Perhaps just like many other smokers out there you have tried many different methods to stop smoking – pills, patches, hypnosis and many others. Well now there is another method, fairly new and not widely known, that can be quite effective in the battle to quit smoking: the electric cig.
What is an electric cig?
An electric cig is a battery-driven gadget that allows you to continue smoking without losing the sensations nor taking the risks of traditional cigarettes. The battery power pumps the liquid nicotine from the refillable cartridge, turning it into a vapour form for inhalation.
Since electric cig liquid does not contain tobacco, you avoid all the harmful effects it causes on your health. But you still get the ‘kick’ from the nicotine and it feels like a real cigarette too. There is no burning taking place so the whole experience is smoke-free.
Using electric cigs to quit smoking
Many smokers switch from regular cigarettes to electric smokeless cigs on their way to quit smoking entirely. The e-cig has the advantage of letting you select the nicotine level most suitable for you. The nicotine levels range from zero to mid-levels to high levels. The beauty of this adjustable nicotine level is that you can gradually reduce the level over time until you have completely weaned yourself off of electric cigs all together.
Most of the time you don’t need to take more than a puff or two over a one hour period to get the nicotine level you want, as you are working your way towards quitting. Certain inhaling techniques will also help you reduce your puffing rate.
Moving from traditional cigarettes to electric cigs
When moving from traditional cigarettes to electric cigs, one method is to do a slow switch to get your body and mind acclimatized to the new device. The e-cig therefore acts as a type of nicotine substituting tool. But some people prefer to go on a ‘cold turkey’ switch – completely stopping one method and immediately replacing it with another, which they comment is a little less painful.
The challenge with the latter method is that it doesn’t give you sufficient time to adjust to using this new apparatus, and should you run into problems you may be tempted to go back to tobacco. Some people recommend not keeping a back up pack of normal cigarettes at hand to deal with those sudden emergencies.
Reducing or eliminating withdrawal symptoms
An issue that smokers who quit face are the withdrawal symptoms that can be quite intense. The great thing about using an electronic cigarette as a nicotine substitute is exactly that, you can still get regular doses of nicotine and prevent withdrawal symptoms that come with stopping suddenly.
Using different nicotine levels
Since you can adjust the nicotine levels all the way down to zero, technically speaking you can quit smoking but still enjoy the motions of smoking by using this gadget. Some smokers continue with using it long after they’ve weaned themselves off of nicotine.
By imitating normal smoking patterns without the dangerous health effects of tobacco, an electronic cigarette might just be the technique you need to successfully stop smoking.