Do you vape?

Yep, I do. I gave up smoking 2 years ago, and I am now vaping. I enjoy it and have no plans to give it up.

I do and I hate it, costs unnecessary money and I’m terribly addicted. Wished I’d never started. Because it’s so much more accepted than smoking I tend to end up doing it all the time. I’ve cut down on the nicotine content by half and tried several times to go cold turkey but struggle. Don’t know how to move forward and get off it completely. I did once before when I was pregnant although the morning sickness helped with that. And then stupidly started again. Huge mistake.

brace yourself

the Op says i’m being vitriolic for finding it weird

“ridiculous” is probably a hate crime in the OP’s eyes

good grief

saying that i find it weird

and you are throwing out words such as vitriol , insults, judgement 🙄

yes, i think it’s weird

for some reason you have taken a very big hump with that word.

I don't vape. I've never smoked either. My 88 year old mother vapes and has used it t over the last 18 months to come off an almost lifelong cigarette habit which began when she was 18. She had to do this when a severe dose of pneumonia over Christmas and New Year 2022 came close to killing her.

I will be honest - being around my mother now that she is on vapes is far preferable to the thick cloud of smoke that always accompanied her everywhere.

Vapes have their place when it comes to helping people to quit smoking and edging heavy smokers like my mother away from cigarettes, but buying them when you have never smoked just to begin a nicotine habit is madness. Nicotine is the highly addictive element of tobacco products. It speeds up heart rate amongst other things so can be dangerous too.

My DD3 had a vape for a while when she was in sixth form. Silly arse, and she knew it!! Fortunately she gave it up completely during her first term at university and hasn't replaced it with anything else apart from the usual student drinks.

But you said you suffered from health anxiety didn't you?

And surely inhaling any foreign substance directly into your lungs cannot possibly be good for you?

No and I think people look ridiculous with them hanging out their mouths.

Seriously, if you worried that much you either wouldn't have started or you'd be taking steps to give up.

Which is what you need to do.

No. I don't understand why people would take up an addictive habit knowing the risks.

I can understand why 80 year olds smoke. They grew up thinking it was good for them (or at least not bad for them) and got addicted. I cannot understand why anyone under 50 smokes - they grew up knowing it was really bad for them.

Vaping as a replacement to cigarettes is different - weaning off something bad with something that hopefully isn't quite as bad.

I vape but I used to smoke, for a very long time and vaping has stopped me from smoking. I have noticed though that people who never used to smoke or only smoked when out drinking occasionally are now vaping all the time which seems odd to me, as I have always thought of vaping as a stop smoking thing.

I do intend to give up vaping at some point and reduce the nicotine level until I am down to no nicotine and then I can give that up totally. Not sure how long that will take to do but I am going to do it at a slow pace.

Nope, I don't and my husband doesn't. My mother and step father do after quitting smoking a couple of years ago. I don't really see that it's any better and would much rather they didn't.

Scientists at University College London analysed samples of cheek cells from vape users and compared these with those from cigarette smokers. Both groups had similar changes to the DNA of cells in their mouth.
These changes were, in turn, linked to the future development of lung cancer in smokers.
This is from the article

Oh that’s weird @Mumof2NDers. I’ll try again after work.

Ooh?? It just opens up on my phone and I don’t subscribe to The Times

I've been vaping the majority of 2024 so far. It's the only way I have managed to stay off the fags. I do feel like a twat when vaping out and about and will eventually try and knock it on the head. But for now it's taking the place of my roll ups.

I just couldn’t see what it was adding to the thread given that the questions asked by the OP were:

So I guess I'm wondering if you vape, why? What does it bring you? And do you worry about the health impact?

OP didn’t say:

Please comment on your impression of people who vape in the street.

So we’ve circled back to reading comprehension!

Anyhoo. I sadly have to go to work but it’s been fun.

but the posters were saying they thought it looked silly
not that they thought that this should make people give up

The point (if you can call it that) was that whether people look silly or not to others isn’t really relevant when it comes to addiction 🤷🏼‍♀️

The point posters have made about clouds of vape and unpleasant smells in public places is different- because it does affect others. (I do vape in public places but only when there is plenty of space between me and other members of the public. Walking my dog on the beach for eg- I’m often the only one there!)

By your logic any adult who takes up any unhealthy habit must be weird since most of them come with risks.

to suddenly decide to start doing something that you know is addictive as an adult, an adult with young children, and you know is unhealthy having never done before? yes weird.

We are going through a very stressful time in life - young dc and no help, demanding job, house renovation

your words 🤷

well no not all smokers start as teens / early twenties when very much led by peers

but i think we can be fairly confident the majority do. and that the majority of smokers didn’t make the conscious decision to take up smoking in their 30s/50s/50s

Ah that makes sense then!