Peer pressure and curiosity drive many people to start smoking. But they are also looking for a sense of community and a way to reduce anxiety.
"I would probably have quit sooner if vejpning had existed" says Micke Bodén, one of thousands of vejp users in Sweden. He and several others answered Vejpkollen's questions about smoking and e-cigarettes.
In the context of an article on youth and vejpning asked Vejpkollen some questions on our largest Swedish e-cigarette forums on Facebook.
How old were they when you started smoking? Why did you start? And would you have followed the current trend and chosen e-cigarettes instead, if you could?
We also wondered whether nicotine itself played a role in the decision to start smoking?
Here are the answers! Uncensored with reservation for a light spell check. Note that the word "vejp" is spelled slightly differently here and that's ok, because the language belongs to the writer.
Swedish vejpare tells us:
"Would definitely have started vejpa instead. If vejpning had existed, back then"
Peter Tuthill
"I'm not sure, it's been a while since I started smoking and I guess I never really disliked it. At that time it was cool. I don't know if I've ever thought it was cool with vejpandet or heard my kids say that. Might also mention that none of them have done any of it yet, and they are 26 and 16 years old.
Torben Andersson
"Difficult question! I'm 39 so I guess I count as older. I probably wouldn't have had the money to buy a vejp, so I probably would have smoked anyway. But it depends a bit. Maybe it would have been lame to smoke and then I probably wouldn't have done any of it, which in retrospect I really wish I had done."
Angelica Jangbrant
"Wow, I started smoking so long ago. It's impossible to know if I would have started vejpa instead, but I don't think so. The reason I started was kind of peer pressure and curiosity. But I would definitely have quit smoking sooner if vejping had been around then. I tried to quit smoking a lot of times but nothing worked in the long run until I found vejping 5 years ago."
Micke Bodén
"I hadn't started vejpa instead of smoking. I was just "the kid", cigs were easy to snort hadn't been so easy to come across a vape and access to juicer. But very likely I would have switched to vape long before."
Rebecca, 32
"Probably had vejpat instead, it was not good with cigarettes, but cool. I am 65 years old"
Ingrid Eklund
"Now there are age limits and so on both vejp and cigarettes, so it would have been harder to start with both. I started smoking at the age of 13"
Monica Jansson
"I am 24 years old and started vejpa partly for health, partly for all the good flavors! Smoked cigarettes from 17 to 21/22 years.
Johannes Weidenborn
"I probably would have started smoking anyway (I'm 60). Started smoking to be cool, it was a bit "cool" to hang out in the smoking area, even though you were just unsure. I think it's the same problem even today; that teenagers start smoking as some kind of security. Because it didn't taste good in the beginning when you smoked. Vaping becomes the solution later, when you want to stop smoking and it tastes good too!"
Laila Johansson
"I started smoking in a boarding school, under pressure. Everyone else smoked and was cool. I was 16 years old. Stopped smoking because of fear when X-ray found a spot on my lung. (Was however "only" traces of pneumonia). The vape was what made me manage to quit. Countless times I have tried to quit with patches, sprays, chewing gum etc without success. I didn't just have an addiction, I enjoyed cigarettes. After 5 years without a cigarette, I can still "feel" the taste of a freshly lit cigarette when someone lights one (only to find it smells like sewage soon after). Hopefully I would have chosen vejp if it had been available in the 80s"
Anna
"I started smoking when I was 12 to be tough, quit 6 years ago and started vaping. I am 57"
Maria Johansson
"Started vejpa 5 years ago as I had been smoking since I was 14. Felt it was the only solution and get away from cigarettes. Quit in the day and have not been craving for a cigarette once. The best thing I ever did. Tried just for fun to take a puff on a cigarette 2 years ago and said "never again". Love my vejp and feel great"
Peter Daggert
"If vejp had been available when I was ten and started smoking, I would have chosen vejp every time! I am 49 now"
Lisbet Fjølstad
"I got tired of smelling and it being so impractical + cigarette butts galore"
Sofie Henriksson
"I started smoking when I was 12 or 13. I do not know why. Probably to feel "grown up". Had to stop in the fall of 2011 when I was 33, due to a heavy cold and was looking for an alternative (snus does not go?). Read about e-cigarettes, got curious and ordered an ego-t for fun. Not a really good model at all, but it worked for me and I was happy with it. The highlight of that time was when the boss came to me and told me that people complain about me that I "smoke Crack using a pen in the smoking area" ???
What if I had started vejpa instead of smoking when I was young? Hmm, no idea. Maybe I would have.
But cigarettes were easy to get. There was a cigarette machine right next to the school, and near my parents' house"
Christof Med F
"I think a pack of yellow blend cost 4.50 when I started smoking, so I would have been stupid enough to choose the cigar"
Michael Ströberg
"You were poor at 13. A vejp package was therefore out of the question (although it would have been cheaper in the long run)"
Lars Björklund
"Most people smoke cigarettes because of stress or anxiety, or it builds up to that anyway. The younger ones might be attracted to something that can dampen it, I guess."
Ivee Popovic
"Well, I vejpar because nicotine has helped with my anxiety and also the tremors I've had in my hands since I was 12."
Adrian Delvén
"For me, it was extremely much heritage and environment that played a role. I grew up with two heavy smokers in the household and the closest relatives, apart from the family, were snuff smokers, so it was quite natural to become a smoker when everything smelled of smoke in the house anyway. I guess I started my "smoke-free journey" by promising myself never to smoke indoors and kept it for many years and cold winters. Now 3 years ago I started to feel the real effects of my cigarette consumption, after countless attempts to quit smoking with extreme side effects and withdrawal. But after much trial and error, I managed the feat of becoming both smoke-free and snus-free"
Mathias Norman
"Socially, the smoking area is always full at events and so on. 'Let's go out for a smoke', or 'Let's meet for a cigarette' are very common phrases."
Desiree Angrell
"I am now almost 63 years old and I started smoking when I was 12.5. So I don't think e-cigs would have helped at that time. But I might have quit smoking earlier if vejp had been available then. Been vejping for 6 years now and haven't smoked since I switched to vejp."
Solveig Nielsen
"I probably wouldn't have started smoking or snuffing if vape had been around when I was younger. But, then again, I'm only 46!" Andreas Fenton
Started smoking seriously in my early teens, both snuff and cigarettes. I have tried to quit in every possible way. I have gone through the entire pharmacy arsenal several times, with the only result that I got inflammation in my jaw muscles from all the chewing. Let's face it, the pharmaceutical industry's preparations work poorly, as they only replace nicotine intake and addiction is not that simple. Only when I tried vejp in 2012 did things change. Not only did it replace the method of ingesting nicotine, in a less harmful way, it did it in a way that met the ENTIRE smoker's needs. Actually gave up cigarettes immediately after the first attempt and snus a while after. I am now 57 years old and have not smoked for 8 years, thanks to vejp. IMAGINE if this possibility had existed earlier! Imagine if the authorities had realized the benefits and promoted vejp! How much human suffering could have been avoided?
Smoked on and off since I was 14. But after 18 years of smoking, with dizziness, shortness of breath and nausea, I sat down. Could hardly breathe. I went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a crack in my lung. Wake up call. Especially with 3 children. Time to quit smoking. Scrolled around on facebook and ended up with an old acquaintance who vejpade. So during the sick leave I took the car into a store in vasastan and went from there with an ijust 2. I had a pack of 10 cigarettes. I threw them straight away. After 3 weeks I could run up the steepest hill in the world, with a sibling stroller and a standing board with my 3 children in it. Best decision of my life. Had I known about this earlier, it would probably have been done much earlier. Then to meet extremely nice and helpful friends, educators, and new best friends through all the vejp groups is just a plus!
I probably would have quit before. And probably never started with the snuff either