Testimonials

20th April, 2022

I had been smoking for approximately 20 years, through that time I had attempted to quit possibly up to 10 times. My health was pretty ordinary, getting sick from some kind of cold or flu was a joke, I think I collected all of them as looking back I know your far more susceptible to this. Some of my quitting attempts were looking good, a couple were up to 2 weeks at at time since having a cigarette but inevitably I did return. I tried most of the so called ‘tried and proven’ pharmaceutical methods, all of which we’re terrible and something you don’t want to have. The mist spray for instance for me (and a few other’s I know of) just gave me hiccups, tasted horrendous and basically turned you off even using it. For a little while there were strips, similar to listerine strips for your breath, those worked pretty alright, which really means just a bit better but disappeared from the market, goodness knows why.

A number of years ago vaping did vapes did appear, and I did try when it was in its infancy. Devices which looked like a cigarette (still unsure why this was important), but its cartridges were very unreliable, so that didn’t stick at all. That and the sale of said cartridges were very under the table in regards to being sold so I couldn’t always get them at all.

Approximately 2 years ago, possibly a bit over, I purchased an innokin pen style system, but could not source e-juice with nicotine - probably why I couldn’t meaningfully decrease my cigarette smoking with it. At the time I didn’t know how to source the nicotine, nobody would tell me or just didn’t know. I probably could have purchased it from New Zealand, but I had no idea of that at the time so it just didn’t work and it became unused.

Which comes to Jan 2021 when after some research this time I decided to give a vape another go, they seemed to have morphed into real quitting aids in the meantime since I didn’t know any better. It doesn’t matter the device but it was a GeekVape pod system. The person who sold it to me actually informed me I can get nicotine from New Zealand. After a near 2 week delay, I got hold of a couple of e-juices containing around 6 mg nicotine. This was the game changer, I was doing so well with only will power, vaping zero Nic e-juice but suddenly with some nicotine additive, this was suddenly something that will keep me off actual cigarettes. I guess in time to come from there I slowly turned into what’s referred to a vape hobbiest, which really only means that I vape because I like it. But the important part is after some months, and now towards 1 1/2 years on, I have no interest in smoking a cigarette again. But I probably would go back to smoking though, if vaping was suddenly made illegal. Vaping keeps me off the cigarettes, that’s obvious.

So how do I feel after quitting smoking and taking up vaping? 10,000x better I think I can say. My energy levels have finally returned after many many years. I can actually go for legitimate exercise (eg. Running/cycling) without immediately being puffed out, you know, like a normal non smoker. The other thing which is somehow still to this day astonishing to me is that I don’t stink. Nearly everything health wise about me is improved, as well as how I smell, even to myself.

Vaping has in fact changed my life.

20th April, 2022

My wife and I smoked cigarettes for over 40 years, during that time we tried many times to give up, in particular over the last 10 years. We tried different smoking cestation aids such as drugs (Champix), patches, oral spray, gum together with going to two different hypnotherapist and during this process we worked in conjunction with our GP.

Ex smoker friends introduced us to vaping as that was the only thing that worked for them to give up cigarettes, unfortunately it took us three years to transition completely to vaping and not smoking cigarettes and believe if there was more information available to our GP and the quit community we could have stopped smoking much sooner with the aid of vaping. We have now been vaping since 2015 and over that time reduced our dependancy on nicotine to a very low level, we have noticed the difference in a health due to vaping and not smoking with our lungs being able to inhale more air, feeling better and saving ourselves a lot of money.

26th April, 2022

Craig & I are 50 & 49 years of age. We live in Western Australia. Craig smoked for 25 years & I myself smoked for 26 years.

In 2013 I had my first "vape" experience when I was introduced to the old cigalite vapes. I had been trying to quit smoking with nicotine gums, patches, sprays & even tried hypnotherapy- none of these things worked. The cigalites were not reliable devices, they were cheap, broke or wouldn't recharge but when they worked, they kept me off the smokes.

Craig would not even try them as they were tobacco flavoured so to him, he said there was no point as even the smell of the tobacco flavour made him crave a cigarette. Needless to say, we both continued to smoke. Fast forward to 2017, Craig had his second massive heart attack & I knew I had to do something.

I had noticed vape devices had changed significantly & were a much better device. I started researching devices, ingredients in eliquid, the health advice given by The Royal College of Physicians in the UK. By the time Craig got out of ICU nine days after his heart attack, I was prepared with all we needed.

His first words when I went to pick him up were "You'd better have a packet of Winnie Reds" After a massive heart attack & nine days in ICU, this goes to show just how addictive & insidious in nature the need to smoke can be. My reply " No but I have something else that will help us beat the smokes forever". Honestly, I didn't know if it would work or not but I knew I had to give it a try. I had warned the kids to "leave Dad alone" for a couple weeks as he would usually climb the walls, get grumpy & snappy when he had no smokes.

I was worried for nothing, he took to vaping easily & has not had a cigarette since! We both quit that day. Literally overnight. Our health has increased tenfold, no more coughing up phlegm in the morning, getting out of breath, we walk every day which is something Craig could never do before.

It has made physical work easy than before & there is no more disgusting smell or ash- we just feel cleaner & healthier. We started vaping at 12mg & have consistently dropped that so we are both now using 3mg. Craig's cardiologist is incredibly happy with his progress & now considers him a non-smoker. He told us that even though nicotine is a stimulant & addictive, it is no more so than caffeine & it is not the nicotine that was harming him, rather the seven thousand other chemicals some cancer causing.

Vaping has changed our lives significantly for the better, not just in regards to our health but many other ways as well. I find we have more time now, we're not constantly stopping to smoke, our hair & clothes no longer smell & I don't have to clean filthy ashtrays anymore... you just feel better within yourself. I can now go to the movies & sit through an entire movie without getting fidgety & edgy by the last hour, I could never do that before, or go out to dinner & just relax & enjoy, before wed both be running out for a smoke mid & straight after.

In Australia, the vape community is a large one & so supportive. We have made many new friendships along the way that supported us to stay off the smokes. The fact that the devices are super reliable & that we can choose from many flavours is of huge benefit as well. Neither of us choose tobacco flavours as we feel this would be counter-productive since this is what we are trying to quit.

Quitting smoking is hard, weirdly after nearly 6 yrs, my brain still tells me every now & then "must be time for a smoke" - I no longer panic, I just grab my vape. Vaping really has saved our lives & given us a safer alternative. The need for the nicotine is obviously still there but it doesn't control us as it once did.

Vaping helped us both quit smoking one hundred percent when nothing else we tried did & I am forever grateful. I live in fear every day that the government will take this life saving technology away from people like us. Complete hypocrisy of course when cigarettes are sold everywhere. I fear that if vaping were made completely illegal in Australia we would go back to smoking. The prescription model has made life hard enough, especially for Australians that are not mobile or live rurally, it is just not reasonable or conscionable to take away a harm reduction method that works. Adults have the right to make their own decisions pertaining to their health surely.

Our local vape shops are super informative, particularly on device safety etc & know the products. They are always diligent in asking for ids etc & in fact the industry has self regulated for years now. It is easier for young people to buy cigarettes in Australia than vapes. Our son who is 19 has seen us both smoke & vape. He is proud we quit smoking but he does neither & has no interest as he understands that vaping is a harm reduction method to help people quit smoking.

16th November, 2023

I smoked cigarettes daily for 25 years but quit in September 2023 when I realised I was spending $15,000 a year on my habit.

I was introduced to vaping by my brother - also a heavy smoker - and both of us are now cigarette-free.

We are saving a fortune, we feel better, we are breathing easier, we don’t stink of cigarettes, we no longer have to excuse ourselves for 10 minutes at a time to smoke.

Since taking up vaping, everyone I encounter says “But vapes are worse than cigarettes!” I quickly correct them but it’s apparent that the PR war is lost.

I am resigned to the fact non-prescriptions vapes will be banned soon and I am disgusted.

What I am confused about is the motivation of governments, media and other commentators to just spew out criticism of vaping without a thought to comparing vaping’s effects to cigarettes. Surely that should be the most basic step but they don’t and I want to know why.

19th November, 2023

After 30 years of smoking with countless failed attempts to quit, I developed a constant cough that was irritating and embarrassing. Despite this I couldn’t stop. A friend of mine showed me his new vape device and I knew immediately that I could use it to quit combustion once and for all. This was 6 years ago and I haven’t touched tobacco since. I just turned 50, and during COVID I decided to turn my health around. I’m now in the best shape I’ve ever been. Lifting far heavier weights than in my 20s and running much faster.

I still vape in the mornings with my coffee. I now see it as one of life’s little pleasures that so far has done nothing but positive things for my health.

To say “we don’t know the long term side effects” but then to sell cigarettes on every corner while we know very well the consequences of their use, sounds asinine to me. I’ve gone on to get a few of my friends off smoking by teaching them how, but unfortunately I also have friends that didn’t succeed with vaping over tobacco. I may have been one of the millions of lucky ones.

19th November, 2023

I smoked for 45yrs, tried plenty of times to give up without success.

Vaping has helped me give up deadly tobacco for good.

20th November, 2023

I am 59 years old and started smoking at the age of 15. When I was 44 I was diagnosed with grade 3 breast cancer and I was desperate to give up smoking. The doctor suggested patches and other regular stop smoking aides but after trying them all I still couldn't stop smoking for more than a day. Thankfully after going through many operations and chemo I was able to recover from cancer.

When I turned 50 years old I decided it was time to try again as I was worried about my health and really didn't want to go down the same path as my mother who had smoked most of her adult life and was suffering greatly from COPD and then also had to have a triple bypass after a heart attack.

Again, I tried several supermarket quit smoking aides with no luck. I researched alternative methods and I decided to try vaping. I ordered a ecig look alike from America and since the first day I took up vaping I have not touched a cigarette, my health has improved greatly. If it wasn't for vaping I would probably still be smoking now but after 9 years I am still smoke free. My family are much happier and they no longer have to endure any second smoke or put up with the stench.

I feel that if I had looked into vaping earlier and it was more readily available in Australia I would've been able to quit smoking much earlier than I did. It should be easier to obtain locally so others like myself would have a much better chance of giving up smoking for good. Like smoking it should not be available to minors however I don't believe it is a gateway to smoking in fact it's the opposite it is a gateway out of smoking.

27th November, 2023

I started smoking when I was 13 and continued for 20 years.

I stopped smoking "cold turkey' for 13 years but everyday was a struggle. Unfortunately I relapsed due to being in a stressful environment and continued for approximately 4 years.

In November 2018 my brother in law introduced me to vaping as he had recently "found' vaping. It had helped him quit cigarettes.

I dual used from Nov 2018 until 1/5/2019 as I hadn't found the combination I needed to stop. I purchased many different types of devices and eventually discovered that to cease smoking completely through vaping I needed a device with a higher power than most [ not all vapes are the same}. I have been combustible tobacco free since the above date, with no urge to ever smoke again.

Flavours also played a major role in quitting smoking. I had to get away from tobacco/ menthol flavour. I continue to stay away from these styles of flavours to this day.

I find that my blood pressure has decreased, I breathe clearer and can perform my duties in a physically demanding job much easier.

28th November, 2023

My vaping journey started in 2014. My husband also vapes. We were fortunate enough to go work and live in the UK for two years. We were based up in the northwest of England but within a few months, my husband became quite ill. He had to be rushed to hospital with breathing problems. He was kept in a hospital and informed that he had pneumonia. They also advised him that he had the very early signs of emphysema.

After he was discharged, we needed to go to our new local GP. He sat down with us and explained what had happened. There was an urgent need for my husband to stop smoking. We were completely lost because prior to going to England, we’d tried everything, and every product that was on the market at that time. We'd done the patches, we'd done the sprays. We'd done hypnosis, we'd tried absolutely everything.

So our new doctor in the UK advised us that we should take a stroll around the corner to go and visit the local vape shop. He felt strongly that we would certainly benefit from at least trying vapes as a way of helping us both quit smoking.

At that time in 2014 we certainly didn't know anything about vaping so we did visit that vape shop and inside was a man who was extremely knowledgeable about his products. His emphasis was also on buying safe products, so he talked us through how we are able to swap over from tobacco smoking, how we can still get the same amount of nicotine as we would get with cigarettes and how over time we could cut down that amount of nicotine.

We went home with our new vape products. On that very night we both actually stopped smoking cigarettes. It was thanks to a doctor in England and a young guy working in a vape shop around the corner. We will be forever grateful for that.

Fast forward to 2023 things aren't looking too good for people like us who need vapes to quit smoking are they? As a child and teenager, I didn't know anything about smoking. We just did what our peers were doing. The teachers used to smoke in class where I went to school. In fact, the shop next door to the high school used to sell cigarettes and throw in free matches.

We didn't want to be addicted to tobacco. Nobody educated us, the best advice I think I ever got was from my mum and all she knew was that smoking would stunt my growth. That didn't happen. But there we have it.

That’s where my husband and I were in 2014 but now we’re both really well. I had a heart test recently and I was informed that my heart was that of a 50 year old, not someone aged 65(!). I am healthy, my lungs are healthy again. And my husband has no more emphysema. Vaping is the best thing we've ever done and I just hope that we can continue to do that.

4th December, 2023

I am a former smoker (smoked for nearly 30 years) who tried everything to quit and failed, until I found vaping 5.5 years ago, and it was a miracle! I couldn't believe that vaping finally got me off smokes for good. And I have never had a cigarette since.

13th December, 2023

I quit cigarettes 13 years ago using e-cigarettes (ENDS) and the health benefits have been phenomenal. I am very upset that minors have been targeted by black market operators as vaping customers and believe the vape industry has made a huge misstep in glamourising what was once (when I switched) a daggy unglamorous device.

I’m disappointed and frankly furious that vaping is now subject to prohibition when cigarettes are still non prescription and available everywhere. How can I help ensure vaping becomes a regulated adult consumer product?