Vaping?

On a thread some time ago Iano recommended the book The Easy Way to Quit Smoking by Allen Carr and someone on the thread gave a testimonial to its effectiveness. But I had the impression nobody else had tried it, so I'm wondering in your case if it was one of your efforts?I quit a very heavy 27-year smoking habit in 1989 cold turkey and I know it sounds weird but I think I just happened on the technique the book offers. Not a single puff or desire for it since the moment I quit, after years of trying. A mental/psychological/attitude thing I came to on my own and I think others who quit cold turkey must do as well, that I suspect this book brings about just by reading it.The author admits there are some who are impervious to his technique but it seems that a majority do quit from reading the book. Vaping sounds like a good alternative but really quitting might be even more enjoyable.Been hoping to hear about others who've read the book. That's all you do, you read the book, period. It either works or it doesn't.Whether you want to try the book or not, or tried it and it didn't work for you, happy vaping!Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Of course you like it, that's why we all smoke or smoked. The book addresses exactly that, and I'm tempted to hit you over the head with a copy of it.However, I've heard good things about vaping, certainly an improvement on the tar and smoke factor (it's still an addiction, however), and others here have mentioned doing it so you should get a good discussion going eventually. Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

Nicotine itself is toxic, isn't it? Isn't it used in pesticides?

Another question: if you're really really really excruciatingly honest with yourself about it, how good is that "buzz" anyway? Are you really getting a high off it, or is it possibly just an addiction based on the discomfort you experience when it's not in your system? I mean, is it possible the "high" isn't really much more than the relief of ending that discomfort? It's not a real high in other words, just a compulsion required by the effect of the previous puff of nicotine. A self-perpetuating cycle with no real pleasure in it. That's how I remember smoking now. The actual withdrawal from the drug turned out to be negligible when I'd finally reached the point of WANTING to give it up. Quitting an addiction to, say, heroin, must bring on real withdrawal, but nicotine? A bit of shakiness and even that is over surprisingly fast. The joy of freedom from that tyrannical senseless compulsion is immense and has been from the moment I quit -- the mere thought of a moment of shakiness had me so up in arms to squelch the thought it didn't even last a whole moment. Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

OK I'll leave you alone. You like your addiction, OK. But I have to say I am the furthest thing from "strong" and I have to say so or you'll get the wrong idea. I went through misery for years trying to quit smoking, all the usual stuff, throwing out the cigarettes then having to dig them out of the trash or light a butt from the smelly ashtray, or go down to Seven-Eleven at midnight to get another pack. Strong, ha! I did quit once for two years and just about daily had to fight the urge to smoke. Had nothing to do with any pleasure I was getting out of it though I suppose I thought it must. In reality that wasn't the case, it was just a self-perpetuating compulsion.What I'm trying to get across about this EASY way it happened to me, which I think is similar to what the book I mentioned brings about, is that something just utterly changed my view of smoking to the point that I lost ALL desire for it. Even with the desire to quit, most of us also have an equally strong desire to keep smoking, so you have to use willpower, that's what makes it such a struggle.So what has to happen to make it easy is losing all desire for it altogether. No willpower needed if you aren't fighting anything, and once you really get how little smoking does for you and what an illusion it is that you are enjoying it or need it etc etc., there's nothing to fight, you just want this ugly monkey off your back, period. I think that's what Carr's book accomplishes. The facts that do that for one person may be somewhat different than for another, but one way or another they accomplish that amazing state of mind of WANTING TO STOP SMOKING WITH ALL YOUR BEING.Once you have that frame of mind, you just stop, no hassles, no struggles, no cravings, no misery, in my case hardly even a thought about smoking, just happiness, which increases every day as your state of health improves, your ability to taste food comes back, you no longer have to stand out in the cold to smoke etc. etc. etc. It isn't easy for anybody to quit who has to fight the other half of himself that craves a cigarette to bring it about.And there are some who just decide they don't want to stop. Vaping is apparently better for your health than smoking. So I'll leave you there.abe; HOWEVER: I ran across this on the downside of vaping for health.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

There is no point in vaping if the person wants to quit. Read the book. I guess you just don't believe that it can be EASY, which is understandable given the typical experience of all of us of trying to quit, but that's the whole point, it IS EASY EASY EASY if you approach it right. If you'd rather vape then vape, but if you want to quit, do it the easy way. Vaping isn't the easy way.abe: I know, I keep saying I'm stopping now and then I don't. Like I say I'm leaving EvC and think I'm going to since staying at that point is an odious idea, but then I don't. So I said I'd leave you alone about this. Now I'm going to sleep so maybe that will do it.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

I think you must be the blonde. I wasn't talking about YOU quitting, you'd made it quite clear you aren't interested in quitting. I was responding to this: Perhaps too much vape in the brain?

I have a neighbor I'd like to talk into it since his smoke comes into my apartment, but I think he might not be able to afford it if it's a big one-time expense. I don't see how anyone can afford cigarettes myself.

I looked up the relative costs of vaping and smoking and, as I knew, vaping is a LOT cheaper as well as better in the other ways we've talked about.But it is a big one-time expense by some people's standards, such as my neighbor I'd like to talk into it -- around $100, and twice that if you get the best set-up -- according to THIS GUY.His daughter wants him to do it so maybe if I run into her I'll offer to chip in for the basic equipment and hope some others might join us. (I'd recommend the Easy Way book of course but I know he won't read anything, and although he's a nice guy who did stop smoking for a few days once when he found out how much it bothers me, it was the usual painful struggle for him. I know he's addicted and allergic to any idea of quitting altogether -- nobody believes there is an EASY way of course, until they've actually done it, so I couldn't expect the suggestion to do anything but drive him into working harder to hide his habit. Fortunately he's a couple doors down and his smoke doesn't affect me as much as the one right next door, where mercifully a nonsmoker lives right now).Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

I finally got that book so I know what it says. Basically he believes that all the physical symptoms are mostly in the smoker's head, that there is a physical addiction to the nicotine but that it's really not very strong and it leaves your system completely in three days, so that any sense of craving after that is purely psychological. He had been a three-to-five-pack a day smoker himself and after years of off and on struggle to quit one day just completely wanted to quit and did. He spends the book addressing the psychology of smoking, "why you really smoke" not why you think you do, so that by the time you've finished reading it you genuinely have no desire left to smoke and only anticipate a happy freedom. That's what makes stopping "easy," you aren't fighting yourself any more, you aren't fighting a craving because there is no craving there.People I know who have quit cold turkey and never missed it seem to have arrived at that same frame of mind spontaneously. My brother is one. He smoked for a few years and one day just took a look at it and wondered why on earth he was doing something he really didn't like and made him feel so rotten and that was the end of it, never looked back.My experience after twenty-seven years was similar. I had finally come to the point that I WANTED to quit without any of the residual desire for it that had made the other time I quit such a struggle. In my case it wasn't the bad experience or my health as it was for my brother, I was just sick of being the only smoker in a group of Christians, having to go outside to smoke alone, sick of the sense of slavery to it, sick of spending money on an addiction, and a whole collection of reasons of that sort. There wasn't one shred of desire to smoke left. For a few days I forcibly ejected any passing thought of smoking so fast it didn't have a chance to take root and after a week I had nothing but the great great relief of being free of it. It didn't take long before I didn't even have to eject the thought of it, it was just gone gone gone. I thought I'd struggle with missing the habitual pattern of smoking, the act of it, I didn't at all, strange but true. I thought I'd want a cigarette at the usual times, after eating, during a conversation, in a group etc., but I didn't, strange but true. Once I wanted to quit with all my willpower, then there wasn't any part of me that still wanted to smoke, there wasn't any willpower struggle of any sort at all, nothing to fight.The book is different in some ways from what I expected, but I still think its point is to create that frame of mind in the reader so there is no desire to smoke left. You don't miss the old girlfriend at all. You KNOW she was bad for you and you're just relieved she's gone.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

My fault, I shouldn't take any of his stuff out of context. It's the whole presentation that works, not just this or that principle he makes use of. But it isn't "just his personal experience," the guy's method has an amazing record of helping millions to stop smoking, either through his clinics or his books.ABE: I'd found the book online for free and put the URL here, but reading it now I see the copyright message forbids its use in this way and I don't see any statement rescinding it, so I'm removing the link. Sorry about that. /abeTo AZP: Sorry if I hijacked your thread, but it looks like there aren't many vapers anyway.Edited by Faith, : No reason given.