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About LinkBacksI'll do my best to help out hereOriginally Posted by Saracen
Question for all you experienced types .....
I have a relative, female, late '70s, completely inexperienced with anything techy, to the point of just about managing on/off, volume and channel change with the TV remote. But struggles with "mute".
And, smokes a lot (*). For the sake of her health, and having failed utterly to get her to give up, I'm trying to get her to consider vaping. I think she's about to cave in.
So here's the question .... what (if anything) can you recommend that's SIMPLE TO USE, not ludicrously expensive, preferably can be bought in the high street, and is of a quality/taste that it won't put her off trying again.
I don't smoke, and know NOTHING about where to start. But for her, it's gonna have to be easy to use. I can take things apart, clean, rebuild when I'm there, but we live 100+ miles away and can't always be there. That's one reason (along with computer-phobia) that she has to be able to get supplies locally, effectively, high street.
Any pointers gratefully received, since I know 3/4 of 5/8ths of beggar all about vaping.
(*) By "a lot" I mean every hour or two, but as like as not, only about half a cigarette, then stubs it out. I think it's more habit in the sense of activity, that she's been doing it for so long, rather than actual nicotine addiction. It's part of her routine, and she's VERY routine-driven,, these days. It's her coping mechanism, how she gets through the day.
I don't think she's nicotine-addicted because when she's somewhere she can't smoke, it doesn't seem to bother her much. But at home, her regular fixes are routine. I'm therefore not sure it matters much what she "smokes" as long as she has her routine.So first of all, she would need the types that look like cigarettes, rather than the tanks you fill with liquids. They appeal to people first getting into vaping because they look and feel like a cigarette (you can even get ones where the battery lights up red on the end when you toke - most do). They also usually have an automatic battery so it turns on and off just by taking a drag then stopping. They're just generally very simplistic and easy to maintain - just need to clean the battery connection with tissue sometimes. Ideal
You can get starter kits which include everything you need. After that, you'll just need to buy replacement Cartomizers (the things that screw onto the batteries which are pre-filled with liquid and ready to go), and replace batteries when they start dying (most are guaranteed for 6 months, but you can get maybe a year out of them before they don't hold a good charge anymore). Catromizers come in different flavours and nicotine levels - you just screw them on, vape, then chuck away when they're finished (I'd normally get about 2 days out of one of them, but I vape pretty furiously lol). They're already filled for you and not designed to be refilled (though I have refilled some before! But don't worry about that part..). From what you say, I would probably start her on 12mg nicotine and see if you can get her down to 6mg, then 3mg, then 0mg maybe! Just for reference, I used to smoke about 10-15 rollies a day (not as brutal as cigarettes. I made them quite thin compared to most people too). I found I wanted 18mg nicotine to start with on Ecigs, because more nicotine gives a stronger hit, and when you're used to sucking in hot smoke.... Nowadays I'm on 6mg and I find the hit to be enough!
A starter kit will probably need to be bought online and will cost around 50 quid (high street shops usually don't have much choice with kits). It should come with a charger, a couple batteries, and about 10 cartomisers, maybe a little hard case also. She'll definitely want 2 or more batteries, btw! You need a charged one ready to go each time the other goes flat.
Cartomisers tend to come in 5 packs and cost around 8-10 quid. They vary wildly in quality and how long they last from each brand. It's a bit of minefield out there with all of this type of stuff.. Occasionaly you'll get one that's not wicking properly and will taste all crappy and burned, so if she doesn't like her first hit, try a different cartomiser incase that's what's happenedThey also taste like that when they start to run out/dry up and you need to replace them.
When I started out I was using a company called Green Smoke. They were probably my favourite for the cigarette style ones we're talking about here, even if the flavours were a bit too powerful for my liking: http://www.greensmoke.co.uk/
"Red Label" were my favourite. They're sort of an American style cigarette flavour, but not.. Good one for people coming straight off tobacco though!
Look around for discount codes too. I found one for 15% off on a random website and it worked
I believe they do some kind of plan where you can get stuff delivered every month without having to keep ordering. If that's not a good solution, then you're basically left at the mercy of whatever the shops in that area are selling. It has become more common for newsagents and supermarkets to sell these things now, so I'm sure you'll find something
Hopefully that's helpful! Let me know if you want any more advice and I'll see what I can do
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