Personal Stories

I was smoking for almost 40 years and because of smoking I developed COPD. It was time for me to give up. My daughter and son hates smoking as does my grandson and with a new grandchild on the way I felt I had no options. I tried everything from patches, hypnotherapy, nothing worked. I tried vaping holding out very little hope however I met the best man ever who gave me solid advice about vaping the options I had. This included the tobacco juice suitable for me the proper vape for me and I have never looked back. I’m now 10 months smoke free my COPD has almost vanished I haven’t had steroids or antibiotics in almost 12 months while normally I’d have had two hospital stays by now. I have saved my money and now always have a bit put away for a rainy day. Now I rarely even vape but believe me vaping was my life saver. I now can honestly say I will never touch a cigarette again. Just too be able to say that is magical.

I was choking about 6 weeks ago from smoking John player blue pouches and I just knew I had to quit. I started on the vape and suddenly my life turned around. Since then no more coughing and craving for filthy cigarettes again. My breathing is good now thank god and I don’t have yellow or brown fingers anymore. The vape is the best way to go.

6 years off cigarettes now thanks to vaping, best thing ever! I’ll never go back to cigarettes.

7 years off the cigarette. Could not have done it without my e-cigarette. 50 a day to none!!

I started smoking when I was in school. As I grew up, I was smoking 20 a day and much more when I went out at the weekend. It was costing me up to €150 a week.

Six years ago, I thought I was having a heart attack from cigarettes. I went to the doctor and thankfully it was only a chest infection. However, he told me I had to quit smoking.

A friend suggested she try vaping, as it had helped her give up smoking. And it worked.

Sometime later I had to go back to the doctor for a check-up. When he asked if I had quit smoking, I told him that I was now vaping. He said: ‘I’m not worried about you vaping, once you are off the cigarettes.”

Jackie had already quit tobacco, back when the smoking ban was introduced. She saved up the money she was spending on cigarettes to go on holidays to Spain.

However, when I was in Spain, I got a load of duty free and went back on smoking. I tried the patches and the doctor also gave me tablets to help me quit again. But they just did not work. They did not take away the cravings.

The vaping works for me. I started on 20ml strength and I have reduced this gradually since then. I am still off the cigarettes and I don’t have to vape as much as I smoked. I am much better now. I don’t have the regular chest infections every winter like before.

As a mother of four, she regards the suggestion that vaping attracts kids to smoking as ridiculous. She says that kids would not go around with a vape to look cool. Vaping gets you off the cigarettes.

I went to college in 2016 to study for my degree. I left school early and it was stressful going back to study. If that stress failed to get me back on cigarettes, then nothing will in the future.

I needed to give up cigarettes for my health and also for my job. I was developing asthma and when I’d get a cold or a chest infection it took weeks to clear.

I also found that, as a bar manager, I was wasting too much time nipping out for a quick smoke.

Sean decided to stop smoking on New Year’s Eve. So, at midnight he went outside with his last two cigarettes. He gave one to his colleague and smoked his last one. Since then, vaping has helped him to successfully stay off them.

Efforts to give them up over the years never really worked. And if I was off them for a few weeks, I’d start overeating and putting on weight.

Until the COVID-19 lockdown, I’d have a quick puff to kill the nicotine craving during the day and I was vaping less than smoking. Now I am out of work and I am vaping a little more as I wait to get back to work.

My health is much better. My breathing is better and unlike the patch, I did not put on much weight.

He is feeling much better in himself and if he does get a cold or a chest infection, they clear within a few days rather than weeks.

Ruth Phoenix (33) from Dublin says that her health and increasing costs of feeding her smoking habit, forced her to give up cigarettes.

I was buying 20 cigarettes a day and I could not afford €100 a week to buy them. I also suffered with breathing, having smoked for over 15 years. The doctor kept telling me to quit smoking. But I did not have the willpower.

I had to quit. But it was very difficult. I tried the patches and the gums, but they did not work.

Six years ago, a vape shop opened in the area and I decided to give it a go. Vaping worked for me because the vape was just like holding a cigarette.

Ruth, who is healthcare assistant and a carer, started with vapes that had 18 mls nicotine and she is now using only 6mls strength and has not had a cigarette since. Responding to media coverage about the Government putting extra tax on vaping, Ruth said that it would be ridiculous to do that.

People use vapes to give up smoking and save money. I am now spending €16 a week instead of €100 on cigarettes. That makes a big difference to me in paying the bills.

For Ruth and her eight year old son, vaping has given them a new lease of life. She now enjoys better health and wealth having quit tobacco.

I have been smoking fifteen years, since I was in my teens. I was going through 30 Marlboro Lights a day and all my efforts to quit failed. I tried Champix programme, which involved taking a series of tablets. It worked for a while, but I ended up back on the cigarettes. I suppose I was missing the habit of smoking.

I had heard about vaping and how it could help me with the habit. To be honest, I was a bit sceptical as there was a lot of things involved in vaping including the liquid, the tanks, cartages and charging the battery. At that time, you had to adjust the vape all the time. As time went on, they got upgraded and we got more useful liquids.

Vaping was coming on the scene in Ireland. People were talking about vaping and there were those who quit thanks to vaping. I decided that it was time I started as I was smoking more and more. Initially I was reluctant to be seen with the vape in my hand and I kept it in the house. Then I decided that I needed to bring the vape with me as the urge for cigarettes was growing. The more I vaped the less I needed tobacco. I was surprised how easy I was to keep off the cigarettes.

Vape worked because I still get a little bit of nicotine. Logically I am getting less nicotine than before and vaping takes away the edge. It also allows me to keep my hands and mouth busy.

Today, I am not vaping as much as I smoked. I suppose I could phase this out, but I am not ready for that yet, to be honest.

I am feeling infinitely better since gave up smoking. I am back playing football as I had not played since school, I had tried when I was smoking but I ended up puffing and panting . Now I feel much better.

Efforts to quit cigarettes over the years had failed. I tried the gums and the patches to no avail. Then I heard about the success of vaping in helping people to quit. A local shop began selling them and I decided to give vaping a try.

It took about six weeks to get used to them. After that I had no urge to go back to cigarettes. They taste totally different to cigarettes and I have got use to the flavours. I tried a few and now use the apple flavour.

Vaping works for me because it has a small amount of nicotine to stop the craving and replaces the physical action of smoking as well. I think that’s why the gums and patches failed for me. Smoking is an addiction and it is known that those with addictions are committed to the rituals as much as the substances. Vaping provides the less harmful physical ritual of smoking without the tobacco.

When I started, I was only vaping every now and then. There were times when I was out driving and did not have the vape with me and was very close to stopping at a shop and buying cigarettes. Thankfully I didn’t, but I now bring the vape with me and used it when I need it.

Today, I don’t need to vape as much as I did in the beginning and I am certainly not vaping as much as I smoked cigarettes in the past.

I am feeling much healthier now and I am also saving a lot of money the cost of vaping is much less than cigarettes.

I want to make it very clear that people who do not smoke should not start vaping. There is no doubt in my mind, however, that we should encourage smokers to try vaping as a way of quitting tobacco.

I think it is dangerous nonsense for any Government to treat vaping the same as smoking in terms of health and addiction, as they are very different. I strongly urge those working on the proposed legislation on vaping, including TDs, senators and public servants, to read the facts from every sector, at home and abroad, and to listen to the people, like me, who have finally given up smoking thanks to vaping.

As most smokers in Ireland are in the low-income bracket, it would make sense for the Government to get smokers to switch to vaping. The benefits would be significant in terms of improving their health and reducing the need for medical treatment.

The savings gained by switching from cigarettes to vaping are also significant for the individuals on low incomes and, indeed, for their households. This has been backed up by international research.

I was smoking sixty Major a day before I went to the Middle East. I switched to Marlboro as they were very cheap and you could smoke in pubs and restaurants over there, so I was up to 80 cigarettes a day.

I realised that I had to give them up. I managed to stay off them for seven years, then I ended up back on them. A friend gave me a cigar one night, and in no time, I was smoking five and six cigars a day and went back on the cigarettes. It got to the stage that I needed to knock the cigarettes on the head.

I tried everything to get off the cigarettes. The hypnotic therapy and the sprays and patches just did not work for me. But vaping got me off the cigarettes. And I am still off the cigarettes six years later.

The only time I would take a cigarette would be if I had not got my vape. I would smoke one as a stop gap. But I will never go back on smoking. Using the vape and fumes and holding it worked for me. It took the edge off. I loved a drag of a cigarette with a cup of coffee and vaping gave me that feeling.

I have no side-affects from vaping. I don’t know how safe they are. I can only go on my own experience, and that if there are side effects they are far less than those I had when I was smoking.

I recommended vaping to a few other people to help them quit smoking. One was successful the other chap is still working on quitting and hopefully vaping will get him off them.

I was able to give up cigarettes by changing over to vaping. It has been life changing for me. Now I see in the media that the EU and the Irish Government wants to stop vaping.

I can’t get the politicians to change their minds on my own. We need to come together to show that vaping is a success and stopping it will be a political failure.

I switched to vaping because I was smoking too many cigarettes and my clothes started to smell. So, when I switched to vapes, I started with tobacco juices and it still felt like I was smoking cigarettes just without ashes.  I switched to flavoured juices cos they’re nicer and you can try many different flavours that’ll help you with tastes making it nicer to vape. It will also help people from going back to smoking cigarettes or smoking tobacco juices, which are pretty much the same thing.

I quit smoking with the help of flavoured vapes. 

I am a severe asthmatic and my doctors have been trying for years to get me to stop smoking but I couldn’t. No matter what I did or tried to do to stop smoking nothing worked. Until I tried a flavoured vape. I’m now 6 months smoke free and my doctor is VERY happy that I quit and that I am vaping. But I told them that if the vapes ever went that I would have no choice but to go back smoking. 

Not only has it saved me money, but my health has also improved 90%. I’m saving the HSE a great amount of care now that I’m in hospital less. No ICU. No inpatient. 

Why would you even think of getting rid of something that is improving people’s health and keeping them off the cigarettes. 

Please don’t remove flavoured vapes from the market.  This will lead to black market selling which isn’t safe for anyone.

I’m 26 and I quit smoking thanks to vaping. Vaping has transformed my life.

 Every year, thousands of people across the country like me successfully quit smoking thanks to vaping. The Department of Health’s most recent figures show that most of successful quit smoking attempts were down to vaping – that’s far more than through using traditional gums, sprays and patches.

 The Government’s proposed vaping bill will place restrictions on vaping which will make it harder for me to find out about vaping, while slapping a tax on something I’ve used to quit smoking, it just doesn’t make sense.

 I urge you to look with an open mind at the evidence which shows vaping is helping record numbers of people like me to quit smoking, here in Ireland and across Europe. I urge you to consider this when you vote on the Government’s vaping Bill.

I am asking you as my local TD’s to please respect the choice I’ve made to improve my health by switching to vaping. Don’t force me, or other smokers looking to quit, back to smoking.

Flavours should not be banned they helped in ways that better my life. I was constantly smoking way too many cigarettes in one day. So, I would stink of tobacco and my family didn’t like being around me for that reason. 

But with flavours I’m still able to smoke and be with my family and my consumption has also reduced compared to when I smoked cigarettes. If flavours were to be banned, I would go back to cigarettes and that’s not something I want to do. It would bring back a dirty cough that I had and I doubt I’d be able to be around my family without a spray bottle next to me for their sake.

I’m writing as a constituent in County Clare to express my concern about the provisionally passed bill to ban all vape flavours in Ireland, apart from tobacco.

While I applaud and support the intent to curb nicotine uptake especially among children and young adults, I believe there are other, more effective and targeted ways to achieve this. For example: mandatory ID scanning at point of sale (where no sale is possible without valid identification), significantly higher fines for businesses found selling tobacco products to minors, and a gradual increase in the legal age to purchase nicotine products.

Personally, switching to fruit and mint-flavoured vapes has allowed me to quit my smoking habit of 15 cigarettes a day. I’ve tried tobacco-flavoured vapes, but like other nicotine replacement options such as gum, spray and lozenges, which only yielded limited, short-term success as they cause me physical discomfort including prolonged hiccups and heartburn. If flavoured vapes are removed from the market, I fear I would again return to smoking – the opposite of what the bill is intended to achieve.

As vape liquids come in a variety of nicotine concentrations, I have found them to be an invaluable way of gradually reducing my nicotine dependence. While I once used 12 mg/ml liquids, I now use 6 mg/ml, effectively weaning myself of nicotine while vaping. I hope, in the near future, to be able to switch to 3 mg/ml and eventually nicotine-free liquids, leaving myself only the physical habit to overcome, something I simply would not be able to do with tobacco-flavoured liquids due to the side effects mentioned above.

Research following a similar flavour ban in San Francisco found an increase in smoking among high school students suggesting that outright bans may come with unintended consequences that harm rather than help. Various studies in Ireland and the UK have found that a ban on flavoured vape liquids would lead between a third of and more than four in ten vapers back to smoking . This would represent a deeply unfortunate and completely avoidable public health setback.

I urge you and the wider Dáil, to consider alternative ways of achieving your aims without cutting off a key tool that helps adults quit or reduce smoking.

As a vaper trying to quit smoking, I want to share my story after the Minister for Health wants to l ban vapes. Before vaping, I used to smoke 20 cigarettes a day. I ended up in hospital and the doctor kept telling me to quit smoking, and I tried everything I could but I just couldn’t stop. I tried using vapes and it worked for me because the vape was just like holding a cigarette. The flavours helped me as I could not stand the taste of tobacco after a few weeks. However, the tobacco vape flavour reminded me of the cigarettes which was hard for me as I tried to give them up for so long. So, this idea isn’t realistic. It’s going to push people back to cigarettes. Vaping is also cheaper than cigarettes so by doing this you’re limiting people to the more expensive option. 

Some people can’t help their addictions. Respectfully, there are more things to be worrying about in the health department. Vaping is a choice by people and most people don’t even get that in other subjects that matter more than vaping in the healthcare system. I am now spending €16 a week instead of €100 on cigarettes. That makes a big difference to me in paying the bills.

Vaping has given me a new lease of life. I have better health and wealth having quit cigarettes. I wasn’t that shocked when the Government said it was planning to ban flavoured vapes because it’s typical of the government to worry about things the government shouldn’t and doesn’t worry about things the government should.

I would not have been able to quit smoking if it wasn’t for the vapes. If flavours are banned, I’m afraid that I’ll end up going back to cigarettes. The ban is a catastrophe for vapers and for smokers who are trying to give up. In the future, I will be voting for politicians who support vapers and who are willing to defend flavoured vapes. I hope that by sharing my story you now understand the life-saving impact that flavoured vapes have had on me, and why this Bill risks doing more harm than good.

I’m 31 years old. I smoked cigarettes at a very young age and I was finally able to give them up about 5 years ago. This would have not been possible without the help of my vape.  I have used a strawberry flavour since I started vaping. I honestly think if the flavours are taken away, I will resort back to cigarettes. Something I don’t want to do. I don’t drink or anything, so the only little thing I have to help deal with stress etc is my vape.