Vaping in the past five years
I was first introduced to vaping while conversing with my brother; I complained that I could no longer afford my 30-a-day cigarette habit, leaving me with no funds at the end of the day. When I had stopped smoking a couple of times, but months later, I would start again or, on most occasions, never stop.
He had been using vaping for six months and said it was the best thing since sliced bread, and I should get a starter kit and try it.
Before I venture on buying any vaping equipment, I will search the web for the pros and cons of the subject and products.
I came to realise that this was not just a small new thing that had just popped up there were quite a few ventures and dozens of sites and forums dedicated to vaping for newcomers to DIY fans.
The information was both precise and divers, so I then picked up a starter kit from UKCIGSTORE– and some e-liquid from Bestcigliquid
Vape Kit Arrival
It was the end of August, a Saturday afternoon, and the package arrived. After unpacking, it’s a pen-shaped gadget and some e-liquids, familiarising myself with all the bits and pieces. I then filled it up and headed for the first pull; not much, thinking this was just a waste of time, but I persisted and started to getVapee and flavour. At the same time, I light up a cigarette.
I spend most of the afternoon playing with the new gadget, and I am starting to feel the taste more and have not had the need to light up. Now, I think I have found a way to substitute my smoking habit, no more penny crunching. So the days go on and on, and I only use the vape pen and have not lit up any cigarettes.
The next day I start with a cigarette and coffee, but after the first drag of the smoke, my coffin mouth fills strange and hot. I did finish the cigarette, but it seemed harsh, still with the first coffee, and I reached out for the vape pen to find it leaking.
At this point, I think this is a fuckup, so I wipe it clean and pull off my first vape of the day while drinking my coffee, listening to the news, and enjoying every moment. That was the weekend I foundVapee and never finished that last pack of cigarettes.
More research
Researching and joining forums covering vaping, I realised there were many ways to vape and many types of equipment. First, I had to learn the names and terminology used in vaping; with things like a dripper, tanks, mechanical modes, box mode, DIY liquids, coils, cotton and synthetic cords, the whole world of vaping came alive.
Experimental Stage
I slowly went on to buy better quality products; after trying a few different ones, I came across The Kayfun and The Rose very different way to build. Yes, I went on to self-build weeks after the vape pen. It was a learning curve, kanthal, none bleached cotton, and VW mode; I continued to buy other tanks on monthly bases looking for better or more suited things.
The collection was getting large and then toolkits different wires. I found that some of them just were not for me; I kept going back to the Kayfun tank. Once I was able to see my build, it was smooth sailing; by the end of the second year.
I had got fed up with the Benson & Hedges e-liquid. I then got loads of small sample bottles somewhere okay but could not use as an all-day vape, and the quest continued. This would set me back if I could not find an e-juice that I could use all day.
DIY E-liquids
I started off looking for information on how to DIY e-liquid was made. The rules on care and things I needed to do so, there was loads of information that are necessary to be read, understood and placed into practice, starting with a starter kit once again gave me most of what I would need.
With ten flavour samples, I started experimenting with creating many e-liquids, but it was not smooth and clean lots of messes, and then the time needed to stand before use was the killer. Week and months go by, and I still don’t find anything sweet flavours, just not me.
I looked up loads of YouTube videos during this time and continued to purchase e-juices until I found Red Astaire by T-Juice I could never recreate its look at the thinks it may have in it.
- Absinthe (FW) 2%
- Aniseed (Inawera) 6%
- Blackcurrant (Inawera) 4%
- Cherry (Inawera) 6%
- Ethyl Maltol 0.4%
- Koolada (PA) 0.4%
- Mint Candy (PA) 1%
- Sweetener 0.4 %
So, I am still buying the Red Astaire form T-Juice and making my e-liquid.
Nicotine
Well, nicotine was high at the start of premade. I requested 32%. I did smoke 30+ a day. This slowly moved down to the present 19%. I have tried to lower it, but it means that I was consuming twice the liquid. It has been easy to see its effects.
When I first got the nicotine, I was a bit scared double checking everything at first. Still, with practice and confidence, it became much easier to handle all the cautionary information that I had collected, which served its purpose of not making any mistakes.
TPD (Tobacco Product Directive)
The TPD is a creation of the European Union to regulate tobacco, and just at the same time, vaping products were becoming popular and mainstream. Shops and websites popped up weekly, with some companies producing new products faster; the vape pen was first-generation vaping. We were on the third generation of vaping equipment at this time.
The TPD threatened to vape at its core with stiff regulation that would slow down uptake and innovation. I joined the European Free Vaping Initiative to get then no to place vaping in the directive as we believed it was not a tobacco product and it would be wrongly regulated. To have us put our case across, we needed to collect 1 million signatures from all EU nations in proportion to population.
It was some doing we had to find people in other countries that would wish to organise a campaign in their country, sound easy with social media at our figure tips; it was not we found it hard to find people as most don’t follow people in other languages but their own.
Once we had people, it was time to converse with them and help them raise awareness it was going right, but we fell short of the date and could never place our thoughts on the matter to them.
Other people were fighting the fight too, and they were able to influence the final directive. There were many research papers during that time, and things started changing, but no what we had wished for to have to vape in a separate regulation and directive.
The UK did its best to use the minimum possible of the directive as they had seen nearly 2 million people at the time stop smoking.
Conclusion
It has been a great adventure, and five years later, I have not had a cigarette in all that time. I lie, I had one three years later, and it was disgusting. My lungs are much better, no more bronchitis, my house doesn’t smell, and I don’t have to repaint the flat every year, which is excellent more money to say in the pocket, check out what I have not smoked and saved. I believe that there has been a sizable amount of progress.
54,750 cigarettes not smoked
2,737 packs
£24,637.00 cash on cigarettes saved £4,900 per year