Well, it's been a long road but I'm finally 100% smoke-free. Not nicotine-free yet, but I've finally made it to the point I haven't lit up a "real smoke" instead of firing up the vape in over three weeks.
Some thoughts for folks thinking about switching from smoke to vape:
The prefab e-cigarettes are crap. Don't bother. They barely satisfy the "habit" part and they do next to nothing to prevent all the "bad stuff" associated with nicotine withdrawal that has frustrated all your previous attempts to quit. I tried those for months and just ended up with a stronger nicotine habit, smoking no less even with the vape.
With that out of the way, where to start? Well, you start by analyzing your habit. What do you smoke and how much of it?
If you're a casual/social smoker that lights up maybe one or two cigs a month when you're down the pub with your mates or taking a breather outside the club, you're golden. You don't need a decent size tank or more than the most basic battery. You can use the basic all-in-one atomizers that cost you minimal coin and the cheapest compatible battery. and then you'll drop less than a five-spot on supplies (juice and infrequent replacements of your atomizer) every couple of months. You'll be buying juice with a low nicotine content and not going through much of it. If you try it on a few nights out and you still feel like scrounging a cig from your mates, bump the nicotine content of your juice a bit. Once the juice satisfies your needs you can then think about ramping the level down but if you want to "make the switch" you need it to meet what your needs are NOW, not what you want them to be, or you won't switch, you'll smoke as well as vaping and when you inevitably give up on the vape you'll find yourself smoking more, not less.
If you're a pack-a-day guy, a cigar smoker or a pipe smoker, those basic setups won't cut it for you. This is for various reasons. The pack-a-day cig smoker needs more nicotine hit and the pipe or cigar smoker has a "stronger experience" from smoking - in terms of the size of the "smoke hit" as opposed to the "nicotine hit" - which those basic setups can't emulate. While the pipe or cigar smoker may not be satisfied with 'em, all three groups should start with a decent "standard" tank, a reasonable capacity battery that can drive it. For me, this was a kagertech protank and a vision spinner variable-voltage battery. This was the first setup I tried that actually "felt" like I was "smoking" and was able to actually substitute vaping for smoking. You'll spend more on getting this kind of kit than you would on the all-in-one tanks and the cheaper batteries. This is where all truly "addicted smokers" like myself should start.You know who you are. You're the kind of folks who have considered switching to snuff or chewing baccy but didn't because you dont like the idea of sneezing shit-colored boogers or spitting baccy-juice.
However, there are some of us that can't get a complete substitute from a kit like that. I was one of them. I was running the highest nicotine levels in my juice that I could get, running the battery at its highest voltage to vaporize as much juice as possible on each puff and I couldn't get down below "one 'real one' a day" - If you start on a good "standard tank" and no matter the juice you pick, no matter how often you reach for the vape, you still want to click that lighter and take that "real smoke" then you really have only one way to go. You need sub-ohm kit. This has been marketed to the vaping community as creating "big clouds" and a whole load of other bullshit like that but the bottom line is that it vaporizes more juice per puff. A LOT more. I'm not saying anyone should start on kit like this, but if you're a heavy pipe or cigar smoker, this is likely where you'll end up if you want your vaping to completely eclipse your smoking habit.
It works.
Start on something close, work up until its all you need. Then - and ONLY then - start ramping down.
I'm Dave and I'm smoke-free.