To ask for advice with e-cigarettes/vaping?

[LikeDylanInTheMovies]

A relative a 40 years plus smoker is coming to visit and has agreed to give e-cigarettes a go for the first time (we live several floors up and I think the prospect of trips up and down the stairs for an ordinary cig might have made them see the light).

However, I know nothing about e-cigarettes so would like a bit of advice...

1. What is the best starter/trial kit to get? (Wiling to spend £20-ish)
2. Which brands of replacement liquid are widely available in newsagents or supermarkets? I'm not sure if the liquids are interchangeable between brands or what not?
3. Which e-cigs give the look and 'feel' of real smoking?

I really want this to be a success and their time with us might give them a chance to break the ordinary cigarette habit. They have tried quitting via cold turkey many times, always failed and won't consider patches, gum or medical help. Ideally they need to stop altogether (on medical advice) but the e-cigs might be a step in the right direction.

Sorry posted twice by mistake 😳

Dylan if you're happy giving your address to a perfect stranger I have a 20w curve battery in pink and a kangertech tank with Foste could that your relative is welcome to have you'd just need a micro usb cable to charge it up and get them some juice. Message me if you want it.

Foste? The fuck?? Spare coils

I got a super cheap one (3.99) and then another, because it broke.
then another.
and another.
and another...
before learning my lesson and investing £20 ish (plus cost of fluids) on an eleaf.
DH got one (an smy something or other) for about £30. he got it cheaper as he had to buy all the parts (510 connector, battery, case, atomizer etc etc) separate.
we've quit now on our more expensive ones.
Smoking, tobacco, 50g pw (which I think is about average) was costing us £15pw each. so £120pm.
So if I'd just bought the eleaf in the first place, our first month would've cost us about £60/70 including fluids, then £15 max thereafter.
We buy cheap B+M fluids which are fine for us.
So even though its a lot to spend out in the first instance its so worth it

Welsh that's extremely kind of you, thanks ever so! I ordered earlier this evening though! But it was a lovely thought!

Are they used by people as a stopping smoking aid, as an addition to smoking or by non smokers who like the flavours?

They can help you to stop if that's the aim - the general idea's to use weaker and weaker nicotine mixes until you're vaping zero, but for others like me it's an alternative to smoking. The nicotine is still there, but the other pollutants/carcinogens have gone - as has most of the cost and the stinking-out of other people and places

Hi,

I have the £20 Tempest vape from Totally Wicked and it is great and I have been using it for about 8 months. I agree with the post about the tobacco flavour I used it first in my starter kit and nearly gave up as it was so vile (I would rather suck the pus from an arse abscess than vape that again). I love the retro sweet flavours like Parma Violets and Cherry Cola.

I hated the oens that look like a cigarette - they didnt give the nicotine hit that I needed and so I failed with those.

Then I got a tank style vape stick - and discovered the Aspire BVC coils that DON'T spit and dribble vape juice into your mouth and that was fabulous and I was away.

Now using a 510 stick battery thats got a variable voltage dial and you can plug it in and charge whilst vaping, and also a bigger variable wattage/voltage Coolfire IV battery for longer days out and it will also Sub Ohm if I put the sub ohm tank on.

Whatever you have got the visiting relative i would seriously encourage you to take them to a good vape shop where they will be able to try a range of products and juices - they are MUCH more likely to stick with it if they do this.

I agree about the ciggie-lookalike ones, Widdlin; they're often rubbish and pack up very quickly, but I suppose many do as I did and start with them because they feel more like "the real thing" they've been used to

Mind you, I miss the fun I used to have with the arm-wavers who got in a state because they thought they could smell smoke from them ... bad of me I know, but I used to "stub them out" on the back of my hand and enjoy the looks of utter horror

I'm very pleased for anybody who has quit smoking using a cig-alike. They do work for some people and whatever method anybody has used to successfully quit was obviously right for them.

However, for the best chance of success, there's no doubt that most people do better with a tank system. They deliver nicotine better, simple as that.

In this image, the green line represents the fast, sharp increase in nicotine that's absorbed when you smoke a cigarette. The red line represents the gentler absorption of nicotine from a generation 2 (tank system). It takes 35 minutes to reach the same nicotine plasma levels you get from 5 minutes of smoking (which is why vapers tend to prefer vaping little and often). The blue line represents nicotine absorption from a generation 1 device (aka cig-alike). After 35 minutes, nicotine plasma levels are just over 1/2 what you could get from 5 minutes' smoking. The levels will probably never reach the level that can be got from smoking because the half-life of nicotine is about 1 hour so the blue line will level out before long.

If you are a smoker who has tried cig-alikes and decided vaping doesn't work for you, try a simple tank system and you might be surprised. OP, your guest sounds like they might be a heavy smoker, in which case a cig-alike probably won't touch the sides.

OP, your guest sounds like they might be a heavy smoker, in which case a cig-alike probably won't touch the sides.

Yes, sounds like it! If that's the case I will try and persuade them to give the tank a go!