Do you call yourself a smoker?

[Freeriver]

At the risk of sounding ridiculous (nothing new there) I just want to ask what you say when a doctor asks if you're a smoker?
I use e-cigs (E-Lites) but admit to having one or two max normal cigarettes a day - evenings with the first glass of wine !
Do you say "No I don't smoke" or "I smoke e-cigs" or what??

i normally say i used to be, but now i smoke ecigs..
and get incredibly pissed off if someone tries to say that i am still a smoker!

I say I'm an ex-smoker and now a vaper. If they're not sure what 'vaper' means I say I use ecigs. I'm very careful not to use the word 'smoke', because it isn't.

I usually say 'use' come to think of it!

I say no and pull a disgusted face lol , I'm a e-cig addict but don't admit that either

I say I'm an ex-smoker, and that I use e-cigs. I would never say I "smoke" e-cigs because as Plenty says above, there is no smoke.

Yet another (young) GP very interested in how useful I'd found e-cigs in helping me stop smoking .

I'm currently having my 1st cig of the morning ( normally I'd be on no 4)
Today is the day that I start cutting down ready for quitting.
But I think I will always be a smoker at heart even once I'm not smoking.....

Thank you all - that has been very helpful. Seen a few docs recently and I feel sort of guilty saying I'm an ex-smoker but use e-cigs now. It's almost as if I'm admitting something I'm a bit ashamed of, yet I should be proud of it really shouldn't I?

Yes you really should be proud

Unfortunately, if you're still smoking one or two cigarettes a day, they'd still class you as a smoker anyway. If you want to ditch those last couple you might do better with a more powerful kit - it would work out a lot cheaper too, if you got a refillable.

As above, you are still a smoker OP, albeit a light smoker. In addition, assuming you are using nicotine liquid, you are on NRT so continue to be addicted.

I only started considering myself an ex-smoker once I was free if all nicotine and habits. For me becoming an ex-smoker started 16 months after my last cigarette.

The 16 months I spent on NRT (I used lozenges), if asked if I smoked I would say I was giving up and using nicotine replacement. Saying anything else is just kidding yourself and frankly giving yourself more credit than is honestly due.

I would say that now, 3 years after my last cigarette (31.12.2012) and approaching 2 years NRT free (April 2014) I consider myself a non smoker. I'll never, ever smoke again.1

People on some form of NRT may still be addicted to nicotine, but they definitely aren't smokers - they are not inhaling smoke i.e. combustion products. The reasons for health workers and insurers asking about smoking are because of the dangers of the combustion products as nicotine by itself and in the quantities taken in by NRT or vaping isn't harmful.

So when a medical professional asks me if I smoke I say that I don't any more, and if they ask how I stopped I wave my e-cig at them extolling it's virtues. None of them have ever tried to tell me I am still a smoker despite still being a nicotine addict.

Yy it's important to remember why smoking is a problem in the first place - it's NOT because of the nicotine. The 16 months you were on NRT, FATE, your body was already recovering from the damage done by smoking, just as if you'd gone cold turkey.

Some people would rather they weren't addicted to anything and that's fair enough, but vapers are not smokers and neither are long term NRT users.

Personally, I've stopped giving a shit if I'm still addicted to nicotine. I'm no longer causing myself health problems or harming those around me. I no longer smell and I'm saving a fortune. And I enjoy nicotine, just as I enjoy caffeine, to which I am also addicted. It's simply not a problem.

As soon as you give up combustibles you're a non-smoker. My doctor couldn't wait to add me to their quota of cessation successes once I'd said I'd quit with ecigs.

I'm an ex smoker.

I vape, but I don't smoke anything.

I don't mention I vape because it isn't relevant.