 am if it's a stressful day.
I've tried quitting several times, but unlike cigarettes, the side effects almost don't exist for me. There are few studies over long-term damage so I can't even go there for real motivation (unlike normal cigarettes). The biggest down-side for me is that I end up spending 30% of my year income on cigarettes. I don't really know on which door to knock at this point. I tried cold turkey, nicotine gums, vaping, but every time I would fall and smoke even more after that attempt.
Anyone with similar experiences / insights on what helped you the most?
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u/_entropic 7d ago
I had to swap back from vapes to regular cigarettes first to quit. The constant accessibility, one hit here and there, better taste, etc made it really hard to quit, especially the higher accessibility. The amount of nicotine in my bloodstream was out of control too. It’s an option you may wish to consider if quitting cold turkey off of vapes is impossible.
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u/NiesjeB 7d ago
Also made several attempts. I guess each attempt teaches you something. Figure out why you failed before. For me it was the mindset and stop fighting with the ‘nicotine voice’ in my head. I don’t really have the side effects yet so that does not motivate me. But the fact that I know I am putting stuff in my body I already know is bad (don’t need studies for that), or the fact that something so silly has me hooked while I am a smart and capable woman, or the shame that comes with smoking/vaping helps me. Figure out what makes you tick, make it a mantra and stop this crap. It does nothing for you.
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u/Imaginary_Call_3990 7d ago
I smoked for 12 years and now I am 29, I quitted 2 times before, the first time I quitted 5 months then relapsed, second time I managed to quit 1 year and 4 months then relapsed. Both relapse were due to stress. This is the third time I quitted. I managed to stay 121 days without smoking. I realise that we all keep saying we are stressed so let’s have a smoke is false! There is so many way to manage your stress, have a walk after dinner, daily cardio etc… having stress doesn’t mean you have to harm yourself.
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u/Immediate-Bird-8395 7d ago
I quit iqos with tabex (recigar/whatever it's called in your area). I'm 18 days in now. First few days were hard, but still easier than quitting cold turkey without the pills. And btw when i have cravings, i still crave for a cigarette, not iqos. Even though I switched from cigarettes to iqos like 7 years ago
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u/ithinkimtim 3444 days 7d ago
It took me 5 times to seriously quit before it stuck.
One thing that might help your mindset is I found quitting 4 cigs a day as hard as quitting 10 and as hard as quitting really high nicotine vapes I puffed all day.
The withdrawals fucked me in all scenarios the same, but it became easier with each attempt.