Carpenter Ronny Nilsson is 47 years old and has been smoking since middle school. Through a nomadic life that has taken him from city to city and country to country, the cigarette has always been with him, despite some half-hearted attempts to quit. Vejpkollen's reporter provided him with a simple starter kit containing a machine, juice and nicotine to see if he could be made smoke-free. Join us on that journey.
Firstly, this is not a 'study' in any way. A single individual is an extremely weak empirical basis - so the approach is more like a small experiment. Those who remember how the tabloids followed "Bantar-Björn" and his struggle to lose weight in the early 2000s will get an idea of how we think.
Meet Carpenter-Ronny and his path to becoming smoke-free!
And so it began...
But first, a little background on our frolicking guinea pig.
- I actually don't remember exactly when I started smoking. It must have been in middle school or something like that. Way too early. But then I smoked maybe two cigarettes a week or so. Then in secondary school I started completely," says Ronny.
Back then he usually rolled the cigars himself, which was cheaper, and doesn't know exactly how many he made per day.
- But now, in recent years, I've been on about a packet a day," he continues.
From smoking nomad...
Ronny grew up in Kallinge in Blekinge and then various coincidences have taken him all over the place. A few years in Gothenburg, a few in Malmö, back to Blekinge for a while, followed by quite a few years in and around Prague in the Czech Republic. Then it was Malmö again, and so on. In his wanderings, he has sometimes had various temporary jobs, sometimes been unemployed - sometimes had a little money in his pocket and sometimes been completely broke and slept on friends' sofas. Or like the time he bought a small cottage in the middle of nowhere a few miles outside Prague. It had been flooded and he got it for virtually no money at all, and had his dog as his only companion.
Except for the cigarette.
- Yes, it's strange, but it was always a priority anyway. Even if you've been poor as hell, you've always been able to afford a packet of cigarettes," says Ronny.
- When I think back on it, it has still been a security and a way to socialise," he continues.
There were one or two attempts to quit smoking back then. He remembers one in particular.
- In the early 2000s, when I lived in Gothenburg, my girlfriend at the time thought: now it's damn time, now we have to stop. So I quit for maybe two weeks, max. But my mood was completely ruined. I scolded some old lady on a tram and had a complete change of personality. So my girlfriend ended up buying me a packet of cigarettes and saying: "now you can start again".
...to the carpentry middle class
Ronny's life has undergone some pretty big changes since all those years. He is now self-employed as a skilled carpenter. He lives in a house in Nyhamnsläge between Höganäs and Mölle in Skåne - with his girlfriend, two bonus children and dog. Everything would have been fine and dandy and had a slightly rosy ending, but ... those damn cigarettes have insisted on hanging on, not least to the great chagrin of his girlfriend.
- My life took a big turn and I moved to this small village. From Prague to here it's a hell of a difference and here it's not socially accepted to smoke at all. I really don't know anyone else here who does it. But above all, it's for the sake of the children that I don't want to do it," says Ronny.
No attempts to stop have worked
He has tried to take up snuff instead, but it didn't work. He simply didn't like snuff. Once before he was nibbling on vejp as well, but those plans got lost in the information overload.
- One day when I was driving to work I went to buy a cigarette and stopped at a place that also had lots of vejp. I was curious and asked how it worked, but then I got one of those damn half-hour lectures about how different juices and millilitres and coils and stuff. I didn't understand anything and just got tired: "Ok, a Yellow Blend then please", laughs Ronny.
A little later, he asked on social media if anyone knew something simple he could start with.
- But then I basically got the same lecture again I felt. Lots of oils to be mixed... I get that those disposable vejps sell well, there are probably a lot of us who just can't be bothered to get a degree in e-cigarettes...
First smoke-free period since the 2000s
In the early autumn of 2024, vejpkollen will step in as another superhero and saving angel. To avoid any untruths here, the undersigned writer and carpenter-Ronny know each other from before. He was provided with a simple machine with pods, a bottle of juice with the flavour "blue lollipop" and associated nicotine. He was only given the extremely educational instruction to pour the small bottles into the large one, shake, and pour in the pod.
Although, it did happen a bit anyway.
Ronny cut the spouts off the bottles instead and got some extra work when he had to mix the liquids. But apart from that and some questions about flavours and other things, it has gone well.
"Not smoked since I got it"
In late autumn 2024, Ronny Nilsson had his first smoke-free weeks since he scolded that lady on a tram about 20 years ago.
"How's vejpanding?", asks Vejpkollen via messenger.
"I'm vejpar, so I'm in good shape. I haven't smoked since I got it!", replies Ronny.
But then he still has his first order of his own ahead of him. Getting to grips with nicotine strengths, flavours, mixing oils and all the things he genuinely seems to hate. And at the same time, the petrol station is still tempting him with its Yellow Blend, which you just have to open the packet.
Stay tuned to Vejpkollen ahead for how things are going for Ronny!
