'Dual Fuelling'

[Boomerwang]

How can you do this? If I have a pack of fags, I leave my puffer alone. My boyfriend will smoke, and then five mins later start puffing on his ecig anyway. Doesn't this just make it harder in the long run?

I've been about four days without any cigarettes and I just felt like having one today. I haven't been struggling really, I just wanted one. So I had three in half an hour. Wish they sold individual cigs like they did in the old days.

I dunno. The people I know who dual fuel are massive cut-downerers, like DH who has gone from 20 a day to one - he just isn't quite ready to give up his fag before bedtime yet. I know others on MN who have cut down from 40+ to less than 10.

What's the longest you have been without a fag? I found after a couple of months the taste and smell was utterly foul. The only time I would consider smoking now is if all my kit let me down and I was climbing the walls. If I go to the pub I take spares of everything and spares of spares, and extra strength liquid just in case I have one of those end of the eveing 'ahh fuckit' moments.

I think while some of us managed to give up 'by accident' there still has to be some underlying desire to stop smoking for it to work. Do you actually want to stop? If so, remind yourself of the reasons and make things easier on yourself by not having a pack of fags around the place. Does your BF want to stop? If not, could he be supportive and not smoke around you?

No. I don't want to stop smoking. What I mean is, I don't want to lose the 'ahhh' feeling, although I totally understand that if you quit smoking properly, you don't need that feeling and in fact you'd get something horrible. I only quit because of the money. We've spent a bit on the apparatus but I've always felt that I'm not getting the same from my liquid as I did from a cigarette. I understand the hit is a lot slower from the puffer but is just as satisfying after half an hour or so, but I am wondering if I should try a higher strength liquid (I'm on 14mg) so that it becomes enough for me, and I don't need to have a cigarette now and then?

Oh yes get some higher strength! I was on 15 skinny roll-ups and vape 18mg and occasionally 24mg. Also, do you have a few flavours you like? Changing flavours can help you get over that 'deprived' feeling. I know what you mean about the 'aahh' moment, I remember it fondly but can honestly say I don't crave it any more.

If you're not ready to give up yet then cutting down is still worthwhile.

I can't remember if you've told us what kit you're using Boomerwang - that can make a difference to the satisfaction levels of vaping.

I dual fuelled for quite a while, cutting down over time. One thing that really helped me was to keep my cigarettes in the kitchen - which doesn't have anywhere to sit down so I don't spend time in there apart from cooking, washing etc. If I wanted a fag I would have to make the conscious decision to get up from wherever I was, go to the kitchen & get a fag, then go back to what I was doing. Plus I couldn't light up automatically & without thinking, which I think was the biggest improvement. I kept the e-cig right next to me so vaping was no hassle while smoking was a hassle.

I don't really know what my 'kit' is. I purchased a starter kit online from a swedish website. The battery compartment of my ecig is black and simply says 'ecig'. my boyfriend's one says 'ego'. i bought a new liquid cylinder in the UK from 'Totally Wicked' shop in Solihull and that seems much better than what I had. Also the 'wick' thingie doesn't have the bushes on it that my old one had but it definitely seems to be of a higher quality and gives me a better puff than the one with the little bushes on it did. I have many flavours of liquid courtesy of my boyfriend's mad purchasing habits, but they are all extra light (6mg) or nicotine free flavours. I much prefer and have stuck with menthol or ice menthol.

I intend to get me a nice strong nicotine liquid. Do you know if you can buy just the nicotine stuff to drop in with the liquids we already have? Or must you only buy ready made mixtures?

Regarding kit I was more concerned you may have been using a cigalike, which never give the same satisfaction as a battery & tank set up, and as you're lucky enough to have a decent vaping shop nearby they can advise on any upgrades etc you may fancy.

There are a few places you can get nicotine liquid at very high strengths, aimed at people who make their own liquids. But you'd need to be VERY careful going down that route, use pipettes or syringes & rubber gloves etc.

It does seem that the strength could be the main reason you aren't getting the satisfaction you need. But you need to realise that the habit & automatic response of reaching for a cigarette are as hard to quit as nicotine. It took me weeks and weeks to lose the last 2 fags and I knew damn well it was purely psychological.

Oh yes, the craving for a cigarette is definitely psychological, because when I have one I don't get a hit at all, and it is making me phlegmy and it just tastes horrible now that my taste buds are freed up.

I finally bought 50ml of 72mg nicotine and I've put a drop in my ecig and I get a barely noticeable buzz now, whereas before I'd puff and puff and puff to get up to that peak where you can forget about using it. Now I puff approx 10 times in 5 mins and can leave it for a couple of hours, unless I'm boozing when I can have the thing pretty much left in my mouth!!!

Oh, and since I visited the UK last week I noticed loads of people are using ecigs now! It's probably been like that for a while but in Sweden nobody uses them because it's illegal to sell over here, you have to get it online. The good thing is that there aren't any restrictions on using them except on the Swedish Airline (SAS)