Bus driver Therese Johansson's journey away from smoking involved e-cigs, stressful bus rides, a lot of itching and fruit-flavored nicotine pouches. She is one of over a million Swedes who use alternative nicotine products to stay smoke-free. Vejpkollen met her at her cottage outside Hallsberg. This is her story.
Hallsberg in the mid-1980s. Small, rickety cars, trimmed mopeds and concerts in worn-out ice rinks. Therese Johansson, born in 1969, grew up when hard rock was new and leather with rivets became the highest anti-fashion among unruly youth.
"I actually saw W.A.S.P live in Karlskoga. It was cool" she laughs
Media hysteria and the Non Smoking Generation
For those who don't know, W.A.S.P was the hard rock band that created both media hysteria and moral debate in the early 1980s by waving saw blades and playing with blood on stage. The group "seduced the youth" with suggestive music videos, guitar solos and provocative posters in the magazine Okej. Swedish television even allowed the deeply Christian presenter Siewert Öholm to go at "hard rockers" live on TV with a word whip and Bible. In much the same way, the newly formed Non Smoking Generation went after "lost" smokers with snappy slogans and brightly colored sweatshirts. Moralism and preaching to counter youth culture. Contrasts in a nutshell.
"We always knew that smoking caused cancer. I remember some lectures in the school auditorium about smoking, but it wasn't really something you thought about. During the break, everyone went to the smoking area and puffed away as usual. There was nothing strange about smoking," recalls Therese Johansson.
Started smoking early
She started smoking in eighth grade, aged 14. Her mother and father smoked cheaply, and at home at the kitchen table her parents rolled their own cigarettes with rolling tobacco and paper.
"I used to help them and quickly learned to roll my own cigarettes. And of course I stole some from home, for me and my friends," says Therese.
It was a wild time, she recalls.
"We were a small gang who skipped school and caused trouble. We probably thought it was a bit tough to smoke too," says Therese when we meet in Hallsberg, a few miles north of the house she rents with her partner Björn. Far away from rivets and pink Non Smoking Generation shirts.
The social smoker
Smoking stayed with her throughout her teenage years, she says. Therese does not describe herself as a party girl during her teenage years and smoking was not primarily a "social thing" for her. She sometimes thought about quitting smoking, but alternatives like snus were not on her mind. Patches and pills were not appealing either.
"Well, the "regular" snuff was really not my thing. But I have tried most things I think. I found patches unpleasant and chewing gum did not work"
Stressful with cigarettes at work
It was only 13 years later that everything changed. By then she had trained as a bus driver and was living in Gothenburg. There she met her current boyfriend Björn, also a smoker. It was with her new job that her thoughts of quitting smoking began to grow in earnest.
"When I started driving a bus, it became increasingly difficult to smoke regularly. It was very stressful and we only had short breaks. You barely had time to light the cigarette before it was time to drive on. And if I needed to go to the toilet, I was totally screwed"
E-cigs became the solution
By this time, e-cigarettes were becoming popular. And when a colleague of Björn's showed up at the couple's house with an e-cigarette, she decided to try it out with her partner. It turned out to be a good solution.
"I was able to use the vape to take a quick puff during breaks. No fiddling with packets and lighters. It gave me the nicotine kick and I didn't even think about smoking anymore," she says.
Worked well - for a year
She hasn't smoked since 2018, and neither has her partner. But Therese Johansson's journey away from smoking didn't end with a "rainbow-colored vejp and a fruit-flavored e-liquid" that has become her constant companion, in her pocket.
"I vejped almost constantly, at least when I had the opportunity. A year went by and it worked well and I didn't have a thought of going back to the cigarette, although I missed the feeling sometimes. At the same time, I thought it was a bit too much vejpande. I had the machine in my hand all the time and wanted to get away from that too, eventually"
Got itchy from the steam
But in the end, it was something completely different that made her choose a different path. After about a year, her eyes started to itch. Her body was reacting to something.
"I noticed that my eyes were getting dry all the time. It itched terribly at times, and my mouth was often dry. I tried everything to get rid of it, eye drops and ointments. Nothing helped," she says.
Propylene glycol and flavors can irritate
The e-liquid vaporized in a vejp contains propylene glycol - a substance that is fairly well established in healthcare and relatively harmless to inhale. However, propylene glycol can also be irritating to the body, particularly to mucous membranes and, for some who are sensitive, to skin. It also has the ability to absorb moisture, especially when in vapor form. Some people therefore find it dehydrating to vejpa. Therese was one of them.
"It was frustrating. I went to the doctor who could not find the cause. It took a year before I realized that it was due to vejpen and the steam". says Therese Johansson.
Switched to white snus
She chose to stop using e-cigarettes for a while. And the problems went away.
"It was very nice to get it right. At the time, I was thinking of giving up nicotine completely too. But it was a bit too much at the time, especially with work. Driving a whole class of teenagers home after school takes a lot of patience," she laughs.
When we meet, Therese has a can of white snuff in her pocket instead. She doesn't really know what flavor it is. "Something fruity, that tastes good," she jokes. She has been using nicotine pouches for almost three years. And it works well.
"It was actually quite easy to go from the cigar to the vejpen and then from the e-cig to the nicotine pouches. Much easier than I thought. But the goal is to quit them too. At some point."
She says a little firmly.
If nicotine pouches work so well, why do you want to stop using them?
"It's better than smoking, and I don't get the side effects of vejpningen. And I like the nicotine kick, of course. But there are certainly risks with snus too. What if your teeth fall out?" she jokes, admitting that she usually switches the position of the blunt then and there, from upper lip to lower lip, "just in case".
"One thing at a time"
"Joking aside, I think I've always found it annoying to be dependent on something. It costs money and becomes a bit limiting. It would be nice not to have to. But one thing at a time, I think. One thing at a time." says Therese Johansson.
She heads out towards the house in the woods. A bunch of kids are just getting off a bus nearby. They're singing verses from a song I've heard on one of the kids' bitch-tok streams. It's not W.A.S.P. But it might as well be, I think.
