Dionne's Journey - The Vaping Society.... part 12

Have you met and started conversations with people just because you Vape?

It’s extraordinary how using an electronic cigarette brings people together. They might approach you with a smile, electronic cigarette in hand and begin talking about their kit or yours. It’s a wonderful and joyful experience sharing your newly acquired freedom with someone else who is experiencing exactly the same.

We’re all on the journey of recovery from the effects of smoking. Perhaps we should talk about this recovery and its affect on the body at some point???

There is of course the fact we smell better and can smell better.

  • Have you noticed that your sense of smell has improved?

I can be walking along and someone passes me either having had a cigarette or is smoking and the smell is incredibly powerful and… not nice. Just to think that I once smelt like that, and didn't even know it, is incredible to me.

I notice now the smell of a passing person who is wearing a lovely fragrance be they male or female!

There’s also what you see, not that I’m claiming vaping restores your vision but….I look on the ground sometimes and see stubbed out filters, trodden on and cast aside on the edges of paths. I used to be guilty of that. Now I don't create or add to that pile of stinking mess and ash. I don't empty ashtrays. I’m delighted! I have become a better member of society by not littering and not polluting!

I’m proud. I’m proud to be a vaper and yet for years I felt guilty and persecuted for having smoked. And yes, ashamed now that back in the day, I even smoked around my children.

In fact a while ago I texted both my kids to apologise….I looked into the bag of a child whose parent smoked. Inside the bag were this child’s clothes. I had opened it to give this child a cardigan as she was cold. Oh - my - god. The smell was unpleasant and immediately I knew it was a smell that must have been on my clothing and that of my kids, on my sheets and towels and so on… These clothes in the bag, like mine had been, were laundered and clean… it’s just that they were dried and stored in the home of a smoker. And it was this that prompted the text message I sent to my kids. In it I said that I never realised that for all those years, sending them off to school, smartly dressed in nicely ironed shirts, trousers sharply creased, they smelt. As a smoker, I just never knew.

Please don't get me wrong here, I am not judging anyone, and if someone chooses to smoke, that is quite alright with me (though I’d love it if they chose to vape instead, and am more than willing to impart my knowledge to them should they want to hear). All I’m saying is that these were all wake up calls for me and that I felt I owed my own children an apology.

So, anyway, you have begun a conversation with another vaper. Someone whom you may not have had reason to chat with before. You can share each others experiences, just as I have shared mine with you, and you may try out their kit or the e-liquid flavour they are using. Believe me they’ll be keen to share.

The person you are chatting to, whom is vaping, is more than likely someone who used to smoke. They are more than likely to tell you that they prefer vaping to smoking and are delighted to have been able to make the transition away from tobacco.

Look around you. Where are you right at that moment when you began chatting? Is it in a place where you would have been able to light up? Probably not. Vaping lifts the restrictions from your life that were imposed on you as a smoker. No longer are you trapped out on the patio or in the garden. You might be sat in a pub, in someones lounge, you could in fact be pretty much anywhere and be vaping.

Why has that person entered into conversation with you? They are pretty much guaranteed to be excited about vaping and are keen to ‘spread the word’. Good news is something people want to shout about isn't it? Look at all the tweets and Facebook statuses that are posted every day.

Talking of spreading the word… do you have friends who are smokers? Do you feel the urge to tell them about how awesome it is that you are vaping? I’ll bet you do! We want to share our success with those we care about and for them to share in that same success. We tell them our story, we share with them our newfound and growing knowledge of vaping and vaping products. We tell them what we buy and who from.

Actually, isn't being a vaper kind of awesome? Isn't it brilliant we no longer have to find designated spots (where the hell are they and why are they always in the dingiest spots?)?It’s brilliant that we’re free from the awful judgements passed upon us as smokers. It’s awesome that we don't smell dreadful. It’s amazing how we can taste more intensely than we did and that we can smell more too.

Isn't it lovely that no matter who we are of where we come from that having our electronic cigarette bridges any gaps between us and unites us as one large community who want to spread the joy and welcome others into the fold? Being a vaper is like entering a room with a load of smiling new soon to be friends…. at least this is how it feels to me….

Along the way, I had the good fortune to meet Debbie. She has such a great story and was happy to share it with us. So I’m delighted to hand over the next few blog posts to Debbie so that you can also share in her journey. It’s a great read and she paints a lovely picture which is sure to not only inspire, but to entertain you too. In fact as she writes you see that through vaping, people approached her, just like I've been talking about here!

We’d love to feature more of our customers success stories so if you would like to share your own story for publication on Exhales blog pages, please do get in touch with us.

You can send your own story to support@exhalecigarette.co.uk. Please write “My vaping journey” in the subject line.

See you soon

10th Apr 2014 Dionne

Recent Posts